bp Pulse, Shell Recharge etc... what makes people sign up?

[Moonpie21]

Just trying to gauge the suitability of my charging plan/preparations...

- I don't do many miles a day, circa 12, local b roads village type driving
- I have arriving at the end of the month an I3S
- I am getting a 14 360W panel solar system with a 6.5kWh battery
- Plan on plugging in on a granny charger every week night to top up to a max 80/85% (dependent on my home battery use) and then focus on more charging at the weekend in the day if needed.
- The odd 100 - 150 mile trip say once every couple of months with a bit of planning charge to a 100% using the above before travel
- Some potential destination charging? at work and on the trips

So with that in mind and really no idea how it will perform what are peoples thoughts? I don't think I need a wall box at home and I don't think I need to sign up to any of the services as I assume I will only rarely need to rapid charge on a journey and can suffer guest rates as the subscription will not be worth it.

Or have I got it all wrong and your experience says I should sign up/register/do some other stuff...

[SWoll]

Research you longer trips, choose the best chargers on the route and sign up. Better to have the app as backup in case of contactless issues at the charger etc.

You'll be fine doing 150 mile trips most of the year (ours did) but will need to charge in winter as the range drops quite significantly.

[Moonpie21]

SWoll said:

Research you longer trips, choose the best chargers on the route and sign up. Better to have the app as backup in case of contactless issues at the charger etc.

You'll be fine doing 150 mile trips most of the year (ours did) but will need to charge in winter as the range drops quite significantly.

Good tip, as a general rule I assume you are now never too far away from a working charger and it is only adding unplanned time to your journey that becomes an issue?

Could you make a stupid comment like in a 15 mile radius there will be 10 chargers and one of those will be working (you might have to wait for it to become free or sign up etc). I look at zapmap and the visible density of chargers seems impressive, reassures me that I will never run out completely, just if I'm an idiot about it I will pay in time, things like using a better route planner as satnav seems to be the easy answer.

[SWoll]

Moonpie21 said:

SWoll said:

Research you longer trips, choose the best chargers on the route and sign up. Better to have the app as backup in case of contactless issues at the charger etc.

You'll be fine doing 150 mile trips most of the year (ours did) but will need to charge in winter as the range drops quite significantly.

Good tip, as a general rule I assume you are now never too far away from a working charger and it is only adding unplanned time to your journey that becomes an issue?

Could you make a stupid comment like in a 15 mile radius there will be 10 chargers and one of those will be working (you might have to wait for it to become free or sign up etc). I look at zapmap and the visible density of chargers seems impressive, reassures me that I will never run out completely, just if I'm an idiot about it I will pay in time, things like using a better route planner as satnav seems to be the easy answer.

Depends where you are driving and how long you want to wait for the power you need.

Certain parts of the UK are a real wasteland for fast charging so when checking zap map ensure you use the filter function so only showing 50kw+ rapid chargers as the default will show you everything including very slow 7kW units.

The i3 will only charge at a maximum of 50kW unlike many newer EV's so a 20-80% charge is going to take you 40 minutes or so for 100 miles added. Fine for occasional long trips but wouldn't want to use it too regularly.

[audikentman]

I've signed up for Bp, 1st 3 months free then £8 a month subscription gives me access to free charging at work 32 miles a day round trip.
Also signed up for Shell card, PAYG, 'just in case' and a granny lead from Screwfix for at home, but no need for a wall charger.

[Big Nanas]

audikentman said:

I've signed up for Bp, 1st 3 months free then £8 a month subscription gives me access to free charging at work 32 miles a day round trip.
Also signed up for Shell card, PAYG, 'just in case' and a granny lead from Screwfix for at home, but no need for a wall charger.

Careful of the wording of the BP 'free' charging. Its not.
You'll only get free charging on a small section of the BP network, everything else you'll get a discount.

Their wording:
'..You’ll also get access to free charging on selected bp pulse points as well as a physical access card'

BP Pulse doesn't get a good rep generally, sadly.

