Rapid charging in the UK: my honest experience in 2023 and looking ahead
Vložit
- čas přidán 4. 07. 2024
- Social media posts and newspaper articles would have you believe that EV drivers have a miserable time with charging, but is that the reality? Everyone's experience will be different but here are all the rapid charges I did in 2023. There were some ups and downs, but I think there's a lot to be positive about for 2024 and beyond.
-
Support the channel! Visit my Ko-Fi page and buy me a coffee (or my wife a gin and tonic): ko-fi.com/misterev
Please use my referral links:
Octopus Energy: £50 off - share.octopus.energy/free-sag... (or quote "free-sage-191" to them)
Octopus Electroverse: £5 credit - electroverse.octopus.energy/n...
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:02 - Charger 1: MFG Canterbury
01:44 - Charger 2: Shell Dover
03:59 - Charger 3: IONITY Folkestone
05:03 - Charger 4: MFG Canterbury
08:03 - Charger 5: IONITY Cobham
09:57 - Charger 6: Mer Christchurch
11:13 - Charger 7: Osprey Woodman, Ferndown
11:54 - Charger 8: IONITY Cobham
12:18 - Charger 9: IONITY Folkestone
13:33 - Charger 10: Osprey Singleton Barn, Ashford
14:00 - Charger 11: IONITY Folkestone
14:52 - Charger 12: Osprey Paisley Pear, Brackley
19:22 - Charger 13: IONITY Cobham
20:08 - Charger 14: MFG Canterbury
20:23 - Charger 15: MFG Canterbury
20:59 - What about Italy?
21:44 - We need more destination chargers!
24:27 - Will the cost of rapid charging come down?
26:59 - Gridserve Electric Forecourt, Gatwick
29:22 - Tips for a happier life
33:41 - Looking forward… - Auta a dopravní prostředky
I know I keep talking about Electroverse app/RFID card, but it really is great. If you're in the UK, click here to get it: electroverse.octopus.energy/network/sign-up?referralCode=free-sage-191
Have to disagree. Sorry.
I have joined and have the Electroverse app and the card. I did a test journey plan with the car details input and to use Electroverse partners only. The journey is Rugby to Penrith in an ID.3 1st Edition.
The recommended one top up was expected but where it recommended was ridiculous. The app wants us to leave the M6 (because clearly there are no chargers on the M6) and go charge on a MacDonalds forecourt with Instavolt.
Now this is even more ridiculous because apparently Instavolt isn't part of the Electroverse. Hmmm ... 🤔
I have no faith in the app.
Interestingly Zap Map gave exactly the same route and charger option. Are they essentially the same under the skin?
How much are the destination charging, Andrew. I hear some people are being charged the same price a the rapid chargers which is insane. 😢
@@Hayles6677 I've heard the same but most are cheaper than rapids. The ones I used in Norwich (in the video) are the average costs I see for destination chargers. For example:
Zest: 50p/kWh
PodPoint: 44p/kWh
Pilot Group: 45p/kWh
50p at Connected Kerb.
I thought so but yes I have Electroserve and Octopus Intelligence Go at home
"No Till's apart from me" classic :=)
For those without off-road parking, the best, and easiest, thing that can be done is for central government to confirm to local authorities that the Highways Act (Roads Act in Scotland) does NOT make it illegal to place a cable across a pavement, All the user has to do is take measures to mitigate risk and to warn pedestrians. Most cable protectors cover both requirements. Better still, amend the legislation to allow cable gullies by default unless there are technical reasons why one is not permissible (eg presence of utilities). A general policy of banning cross-pavement charging is generally for aesthetics or to avoid problems for wheelchair users. This is a problem anywhere the pavement is disrupted (eg excavations) - but contractors legally use bridging panels. Why not residents who need to charge their car? If thought necessary, there could be limitations on the time of use - 11pm until 8am say, which is when pavement traffic is low, and energy tariffs also low.
Totally agree
Agree about cable gullies, it's a no brainer and I could even share with a nearby Uber driver who is round the corner with double red lines in front of him.
There are thousands of old cast iron gullies across footpaths all over the country, often with the Stockport foundry's name on the casting. 🙂
In the Netherlands you can get certified cable passthrough tiles from the city office
@@ErvinKortsLaurbut with the UK, the government is trying to get people off private transport and use public transport especially here in Edinburgh Scotland. Roadworks are everywhere and the roads are so badly maintained(potholes) everywhere.
@@eddiec3795you are mixing up government with council. Its the local council who don’t maintain the roads in your town, city or countryside. Trunk routes are government…
Hello, I find your videos fun and interesting. I live in the Netherlands and have a Kia Soul. I cannot charge at home and am dependent on public charging stations. That is not a problem here in the Netherlands. In the long street where I live there are 7 charging stations alone, so 14 charging places. Fast charging rarely happens. Greetings from the Netherlands.
That's great to hear. When I used to use the NewMotion app (many years ago now), it would start the map in the Netherlands and I was amazed how many chargers you had there even then!
First. I switched to a Tesla after being frustrated with the UK charging infastructure. I'm glad I did.
Tesla certainly makes things simpler. How long ago did you switch?
Cant say i blame you. My car can easily do 250 miles (i can stretch 300 in the summer) so in the UK its rare i need to charge but when i do it is still a bit more hassle than a tesla and you are never quite sure if there will be vacancies. However the situation is rapidly changing, for example last week i stopped off at Instavolt Banbury 32 chargers and as these big hubs roll out and tesla opens up and installs more hubs its getting easier.
