Its not good enough, really
Discussion
Now I know your experiences my differ and even I myself have had good experiences at times with public fast charging. But more often than not, its not a good experience and this past weekend has just annoyed me to the point I won't be bothering taking the EV on a long journey again. Certainly not if having to go north.
Had a long rambling post but, in short:
Its just wasn't a nice experience. Poor locations for the first set of chargers we stopped at making them tricky to get to when there are 1000s of other people rushing to the shops, chargers not accepting payment, chargers running way below advertised speeds (75kW when its a 350kW charger), having to hunt around for chargers that will work, help lines stuck on elevator music etc etc. 89p/kWh for the privilege meaning the p/mile is worse than our petrol car. Its not really good enough IMO. It certainly doesn't make me want to keep trying.
The other thing is, queuing etiquette: It seems quit stressful this as you arrive, its not clear who's waiting or where they are in the queue. Then you have people rocking up at just the right time as one charger is vacated and the person who'd patiently waited for it, didn't get round to it in time. Then they have to faff about explaining they were waiting and shuffle cars around. That really doesn't work for me. They need to build more chargers or also build someway of forming an orderly queue.
To counter...I've had really good experiences with Gridserve 350kW stations on the M1 when doing jaunts south. But this stuff isn't going to take off if the charging experience is as frustrating as I found it this weekend.
Had a long rambling post but, in short:
Its just wasn't a nice experience. Poor locations for the first set of chargers we stopped at making them tricky to get to when there are 1000s of other people rushing to the shops, chargers not accepting payment, chargers running way below advertised speeds (75kW when its a 350kW charger), having to hunt around for chargers that will work, help lines stuck on elevator music etc etc. 89p/kWh for the privilege meaning the p/mile is worse than our petrol car. Its not really good enough IMO. It certainly doesn't make me want to keep trying.
The other thing is, queuing etiquette: It seems quit stressful this as you arrive, its not clear who's waiting or where they are in the queue. Then you have people rocking up at just the right time as one charger is vacated and the person who'd patiently waited for it, didn't get round to it in time. Then they have to faff about explaining they were waiting and shuffle cars around. That really doesn't work for me. They need to build more chargers or also build someway of forming an orderly queue.
To counter...I've had really good experiences with Gridserve 350kW stations on the M1 when doing jaunts south. But this stuff isn't going to take off if the charging experience is as frustrating as I found it this weekend.
Welcome to the North.
If you look to your right, you'll see what the Torries left behind for us as their last thought.
If you look to the left, you'll see this thing they call levelling up. No one is quite sure what it will actually do or even if it is a thing. We just know its a bunch of words.
If you look down towards the south, especially London. What you will see is Torrie land, where they have their limited eyesight to anything anyone actually needs elsewhere.
Moral of the story, if you own an EV and go up North you need to plan. Its the forgotten land that needs much more than EV chargers.
If you look to your right, you'll see what the Torries left behind for us as their last thought.
If you look to the left, you'll see this thing they call levelling up. No one is quite sure what it will actually do or even if it is a thing. We just know its a bunch of words.
If you look down towards the south, especially London. What you will see is Torrie land, where they have their limited eyesight to anything anyone actually needs elsewhere.
Moral of the story, if you own an EV and go up North you need to plan. Its the forgotten land that needs much more than EV chargers.
Driving around in my diesel barge, I'm noticing chargers popping up here, there and everywhere.
I'm not noticing many queues.
I think that if I had a car with >150 mile range, 'not enough chargers' would not be a thing any more, I'd probably need to charge on about 20 journeys a year and I tend to avoid peak times.
The trouble is, most people use the chargers so little, it's not familiar.
If people wanted it, there would be virtual queueing on apps.
We get some grockles down here who only ever use chargers on one or two holiday trips a year, they moan a bit about 'they didn't know' and 'it's changed since last year'.
The price is a popular complaint though!
