Electric Vehicles - First Forray
Discussion
I had never driven, dealt with or even really been in an electric vehicle until last week. I was given a BMW I7 for 5 days for a work event, which required driving in and out of London from Hampshire to a tight schedule each day. There were 30 of us in total all doing the same thing.
Huge learning curve for me, and not an enjoyable one. I don't understand how anybody can run one in London without significant stress. The issue was charging, and trying to find a charging point that was available, worked, and efficient. There are far too m any companies, apps and methods of charging meaning there is no single source or route of doing so. I wanted to tap and go for the most part as would be claiming back expenses. There are very few fast chargers capable of charging a brand new I7 sufficiently in town, and the handful I did find were predominantly out of order. BP Pulse being the worst, the locations I visited were flashing red and had issues. I called customer service a few times who tried to reboot these stations, but wouldn't work.
Then there was the contactless payment issue. Half of my attempts failed, the units saying not accepted or not available. There is no pin pad so if card needs a pin entry it wont work either. If you use the app it takes ages to download, register and get that up and running too, so huge amounts of time pressure that doesn't work with a busy schedule. When I did find some decent charge stations, hey were either out of order, queuing with cars or sometimes rejected contactless. The Shell app sends you a card in the post - useless when I need to charge over the next 48 hours.
I found the entire episode abysmal. I also now have hundreds of pounds out of my account because it auto charges you 50 quid a time, then will adjust it down in several days to reflect what you actually used.
I was never convinced re electric but now I am 100 percent utterly convinced it is no good. You just cannot guarantee a charge unless you have a charger at home, which requires a driveway and installation - this comes at a price and a wait.
Huge learning curve for me, and not an enjoyable one. I don't understand how anybody can run one in London without significant stress. The issue was charging, and trying to find a charging point that was available, worked, and efficient. There are far too m any companies, apps and methods of charging meaning there is no single source or route of doing so. I wanted to tap and go for the most part as would be claiming back expenses. There are very few fast chargers capable of charging a brand new I7 sufficiently in town, and the handful I did find were predominantly out of order. BP Pulse being the worst, the locations I visited were flashing red and had issues. I called customer service a few times who tried to reboot these stations, but wouldn't work.
Then there was the contactless payment issue. Half of my attempts failed, the units saying not accepted or not available. There is no pin pad so if card needs a pin entry it wont work either. If you use the app it takes ages to download, register and get that up and running too, so huge amounts of time pressure that doesn't work with a busy schedule. When I did find some decent charge stations, hey were either out of order, queuing with cars or sometimes rejected contactless. The Shell app sends you a card in the post - useless when I need to charge over the next 48 hours.
I found the entire episode abysmal. I also now have hundreds of pounds out of my account because it auto charges you 50 quid a time, then will adjust it down in several days to reflect what you actually used.
I was never convinced re electric but now I am 100 percent utterly convinced it is no good. You just cannot guarantee a charge unless you have a charger at home, which requires a driveway and installation - this comes at a price and a wait.
Greenmantle said:
Isn't this a rant about external electric vehicle charging rather than electric vehicles.
I'm assuming that on a single day you never did more than the 100% range of the i7?
If you already had a home charger then drive all day and charge all night - simple.
The OP has a decade or so to get used to the idea. I'm assuming that on a single day you never did more than the 100% range of the i7?
If you already had a home charger then drive all day and charge all night - simple.
Sounds more like a degree of inexperience to me and followed by a rant here.
Yes, total inexperience and I guess fair to say more if a rant about infrastructure than vehicles... but it shouldn't be this difficult.
I didn't use the 100 percent but got close, 2.5 hour journey in the morning, full day of chauffeuring then 2 hours home at night. I used M3 and A316 so no services. I had to find chargers on the hoof and this generally caused deviation and delay, to find one that would accept my contact less visa card, and wasn't flashing red / out of order.
The local lamppost ones were no good for the I7, 2 days to fully charge. There was never a set route so I had to research and find on the go. I agree a home charger would be the solution but isn't this a huge cost and wait list to install? We were supposed to be getting one year's ago with a hybrids car however they were so backlogged it timed out and never happened.