I also managed to arrange on a 500 mile two day trip two overnight charges so no need even to stop at hubs. But yeh even now if i was advising someone who did a lot of longer trips id just say get a tesla
I don't have a Tesla but have used a few of the Tesla chargers that they've opened uo and they've been excellent. Incidentally I have used the Banbury Tesla ones a few times and they are much cheaper than the Instavolts, just a couple of miles further away from the motorway.
Who wants to give a far right extremist actively supporting a party knee deep in climate change deniers their money? Not me.
I've owned a Kona EV for nearly 2 years and have yet to charge it on a public charger. Good to know your experience is mostly on the positive side 🙂
First time i needed rapid charging in 2024 .Driving from Bristol to Bournemouth all ok stopped on way home in Poole MFG (safety Road) to charge to get back to Bristol . 4 of 4 chargers never worked wouldn't take octopus electroverse or debit card .Called in shop helpful lady eventually started charge after 10 mins of trying giving 25 Kwh so after 30 mins added 12.5 kw at 79 p per kwh .You can see why people choose Tesla where they always get 150 kw chargers at a lot less than 79 p per kwh.
79p ($1) per kwh - OUCH
"No tills except me" - definitely my favourite quote. I agree that some places that install rapid chargers should have spent the money on multiple AC destination chargers. There's a Premier Inn near me with a single 50kW 'rapid' that's very rarely used... they could have had 4-5 destination chargers for the same price. It's a hotel.
I don't know what Premier Inn were thinking! Holiday Inn have the right idea: many of their hotels are putting in hubs from PoGo which have a few rapids and a few destination chargers. That makes so much more sense.
@@MrEV Just discovered it's a Geniepoint at 79p/kWh and a £10 overstay fee after 90 minutes. At least two reasons why it's never used.
I enjoy your frequent namechecks of the Ioniq 5. It makes me feel so happy about my car!
Thanks, good balanced view. Planning is everything of course, but in practice I find that because many of the longer journeys we do (eg visits to relatives, drop off at university etc) are repeat trips you just work out your charging strategy for the journey once and repeat every time without any thought. Genuine "trips into the wild" that require planning from scratch and involve visiting new charging sites are pretty rare, maybe once or twice a year.
Best part of the rapid charging experience for me remains "plug and charge" at Ionity (we have an ID.4). Just works like magic. Maybe one for next year's higlights reel, though possibly not in your e-niro? Also found some surprisingly good (if pricey) destination charging with Dragon charging in remote parts of Wales, a huge leap forward from a couple of years ago. Plus stumbling upon one of the last remaining free AC chargers in a car park on the Isle of Harris 😊 - something of an endangered species now...
I live in France, and I’m planning a trip in England and Wales with my ID.3, so thank you for those tips!
I already have RFID cards (Chargemap, Freshmile, Shell,Chargepoint), I’ll check if Electroverse would be useful.
You should find your Shell card works at most of the same chargers as Electroverse in the UK - Instavolt being the one exception.
I would recommend that you get yourself the Elli charging card from VW. Coupled with the app it seems to be useful.
I drive 250 miles to Pembrokeshire from Leicestershire quite a lot in my Ioniq 5. 2 years ago there were no rapid chargers on route. Now there is 7 sites on the M4 in Wales alone with multiple 100kw+ chargers. And they all work. Amazing progress.
I've also realised its faster to charge on these to 80% if you start at 20% or lower than say 50%. Counter intuitive but one of those things you have to learn.
Great to hear. And yes, the lower you can go, the better with any EV. I tend to treat 10% as my minimum target.
@@MrEV Yes I aim for 20% now knowing in the unlikely event I can't charge at my chosen venue I'll have enough to get to the next. Before when chargers were sparse you'd always keep that buffer. I'm sure in a few years I'll be confident at 10% targets!
I feel so blessed living in Tenerife with my Fiat 500e. Free juice at home from the solar panels for starters. Then almost all supermarkets and shopping centres have a free ac charger which will give you about 10% in 30 minutes. I've not spent a cent on charging in 8,000 kilometers. I'd recommend a holiday over here with a hire car 500e from CICAR to see whats possible
That's amazing!
My wife has a Fiat500E, love it. Sadly we don't have solar panels but we do charge mostly at home overnight so it's cheap. I have an I-Pace and the total cost of overnight usage last year was £249! That's charging both cars plus running the washing machine etc overnight. Loving Octopus!
@@andrewpalmer999 my Spanish supplier is Endesa. My contract with them includes a virtual solar battery which credits my account with any over return I make to the power grid. I'm charged 20 cents per kwh used and 'earn' 10 cents per kwh returned. Any 'earnings' unused are carried forward until needed. For the past 12 months I've averaged 23 euros/month total (mostly standing charges) and have over 50 euros in my virtual battery. And that's running the car, pool pump, AC, hot water plus all the usual stuff. Top that!
@@MrEV come on over, plenty of vlogging content here in the sun!
I hired a 500e from CICAR in January and stayed in Los Gigantes in southern Tenerife. I thought the infrastructure was pretty ropey compared to UK, fortunately there was a 50kW rapid at a petrol station in Alcala which worked with Shell Recharge, there were also some 7kW chargers at the Mercadona supermarket but they weren't accessible out of hours. And finally CICAR didn't provide an AC cable with the car! Still glad we hired an EV though, so much easier to drive on hilly mountain roads, and EVs in sunny places like Tenerife make SOOOO much sense!!