I'm not noticing many queues.
I think that if I had a car with >150 mile range, 'not enough chargers' would not be a thing any more, I'd probably need to charge on about 20 journeys a year and I tend to avoid peak times.
The trouble is, most people use the chargers so little, it's not familiar.
If people wanted it, there would be virtual queueing on apps.
We get some grockles down here who only ever use chargers on one or two holiday trips a year, they moan a bit about 'they didn't know' and 'it's changed since last year'.
The price is a popular complaint though!
Ankh87 said:
Welcome to the North.
If you look to your right, you'll see what the Torries left behind for us as their last thought.
If you look to the left, you'll see this thing they call levelling up. No one is quite sure what it will actually do or even if it is a thing. We just know its a bunch of words.
If you look down towards the south, especially London. What you will see is Torrie land, where they have their limited eyesight to anything anyone actually needs elsewhere.
Moral of the story, if you own an EV and go up North you need to plan. Its the forgotten land that needs much more than EV chargers.
What have the Torries got to do with installing EV Charge points?If you look to your right, you'll see what the Torries left behind for us as their last thought.
If you look to the left, you'll see this thing they call levelling up. No one is quite sure what it will actually do or even if it is a thing. We just know its a bunch of words.
If you look down towards the south, especially London. What you will see is Torrie land, where they have their limited eyesight to anything anyone actually needs elsewhere.
Moral of the story, if you own an EV and go up North you need to plan. Its the forgotten land that needs much more than EV chargers.
I travel up to Northumberland quite a bit, either the M1 or M6, and there have been vast improvements in Charge hubs over the past few years.
Where is it that you have tried to charge?
I have just sold my Taycan, but stopped using it on long trips after experiencing problems with chargers not working and the stress of charging etiquette. On one trip I stopped to charge at a Shell garage, they had two chargers, one not working and the other occupied by a fully charged BMW whose owner was nowhere to be seen. I waited for 15 minutes before limping to a pub to slow charge (50kw) for half an hour to get me to the Solstice charge site on the A303. A three hour journey ended up taking the best part of five hours
I think EV’s are great and home charging is brilliant, but until they can get real world range of 400 miles and our pitiful network improves, along with solving etiquette issues I’m out. Once again, it works so much better on the continent.
I think EV’s are great and home charging is brilliant, but until they can get real world range of 400 miles and our pitiful network improves, along with solving etiquette issues I’m out. Once again, it works so much better on the continent.
Otispunkmeyer said:
Now I know your experiences my differ and even I myself have had good experiences at times with public fast charging. But more often than not, its not a good experience and this past weekend has just annoyed me to the point I won't be bothering taking the EV on a long journey again. Certainly not if having to go north.
Been there once - or at least in the neighbourhood. Noname DC changer somewhere in rural Slovenia, google-translating text copied from a photo on the mobile phone, QR code leading to a site that is not online...Question: have you tried IONITY? In my experience (in Central Europe) they deliver the promised power. If a charger happens to be down, a call to the helpline gets a reboot in minutes (I've called a couple of times - while charging on the charger next to it). 0.43£/kWh with 10.5£/month subscription, 0.53£ with the 5.5£ one.
Ankh87 said:
Welcome to the North.
If you look to your right, you'll see what the Torries left behind for us as their last thought.
If you look to the left, you'll see this thing they call levelling up. No one is quite sure what it will actually do or even if it is a thing. We just know its a bunch of words.
If you look down towards the south, especially London. What you will see is Torrie land, where they have their limited eyesight to anything anyone actually needs elsewhere.
Moral of the story, if you own an EV and go up North you need to plan. Its the forgotten land that needs much more than EV chargers.
What makes you think London is Tory? If you look to your right, you'll see what the Torries left behind for us as their last thought.
If you look to the left, you'll see this thing they call levelling up. No one is quite sure what it will actually do or even if it is a thing. We just know its a bunch of words.
