Just how do you manage with these public ev chargers
Discussion
Downward said:
However the local ones have been out of service now for 5 weeks and so there’s only 4 which are blocked by PHEV’s topping up their 10 mile battery.
Seems a little short-sighted and a bit “holier than thou”. Our two PHEVs have a real world battery range of 26 and 30 miles, which means that charging up at Tesco not only means that I can do the round-trip comfortably on battery alone, but also that I’m not having to add to the localised air pollution whilst going shopping. With such a small battery topping up frequently is a necessity to steer clear of using the ICE. Whereas you in your 200-300 mile range EV probably don’t even require the use of 30-60 minutes worth of 3.6-7kw charging, aside from wanting to not pay for your electricity.
Moving from PHEV to pure EV I hope to NOT NEED those chargers at all, freeing them up for those who do only have a short range.
Downward said:
Turtle Shed said:
I am also in the ‘don’t charge away from home’ camp. Done 61k miles in my Leaf, I doubt it has traveled more than 30 miles from home more than ten times in eight years.
Me too but I don’t trust the infrastructure rather than anything else. We use the Petrol car for holidays the leaf is good for commuting.paradigital said:
Downward said:
However the local ones have been out of service now for 5 weeks and so there’s only 4 which are blocked by PHEV’s topping up their 10 mile battery.
Seems a little short-sighted and a bit “holier than thou”. Our two PHEVs have a real world battery range of 26 and 30 miles, which means that charging up at Tesco not only means that I can do the round-trip comfortably on battery alone, but also that I’m not having to add to the localised air pollution whilst going shopping. With such a small battery topping up frequently is a necessity to steer clear of using the ICE. Whereas you in your 200-300 mile range EV probably don’t even require the use of 30-60 minutes worth of 3.6-7kw charging, aside from wanting to not pay for your electricity.
Moving from PHEV to pure EV I hope to NOT NEED those chargers at all, freeing them up for those who do only have a short range.
This is one of the biggest hurdles for me ever moving to EV.
I currently live in a small block of flats and own a share of the freehold. At our last AGM I proposed getting figures from a few companies to install three chargers in our residents' car park. Location-wise it would be easy with two pairs of bays able to share a charger and the third shared by three bays. I'd be a perfect candidate for EV; commute ten miles each way every day with the occasional longer journey to see family (and my brother's new place has an electric charger already installed). Even my longer journeys rarely top 100 miles each way. I'd need a full charge probably twice a week. There is nowhere to charge whilst I'm at work so that's not an option either.
I got outvoted by the older people in the building who 'didn't want the outlay as they'd never benefit from it'. Having no way to charge at home, I would be utterly reliant on public charging - and given the difficultiies (cost, having to sign up for a hundred different apps, broken chargers or bays being blocked) that presents I'll be sticking with petrol for as long as I can - or until EV charging becomes quicker and as numerous at petrol stations as the dirty pumps.
I currently live in a small block of flats and own a share of the freehold. At our last AGM I proposed getting figures from a few companies to install three chargers in our residents' car park. Location-wise it would be easy with two pairs of bays able to share a charger and the third shared by three bays. I'd be a perfect candidate for EV; commute ten miles each way every day with the occasional longer journey to see family (and my brother's new place has an electric charger already installed). Even my longer journeys rarely top 100 miles each way. I'd need a full charge probably twice a week. There is nowhere to charge whilst I'm at work so that's not an option either.
I got outvoted by the older people in the building who 'didn't want the outlay as they'd never benefit from it'. Having no way to charge at home, I would be utterly reliant on public charging - and given the difficultiies (cost, having to sign up for a hundred different apps, broken chargers or bays being blocked) that presents I'll be sticking with petrol for as long as I can - or until EV charging becomes quicker and as numerous at petrol stations as the dirty pumps.
audi321 said:
As I said, home charging is fine for 90% of my journeys too but it’s immensely frustrating to see the huge gulf between the Tesla infrastructure and ‘others’.
Had I not experienced the superchargers I would be firmly in the camp that EVs are not for anything other than a second car.
Anyways. We’re now a 2 EV car family. No ICE backups whatsoever and the Zoe will no doubt be for shopping and school trips only.
We've recently gone full EV. I've had my Tesla through my work scheme for 2 years. My wife has recently swapped her ageing Cooper S for a MINI Electric. She will probably never charge away from home, whereas the last time I used a SuC was October last year! Had I not experienced the superchargers I would be firmly in the camp that EVs are not for anything other than a second car.
Anyways. We’re now a 2 EV car family. No ICE backups whatsoever and the Zoe will no doubt be for shopping and school trips only.
My son leaves his Toyota Aygo at home whilst he's at Uni should the electric go off for a week
We're off to France in August, so will be using the Tesla SuC network a bit more then, maybe Ionity too.
99% charge at home. However have occasional journeys +200 miles and plan in advance. I've only had one issue (last Wed) at a pod point in Telford where the 50kwh charger wasn't shown on the app and i had to use the 22 one.
other than that I've bought a 10m granny charger and rely on the generosity of those im staying with.