Nice video and summary of the UK situation - agree with everything. I tried a number of MER stations locally recently - I struggled to get them to work with Electroverse card/app and even contactless but I did get them working with the MER app. I think they may have issues with the partner cards. I tow (caravan) - not much commentary about the practicalities of charging at these hubs for towing EVs (Andrew Ditton did some great videos). It isn't a huge problem - simple to drop the caravan if there is space; some of the service stations are impractical as the one-way system adds challenge getting from caravan parking to/from chargers. Destination chargers at camp sites helps a huge amount - and most campsites have electrical hookups - depending on their policies they'll have separate chargers or a slow charge can be perfectly acceptable through a 3-pin (overnight I've exceeded the daily driving usage to be 100% by departure). I'd agree that generally I've increasingly not had to queue or struggled to get a charger to work. Even in Cornwall where they are still few and far between - it is possible to get by without much hassle/angst. I did find some of the older Tesco sites no longer reliable (Pod points) - and anyway too slow to be of any practical use.
Hi Mr EV, I fast charged 205 times in 2023, 7565kWh and 57h47m. Avg speed of 131kW with peak sessions at 257kW. 17-40% in 4m35s 19.6kWh.
Vehicle 2020 Taycan 82k miles.
Let the Mac2@ know.
Another informative video thank you. I primarily charge at home and very rarely use public charging as the Soul has a good range, saying that we are off to Cornwall soon from East Sussex.
I've only been driving EV's since 2019 and in them days you always aimed for the BP rapid (50kW) in the dark corner of a pub park..
We did do a trip to Gloucestershire and had no trouble charging where needed although we found Hereford lacking in rapids and also we did a trip around the Cotswolds again no issues charging.
In defence of Gridserve I know they are having issues with getting power to the hub they were meant to build in Uckfield along with other site/council related issues allegedly.
Also the whole power infrastructure in the UK needs a major revamp, which the government forgot to address when they demanded all the charge points.
I’ve finally watched this one! Very interesting and I learned a lot about Kempower chargers (a good thing as I got told off in the comments to one of my videos when I visited the yet to be opened chargers at Sainsbury’s in Christchurch and didn’t know anything about them). It’s embarrassing that the Saxon Square charger was duff as it’s the closest one to me in your video (although Ferndown isn’t that far) but that’s not entirely surprising and you’re right - they should take it out! There are loads of other chargers in Christchurch. Great video. 😊
Thanks Andy! Well done finally getting to it! Getting told off in the comments is always good fun. It's usually Tesla owners attacking me for not knowing things.
Although I live in America and drive a Tesla X I always enjoy your EV content. It is good for anyone to know the pros and cons of EV technology in case one decides to live and drive in the UK. On a side note, you are wonderfully delightful on the ears and eyes. Thank you.
Thanks so much! The Model X is a lovely machine. We very nearly bought one a few years ago. A little big for UK roads though!
Nice video - thanks. I also tend to stick to the same 4 or 5 reliable networks as you when charging and have minimal issues. Absolutely agree that destination chargers are the next stage. Did a 800-ish mile trip in November (Bristol- Durham-Brighton-Bristol). Involved 5 charges in the end, but would have been only two if my hotel and parking spots had AC charges.
The 'other' network i avoid is CPS ( charge place scotland) as they went from being the best , to the worst for me, leaving home in Orkney i can make it to Perth on a single charge (222 miles in my 64kWh E Niro ) then i aim for ionity at Starbucks Perth triangle.
Then heading south i can use the ones you mentioned as i know they will work.
Yes it is getting better , but still a few to avoid 😂
Maybe the problem is that, as far as I know, CPS act as a service for all sorts of charger providers rather than actually operate them. I hear that their contract will be up soon. I hope the 'one stop shop' system can continue, but you’ve absolutely right in saying that the state of the infrastructure needs to be seriously addressed. A new "rapid charger" was installed near me recently - with a max of 50kW.
I love how youtube repeatedly & inexplicably unsubscribes me from channels, yours being the latest
Really?! How odd. Thanks for re-subscribing!
I agree the Brockley Osprey hub is good, and so handy right on the A43. We can’t have home charging, so destination chargers are invaluable - let’s hope the supermarkets wake up to the business it could generate (especially extra revenue in a cafe if they’ve got one).
Great presentation Andrew, completely agree with you about the need for much more destination chargers. Skoda also does plug and charge no no need for app or RFID CARD (although my car needs to have a software update before this will work apparently. This is similar to the Tesla experience I guess.
Love your videos , great informed info
Driving around Scotland last week. Chargeplace Scotland were the envy of the UK. No longer, slow and difficult to use. Used a Osprey and bp pulse - as well, easy to use and great speeds. It was bloody cold as well.
Great video, thanks very much. I have the new ID.4 on order, which will be my first electric vehicle.
Thankfully 90% of my travelling is around town, and I'm able to get a homecharger fitted, too.
However, have found your channel and 'Dave Takes It On' to be super helpful in getting me at least somewhat up to speed with the whole process.
Great to hear!
Great video shows things are improving yes lots to do but better every week it seems nowadays
Great overview of charging, thanks for that. As for rfid cards, i wanted to try out the Be.EV card( I was sent one after a debacle in East Lancashire 2 years ago), at the new hub set up at the IMO car wash here. The time of day with busy traffic and the fact that I can park my car in the garage and get cheap overnight charge meant a drive past this week. @82p/kWh is steep and the busy road to cross to the B&Q etc in the business park limits shopping big items, perhaps. What occurred to me was wondering if you get your car washed before or after charge, if you wanted to blow some money? 8x150kW CCS and 4xCHadeMO50kW, is quite a hub really, so in future will help some to get a quick charge with no queueing. Recent hub additions have improved the drive-through charging up here(including a Starbucks/Ionity set-up), in Carlisle, all we need is cheaper cars to become more popular with the drivers.