If you look down towards the south, especially London. What you will see is Torrie land, where they have their limited eyesight to anything anyone actually needs elsewhere.
Moral of the story, if you own an EV and go up North you need to plan. Its the forgotten land that needs much more than EV chargers.
The Mayor is Labour. The vast majority of London MP's are Labour, as are the borough councils. That's despite the Tory landslide at the last election. I suspect it will be even more Labour after the next election.
Regardless political parties don't build and run fuel stations. Businesses do
PetrolHeadInRecovery said:
Otispunkmeyer said:
Now I know your experiences my differ and even I myself have had good experiences at times with public fast charging. But more often than not, its not a good experience and this past weekend has just annoyed me to the point I won't be bothering taking the EV on a long journey again. Certainly not if having to go north.
Been there once - or at least in the neighbourhood. Noname DC changer somewhere in rural Slovenia, google-translating text copied from a photo on the mobile phone, QR code leading to a site that is not online...Question: have you tried IONITY? In my experience (in Central Europe) they deliver the promised power. If a charger happens to be down, a call to the helpline gets a reboot in minutes (I've called a couple of times - while charging on the charger next to it). 0.43£/kWh with 10.5£/month subscription, 0.53£ with the 5.5£ one.
A) Metro Centre IONITY
B) Leeds-Skelton Lake services IONITY.
InstaVolt to the rescue on A) and with B) we just waited it out.
Another thing to add is that it makes doing the battery pre-conditioning a bit pointless. The car spends a good 30mins warming stuff up and then when you get to the charger you either have to wait for ages, or it doesn't work or it doesn't actually charge that fast. So you spent precious range for nought.
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Monday 17th June 15:47
Otispunkmeyer said:
Funny you mention IONITY.... these were the chargers that either A) wouldn't accept payment or B) didn't run anywhere near their claimed output!
A) Metro Centre IONITY
B) Leeds-Skelton Lake services IONITY.
Ouch, sorry to hear that! What's next - someone tells me that father Christmas doesn't exist?? A) Metro Centre IONITY
B) Leeds-Skelton Lake services IONITY.
I've found just one station that on two occasions didn't quite deliver the promised power. I have tried quite a few of them inside the "Sop (Croatia) - Södertälje (Sweden) and Lecce (Italy)"-triangle. Sad to hear the UK is a different story!
I've had no problems for the last 18 months or so, and currently do a trip approx monthly that does require me to charge for approx 15 mins en route.
Although I do check the chargers as they come up along the route to see how many are occupied, and if it's only 1 that isn't I'll typically head onto the next place to charge.
My phone and car both tell me when the charger was last used too, which makes it fairly obvious if it's not actually in a functioning state. Part of me questions how on earth some people manage to go to one unavailable or broken charger after another - it's fairly easy to avoid that 99% of the time.
My go to these days tends to be supermarket car parks with multiple rapid chargers, because they're all fairly new, all seem to just work and are competitively priced. 15 minutes in a supermarket buying steak and wine isn't exactly a hardship and probably costs me less than junk food from a service station
RE actual charge speed - it's mildly annoying if a charger that's supposed to 200kw is only putting out 80kw... But there is always something useful I can do with extra 10-15 minutes, I usually do a more thorough food shop or reply to some annoying emails I'd been putting off.
Although I do check the chargers as they come up along the route to see how many are occupied, and if it's only 1 that isn't I'll typically head onto the next place to charge.
My phone and car both tell me when the charger was last used too, which makes it fairly obvious if it's not actually in a functioning state. Part of me questions how on earth some people manage to go to one unavailable or broken charger after another - it's fairly easy to avoid that 99% of the time.
