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.
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
Blue62 said:
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.
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.
We were heading to Hadston and I think metro centre area was probably the last place there were proper fast charge options. Further up the road there were maybe a set of 50kW and then some 7kW (no good really). Once off the A1 there was nothing and no chance of destination so it was then or never because we'd have not made it back round to the Newcastle/Gateshead area. In hindsight I should have charged the night before and just sat in maccy D's car park for 30 mins.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.
Evanivitch said:
Otispunkmeyer said:
(75kW when its a 350kW charger)
I'd be quite disappointed with that on an EV6.I only have a Niro, and trying to get peak charge of 74kW is hit and miss, even at low SoC.
I think it would help if people knew where to point the fingers. Or if cars declared their current charge speed status (which is usually a function of state of charge and temperature). At least then you'll know if you're on a dud charger.
Murph7355 said:
AIUI low SoC (sub-20%) and low temps mean lower charge rates.
In mine, if I use the inbuilt satnav for pointing at charge stations en route, the car aims to get the car ready for optimal charging when you get to the charge point. It also has a good readout of how many charge points are available/in use on the way. It must work pretty well as when I use it I see it maxing out on charge rate more often than not (270kW).
(With the caveat that I'm not using the public charge network that frequently....though in my time with the car I've used it often enough to have a decent idea
).
Precondition is fine if you're going to arrive and hook up right away. I can't see the point of it if you need to park up and wait for a stall or you spend 30mins faffing about trying to get something to work!In mine, if I use the inbuilt satnav for pointing at charge stations en route, the car aims to get the car ready for optimal charging when you get to the charge point. It also has a good readout of how many charge points are available/in use on the way. It must work pretty well as when I use it I see it maxing out on charge rate more often than not (270kW).
(With the caveat that I'm not using the public charge network that frequently....though in my time with the car I've used it often enough to have a decent idea
).Ours will kick the precon on with 30mins to go to the charger and will click off just before you arrive. But I reckon all the heat is gone if you then have a decent delay in actually getting connected.
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Tuesday 18th June 12:38
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