Great video Andrew.
As a wheelchair user the only site reviewed here that is partially accessible is the Paisley Pear site; but it could be better.
Around 95% of public infrastructure fails to meet the minimum accessibility standards laid out in BSI PAS 1899:2022 :(
Sainsbury's in Kidderminster now has 16, 150kw points. As you say, it's expensive at 0.75/kw but it helped me get a parking space when the rest of the carpark was full for the new year bank holiday rush.
In Australia we have gone from a Tesla M3 RWD LFP to the BYD Seal equivalent which has the much bigger blade battery such that the slow 50s are faster enough for us to have lunch half way and not get indigestion running back to move the car from an overstay.
Mégane does preheat but you have to set the charger as a destination in satnav then it does it.
Thanks Andrew! I'm so glad you managed to squeeze in Fastned - we have an excellent on nearby (on your way to Norfolk) with a Greggs so you can get your free Octopus Coffee!
Gridserve M6 j1 have 12 chargers, generally 4 or 5 are always faulty. 6 are ccs/cademo with no signage, so people tend to connect to ccs/chademo with ccs only chargers being empty..
The option to pay using Contactless is a big step forward. However I hit a problem travelling after Christmas, where my contactless was refused. Didn't understand as I'd used the MFG charger just 4 days before. I downloaded and installed their app which did work, but I later realised that the problem was that I needed to enter my PIN which wasn't possible on the charger.. (Later realised I could have used Electroverse!)
I was pleasantly surprised by the availability and reliability of UK rapid chargers when I last visited the UK, in May 2023. Here in the Netherlands we have plenty of AC chargers in town centres and residential neighbourhoods, but I've never seen a rapid charger at a supermarket or pub, which is pretty common in the UK and is really handy - As you say, a visit to the supermarket gives plenty of time to fully charge on a rapid charger.
I'm looking forward to seeing the improvements when I next visit because it really looks like the UK is ramping up now.
Hi Andrew, very much enjoy your videos and your fairminded reasonableness. Not every drawback in life is a “scandal” that engenders “fury”! Since September, I’ve owned an Ioniq 6 (excellent car), but until three weeks ago, when my home charger was installed (not easy as the garage is someway from the house) I had to use public provision and must say that I found the Mer AC chargers very dependable. Moreover, the first time I used a DC rapid charger in a busy car park I got so confused that I had to phone Mer. The operator was so helpful, staying with me until the charger was operating and then following up with an email giving step-by-step instructions! I’ve also found the BP 50 kilowatt chargers to be okay, but the 150 kW ones near me have been very unreliable. Looking forward to seeing part two of your road trip to Italy in the Tesla.
That's great to hear you've had a good experience with Mer. To their credit, the operator on the phone was quick to answer and very helpful when I spoke to them. Just the hardware that was rubbish in my case.
Me and my fiancé are picking up a Renault Megane E-Tech Iconic with the heat pump to pre condition the battery, it would be interesting to compare charge speeds to what you got on your Megane.
Your videos make me less worried about switching from Tesla to Volvo or polestar but not made a definitive decision yet ( will have to soon as my lease runs out in 3 months)
Electroverse cards work great, and our Aldi is installing more chargers - so an hours worth of top-up when I go shopping (7kW max)
I've had my ID.3 coming up to one year now. I have charged a dozen times. I've only not been able to charge once, at an MFG near Bury St Edmunds, I've used it before and it worked fine, the charger just wasn't locking to the car and kept failing. I have used Shell, BP Pulse, Instavolt, Fastned, Ionity, Osprey, Gridserve (the charging hub at Norwich). Plus I have used a few destination chargers. I think we need more destination chargers and they need to be easier to start charging. And I have charged once in the Netherlands. I'll be in Ireland in the summer, so it will be interesting to see what charging is like over there.
Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire are pretty good for charging. Good charging going in around Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, Norwich, Thetford, Cambridge etc. Plenty of options along the A14.
Wish Gloucestershire had more DC rapid chargers we have shell does 175Kw rest Cheltenham & Gloucestershire between most below 50Kw odd few 100Kw or more or street chargers our council does mainly 7Kw
Mer do a lot of the NHS workplace charging up here in the north east and a few places have some 25kw DC charging. Always seemed quite good to me.. but not many large DC hubs out and about really. They bought out hubsta who were more workplace/ destination charger focussed.
I didn't know anyone was doing 25kW DC apart from Alfa Power (if they still exist). That's great Mer are doing that.
@@MrEV I think they convinced hospitals it was useful for a different dwell time use case and that there wouldn't be any cars able to use 22ow AC.
You get less losses from it so there are certain price advantages to DC charging
I have had the same experience with Geniepoint, BP and Shell chargers. Too many of them are not working. Many of the BP chargers are very old 50Kw.
After another disaster trying to find a DC charger (read: occupied, not working, card not accepted) and ending up limping home at 2% SoC here in The Netherlands I've decided to boot my Polestar 2. It's a great car and I see a lot of potential in EV driving, but not right now.
It's just not worth the stress getting into your car already having to worry about your next charge.
Back to hybrid it is.
What a shame. And I thought Netherlands was fantastic for chargers?!
I have been through the Netherlands a few times and always use Fastned. I've never had a problem.