My go to these days tends to be supermarket car parks with multiple rapid chargers, because they're all fairly new, all seem to just work and are competitively priced. 15 minutes in a supermarket buying steak and wine isn't exactly a hardship and probably costs me less than junk food from a service station
RE actual charge speed - it's mildly annoying if a charger that's supposed to 200kw is only putting out 80kw... But there is always something useful I can do with extra 10-15 minutes, I usually do a more thorough food shop or reply to some annoying emails I'd been putting off.
Ankh87 said:
Welcome to the North.
If you look to your right, you'll see what the Torries left behind for us as their last thought.
If you look to the left, you'll see this thing they call levelling up. No one is quite sure what it will actually do or even if it is a thing. We just know its a bunch of words.
If you look down towards the south, especially London. What you will see is Torrie land, where they have their limited eyesight to anything anyone actually needs elsewhere.
Moral of the story, if you own an EV and go up North you need to plan. Its the forgotten land that needs much more than EV chargers.
1. What is a Torrie ?If you look to your right, you'll see what the Torries left behind for us as their last thought.
If you look to the left, you'll see this thing they call levelling up. No one is quite sure what it will actually do or even if it is a thing. We just know its a bunch of words.
If you look down towards the south, especially London. What you will see is Torrie land, where they have their limited eyesight to anything anyone actually needs elsewhere.
Moral of the story, if you own an EV and go up North you need to plan. Its the forgotten land that needs much more than EV chargers.
2. London isn't Conservative so I'm still lost with your wild comments.
It’s all about planning ahead and having a plan a, a plan b and a plan c (just like the Ferrari F1 team does).
The only public charger issue I’ve experienced in nigh on 3 years of BEV ownership is a cable being jammed on the Volvo because somehow there’s been a comms error between the car and the charger - this was at Moto Exeter last year. Managed to resolve it (there’s an emergency release cable) which the guy on the helpline told me about. Oh I did have a slight issue with an Ionity on the way to Suffolk in January, but that got sorted by another helpful helpline guy in 3 mins (first time Ionity user).
Haven’t been further north than Suffolk since the pandemic, but been to west Cornwall numerous times (280 ish miles from here on the South Coast). 100% charge at home, 45-70% at Exeter for 15 ish minutes, then free charging at the hotel. Exeter on the way back for 15 mins or so. Whole trip public charger wise is £38, plus £8 at home. In a few weeks we’ll be doing the same journey in the XKR which I estimate will cost potentially £250 ish round trip. Mind you the 507bhp S/C V8 does sound better than the Volvo’s 408bhp motors. We’re stopping at some nice hotels en route so, pushing the boat out.
The only public charger issue I’ve experienced in nigh on 3 years of BEV ownership is a cable being jammed on the Volvo because somehow there’s been a comms error between the car and the charger - this was at Moto Exeter last year. Managed to resolve it (there’s an emergency release cable) which the guy on the helpline told me about. Oh I did have a slight issue with an Ionity on the way to Suffolk in January, but that got sorted by another helpful helpline guy in 3 mins (first time Ionity user).
Haven’t been further north than Suffolk since the pandemic, but been to west Cornwall numerous times (280 ish miles from here on the South Coast). 100% charge at home, 45-70% at Exeter for 15 ish minutes, then free charging at the hotel. Exeter on the way back for 15 mins or so. Whole trip public charger wise is £38, plus £8 at home. In a few weeks we’ll be doing the same journey in the XKR which I estimate will cost potentially £250 ish round trip. Mind you the 507bhp S/C V8 does sound better than the Volvo’s 408bhp motors. We’re stopping at some nice hotels en route so, pushing the boat out.
Edited by Diderot on Monday 17th June 20:02
Diderot said:
It’s all about planning ahead and having a plan a, a plan b and a plan c (just like the Ferrari F1 team does).
The only public charger issue I’ve experienced in nigh on 3 years of BEV ownership is a cable being jammed on the Volvo because somehow there’s been a comms error between the car and the charger - this was at Moto Exeter last year. Managed to resolve it (there’s an emergency release cable) which the guy on the helpline told me about. Oh I did have a slight issue with an Ionity on the way to Suffolk in January, but that got sorted by another helpful helpline guy in 3 mins (first time Ionity user).
