12 minutes ago, e-Roottoot said:

BP Chargemaster pricing.

 

WOW! That's a 56% to 80% price increase for the 150kW chargers.

If time is money then no issue.  Some people do not care about the cost of things, and maybe are not paying themselves.

 

The Porsche Taycan drivers i have seen have looked disgusted that there was people waiting their turn to get on Free Public Chargers and just drove on.

2 i spoke with had no idea that they might need to be on the chargers available for some time.

 

150kW Charger.

Edited 27 November, 20205 yr by e-Roottoot

The trunk road BP stations I've drove past all seem to have those 150w chargers. I've no problem paying the contactless prices if I can get a charge easily.

 

To be honest, all I'm after is reliable quick hassle free rapid charging at convenient locations. Price doesn't matter because it's such a small proportion of my overall EV miles.

 

 

 

Loving running an EV in winter. Without being plugged in at home and pre warmed it is just a case of getting into a frozen up car, turning on and the interior is toasty in minutes, glass and screen all deiced very quickly and heated seats and wheel making the car very comfortable.    I am going to charge for free for an hour or so most mornings first thing and the car is hot while doing that.  40 minutes free charging and that is good for about 100 miles and some town and back road driving and about 60 miles or so range still in hand.   This is at temps around freezing or lower night and day time.   Much cheapness.  5500 miles covered and still under £14 paid to use chargers and that was in the first week of driving this car and trying pay and go chargers.   Not yet used any chargers in council areas where there is a cost to charge.

Edited 30 December, 20205 yr by e-Roottoot

Free public charging is wonderful when available.  I am happy as Larry sitting for an hour while the car is charging with the car heating fully up and heated seat on when outside it is well below freezing.  It is very nice travelling without paying for fuel even tho how far you can go is limited because of Coronavirus restrictions.

Edited 8 January, 20215 yr by e-Roottoot

I had the worst range from my car last night.   I had the car charge to 100% and only showing 146 miles as recently only doing short 3 or 4 miles trips several times a day.   So I was taking a passenger 58 miles to Aberdeen and it was around 1"oC.  Usually no issue as there and back has still 60 miles or so range by the time I get home.  So off we go driving in normal and heating on etc and after 50 miles the car is showing 60 mile range.   I got behind a lorry and got miles downhill to Aberdeen and the range was then at 70 miles.    So I decided not to get a charge there and head home and charge on the way.    So on the dual carriageway I settled behind a lorry at 50 mph.  And it looked like I had 10 mile range more than needed to get home but 12 miles from home I turned off to get a charge.  Only a slow charger was available so I plugged in and got 5 miles more range and took a back road home.  Range was 11 miles when I parked.  This morning the battery had 10% charge and showed 0 range.   Now on a rapid charged and back at 80% charge and 110 miles range in 30 minutes.   So basically now going to assume in the cold weather that 100 miles between charging as a max on 70 mph roads.   Roads where re-cooperation is not such an issue even in the cold.   Saved  maybe £24 on using my diesel van that is a heavy drinker but really not worth it as if the snow had reached were I was and any delays it would be a real PITA in the EV.

Don't rely on the range guess-o-meter. It's totally useless, especially in winter and hilly places. It's the source of "range anxiety" because the car doesn't know your route. 

Set an expected arrival percentage in your mind, based on your existing experiences, and judge from there. 

@wyx087Hilly places are fandabydozzy for gaining energy so range.

It is damn accurate when you are about to run out of charge and have to switch everything off, go into ECO and draft a lorry or bus.  Issue with Coaches is they are going a bit too quick.

When you are losing 1% for each mile covered it is simply to know when you are at a squeeky bum moment.

 

Just now 10% to 98% took 1 hour and 25 minutes and was free.

Edited 12 January, 20215 yr by e-Roottoot

I am charging just now and it is just below freezing as it has been for a couple of weeks now other than when a few degrees above for a few hours at a time.  So doing a 2 mile trip up to 8 or 10 times a day  in town with 30 mph and 20 mph limits and with full heating on, heated seat and steering wheel on is giving 1 mile per 1% of charge in the battery.   That means charging needed every few days.   A couple of times on 3 pin charger at home as local chargers have been out of order. I have charged at home only for a short time to add some miles, but I really am too tight to spend a few extra quid on electricity.  I changed from Octopus that I went over to and am with E-on now as they quoted me happy.  Octopus was charging too high a tariff for my gas in the house.

Edited 19 January, 20215 yr by e-Roottoot

RoI costs.

 

 

 

 

TLDR: just watch 22:41.

"Rapid charging is always a worry, 8-10 petrol pumps, only 1 electric charging station. So if you rock up and already a car plugged in, 1 hr (IMO that's shockingly slow rapid charging) stop becomes 2 hours."

 

As I kept saying since 2018, we need better rapid charging infrastructure, The rapid charging network CapEx funded mostly by car manufacturers, if they really want to sell those EV's, they need to put in the investment.

 

Ionity is a great collaboration, but why are they only installing 4 stalls at each location? That level of infrastructure is okay back in 2018, it's not enough going forward. Surely, with 7 massive and well established (aka flush with cash) car brands behind it, they should have more resource to build more than Tesla are managing......