Hi Andrew, I agree with you rapid charging is expensive it would be great if the VAT could be dropped down to 5%. But what the charging companies could do is do the same as tesla offer off peak charging prices because the the company would be getting the electric at a cheaper tariff. And yes we could do with a lot more destination chargers.and finally I agree with you on the best networks. Have you got to be an octopus customer to use the electro verse card and if not does the card work with all the uk networks. Thanks for a very informative video as usual.
Definitely more destination charging would be nice.
If anybody has any recommendations in the Penrith, UK area for overnight accommodation with destination charging I would be interested. A well known website seems to report some as having charging but they do not. 🤔
Kempower is really the benchmark all chargers should follow
It is, they are so very well thought out, the user experience is top notch!
Price per Kw?
@@stevenbarrett7648 Not kempower's domain, you'll need to check the power company that has installed them and put their brand on them for a charging price
Honestly a good way to keep reviewing with the changes - I'm trying to explore more corners of England and Mainland Europe and it feels a bit less bad than what I saw pre-2020s, but still the odd anxiety here and there, especially with CHAdeMO and about 50 miles of comfortable motorway range. Really in the Dave Takes It On mood as summer approaches
If Osprey had more coverage it would probably be much higher regarded, because it's been the best experience of all so far. BP Pulse and Shell are fine, but I'm more attracted to them because of how wide reaching they are (plus I got some free BP Pulse credit as part of my Admiral insurance)
Combine these with cost appropriate lamppost charging all over the gaff and we'll see somewhere around 40% EVs by the end of the decade
Thanks Andrew. My next car will be an EV. I will be able to charge at home with grid and solar. The RFID cards I was not aware of so thank you for that.
Thanks for the tips. I’ve ordered the Electroverse card via your link. Really enjoy your coverage. Will you be reviewing the Volvo EX30 soon?
Thank you! I'd love to try the EX30. It's on my long list of EVs to test this year!
Great content.
Just to say I love this channel. Real life real stuff real problems real world. Thanks
Thanks so much!
Great review, Andrew 👍🏻. While I had a Megane I just loved seeing it peak at just shy of its theoretical 130! And, of course, the secret weapon is its 22kW AC charging. In that car I did 3,000 miles in one week all around GB mainland - so easy! I don’t know exactly how many public chargers I have visited or used in the last two-and-a-bit years, but since getting a Tesla I know (through the API feed to Teslafi) that I have exceeded 170 in 17,000 miles. YES 170 charges in 7 months. Rarely have I found chargers not working when I wanted them, but I have visited a good number that I would have expected to be potentially troublesome - you soon learn the CPOs that are reliable and the ones where you are taking a risk - just as you highlight!
170 chargers in 7 months is an amazing number!
Sixty Tesla sites open to non-Teslas in UK, very useful for longer trips
Great video. I’m yet to get the Electroverse to work!
You mean you've not tried it, or you've tried and it's failed?
@@MrEV tried and failed the one time I tried.
The infrastructure is generally ok and improving with fewer 50kW single chargers stuck in the corner of some obscure car park in the middle of nowhere. However the elephant in the room is the price per kW which is generally four times the home peak rate which is obscene. The charger companies are spending a lot of money on the infrastructure and will have negotiated a low bulk rate for the energy from the providing company, however this is not being passed on to the end user with the companies trying to cover cost too quickly. Profit over customer care/loyalty. Standard modern business model - pay the shareholders and screw the customers!
There is a price cap on domestic electricity. Whereas for business use there isn't, so charger companies have to pay more for their electricity. Could they charge less if they wanted to? probably, yes. That's business though.
Thats a very informative video Andrew, it makes a lot of concerns about rapid charging less concerning. Im not sure the supermarkets price competition idea will fly though, they aren’t much cheaper for fossil fuel than the main culprits, maybe 1 or 2 p a litre and that goes up and down like a yoyo, so i don’t see a cheap charge for charging being on the way…hope I’m wrong. The other thing is locals will just park their EVs in the spaces most of the time blocking them for other users unless the shops do something to prevent that.
We recently visited moto exeter services half the gridserve chargers out of service engineer on site said he was the only one to cover Devon and Cornwall what a situation!
New EV owner here. Didn't have home charger for first month so was reliant on public chargers. Frankly, no issue whatsoever. There's an open to the public Tesla supercharger near me, so I used that so much cheaper than anywhere else, especially if you sign up. Worth looking at that network
I'm kicking myself for not mentioning Tesla when I was talking about the most reliable networks!
I have a question for you if you go on a long trip and you charge at say Instvolt you have to pay a preauthorisation payment of £45 and then your next charge stop is also a Instavolt do you have pay that again? Cuz that’s just silly £90 in preauthorisation payments
In my experience it gets 'refunded' pretty quickly: long before you'd need to reach the next charge stop. But yes, in theory they could all stack up. Another good reason for using an RFID card like Electroverse.
i'm fine with the 50kwh+ chargers being expensive to lower the demand for in the moment charges that are urgently needed. so long as the lower speed chargers are circa half the price so most of the time we (people with no driveway charging) get a decent price at supermarkets etc. then on the odd occasion when we do a really long journey we pay more and hopefully that will mean there's a lower chance of a queue.
Dear Mr. EV :) Can you talk more about prices? Where is cheap? Which service and membership to use to reduce the prices?
