Journey charging points - did they work?

[Frimley111R]

Just been talking to a Leaf owner stranded by multiple charing points not working, he reckoned on average 3 out of 10 did. What's you experience?

[JonV8V]

Frimley111R said:

Just been talking to a Leaf owner stranded by multiple charing points not working, he reckoned on average 3 out of 10 did. What's you experience?

No idea as I've not taken delivery so not tried but ZAPMAP gives you a status which is meant to give you the current status.

[gangzoom]

Frimley111R said:

Just been talking to a Leaf owner stranded by multiple charing points not working, he reckoned on average 3 out of 10 did. What's you experience?

I've experienced 66% failure rate on one run, on others 100% reliability.

You need to have a plan A/B/C if taking the Leaf beyond it's 80-100 mile range. I always assume the 'planned' charger may not be in action, and have a backup (usually local Nissan dealer) if the worst was to happen.

Going to do a 300 mile trip in the Leaf in a few weekends, so will report back than

[PKLD]

I think it depends on how frequently they are used as I've seen some charge points that look badly worn/rusted/connectors loose etc

But I've only experienced 2 complete failures, the other couple of times the technical support managed to remotely start and end my charging session (Charge-your-Car). Maybe up here in Scotland there's less competition for charging sessions?

Like others I usually give myself a couple of options on longer trips so sometimes I stop 'early' to secure a charge and that way I have a plan B if worse case happens. I've only used the rapid chargers so no idea if the 'fast' chargers are any less/more reliable, my Leaf is only a 3.3kw so takes an age on anything other than the DC rapid chargers!

Here's my little record of a 330+ mile trip using a few chargers:

http://jorro.co.uk/latest-news/337-miles-across-ru...

(not sure if link is allowed, mods feel free to remove link)

[FiF]

Wonder about zap map sometimes. It shows accurately a couple of recently installed rapid chargers at retail parks, though personally I would have to be desperate to pay the £5.50 for 45 mins plus 15p/min plus suspect the normal P&D parking charge on top.

Yet it shows the lovely free pod point outside the office as disconnected and not functioning. There's a Leaf charging there 2/3 days a week so it works, at least when it's not ICE blocked.

[jkh112]

I have an outlander so charging when out and about does not worry me too much but when stopping at motorway services I do,usually look to recharge. I would say around a third of the time I find chargers which are obviously faulty or will not connect to the car, but a recent journey from Gatwick to Bristol with a tired family which entailed many stops showed an almost 100% failure rate and I commented at the time that I was glad the car was not pure EV.

[PKLD]

FiF said:

Wonder about zap map sometimes. It shows accurately a couple of recently installed rapid chargers at retail parks, though personally I would have to be desperate to pay the £5.50 for 45 mins plus 15p/min plus suspect the normal P&D parking charge on top.

Yet it shows the lovely free pod point outside the office as disconnected and not functioning. There's a Leaf charging there 2/3 days a week so it works, at least when it's not ICE blocked.

thats interesting don't think I've seen that kind of charging up here... yet

why would it be 15p/per min? surely it would be a charge for the number of units drawn? (not including any parking charges)

Thats why I'm telling people to get the new 150 mile range Zoe, it can't rapid charge but if you can travel another 20-30 miles you probably can do most journeys by-passing public charge points and only use them as a bonus (if they're working)

[dave_s13]

I've only used public points a handful of times and would guess about only a 60% success rate.

As said, you need a backup plan or a good recovery service. We never use ours for long distances though so not a problem.

[FiF]

PKLD said:

FiF said:

Wonder about zap map sometimes. It shows accurately a couple of recently installed rapid chargers at retail parks, though personally I would have to be desperate to pay the £5.50 for 45 mins plus 15p/min plus suspect the normal P&D parking charge on top.

Yet it shows the lovely free pod point outside the office as disconnected and not functioning. There's a Leaf charging there 2/3 days a week so it works, at least when it's not ICE blocked.

thats interesting don't think I've seen that kind of charging up here... yet

why would it be 15p/per min? surely it would be a charge for the number of units drawn? (not including any parking charges)

Thats why I'm telling people to get the new 150 mile range Zoe, it can't rapid charge but if you can travel another 20-30 miles you probably can do most journeys by-passing public charge points and only use them as a bonus (if they're working)

Will have to go in and have a proper look as opposed to relying on zap map. It's academic for me as it's just 7 miles down the road but it's pretty clear.

1 x 43 kw T2 Mennekes, 1 x 50kw ChadeMo, 1 x 50 kw ccs combo.
Charge your car card which as I understand is linked to debit and credit card pay as you go.
5.50 first 45 minutes, 15p/min after that. Presumably to get rapid turnover.
Parking charges may apply. Which for hour or part is another £1.10p.

:lockstock:
Seems expensive
:/lockstock:

Have a look Weavers wharf Kidderminster.

[PKLD]

FiF said:

Will have to go in and have a proper look as opposed to relying on zap map. It's academic for me as it's just 7 miles down the road but it's pretty clear.

1 x 43 kw T2 Mennekes, 1 x 50kw ChadeMo, 1 x 50 kw ccs combo.
Charge your car card which as I understand is linked to debit and credit card pay as you go.
5.50 first 45 minutes, 15p/min after that. Presumably to get rapid turnover.
Parking charges may apply. Which for hour or part is another £1.10p.

:lockstock:
Seems expensive
:/lockstock:

Have a look Weavers wharf Kidderminster.

Ah ok that makes a bit more sense as I don't think I've ever spent more than 30-35 min at a charger as from 15-20% up to around 85% is ok but staying beyond that is like watching paint dry as it slows down ALOT after that... but some other EV/PHEV owners quite happily walk off and leave their car hooked in for full charges so I'd actually be happy with the 45 min limit.

But £5.50 is a chunk of money... but only because I'm so used to free fuel!

If I get a decent charge of say 18kWh (70% of charge in my Leaf) for my fiver that's 30p a unit which is way more than double what a standard electricity cost would be.

But it would still work out to 7.6p per mile, or the equivalent of 66p a litre of petrol/diesel for a car doing 40mpg...

(can't believe my 1000th PH post is working out pence per mile of a non-piston powered car, who'd have thunk... I joined for the TVRs!!!)

[budfox]

I've used pretty much every Ecotricity point on the M5 between Exeter and Bristol, and in the last six months, every single one of them has worked every single time.

They were a little unreliable a year ago but now I can't fault the service.

I've never had to wait, though the two at Exeter services are known to be very popular and I have had some waiting to charge there whilst I and another Leaf owner were charging.