No one will use Ionity regularly at 69p/KwH. Only frequent long distance drivers (aka business users) will take a contract to get access to the lower price charging and for that they need to be driving a car made by one of Ionity's investors. Its similar to Tesla's model, charging exclusively for owners of the brand - but others can access at a massive premium. Long distance use is likely to remain a worry until the chargers on motorways and major roads come up to snuff. I don't know which way this will go, but I'm hopeful more places like Gridserve will open up - giving 90 to 350Kw charging on demand at a reasonable 24p/Kwh. (https://www.gridserve.com/braintree-overview/)

 

IMHO 24p/KwH gives a decent profit for the retailer and still makes it cheaper per mile than diesel (for my Karoq doing 12p/mile the break even is 32p/KwH). Of course, most charging will be done at home for those not on the road all the time which means there is a much smaller cake to be shared out amongst suppliers, so don't expect charging stations to be as ubiquitous as petrol stations.

Plenty are using the Ionity up to 350 kW chargers at Gretna Green & Perth when doing their roadtrips / vlogs or just travelling and wanting Rapid Charging rather than using Free to use 50 kW Public Chargers nearby.

 

I meet plenty EV drivers that do not care about what it costs to charge their Jag, Porsche or Audi as they are not actually paying out of their pocket or say they are not.  I have had owners asked if i wanted to charge for free gratis on them.

Edited 21 February, 20215 yr by e-Roottoot

But what price are they paying? ID.3 First Edition owners got £500 credit on Ionity for instance. EQC owners get similar. Also possible to sign up to discounted charging for £14 a month for VW. The other partners have similar schemes. How many of these users are paying 69p? Also, of those paying 69p, how many are on expenses?

 

I said not many will use it at 69p/KwH. That is the price for PAYG.

They are paying around £15 to £20 to charge when i have watched.  Also a few quid on a coffee and snack.

 

I have a box of diet coke in the boot and water & flask and munchies and so far have spent under £20 for near 6,000 mile since August to charge.

 

Some charging also done free at hotels or supermarkets or using others cards.

Edited 21 February, 20215 yr by e-Roottoot

To be honest, because rapid charging miles will be so few for my use-case (before Covid, once a month to add up to 80 miles return (calc based on m3 SR) and once or twice a year longer road trips), I don't mind paying premium to receive good service. Daily charging at 2p/mile more than outweighs 36p/mile when travelling. Which means up to £1 per kWh to charge at my car's maximum speed (#1), to have the wider easy access space available (#2) when I arrive and the chargers guaranteed working (#3). Refreshments and facility within safe walking distance (#4). I will be travelling with young family, reliability + convenience is key.

 

Ionity pricing is indeed too expensive for their service, it doesn't satisfy #3 and #4 with just 4 chargers at strange locations. The MK Coachway charging hub is just one example I've been, toilet needs to pay fee and it's is across a large car park.

 

BP Pulse 150kW are being installed at motorway petrol stations, you'd have to walk across the petrol station forecourt and sometimes across lorry parking to get to services. Not safe with young children.

 

Gridserve is brilliant, satisfies all my needs. We definitely need more of those.

 

 

 

Of course, when I'm travelling alone and not under time pressure, I'd seek out cheapest way to get the most miles. I'm a penny pincher after all. If it means queuing or using slower chargers, then so be it.

 

So I think the key is to have multiple layers of options if we are realistic that Gridserve can't cover whole UK. Starting at cheapest 50kW at back of the car park and gets more expensive as speed increases and its distance to refreshment + facility decreases.

Edited 21 February, 20215 yr by wyx087

@e-Roottoot Impressively cheap charging. The cost of the Chargeplace Scotland card is money well-spent. You're very lucky to have such a scheme, nothing similar here. In fact the WAG are so far behind the times they are only now recognising that there is a need for charging infrastructure.

 

@wyx087 I think I'll be similar and would need to get over my objection to 69p charging. Good way of looking at it.

No point not just putting 400kg of additional weight in the car to see how they might do for a family car that likes to eat at Fast Food places and take a weekends worth of clothes & the pets. Or even how they would do as Airport Transport / Private Hire Cabs.

 

 

 

Edited 12 March, 20215 yr by e-Roottoot

It is absolutely crazy IMO if an EV is in ECO mode and can not give full power and acceleration if demanded by the driver when the accelerator is floored.

If this is what VW thinks is 'Simply Clever' then they are heid a ba's.

 

I sincerely hope Skoda have had more sense with the Enyaq.

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT.

This is in the comments.

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by e-Roottoot

11 minutes ago, e-Roottoot said:

It is absolutely crazy IMO if an EV is in ECO mode and can not give full power and acceleration if demanded by the driver when the accelerator is floored.

If this is what VW thinks is 'Simply Clever' then they are heid a ba's.

Agree. (where's the agree +1 reaction)

 

The kickdown part of the accelerator pedal should always provide 100% full power no matter the drive mode.

Thankfully at long last a sensible comparison between EV's for efficiency, range and charging speed.  

None of the ridiculous Pro Reviewer teleporting from vehicle to vehicle.

 

 

 

Real world charging and checking charging can be a PITA in Scotland, especially with Charge Place Scotland Chargers.   So many out of service or showing as out of service on various apps.  CPS,s own app is hit or miss as being able to get current info on chargers as available and in service.   I have to collect someone from Glasgow Airport later tonight. Then continue south for further than the cars range if not charged before getting to the airport. Don't want to charge after collecting them. Glasgow airport charging with type 2 chargers is laughable.  Some nearby chargers are not available because of opening times for the location or are faulty.    I will pay to charge at the reliable InstaVolt charger at 1 of the 2 nearby locations.     Scotland really needs to get it,s act together with availability of Rapid Chargers.   Also have faulty / broken ones repaired ASAP.  The new local hub to me should be great but sadly there are various issues and breakages and no actions being taken even though many reports are made to CPS. 

Edited 30 April, 20215 yr by e-Roottoot

I guess you need to hope that Swarco taking over management of Chargeplace Scotland's chargers will lead to improvements in maintenance.