Haven’t been further north than Suffolk since the pandemic, but been to west Cornwall numerous times (280 ish miles from here on the South Coast). 100% charge at home, 45-70% at Exeter for 15 ish minutes, then free charging at the hotel. Exeter on the way back for 15 mins or so. Whole trip public charger wise is £38, plus £8 at home. In a few weeks we’ll be doing the same journey in the XKR which I estimate will cost potentially £250 ish round trip. Mind you the 507bhp S/C V8 does sound better than the Volvo’s 408bhp motors. We’re stopping at some nice hotels en route so, pushing the boat out.
I get all of that, when it works it’s great especially the charging at home. I’ve not had too many public charging issues, but when you do they make their mark! I have always had the option of an ICE car and found myself gradually moving back in that direction for any trip over 150 miles. The only public charger issue I’ve experienced in nigh on 3 years of BEV ownership is a cable being jammed on the Volvo because somehow there’s been a comms error between the car and the charger - this was at Moto Exeter last year. Managed to resolve it (there’s an emergency release cable) which the guy on the helpline told me about. Oh I did have a slight issue with an Ionity on the way to Suffolk in January, but that got sorted by another helpful helpline guy in 3 mins (first time Ionity user).
Haven’t been further north than Suffolk since the pandemic, but been to west Cornwall numerous times (280 ish miles from here on the South Coast). 100% charge at home, 45-70% at Exeter for 15 ish minutes, then free charging at the hotel. Exeter on the way back for 15 mins or so. Whole trip public charger wise is £38, plus £8 at home. In a few weeks we’ll be doing the same journey in the XKR which I estimate will cost potentially £250 ish round trip. Mind you the 507bhp S/C V8 does sound better than the Volvo’s 408bhp motors. We’re stopping at some nice hotels en route so, pushing the boat out.
Edited by Diderot on Monday 17th June 20:02
I know you have to plan and have a back up, I guess I just find that increasingly tiresome. When they hit good range values and our national network improves I’ll be back in and sell the ICE cars, probably!
The current status of EV cars is not a perfect fit for all the ICE uses and it may never be. Drive the right car for the trip and all is well. Early tech and infrastructure with it’s problems but I am getting one soon. Fully aware the 5 min fill up will be a thing of the past and will have to plan better longer trips. It’s a process I am willing to pay.
Blue62 said:
Diderot said:
It’s all about planning ahead and having a plan a, a plan b and a plan c (just like the Ferrari F1 team does).
The only public charger issue I’ve experienced in nigh on 3 years of BEV ownership is a cable being jammed on the Volvo because somehow there’s been a comms error between the car and the charger - this was at Moto Exeter last year. Managed to resolve it (there’s an emergency release cable) which the guy on the helpline told me about. Oh I did have a slight issue with an Ionity on the way to Suffolk in January, but that got sorted by another helpful helpline guy in 3 mins (first time Ionity user).
Haven’t been further north than Suffolk since the pandemic, but been to west Cornwall numerous times (280 ish miles from here on the South Coast). 100% charge at home, 45-70% at Exeter for 15 ish minutes, then free charging at the hotel. Exeter on the way back for 15 mins or so. Whole trip public charger wise is £38, plus £8 at home. In a few weeks we’ll be doing the same journey in the XKR which I estimate will cost potentially £250 ish round trip. Mind you the 507bhp S/C V8 does sound better than the Volvo’s 408bhp motors. We’re stopping at some nice hotels en route so, pushing the boat out.