In May i have a St Ives trip and no charging where i can park so I'm reliant on the public grid. I suspect i will be leaving it in Tesco quite a bit
other than that I've bought a 10m granny charger and rely on the generosity of those im staying with.
In May i have a St Ives trip and no charging where i can park so I'm reliant on the public grid. I suspect i will be leaving it in Tesco quite a bit
paradigital said:
Downward said:
However the local ones have been out of service now for 5 weeks and so there’s only 4 which are blocked by PHEV’s topping up their 10 mile battery.
Seems a little short-sighted and a bit “holier than thou”. Our two PHEVs have a real world battery range of 26 and 30 miles, which means that charging up at Tesco not only means that I can do the round-trip comfortably on battery alone, but also that I’m not having to add to the localised air pollution whilst going shopping. With such a small battery topping up frequently is a necessity to steer clear of using the ICE. Whereas you in your 200-300 mile range EV probably don’t even require the use of 30-60 minutes worth of 3.6-7kw charging, aside from wanting to not pay for your electricity.
Moving from PHEV to pure EV I hope to NOT NEED those chargers at all, freeing them up for those who do only have a short range.
I wouldn’t dream of using a public 7kW charger unless I was away from home and needed to do so. Complete waste of my time to save a few pennies at the supermarket
Have regular (20-30x a year) 300-400 miles in a day round trips from preston to Cheltenham, Aberystwyth and Edinburgh. In the winter in the ipace, Edinburgh is two hours charging, Aberystwyth 1.5 hours. Haven’t done Cheltenham yet in the ipace (it was a nightmare in the i3).
We had a week’s holiday in the ipace in Scottish Borders recently. Charging was a mix of total nightmare and ease/dream
So current plan is wife to have a full EV for all our local running round plus her commuting and if the charging network does improve in next year or two we can use for long journeys.
Just got her a Volvo c40 (too early to say what range is like). She does around 120 miles a week to and from work plus running around. So maybe 10,000 miles a year if I use for local running round too when she’s not at work. Considering getting a Volvo XC90 phev - latest model has 42 theoretical miles range so should be real world 30 or so - plenty for local running around and perfect for the regular longer journeys
oop north said:
I wouldn’t dream of using a public 7kW charger unless I was away from home and needed to do so. Complete waste of my time to save a few pennies at the supermarket
I haven't used them that much as I get 500km real world range, but I think they are great and as much use as quick chargers.In a workday, 7kW public can add 60kWh. In a night, it can easily add 70kW. So they are great for filling up when out and about and effectively double your commuting range. I ran a MS 70D for a while with about 350km effective range, I could drive to a customer 200km away, plug in there and drive home with nearly no time lost.
Also use them a lot when going to a hotel.
On the other hand, I've never needed nor used a non-tesla fast charger. From the ones I've seen it's been about 2 stations for every 8 Tesla spots in the same location. In NL they have already opened up to non-Tesla EV's though anyway, which is great news for anyone driving an EV.
Public charging infra when you're not in a Tesla is shocking. We've recently had 6 chargers installed in our town for those who don't have driveways to help with the move, even those are broken more often than working.
I've been considering an EV for months and looking at a Model Y now, when we did the last trip up to Edinburgh I planned it as though in a Tesla and apart from 1 station where there was Ionity, the only supplied EV charging points were 2 rubbish 50KW chargers but every service station had 8 Superchargers minimum with only 1 or 2 ever in use.
I've been considering an EV for months and looking at a Model Y now, when we did the last trip up to Edinburgh I planned it as though in a Tesla and apart from 1 station where there was Ionity, the only supplied EV charging points were 2 rubbish 50KW chargers but every service station had 8 Superchargers minimum with only 1 or 2 ever in use.
I charge at home most the time but that is moot when I travel to visit my mother as she is 200 miles away. During the summer I can do this without the need to stop (though I do for a top up and so I do not need to hit her electricity bill with a large charge using the granny charger), however during the winter ...
One occasion I ended up on my 2nd backup stop and that had just a single charger.
Few times I have looked at the stats shown on the chargers to work out it the owners will be back soon and either waited for 10-15 minutes else moved on. Fortunately at present the community still seems to be relatively friendly and also conscientious of others and slow charging over 80-90%, but that will change over time.
I have not been affected by ICE cars parked in charger bays, but I have seen it too many times. Prime example at present is the Sell garage just off the M25 by St Albans. It now has five 350 kW chargers (though comments on Zapmaps infers they do not have full power supply yet) however when driving past I see at least 1 or 22 ICE cars and/or vans parked there as they are using the garage shop.
Side note on Tesla charging. I know it is rare and the in-car software should protect you from it, but one time at Rugby I saw all 12 Tesla units full, at least 1 Tesla on a Griserve unit, and at least one of the 12 Teslas was not actually plugged in.
One occasion I ended up on my 2nd backup stop and that had just a single charger.
Few times I have looked at the stats shown on the chargers to work out it the owners will be back soon and either waited for 10-15 minutes else moved on. Fortunately at present the community still seems to be relatively friendly and also conscientious of others and slow charging over 80-90%, but that will change over time.