I spoke to numerous drivers who were at the stations and they all agreed the system is far from perfect.
I didn't use the 100 percent but got close, 2.5 hour journey in the morning, full day of chauffeuring then 2 hours home at night. I used M3 and A316 so no services. I had to find chargers on the hoof and this generally caused deviation and delay, to find one that would accept my contact less visa card, and wasn't flashing red / out of order.
The local lamppost ones were no good for the I7, 2 days to fully charge. There was never a set route so I had to research and find on the go. I agree a home charger would be the solution but isn't this a huge cost and wait list to install? We were supposed to be getting one year's ago with a hybrids car however they were so backlogged it timed out and never happened.
I spoke to numerous drivers who were at the stations and they all agreed the system is far from perfect.
Ubiquitous2024 said:
Yes, total inexperience and I guess fair to say more if a rant about infrastructure than vehicles... but it shouldn't be this difficult.
I didn't use the 100 percent but got close, 2.5 hour journey in the morning, full day of chauffeuring then 2 hours home at night. I used M3 and A316 so no services. I had to find chargers on the hoof and this generally caused deviation and delay, to find one that would accept my contact less visa card, and wasn't flashing red / out of order.
The local lamppost ones were no good for the I7, 2 days to fully charge. There was never a set route so I had to research and find on the go. I agree a home charger would be the solution but isn't this a huge cost and wait list to install? We were supposed to be getting one year's ago with a hybrids car however they were so backlogged it timed out and never happened.
I spoke to numerous drivers who were at the stations and they all agreed the system is far from perfect.
EVs don't work well for every use case, sounds like yours might be one which requires more planning than others. I didn't use the 100 percent but got close, 2.5 hour journey in the morning, full day of chauffeuring then 2 hours home at night. I used M3 and A316 so no services. I had to find chargers on the hoof and this generally caused deviation and delay, to find one that would accept my contact less visa card, and wasn't flashing red / out of order.
The local lamppost ones were no good for the I7, 2 days to fully charge. There was never a set route so I had to research and find on the go. I agree a home charger would be the solution but isn't this a huge cost and wait list to install? We were supposed to be getting one year's ago with a hybrids car however they were so backlogged it timed out and never happened.
I spoke to numerous drivers who were at the stations and they all agreed the system is far from perfect.
Bear in mind, the vast majority of EV drivers do not spend all day on the road in London.
I would never venture into London in a car, let alone an EV. Our EV use consists 95% charging at home for work commuting and local journeys with 5% a few times a year for a longer journey, weekends away etc.
Ubiquitous2024 said:
Yes, total inexperience and I guess fair to say more if a rant about infrastructure than vehicles... but it shouldn't be this difficult.
I didn't use the 100 percent but got close, 2.5 hour journey in the morning, full day of chauffeuring then 2 hours home at night. I used M3 and A316 so no services. I had to find chargers on the hoof and this generally caused deviation and delay, to find one that would accept my contact less visa card, and wasn't flashing red / out of order.
The local lamppost ones were no good for the I7, 2 days to fully charge. There was never a set route so I had to research and find on the go. I agree a home charger would be the solution but isn't this a huge cost and wait list to install? We were supposed to be getting one year's ago with a hybrids car however they were so backlogged it timed out and never happened.
I spoke to numerous drivers who were at the stations and they all agreed the system is far from perfect.
Ah that's better. We now know the context. I didn't use the 100 percent but got close, 2.5 hour journey in the morning, full day of chauffeuring then 2 hours home at night. I used M3 and A316 so no services. I had to find chargers on the hoof and this generally caused deviation and delay, to find one that would accept my contact less visa card, and wasn't flashing red / out of order.
The local lamppost ones were no good for the I7, 2 days to fully charge. There was never a set route so I had to research and find on the go. I agree a home charger would be the solution but isn't this a huge cost and wait list to install? We were supposed to be getting one year's ago with a hybrids car however they were so backlogged it timed out and never happened.
I spoke to numerous drivers who were at the stations and they all agreed the system is far from perfect.
You can charge overnight using a standard 13amp supply. If you arrange with supplier you can get the cheap 7p/kWhr tariff.