I get all of that, when it works it’s great especially the charging at home. I’ve not had too many public charging issues, but when you do they make their mark! I have always had the option of an ICE car and found myself gradually moving back in that direction for any trip over 150 miles. The only public charger issue I’ve experienced in nigh on 3 years of BEV ownership is a cable being jammed on the Volvo because somehow there’s been a comms error between the car and the charger - this was at Moto Exeter last year. Managed to resolve it (there’s an emergency release cable) which the guy on the helpline told me about. Oh I did have a slight issue with an Ionity on the way to Suffolk in January, but that got sorted by another helpful helpline guy in 3 mins (first time Ionity user).
Haven’t been further north than Suffolk since the pandemic, but been to west Cornwall numerous times (280 ish miles from here on the South Coast). 100% charge at home, 45-70% at Exeter for 15 ish minutes, then free charging at the hotel. Exeter on the way back for 15 mins or so. Whole trip public charger wise is £38, plus £8 at home. In a few weeks we’ll be doing the same journey in the XKR which I estimate will cost potentially £250 ish round trip. Mind you the 507bhp S/C V8 does sound better than the Volvo’s 408bhp motors. We’re stopping at some nice hotels en route so, pushing the boat out.
Edited by Diderot on Monday 17th June 20:02
I know you have to plan and have a back up, I guess I just find that increasingly tiresome. When they hit good range values and our national network improves I’ll be back in and sell the ICE cars, probably!
Take the example above, 280 miles, planned to add upto 70 miles en-route so the car must have 200+ range when fully charged. That means that from the south coast to west cornwall, they could have charged anywhere along that route as soon as they had used as little as ~70 miles range and until they were close to 0. That's 130 miles window of opportunity to charge.. Along that stretch a quick look ap zapmap shows approx 20 rapid/rapid+ charging stations, probably around 70 individual chargers in total, all requiring no deviation from the main route.
What exactly needs planning? Stop when hungry/needing a pee, if the charger happens to not work or not be available, sod it - shrug and move on to the next. The chances are you will know full well as you approach the next chargers if they're free and working as you can get that info as you travel.
I've driven this way for the last year or so, because there simply is no shortage anymore. Virtually all family EV's (IE capable of being the main or only car) have at least 200 miles real world range now - there is no route in the UK that doesn't have endless rapid chargers along such a distance.
I'm not suggesting that ICE isn't still even easier, of course it is... but then there's the cost and general re-fuelling faff of running a daily ICE car. And if it isn't a daily, if it's only used for longer trips, there is the expense of a car that's hardly used vs the occasional pause in a journey a few times a year to just use the EV that you also use for everything else.
Obviously the above logic doesn't apply if you have a special ICE car that's worth keeping as cherished car, it makes complete sense to do that, and use the car for leisure trips. But I wouldn't swap back to ICE for a daily now, charging on longer trips is at last simple enough to not justify the daily drawbacks of ICE for all the shorter trips.
TheDeuce said:
I just don't get this plan a/b/c stuff tbh, I don't plan at all.
Take the example above, 280 miles, planned to add upto 70 miles en-route so the car must have 200+ range when fully charged. That means that from the south coast to west cornwall, they could have charged anywhere along that route as soon as they had used as little as ~70 miles range and until they were close to 0. That's 130 miles window of opportunity to charge.. Along that stretch a quick look ap zapmap shows approx 20 rapid/rapid+ charging stations, probably around 70 individual chargers in total, all requiring no deviation from the main route.
What exactly needs planning? Stop when hungry/needing a pee, if the charger happens to not work or not be available, sod it - shrug and move on to the next. The chances are you will know full well as you approach the next chargers if they're free and working as you can get that info as you travel.
I've driven this way for the last year or so, because there simply is no shortage anymore. Virtually all family EV's (IE capable of being the main or only car) have at least 200 miles real world range now - there is no route in the UK that doesn't have endless rapid chargers along such a distance.
I'm not suggesting that ICE isn't still even easier, of course it is... but then there's the cost and general re-fuelling faff of running a daily ICE car. And if it isn't a daily, if it's only used for longer trips, there is the expense of a car that's hardly used vs the occasional pause in a journey a few times a year to just use the EV that you also use for everything else.