I have not been affected by ICE cars parked in charger bays, but I have seen it too many times. Prime example at present is the Sell garage just off the M25 by St Albans. It now has five 350 kW chargers (though comments on Zapmaps infers they do not have full power supply yet) however when driving past I see at least 1 or 22 ICE cars and/or vans parked there as they are using the garage shop.
Side note on Tesla charging. I know it is rare and the in-car software should protect you from it, but one time at Rugby I saw all 12 Tesla units full, at least 1 Tesla on a Griserve unit, and at least one of the 12 Teslas was not actually plugged in.
Tesla do a couple of things.
They charge an ‘inactivity fee’ something mad like £1 a minute for leaving the car there where it’s finished charging.
Also when the supercharger is busy, they automatically reduce the ‘charge to’ down to 80%. You can override it but it’s a good starter.
The inactivity fee is the winner. All EV chargers should have this feature.
They charge an ‘inactivity fee’ something mad like £1 a minute for leaving the car there where it’s finished charging.
Also when the supercharger is busy, they automatically reduce the ‘charge to’ down to 80%. You can override it but it’s a good starter.
The inactivity fee is the winner. All EV chargers should have this feature.
audi321 said:
Tesla do a couple of things.
They charge an ‘inactivity fee’ something mad like £1 a minute for leaving the car there where it’s finished charging.
Also when the supercharger is busy, they automatically reduce the ‘charge to’ down to 80%. You can override it but it’s a good starter.
The inactivity fee is the winner. All EV chargers should have this feature.
Especially on the -more scarce- fast chargers.They charge an ‘inactivity fee’ something mad like £1 a minute for leaving the car there where it’s finished charging.
Also when the supercharger is busy, they automatically reduce the ‘charge to’ down to 80%. You can override it but it’s a good starter.
The inactivity fee is the winner. All EV chargers should have this feature.
Another point is that people who arrive later and with lower charge actually get priority. So if they only need an urgent 50km or so, they'll be on their way soon.
Also, their app warns you about all of this. Idling fees are £0.5, and I think rise to £1 when the charger is occupied iirc.
You really need to work out if and when you would use a Tesla Charger.
SWoll pointed this out when I really started to look at BEV properly, I live in Surrey and the closest chargers to me would be fleet, this is a 25 min trip each way + charging time so they would never be used, the only time I would use them is long trips away, so far that has not happened.
I have used a few chargers at hotels (all been supplied by Tesla but open to anyone) we have had events at but apart from that I've not needed to charge away from the office or home.
Tesla were at the top of my list when looking as I had convinced myself I needed the Tesla network, turns out I don't and now I have a Polestar.
SWoll pointed this out when I really started to look at BEV properly, I live in Surrey and the closest chargers to me would be fleet, this is a 25 min trip each way + charging time so they would never be used, the only time I would use them is long trips away, so far that has not happened.
I have used a few chargers at hotels (all been supplied by Tesla but open to anyone) we have had events at but apart from that I've not needed to charge away from the office or home.
Tesla were at the top of my list when looking as I had convinced myself I needed the Tesla network, turns out I don't and now I have a Polestar.
Been using an EQC for the last 12 months and had no issues what so ever using public chargers, mostly using the in-car database and Mercedes charge card (uses paypal as the payment account), and Zapp-map. My wifes been going back and forth to Essex the last couple of months, and apart from the M4 closure, she's no problems either.
The "need" for a Tesla is some what over stated I feel.
The "need" for a Tesla is some what over stated I feel.
jimKRFC said:
The "need" for a Tesla is some what over stated I feel.
Sorry Jim but as someone who has both a Tesla and a non Tesla, if you’re going to do regular long journeys, I couldn’t disagree with you more. As I mentioned earlier, in my wife’s Zoe, after probably 5 trips to different public charge points, we’ve only had a successful charge once (2 full, 1 broken, 1 ICED). Conversely, in almost 5 years, I’ve NEVER had one issue with a Tesla supercharger.
Maybe we’ve been unlucky in the past month, but from listening to others on here, it seems most have had similar experiences and only charge at home.
audi321 said:
Sorry Jim but as someone who has both a Tesla and a non Tesla, if you’re going to do regular long journeys, I couldn’t disagree with you more.
As I mentioned earlier, in my wife’s Zoe, after probably 5 trips to different public charge points, we’ve only had a successful charge once (2 full, 1 broken, 1 ICED). Conversely, in almost 5 years, I’ve NEVER had one issue with a Tesla supercharger.
Maybe we’ve been unlucky in the past month, but from listening to others on here, it seems most have had similar experiences and only charge at home.
I should probably stop visiting my accounts in Devon, Kent, Oxfordshire, Nottinghamshire, Northumberland, North wales and various other places then As I mentioned earlier, in my wife’s Zoe, after probably 5 trips to different public charge points, we’ve only had a successful charge once (2 full, 1 broken, 1 ICED). Conversely, in almost 5 years, I’ve NEVER had one issue with a Tesla supercharger.
Maybe we’ve been unlucky in the past month, but from listening to others on here, it seems most have had similar experiences and only charge at home.
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