Recently dropped in to an Instavolt charger in Glenrothes. Ridiculously expensive. Only charged enough to get home (about 15 minutes). Lots of places (include my nearest at Abington services) are upgrading charge points. I think they had two non-Tesla Charge points (they have about 8 tesla superchargers) but are almost up and running with what looked like a dozen Gridserve chargers. Gridserve doing sterling work upgrading charge points just about everywhere. Tesla have also been upgrading their superchargers from the 130kW variety to 250kw+ and adding more. Still waiting for Gretna Green to get more than 4. If you need to stop at Gretna - you may find queue - would recommend just charging enough to get to Abington, Northbound or Tebay Southbound.
Generally its been a good year. Did come across an issue when the ambient temp was in the high 30s/40s and chargers were direct sunlight. They might not get you the charge you were expecting - stopping prematurely. Overheated. Just went to another on the same site.
If you're back in Glenrothes and need a charge, head to the Fife Council ones at Bankhead, just off the bypass. £1.75 for the first kWh, only 15p/kWh thereafter. The council also have a rapid in Fluthers car park in Cupar, or loads at Halbeath P&R next to the M90 (Junction 3).
The Mer charger was very meh. But otherwise the rest of the chargers worked well for you.
I totally agree with you on adding moredestination chargers. I am sure that for the cost of one rapid charger they could fit 20 to 30 destination chargers. Also makes better use of smaller electric connections.
Sad to see no InstaVolt chargers used last year Andrew!
They weren’t on Electroverse at the time… this year may be different!
The thing is, in 6 yrs time, 2030, 80% of each manufactures cars sold in the UK shall be pure EV. How many of those manufacturers will be prepared to carry on providing ICE vehicles which by then will be only 20% of their sales, and rapidly declining to 0% by 2035...not many I'd think? Anyway, Mer was a bit crap when I last tried their chargers a years ago, I hope they've upgraded the experience now. Keep this going, Andrew & "team", your viewers will suddenly increase once we reach the critical point. I'd guess that will be in 2-3 yrs time when the penny finally drops with those of limited foresight.
great vid as always, in some ways I am glad I went Tesla only for the network but things have vastly improved from when I had my i3 (miss that car) and when my contract is up see what I move to next in 3 years charging network should be even better
Thanks sir! Much less hassle with a Tesla, although I wonder whether the popularity of Superchargers means there's now more chance of a queue of Teslas where chargers from other networks are less used? Have you had any issues in that respect?
Imagine how things will be in three years! Maybe there'll be hydrogen stations everywhere then. 😀
I have had to queue at some Tesla chargers like south mimms but there are not enough there but generally the car tells you how long and usually not more than 5-10mins
@@TheEVside That's great. I love the way Teslas now tell you how many other people are navigating to the same charger.
Love to see your first rapid was in leafykins :) #lovelifeleaf
I note you didn't try any Geniepoint chargers, probably because you knew they would be out of order! Recent visit to Leeds from west Cumbria, charged at Podpoint at Tesco, 50kw charger and got near that (kia e niro). Got 3.6m/kwh in freezing conditions, dark, rain, snow.
I actually have a pretty good success rate with GeniePoint with my Leaf but they'd never be my first choice!
I bought an Ioniq 5 two years ago and have charged at public charges wgen away from home. Never had a problem. If a place was full another one down the road was available. The recent OTA update also gives excellent route planning with better charging options than various apps which are available.
That's fantastic. A shame I didn't have my IONIQ 5 when that OTA update was released as I'd love to have tested it.
I've not watched the video yet, but personally I think on-street and destination AC charging really needs to pick up. I recently stayed at a Travelodge with an onsite Gridserve hub with a load of rapid chargers. I actually found it a bit of a pain to take half hour out of my evening to make sure I was charged for the morning. I'd have much prefered a plug-in and forget AC charger to charge me to 100% overnight.
I'm going from the Sussex to Scotland next week, hopefully my experience matches yours!
we went to Crieff from Cardiff inDecember...couldnt charge to 100% as solar installation was blocking home charger so left with 70% Got to m50/m6 junction and stopped for a cup of tea at strencham but the only § charger was in use so drove up motorway to next junction and 2 miles off motorway charged at a bp pluse using contactless card. Got to Carlisle on the charge and charged overnight at hotel . There were chargers in Crieff supported by the Scottish govt...fast charging at 35p per kWh...not bad! On the return, stopped at tebay , but only Tesla chargers there , but more non Tesla chargers were being installed, however the next services weren't far had charger worked fine when we had a cup of tea and a snack. Overall, not a problem. Was in south Simms services on the m25 last week for the second time in about 9 months...I was impressed with the 10 fast chargers and 12 Tesla chargers the first time I went there, but last week there were an additional 24 Tesla chargers just being finished, and additional other fast chargers being commissioned so massive increases. Reading services on the m4 has changed dramatically in the 4 years we have driven a Kona ev, going from 2 fast chargers to over 30 I think, the last time I was there a month ago. I don't worry about long journeys any mores, especially if you charge when you get to 30% or so and drive off once you've had a cup of tea and a pee as that normally bumps you up enough to drive as much as you want even at the 70kwh charging speed of the Kona....
Renault are using Google Maps like Volvo ... next best thing after Tesla. I use BP because they are were I go and rolling out chargers at M&S stores. I also use Ionity because I get a discount with Volvo - 47p. in both cases I get a monthly bill rather than charged per session
Yes, it's great - I wish I had a chance to go to Italy in the Megane to test it properly.
The one issue I have with this post is the Fact you charged to 100% at least 3 times on public chargers tying up that charger for One and a half hours .I have never charged to 100 % on a public charger I will only do that home before a long journey .I always move off after getting the car to above 80%
There were other chargers available, it wasn’t busy, and I moved the car as soon as possible each time. Ordinarily I would certainly do what you suggested though.
