Has anyone noticed anything happening at Gridserve stations/hubs at all. I know that many of you will already have formed a negative opinion about Geoff Buys Cars, but I seriously suggest that you actually put those thoughts to the back of your mind for the time being and then watch this video where is reading out an anonymous letter/email from an insider whistleblower on what is supposed to be going on there. Maybe you have used one of their sites and have not been able to get the speed of charge that they were claiming, etc.

 

I don't currently have an EV, so I'm unable to comment further and its over to you to try and provide further details and either confirm or otherwise on the validity of this video.

 

 

5:30 bit saying only 5 cars can charge at full speed and if 19 cars come, can't charge at full speed.

The reality is that battery charge rate slows down as they charge. No EV in existence can sustain full charging speed beyond 50%. So it is smarter to offer more plugs than capacity and share the capacity allowing more people to start charging and reduce the queue.

 

This is why I like Kermpower rapid chargers because the screen will clearly state what is the limiting factor.

 

In lieu of grid capacity, it is always possible to add battery buffers. Tesla was doing this back in 2017:

https://electrek.co/2017/10/30/tesla-supercharger-stays-online-in-power-outage-powerpack-system/

 

 

There is some truth in the CEO's job role change:

 

The reason is that they are planning to expand the company globally:

https://www.current-news.co.uk/gridserve-global-expansion-plan/

https://evfleetworld.co.uk/gridserve-plans-global-expansion-to-drive-world-class-ev-charging-networks/

https://evmagazine.com/charging-and-infrastructure/gridserve-expands-globally-with-sustainable-ev-charging

https://transportandenergy.com/2024/08/13/gridserve-announces-global-expansion-plans/

https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/gridserve-announces-global-expansion-plans

 

Unless we can find numerous people were previously Gridserve employee, it's hard to verify people being made redundant statements.

 

 

At 3:38  me thinks the truth comes out. This "anonymous" letter Geoff was "reading"...... Some people can't help but insert personal opinion disguised as factual statements.

 

Thanks for your thoughts, but I don't think he is guilty of what you think he is doing, seems to be reading it as it was written, he is putting some of his own thoughts/comments from 7:09 after he finishes the letter.

 

There is a pretty big gridserve hub in Braintree that Dave Takes It On visited a while ago. I guess we will have to see what develops to get to the bottom of this, maybe some else who works or did work at a gridserve hub might come forward to add something to it?

Edited 26 September, 20241 yr by Graham Butcher

Dave takes it on spouts a lot of nonsense half the time. AT first I thought he was quite good but the more I watched the more I realised he was often spouting his own opinions which weren't always accurate. 

 

He 'pontificates' as my mother used to say. 

He's been completely wrong about the 'charging price war' sparked by Tesla, if anything prices are rising! I've stopped watching his channel too.

Edited 3 October, 20241 yr by Luckypants

As an aside from bashing Dave Takes it On, Gridserve have just been handed a problem by their partner Dobbies Garden Centres. Gridserve have (so far) 8 charging hubs at their garden centres. Dobbies have announced site closures, so are a bit of a dodgy proposition now. The only closure that affects the Gridserve charging hubs is at Gloucester and its likely when the site closes the chargers will not be accessible.

Edited 3 October, 20241 yr by Luckypants

Non-Tesla price seems to be location dependent now, probably them trying to manage demand. Tottenham is always almost fully utilised by taxi's. It is now 80p/kWh off peak but just 39p/kWh at same time for Tesla or those with membership. Whereas Uxbridge goes as cheap as 30p/kWh (non-Tesla) vs 24p/kWh (Tesla). 

 

There is currently an upward pressure in electricity price in recent months, so prices are going up. Tesla supercharger prices are like petrol prices goes up/down and also changes due to wholesale price change throughout the day, whereas most other CPO prices are flat across the nation and rarely change, like price-capped household electricity.

 

The only change (price-wise, for end user) I can see is when they update their backend systems and start dynamic pricing throughout the day and location dependent. Building rapid charging hubs require huge cap-ex and rapid charging is just not the right way to recharge EV's on a daily basis.

 

As such, I personally think only truly viable business model for rapid charging CPO is something like Electric Highway. But under Ecotricity repairs and further expansion didn't keep up. Gridserve has the capital backing and is doing something similar to Tesla, getting the grid connections done and getting those hubs build as quickly as possible, it's basically land/grid capacity grab. Gridserve are also adding batteries to their sites to serve the grid ;). So I think even when financial backings dries up, they will still able to live off selling their grid service for a while before selling off poorly utilised service station lands. 

1 hour ago, wyx087 said:

Non-Tesla price seems to be location dependent now, probably them trying to manage demand. Tottenham is always almost fully utilised by taxi's. It is now 80p/kWh off peak but just 39p/kWh at same time for Tesla or those with membership. Whereas Uxbridge goes as cheap as 30p/kWh (non-Tesla) vs 24p/kWh (Tesla). 

Tottenham superchargers have been closed to non-Tesla from the start of this month IIRC. Overrun by taxis I suppose.

 

1 hour ago, wyx087 said:

There is currently an upward pressure in electricity price in recent months, so prices are going up. Tesla supercharger prices are like petrol prices goes up/down and also changes due to wholesale price change throughout the day, whereas most other CPO prices are flat across the nation and rarely change, like price-capped household electricity.

So people keep saying, but gas prices are low and the wind is still blowing.... I can see gas/oil futures going up due to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East but current feedstock prices do not seem high. Look at the price trend of petrol / diesel / heating oil over the past few weeks. Maybe I'm cynical, but I get the feeling we're being ripped off over fuel prices again.

From last few price changes over last 12 months or so, I feel Tesla price changes are slightly ahead of Ofgem price-cap. They dropped their rates a few months before price cap dropping, they have now increased slightly just before price-cap raise 10%. 

 

No comment on whether we are being ripped off, that's beyond my pay-grade and I can only offer similar gut feeling. 

 

I do know my extended family member from California told me 7p/kWh is very cheap. 

1 hour ago, wyx087 said:

I do know my extended family member from California told me 7p/kWh is very cheap. 

Yes it is, but is not universally available to all. Its a special time of use tariff that requires a smart meter. The vast majority of people are on SVR which is 25.39 around here. Historically that is a high price. I'm on the Tracker tariff through a sleight of hand by Octopus (no smart meter) but that is still 21p most days. Still high.

Edited 3 October, 20241 yr by Luckypants