OP, I've had my i3s for six months now and am loving it. Don't worry about charging to 100%, the battery has extra capacity to absorb any degradation.
Re Zap Map, I found on our recent 1000 mile holiday that the Instavolt, Osprey and Gridserve are generally very good and always have at least two charging stations.
If your i3 is brand new, you'll also be invited to join the BMW Charging scheme which will give you a chance to subscribe to Ionity at a hefty discount. Sadly its a 12 month commitment, which doesn't sound like it would worth your while.

[gmaz]

The "best" journey chargers I've found are

- Gridserve (not the old electric highway ones) - https://electrichighway.gridserve.com/
- Instavolt - https://instavolt.co.uk/find-electric-vehicle-char...
- Osprey - https://locations.ospreycharging.co.uk/
- MFG - https://www.motorfuelgroup.com/mfg-ev-power/

All of these just take a contactless payment, so no need to sign up.

[SWoll]

gmaz said:

The "best" journey chargers I've found are

- Gridserve (not the old electric highway ones) - https://electrichighway.gridserve.com/
- Instavolt - https://instavolt.co.uk/find-electric-vehicle-char...
- Osprey - https://locations.ospreycharging.co.uk/
- MFG - https://www.motorfuelgroup.com/mfg-ev-power/

All of these just take a contactless payment, so no need to sign up.

Assuming it's working. Good idea to have the app ready just in case IME.

[caseys]

If you're only going occasionally I would hazard that subscription based services like BP Pulse won't be worth the money for you.

Membership is I think £8/month at the moment. On a 50kW charger (which is what the i3 caps at) it's 23p/kWh for members.

Let's say the ballpark rate around DC fast chargers is 30p/kWh at 50kW DC. So with the membership you're saving 7p/kWh. You need to use 115kWh of DC charging just to break even and make the monthly membership worth it.

115kWh at 70mph motorway speeds with the AC on in my i3 I get about 3.9 miles per kWh - so that's 450 miles of charging on DC. I get about 140 miles out of my 120Ah model before I then get twitchy and want a charger somewhere near. So I'd say if you've got a round trip 150 mile 'on occasion' you're probably going to want to top up 5-10kWh in that trip.

Are you going to do that trip more than 10 times a month? Doesn't sound like it.. so the scheme doesn't make sense for you.

At the moment I'm making a 320 mile round trip three times a month. So it just about makes it viable to me.

Yeah you get free slow 3.6/7.2kW chargers at Waitrose and also places like Westfield at London - so it makes trips into London quite cheap for me. But the waitrose ones are really a fringe benefit - as compared to a home rate 5p/kWh I'm basicalyl getting 15-20p 'free' electricty if I go park at Waitrose.

Shell recharge I can't make the maths work at all. I'll use the new ABB chargers with Electric Highway at the motorway services (only 30p/kWh) before I'd contemplate other charging networks. Shell's seemed stupidly priced when I last looked - you're paying because you need to - rather than because it's good value for money public charging wise.

Edit: the i3 has a really good charging curve. It'll charge nigh on close to it's maximum 50kW up to about 85%, slow down to 40kWh until 92-93% and then really tail off.

[audikentman]

Big Nanas said:

audikentman said:

I've signed up for Bp, 1st 3 months free then £8 a month subscription gives me access to free charging at work 32 miles a day round trip.
Also signed up for Shell card, PAYG, 'just in case' and a granny lead from Screwfix for at home, but no need for a wall charger.

Careful of the wording of the BP 'free' charging. Its not.
You'll only get free charging on a small section of the BP network, everything else you'll get a discount.

Their wording:
'..You’ll also get access to free charging on selected bp pulse points as well as a physical access card'

BP Pulse doesn't get a good rep generally, sadly.

OP, I've had my i3s for six months now and am loving it. Don't worry about charging to 100%, the battery has extra capacity to absorb any degradation.
Re Zap Map, I found on our recent 1000 mile holiday that the Instavolt, Osprey and Gridserve are generally very good and always have at least two charging stations.
If your i3 is brand new, you'll also be invited to join the BMW Charging scheme which will give you a chance to subscribe to Ionity at a hefty discount. Sadly its a 12 month commitment, which doesn't sound like it would worth your while.