When you travel through Europe, all chargers must have credit card terminals working. Even toilets or condom kiosks have these.
It's happening slowly but it's odd that it's one way the UK is quite far ahead. Some countries are also better than others. I heard from a friend that Spain is a nightmare!
Kerbo Charge just won investment on Dragons Den…
Been driving an EV since 2014, had a few minor issues in the early days but nothing outrageous.
We swapped to a Tesla in 2022 and to be honest we will never go anywhere else for on-route charging.
Other than that we usually charge to 80% on Octopus overnight cheap rate or off our own Solar battery if there’s anything left in it.
A typical day running around doing jobs etc, about 100+ miles costs less than £2.00 per day, sometimes a little more sometimes a little less.
We like to keep about 100 miles in the battery pack once it gets below that we do the overnight 2330 to 0430 octopus charge (also top off the solar battery whilst its cheap rate).
Once you get into a routine with an electric car then its all down hill from there.
I would say if you are looking at going electric seriously consider a Tesla, used, new, lease, PCP, PCH etc.
With home charging and Octopus overnight cheap rate plus the fantastic Tesla charging network (cheap compared to all others) makes it very easy to move over to electric, its the way to go
I agree with this. I have an ID.3 and am a bit of a geek so l like the minor "research" and various apps like ZapMap. However for people who just want to move to EV but don't want to plan ahead too much, a Tesla is perfect. My petrol-head nephew has just moved to a Tesla and he loves it. 25k for a M3 Performance Long Range.
Bit late to the party my closest charger is ionity , I have subscribed to get a lower price charge rate is there a card I can use ?
You’ve subscribed to IONITY? I think you just have to use their app to initiate a charge in that case. A bit annoying they don’t send out RFID cards!
It doesn't go too well with the upload of part two of the Italian adventure in the Tesla 3, does it?
It’s almost finished! It’s a long video and I’m at the mercy of CZcams’s algorithm so I have to release videos as fast as I can. That means I sometimes prioritise other videos I can produce a little faster while I’m still working on longer ones like the road trip part 2.
Andrew you must have one of the few reliable Tritium chargers in the world. Even Bjorn has had rants about the poor reliability of the Tritium hardware, here in Australia they are the worst charging hardware provider(even though they are local). I prefer Kempower or Alpitronics. Although we also have ABB as Bjorn calls it Always Be Broken.
2 things. How is it I have terrible trouble with contactless on chargers!!! I can’t get Electroverse card to work at all. It takes ages to find a card that works or have to revert to an app.
Secondly, I get you’re in a pub or whatever having lunch, but to leave it charging the whole time seems a little excessive. If I was passing and your car was sat at 100% while you finish your Tiramisu, I’d be fed up waiting for a charger. As you say 80% is fast, it takes ages to 100%, time others could use it. But I still love you.
That's very odd. So you find it doesn't work on chargers that it's supposed to work with?!
I'd also be miffed if someone was occupying a charger for ages at 100%! I'm a bit neurotic actually and run out and move the car as soon as the car tells me it's finished charging. My family always make fun out of me for that.
I'd also not charge up to 100% if it was busy.
In the case of the Osprey one at Paisley Pear, they actually have a couple of old chargers that have AC on them, so I'd be tempted to use one of them overnight instead - I just used the Kempower one for the sake of the video. Although I'd probably get Zoe drivers moaning at me for occupying an AC if I did that!
The answer, obviously, is to have far more chargers (AC and DC) and also to have idle fees at busy periods to discourage people from camping at 100%.
@@MrEVI just looked closely, I usually just take it out, wave it around and get frustrated. It’s Electric Juice. So perhaps it’s too old!! I’ll call them. Tried it at 4 different chargers with no luck.
I don't see why the price war hasn't happened yet, it's so much more expensive than in France.
Not enough EV’s or chargers rolled out yet to initiate this - the Oil Company based one’s will continue to milk customers until this happens. There will be a tipping point and quite soon when there are enough EV’s out there needing public charging that they won’t be able to do this. Don’t expect them to reduce prices until they are absolutely forced to.
@@ISuperTed But that's the thing, there are more EVs in the UK than France. Maybe there aren't enough chargers though.
There are way more charging hubs in France than the UK. We road trip Europe every summer and the growth of charging has been huge. All charging is clearly signposted on the motorways and most Aires now have charging alongside regular fuel. Much, much cheaper than the UK too.
I can plug my Kona in at local Tesla supercharger so I'm lucky there, costs me about £15-16 a week, I have a Tesla membership which is worth doing for me. I was recommended to get an Electroverse card which I also have now, not used it yet. Charging for me will likely be on Tesla if I can, or motorway services, with a bit of planning to make sure it's a reliable one.
I should have mentioned Tesla being so reliable! That's great it works so well for you with the membership.
@@MrEVThanks for a great channel btw. You gave me the push in realising I can afford my first EV after your recent e-Niro video! Been a fan of EVs for about 10 years :) Went with the Kona facelift in the end, such a lot of car for the money, it's the best car I've ever owned by a long way. Perfect car for me for commuting and occasional longer journeys, down to Cornwall, I'm hoping I can reach the Supercharger in Lifton (200 miles from me), or I could stop off at Exeter for a topup if needed. I might also get new tyres, for slightly better noise. The only thing Tesla need to do, which they already are, is upgrade all existing chargers to V4 with the longer cables so at the moment I have to charge taking up 2 parking spaces, but I always go when it's quiet anyway
Canterbury very poor for charging, I live in Thanet where we have loads of chargers including the brilliant new ones at Sainsburys.