Obviously the above logic doesn't apply if you have a special ICE car that's worth keeping as cherished car, it makes complete sense to do that, and use the car for leisure trips. But I wouldn't swap back to ICE for a daily now, charging on longer trips is at last simple enough to not justify the daily drawbacks of ICE for all the shorter trips.
I guess it depends on where you’re travelling to, there’s big variations around the U.K. Additionally, there are issues like deadlines and spontaneous events that impact on the experience, add in speed you’re travelling at and ambient and I think it’s worth planning. Take the example above, 280 miles, planned to add upto 70 miles en-route so the car must have 200+ range when fully charged. That means that from the south coast to west cornwall, they could have charged anywhere along that route as soon as they had used as little as ~70 miles range and until they were close to 0. That's 130 miles window of opportunity to charge.. Along that stretch a quick look ap zapmap shows approx 20 rapid/rapid+ charging stations, probably around 70 individual chargers in total, all requiring no deviation from the main route.
What exactly needs planning? Stop when hungry/needing a pee, if the charger happens to not work or not be available, sod it - shrug and move on to the next. The chances are you will know full well as you approach the next chargers if they're free and working as you can get that info as you travel.
I've driven this way for the last year or so, because there simply is no shortage anymore. Virtually all family EV's (IE capable of being the main or only car) have at least 200 miles real world range now - there is no route in the UK that doesn't have endless rapid chargers along such a distance.
I'm not suggesting that ICE isn't still even easier, of course it is... but then there's the cost and general re-fuelling faff of running a daily ICE car. And if it isn't a daily, if it's only used for longer trips, there is the expense of a car that's hardly used vs the occasional pause in a journey a few times a year to just use the EV that you also use for everything else.
Obviously the above logic doesn't apply if you have a special ICE car that's worth keeping as cherished car, it makes complete sense to do that, and use the car for leisure trips. But I wouldn't swap back to ICE for a daily now, charging on longer trips is at last simple enough to not justify the daily drawbacks of ICE for all the shorter trips.
Overall I’m sold on EV’s, but it’s still early days. I’m glad I gave it a go and I know we will have another soon, but it will probably be a runaround.
Blue62 said:
TheDeuce said:
I just don't get this plan a/b/c stuff tbh, I don't plan at all.
Take the example above, 280 miles, planned to add upto 70 miles en-route so the car must have 200+ range when fully charged. That means that from the south coast to west cornwall, they could have charged anywhere along that route as soon as they had used as little as ~70 miles range and until they were close to 0. That's 130 miles window of opportunity to charge.. Along that stretch a quick look ap zapmap shows approx 20 rapid/rapid+ charging stations, probably around 70 individual chargers in total, all requiring no deviation from the main route.
What exactly needs planning? Stop when hungry/needing a pee, if the charger happens to not work or not be available, sod it - shrug and move on to the next. The chances are you will know full well as you approach the next chargers if they're free and working as you can get that info as you travel.
I've driven this way for the last year or so, because there simply is no shortage anymore. Virtually all family EV's (IE capable of being the main or only car) have at least 200 miles real world range now - there is no route in the UK that doesn't have endless rapid chargers along such a distance.
I'm not suggesting that ICE isn't still even easier, of course it is... but then there's the cost and general re-fuelling faff of running a daily ICE car. And if it isn't a daily, if it's only used for longer trips, there is the expense of a car that's hardly used vs the occasional pause in a journey a few times a year to just use the EV that you also use for everything else.
Obviously the above logic doesn't apply if you have a special ICE car that's worth keeping as cherished car, it makes complete sense to do that, and use the car for leisure trips. But I wouldn't swap back to ICE for a daily now, charging on longer trips is at last simple enough to not justify the daily drawbacks of ICE for all the shorter trips.