If your employer is providing the car they may pay for the installation of a charger. I think i paid about £900 for an Ohme pro installation. It pays for itself in no time.
Electroverse is a handy app which links to whichever payment card you wish. They are part of Octopus energy and assuming you use Octopus for domestic supply there is a discount as part of the card.
I have a taxi driver that regularly takes me to the LHR to LGW he drives an EV and quite often will be trundling off to Bristol or similar on the same trip.
It is a slight mindset shift when driving an EV but it really doesn't take that long to make it all work seamlessly.
Wagonwheel555 said:
Ubiquitous2024 said:
Yes, total inexperience and I guess fair to say more if a rant about infrastructure than vehicles... but it shouldn't be this difficult.
I didn't use the 100 percent but got close, 2.5 hour journey in the morning, full day of chauffeuring then 2 hours home at night. I used M3 and A316 so no services. I had to find chargers on the hoof and this generally caused deviation and delay, to find one that would accept my contact less visa card, and wasn't flashing red / out of order.
The local lamppost ones were no good for the I7, 2 days to fully charge. There was never a set route so I had to research and find on the go. I agree a home charger would be the solution but isn't this a huge cost and wait list to install? We were supposed to be getting one year's ago with a hybrids car however they were so backlogged it timed out and never happened.
I spoke to numerous drivers who were at the stations and they all agreed the system is far from perfect.
EVs don't work well for every use case, sounds like yours might be one which requires more planning than others. I didn't use the 100 percent but got close, 2.5 hour journey in the morning, full day of chauffeuring then 2 hours home at night. I used M3 and A316 so no services. I had to find chargers on the hoof and this generally caused deviation and delay, to find one that would accept my contact less visa card, and wasn't flashing red / out of order.
The local lamppost ones were no good for the I7, 2 days to fully charge. There was never a set route so I had to research and find on the go. I agree a home charger would be the solution but isn't this a huge cost and wait list to install? We were supposed to be getting one year's ago with a hybrids car however they were so backlogged it timed out and never happened.
I spoke to numerous drivers who were at the stations and they all agreed the system is far from perfect.
Bear in mind, the vast majority of EV drivers do not spend all day on the road in London.
I would never venture into London in a car, let alone an EV. Our EV use consists 95% charging at home for work commuting and local journeys with 5% a few times a year for a longer journey, weekends away etc.
Plus you can use most Tesla chargers, if you can see it on the app, you can use it in a BMW.
ABRP satnav app is good.
I’ve set mine to only look for Tesla chargers.
Doing a 250 mile each way trip next week in my Skoda Enyaq.
I tell it I have 100% to start & I want 30% battery left when I get there. It tells me which Tesla site it’ll send me to in the way, the price, how long it will take, the battery % it will add, the closest cafe!
ABRP satnav app is good.
I’ve set mine to only look for Tesla chargers.
Doing a 250 mile each way trip next week in my Skoda Enyaq.
I tell it I have 100% to start & I want 30% battery left when I get there. It tells me which Tesla site it’ll send me to in the way, the price, how long it will take, the battery % it will add, the closest cafe!
Ubiquitous2024 said:
Yes, total inexperience and I guess fair to say more if a rant about infrastructure than vehicles... but it shouldn't be this difficult.
I didn't use the 100 percent but got close, 2.5 hour journey in the morning, full day of chauffeuring then 2 hours home at night. I used M3 and A316 so no services. I had to find chargers on the hoof and this generally caused deviation and delay, to find one that would accept my contact less visa card, and wasn't flashing red / out of order.
The local lamppost ones were no good for the I7, 2 days to fully charge. There was never a set route so I had to research and find on the go. I agree a home charger would be the solution but isn't this a huge cost and wait list to install? We were supposed to be getting one year's ago with a hybrids car however they were so backlogged it timed out and never happened.
I spoke to numerous drivers who were at the stations and they all agreed the system is far from perfect.
