EV charging when away from home
Discussion
The three non-Tesla UK leaders in rapid DC charging (you can more or less forget any other type for a useful passing charge) seem to be Ionity, Shell and BP. Most still have fewer than 20 locations that will charge at >120kW (if they are working and the vehicle software will accept it – many can’t). All three have now raised their tariffs from high to exorbitant: 3x to 4x of normal (ie non-off-peak) home charging rates, making the fuel cost equivalence circa 40 mpg. Coincidence? Got to get the infrastructure cost back somehow, I suppose.
Tesla’s tariff is 2x normal cost which seems a more reasonable premium. They have more numerous rapid charging (Supercharger) locations, with multiple bays, some of which are now rated at 250 kW when connected to a Model 3. This gives 20% to 80% in about 18 minutes (less if you have pre-warmed the battery). Charging my Model 3 at home gives a fuel cost equivalence of circa 120 mpg normal rate; 200 mpg off-peak. Older Teslas still have free use of superchargers, of course.
I run these numbers every six months and am considering changing my Model 3 after two years. However the Taycan, Audi e-Tron, Jaguar i-Pace and the rest still don't really seem a sensible buy for those occasional longer journeys, given the above plus the fact that their EPA ranges are some 30% to 40% lower, so it may have to be another Model 3. The new ones have slightly more capacity, a heat pump and other advantages.
What am I missing? Incidentally the above numbers also make a complete nonsense of charging any PHEV when away from home as it’s far easier and no more expensive to run it on its other power-plant using old-fashioned petrol (or, occasionally, diesel).
Tesla’s tariff is 2x normal cost which seems a more reasonable premium. They have more numerous rapid charging (Supercharger) locations, with multiple bays, some of which are now rated at 250 kW when connected to a Model 3. This gives 20% to 80% in about 18 minutes (less if you have pre-warmed the battery). Charging my Model 3 at home gives a fuel cost equivalence of circa 120 mpg normal rate; 200 mpg off-peak. Older Teslas still have free use of superchargers, of course.
I run these numbers every six months and am considering changing my Model 3 after two years. However the Taycan, Audi e-Tron, Jaguar i-Pace and the rest still don't really seem a sensible buy for those occasional longer journeys, given the above plus the fact that their EPA ranges are some 30% to 40% lower, so it may have to be another Model 3. The new ones have slightly more capacity, a heat pump and other advantages.
What am I missing? Incidentally the above numbers also make a complete nonsense of charging any PHEV when away from home as it’s far easier and no more expensive to run it on its other power-plant using old-fashioned petrol (or, occasionally, diesel).
IONITY is owned by a consortium of car companies, and yes they've hiked their public rates for casual use but if you own a car from a manufacturer which is part of the consortium you can get a discounted rate. They're basically trying to build their own supercharger network by sharing costs between them and milking non-members as much as they can. It's no wonder they're still woefully behind the curve on charging infrastructure, but at least it's not restricted to a single brand.
I can't see supercharging staying at sub 30p/kWh for long. Tesla are selling cars far quicker than building out superchargers and price is an easy way to manage demand. They're apparently playing around with this in the states, discount it at quiet times, ramp it up when it's busy to try to spread people out and avoid the queues.
Ionity pricing is a bit like a hotel rack rate - it's a network build by and for the consortium members who'll discount it, but if you want to roll up and use it outside of that, you can but at a premium.
Unless you're regularly doing big trips that mean loads of public charging then the cost is negligible anyway. I'll take a few quid extra on the occasional charge if it means there's several fast, reliable chargers for me to use.
Ionity pricing is a bit like a hotel rack rate - it's a network build by and for the consortium members who'll discount it, but if you want to roll up and use it outside of that, you can but at a premium.
Unless you're regularly doing big trips that mean loads of public charging then the cost is negligible anyway. I'll take a few quid extra on the occasional charge if it means there's several fast, reliable chargers for me to use.
Thank you for both these really good points. It's fair to say that I haven't done that many long trips since I got the Tesla, but my mileage has been somewhat attenuated recently by Covid. I do have other cars (and motorcycles) that I can use as well.
Edited by runnerbean 14 on Tuesday 23 February 18:46
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