I guess it depends on where you’re travelling to, there’s big variations around the U.K. Additionally, there are issues like deadlines and spontaneous events that impact on the experience, add in speed you’re travelling at and ambient and I think it’s worth planning. Take the example above, 280 miles, planned to add upto 70 miles en-route so the car must have 200+ range when fully charged. That means that from the south coast to west cornwall, they could have charged anywhere along that route as soon as they had used as little as ~70 miles range and until they were close to 0. That's 130 miles window of opportunity to charge.. Along that stretch a quick look ap zapmap shows approx 20 rapid/rapid+ charging stations, probably around 70 individual chargers in total, all requiring no deviation from the main route.
What exactly needs planning? Stop when hungry/needing a pee, if the charger happens to not work or not be available, sod it - shrug and move on to the next. The chances are you will know full well as you approach the next chargers if they're free and working as you can get that info as you travel.
I've driven this way for the last year or so, because there simply is no shortage anymore. Virtually all family EV's (IE capable of being the main or only car) have at least 200 miles real world range now - there is no route in the UK that doesn't have endless rapid chargers along such a distance.
I'm not suggesting that ICE isn't still even easier, of course it is... but then there's the cost and general re-fuelling faff of running a daily ICE car. And if it isn't a daily, if it's only used for longer trips, there is the expense of a car that's hardly used vs the occasional pause in a journey a few times a year to just use the EV that you also use for everything else.
Obviously the above logic doesn't apply if you have a special ICE car that's worth keeping as cherished car, it makes complete sense to do that, and use the car for leisure trips. But I wouldn't swap back to ICE for a daily now, charging on longer trips is at last simple enough to not justify the daily drawbacks of ICE for all the shorter trips.
Overall I’m sold on EV’s, but it’s still early days. I’m glad I gave it a go and I know we will have another soon, but it will probably be a runaround.
If it's a spontaneous trip, get in the car and head off! You might have to stop soon enough to charger for 10-20 minutes, but it's not going to be meaningfully less than that even if you did pre-plan an optimum solution, which of course takes time itself and has just delayed the start of your spontaneous trip...
Obviously some routes are more densely populated with chargers than others, but there are no longer any routes that will get close to exhausting the range of your EV without several charging opportunities along the way.
I'm not being pushy by the way, it's great that you're getting an EV runaround and there's absolutely no rush to go further than that anytime remotely soon. I'm just applying my own logic and experience to how simple it really can be once you're used to it and know how to avoid turning up at over busy or broken chargers. Tbf, getting to that point took me three years of being a single car EV household and a few poor experiences in the earlier days.
Not sure who's lucky/unlucky....but I've never had any issues.
Had to queue once. Etquette was OK, but chargers possibly need some sort of "take a ticket" system to firm it up. Had to move the car one because the first charger didn't work. Other than that, it's been smooth smooth smooth.
Speed of charging is as much down to the car as anything (state of charge, temperature etc).
I don't use public charging an inordinate amount of the time, but when I do I tend to look for GridServe (always had good experience...even though prices have gone up) or Ionity (I have a discount card for them).
On pricing, networks are taking the piss at the moment. IMO that may need some sort of intervention. It feels like the networks are pegging their prices to petrol. In reality I suspect as uptake increases, and charger numbers increase, it will likely sort itself out.
Had to queue once. Etquette was OK, but chargers possibly need some sort of "take a ticket" system to firm it up. Had to move the car one because the first charger didn't work. Other than that, it's been smooth smooth smooth.
Speed of charging is as much down to the car as anything (state of charge, temperature etc).
I don't use public charging an inordinate amount of the time, but when I do I tend to look for GridServe (always had good experience...even though prices have gone up) or Ionity (I have a discount card for them).
On pricing, networks are taking the piss at the moment. IMO that may need some sort of intervention. It feels like the networks are pegging their prices to petrol. In reality I suspect as uptake increases, and charger numbers increase, it will likely sort itself out.
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