Sorry to hear of your travails but it really isn't this difficult. I picked up a new EV 2 years ago, the dealer supplied it with an RFID card linked to an account, and literally every charger I came across even then was just tap and go, including Ionity, Instavolt, BP Pulse etc.I didn't use the 100 percent but got close, 2.5 hour journey in the morning, full day of chauffeuring then 2 hours home at night. I used M3 and A316 so no services. I had to find chargers on the hoof and this generally caused deviation and delay, to find one that would accept my contact less visa card, and wasn't flashing red / out of order.
The local lamppost ones were no good for the I7, 2 days to fully charge. There was never a set route so I had to research and find on the go. I agree a home charger would be the solution but isn't this a huge cost and wait list to install? We were supposed to be getting one year's ago with a hybrids car however they were so backlogged it timed out and never happened.
I spoke to numerous drivers who were at the stations and they all agreed the system is far from perfect.
You should have a word with your employer for not settgin it up for you properly not rant abbot EV's in general!
I agree with the other responders here that this is a problem with charging infrastructure, not EVs.
We got our first EV 6 months ago and couldn't be happier, it's slotted into our lives beautifully. But, and it is a big BUT, we almost always charge at home. I keep meaning to get a charger installed, but after 6 months still haven't got round to organising it because honestly 13 amp is totally fine. We tend to charge overnight, so a 12 hour charge once or twice a week does the job.
I have had to use public chargers fewer than 5 times in half a year, but I agree with the OP that the experience could be much, much better. Downloading the app, creating an account, connecting your credit card, topping up, it's a pain and nobody wants to do that while standing in the cold next to a charger. But here's the thing, you only need to do all that once per provider, and then it is set up. When we got the car I downloaded apps for all the big providers, created all the accounts I needed, and then they were there for me when I needed them. The first time I had to use a public charger I parked up, opened the app I had downloaded weeks ago, and plugged in; it was a very smooth experience.
All that being said, I still think all the accounts and app nonsense really has to go. The reason I prepared ahead of time is because I had heard it was such a slow and painful experience so I wanted to get that out of the way. I really, really hope the law around contactless payment will bear fruit soon and we can all expect to just turn up at a charger, tap a card and go. I can absolutely empathise with someone who was given an EV to borrow, and then had to try and charge it with no preparation, because it can be a right pain.
We got our first EV 6 months ago and couldn't be happier, it's slotted into our lives beautifully. But, and it is a big BUT, we almost always charge at home. I keep meaning to get a charger installed, but after 6 months still haven't got round to organising it because honestly 13 amp is totally fine. We tend to charge overnight, so a 12 hour charge once or twice a week does the job.
I have had to use public chargers fewer than 5 times in half a year, but I agree with the OP that the experience could be much, much better. Downloading the app, creating an account, connecting your credit card, topping up, it's a pain and nobody wants to do that while standing in the cold next to a charger. But here's the thing, you only need to do all that once per provider, and then it is set up. When we got the car I downloaded apps for all the big providers, created all the accounts I needed, and then they were there for me when I needed them. The first time I had to use a public charger I parked up, opened the app I had downloaded weeks ago, and plugged in; it was a very smooth experience.
All that being said, I still think all the accounts and app nonsense really has to go. The reason I prepared ahead of time is because I had heard it was such a slow and painful experience so I wanted to get that out of the way. I really, really hope the law around contactless payment will bear fruit soon and we can all expect to just turn up at a charger, tap a card and go. I can absolutely empathise with someone who was given an EV to borrow, and then had to try and charge it with no preparation, because it can be a right pain.
Further to the above; the OP mentions a long wait to get a charger installed.
I don't know when they looked into it, but when I contacted some companies about 3 months ago to get some quotes most were able to offer installation within a couple of weeks.
This is south east England, but not London, which might make a difference.
I don't know when they looked into it, but when I contacted some companies about 3 months ago to get some quotes most were able to offer installation within a couple of weeks.
This is south east England, but not London, which might make a difference.
murphyaj said:
Further to the above; the OP mentions a long wait to get a charger installed.
I don't know when they looked into it, but when I contacted some companies about 3 months ago to get some quotes most were able to offer installation within a couple of weeks.
This is south east England, but not London, which might make a difference.
I'm in Hampshire and it took a couple of weeks to sort a date. I don't know when they looked into it, but when I contacted some companies about 3 months ago to get some quotes most were able to offer installation within a couple of weeks.