Its deffo free charging at work after the £8 subscription.
We have a 10ft security fence so its restricted access for the company.

Agree with the bad rep though, we have 3 posts with 2 outlets each and my card only seems to work on 1 of the posts.
Also they took almost 2 weeks to send me a card.

[anonymous-user]

I do about 150 miles a week in my i3 and only need to use the granny charger overnight once or twice a week. With the the i3 you can always charge to 100% (available not actual). It has excellent battery management system.

[sjg]

Shell Recharge and Octopus Juice give you a card for free, I just keep them in the car and use if I’m on a charger that takes them. If I ever get to the rest of Europe then the Shell one covers loads of other networks over there. Main benefit of both is avoiding the big pre-authentication charges that sit on your account if you use contactless. Sometimes if they’ve lost connectivity or the contactless reader isn’t playing ball they’ll start on a RFID card.

BP Pulse you need to subscribe to get a card, it gives you a discount but you need to be putting in 50+kWh a month to make that worthwhile.

Podpoint rapids still need an app, Geniepoint use a weird mobile website, everything else these days can just take contactless.

[Moonpie21]

Discombobulate said:

I do about 150 miles a week in my i3 and only need to use the granny charger overnight once or twice a week. With the the i3 you can always charge to 100% (available not actual). It has excellent battery management system.

Sounds like I wouldn't be too far off your situation, so you just plug it in when needed and let the software take care of the batteries etc? If I can be rude and ask how long you have had your car and if you worry about damage to the battery pack? To be honest I will probably start out with good intentions make all these charging plans and then just keep it regularly topped up without thinking.

Sounds like get the free RFID cards as backup but not bother subscribing and use contactless when needed (especially as all new ones have to be installed with that now?), I'd hazard a guess that the situation with unplanned charging is only going to get easier.

[Big Nanas]

Moonpie21 said:

Discombobulate said:

I do about 150 miles a week in my i3 and only need to use the granny charger overnight once or twice a week. With the the i3 you can always charge to 100% (available not actual). It has excellent battery management system.

Sounds like I wouldn't be too far off your situation, so you just plug it in when needed and let the software take care of the batteries etc? If I can be rude and ask how long you have had your car and if you worry about damage to the battery pack? To be honest I will probably start out with good intentions make all these charging plans and then just keep it regularly topped up without thinking.

Sounds like get the free RFID cards as backup but not bother subscribing and use contactless when needed (especially as all new ones have to be installed with that now?), I'd hazard a guess that the situation with unplanned charging is only going to get easier.

The i3 has been around for quite a long time now and its widely considered to have excellent batter management.

The only problem with relying on using the contactless is that many/most chargers will take authorisation charge on your account (usually £20). This drops off after a few days, but can be annoying if you're on a trip and have to charge multiple times.
Also, we had one of the Gridserve chargers refuse to authorise our card three times which then blocks it from further use for a time period. If you have. credit card, I'd recommend using that for chargers (depending on your personal situation, obviously!)

• edit*

Is this a brand new car?
If so, sign up for the free BMW Charging account. You'll get a simple RFID card which will work on a few of the charging networks. You need to add your payment details into the BMW account, but it's very easy and keeps a record of all the charging details.

Edited by Big Nanas on Thursday 16th September 08:17

[Moonpie21]

Big Nanas said:

• edit*

Is this a brand new car?
If so, sign up for the free BMW Charging account. You'll get a simple RFID card which will work on a few of the charging networks. You need to add your payment details into the BMW account, but it's very easy and keeps a record of all the charging details.

Edited by Big Nanas on Thursday 16th September 08:17

Yes brand new, I'd sort of seen a bit about that, but it wasn't abundantly clear. I was banking on it becoming clearer when I got the car and installed the app etc. Although now I have just found an interactive map and that seems like a bit of a no brainer for locations around where I'd be going. I will look more in to it thank you, I take it no subscription you just link a card and use as required... Looks exactly what I need to keep in the car.