Yes, Canterbury's been very slow, and I've been hounding the council relentlessly for years. Thank goodness for that MFG hub! I imagine it won't be long before Sainsbury's gets a hub in Canterbury too.
Hmm, does that car park still spend half the year under water?
Is there any issues regarding things like people hogging the charger. Is there any charging etiquette that EV owners have to learn?
I've heard of other people having that issue, but I've been very fortunate. I've seen people waiting until they're charged to 100% before leaving, but I've not seen any cars left fully charged and blocking a charger.
EV owners have nothing they need to learn but they should really get some guidance from dealers. Perhaps driving lessons should mention some basic etiquette as well?!
your hair at 13:00 😀
Andrew, if you’re in a normal EV, ie not a Tesla, how do you set about using an open Tesla Supercharger? It’s still a mystery to me!
If you download the Tesla app and create an account on there, you can then press on the Charge Your EV button, select the one you want to charge at and select the stall you want to charge at. Follow the instructions from then.
It’s quite simple after you get registered.
@@MrEV thanks so much. I know I’m dim about these things but it really helps.
Looking like a youtuber with all this regular content
Ideally we charge where we park rather than park to charge. Most of the time anyway.
Public charging is a mess. I take comfort from the fact that even in countries where they've mostly got EVs right - Norway for example - public charging is still a mess. It means we're all making the same mistakes. It needs government mandate to sort the mess out. Norway is now doing that, and I'm hoping that one day, we'll have enough of a functioning government that we can get it sorted too. Maybe.
In some ways we're doing even better here since so many of ours work with bank cards. We're arguably ahead of the rest of Europe in that respect. Much to do though, and I do keep my fingers crossed for a half-decent government some time soon!
Excuse me for asking but what security measures are in place to prevent thieves stealing your RFID card and using it to charge their EV?
I either keep it in the car or my pocket. If it got stolen (it’d be a very desperate EV driver to do that!) I’d call Octopus and get the card cancelled.
Public charging has now become an absolute rip-off. These big corporate companies have spotted a new market and are ripping off the general public whilst claiming they offer us a great service. Tesla prices are far more reasonable, but the maximum i would expect to pay. 35p should be the sweet spot. I refuse to use these chargers now and only charge at home. We only use public charging ( Tesla ) on our annual euro road trips each summer. On a note, charging in France is waaay cheaper than the uk. Good old Great Britain eh.
I get really annoyed at the cost of rapid chargers, especially from Shell and BP because they are just trying to make EV’s cost more to charge than ICE cars. I am glad that Tesla are opening up their network to all in the hope that they will instigate a price war so that these expensive chargers will be boycotted.
It is pure money-grabbing from the oil giants. They could undercut the whole industry (Tesla included) if they wanted to.
I desperately want to get a tesla but will be leasing on motability andthey arent avaliable at all. Can get awd ultimate ioniq5 or mustang mach e, even kia ev6 and now mercedes have join3d the scheme. So it isnt the cost making them out of reach, it would be a gqme changer for disabeld drivers relying on motability
I wonder why? It does seem odd. I wonder if that’s an issue with Tesla or Motability?
@@MrEVeven worse as of today they have put the prices up for most of the evs and taken away the awd versions of the Hyundai and Kia and effectively priced all the suitable EVs out of reach for most people. It’s gone from being a lifesaver to useless over night
Why not state the cost per kWh. Is it not on your spreadsheet?
Because so much of my charging sessions were 'free' (courtesy of Onto), I didn't make a note of the cost.
@@MrEV Nevertheless, unless you assumed your audience were in a similar position, it would have added to the value of the video. Thanks for your reply.
Mer (pronounced like the English word “mere”) is Norwegian for more in English. Relatively large operator in Norway and Sweden. I guess you got less this time. 😂
Somewhat jealous that you already got kempower. Here in Germany they just got certified end of 2023 and of course are nowhere to be found yet.
We have a lot of the Alpitronics Hyperchargers, which work fine but have the same overprovisioning issue.
I noticed a lot of Alpitronics around Europe and I don't think I've ever had an issue with one. Great chargers.
I see that my comment seems to have disappeared. It was a perfectly reasonable comment just not fawning all over Octopus Electroverse.
Very disappointing.
I can't think why it disappeared! What's your problem with Octopus Electroverse in particular? They offer cheaper rates and it tends be more reliable than bank cards.
Incidentally, my barber was driving a MINI Electric from Canterbury to Spain over Christmas and it saved their trip. Obviously any RFID is similarly useful, but Electroverse tends to be the cheapest.
The Electroverse charge 20% VAT so a bill of £10 becomes £12 added to your home fuel bill but at home we only pay 5% VAT, seems a bit odd to me if the electricity is billed from my home then it should be 5% not 20% for some and 5% for others…so saying we do have a card as its handy just in case we ever run out of power
That’s not Electroverse’s fault, it’s the same however you pay for charging when you can’t charge on your home supply. The current tax regulations require businesses to pay 20% VAT on electricity while the domestic rate is 5% and the charging networks are considered a business irrespective of the end user. Take a look at FairCharge who are campaigning to get VAT on EV charging reduced to 5% to make it fairer for those who can’t charge at home.
My problem is with the app. It seems to not work very well at all. I do not feel that I can rely on it. Also, the ABRP app seems to be similarly cranky so I suspect that they are the same under the skin.
Never be jealous of an E-tron - they're one of the most inefficient EVs there is. He or she may have charged faster than you, but they're going to spend more time at chargers than you will because they burn through the electrons at speed.