This is south east England, but not London, which might make a difference.
There are quite a few companies that offer it and one is not obliged to use the one recommended why the electrical power supplier. It saves a few bob too.
My first couple of goes in an EV were hiring, and like the OP it didn't go entirely smoothly, struggling slightly to find working free chargers and to work out stint lengths on the fly.
Having bought one, I now have (a) the ability to charge at home (b) Octopus Electroverse RFID card to pay for public chargers (c) ABRP and Zap Map bookmarked. Once I got up the initial hump of setting these things up, I've found it fine.
In the OP's case it seems to me that the company should have done more to arrange for the cars to be charged, ideally overnight in Hampshire, otherwise to have identified suitable charging hubs that you could use.
Once setup, I've found that for me the extra effort on the occasional longer trip becomes minor and is outweighed by the convenience and cheapness of home charging, plus the ease and comfort of electric propulsion.
Firstly, the car was not given to me as an employee. I do some very infrequent driving for a series of companies around my day job - so this was a one off 5 day event. The car was supplied by BMW (30 of them) to the company who I did the job for - so it is not a permanent role or anything with a lasting relationship. No charge card, home charger or process is in existence for this.
Max range showed around 400 miles and yes around town the use was actually ok. I generally got to 60% before looking to charge but as I have only experienced hybrids that do 33 miles max, I had huge range anxiety for the first few days as I did not know how long that would last.
In terms of the apps - I didn't want to download loads as it all just gets too much, so did Tesla. Gridserve, Shell and BP. There are no Tesla chargers on my route in / out so this got binned fairly swiftly. Shell and BP I used by tapping so didn't need the app, so they also go binned. Then the same with Gridserve. The problems started when the contactless system started playing up - many of the chargers just threw a hissy and shut down when tapped. I took out a range of 6 high performance "Allego" or similar chargers one day - worked fine in the morning, then went to use it in the evening and having tapped on each one, it said "processing" for ages then the unit shut down and said unavailable. This happened far too many times and created a lottery of success, with anxiety setting in every time I approached a charger. Nothing to do with my card either, a VISA with plenty of funds and worked seamlessly everywhere else or over a decade.
Maybe it was just the combination of circumstances for me. New to electric, unknown routes, unknown finish times and lots of time spent battling with chargers in unknown locations.
Max range showed around 400 miles and yes around town the use was actually ok. I generally got to 60% before looking to charge but as I have only experienced hybrids that do 33 miles max, I had huge range anxiety for the first few days as I did not know how long that would last.
In terms of the apps - I didn't want to download loads as it all just gets too much, so did Tesla. Gridserve, Shell and BP. There are no Tesla chargers on my route in / out so this got binned fairly swiftly. Shell and BP I used by tapping so didn't need the app, so they also go binned. Then the same with Gridserve. The problems started when the contactless system started playing up - many of the chargers just threw a hissy and shut down when tapped. I took out a range of 6 high performance "Allego" or similar chargers one day - worked fine in the morning, then went to use it in the evening and having tapped on each one, it said "processing" for ages then the unit shut down and said unavailable. This happened far too many times and created a lottery of success, with anxiety setting in every time I approached a charger. Nothing to do with my card either, a VISA with plenty of funds and worked seamlessly everywhere else or over a decade.
Maybe it was just the combination of circumstances for me. New to electric, unknown routes, unknown finish times and lots of time spent battling with chargers in unknown locations.
murphyaj said:
I can absolutely empathise with someone who was given an EV to borrow, and then had to try and charge it with no preparation, because it can be a right pain.
Thank you! And yes this is basically what it boils down to. There was no briefing, instruction or guidance really other than a bit of hearsay within the group about where to charge, but all 30 of us seemed to be having issues in London. Cobnapint said:
Your post is the perfect advert for Tesla and it's charging network.
Which are mostly available to all.Tends to be a bit cheaper than the rest.
On the rare occasion I need to public charge my Enyaq, i’ve used the Tesla ones.
Only have those set in ABRP nav, so it plans journey around them only.
Sadly none on the op’s route though!
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