Public Charging Networks

[advance2020]

Having difficulty “searching” threads on the Forum, so hope this has not already been covered.

Thought it might be useful to compare experiences of Public Charging, mainly in the UK, for others to learn from, and compare different regions of UK. IMO there is now no shortage of Public Chargers, but many are now Rapids rather than Fast, and some are UNBELIEVABLY expensive to use. My region is South West England - mainly Wiltshire Dorset Somerset - + Hampshire

PodPoint
My No.1 GoTo is PodPoint at Tesco - yes, I got into the habit while it was free. 2500 miles of free driving. But they are the ONLY network, in partnership with Tesco, that let you charge immediately you plug in. Giving you time to confirm via their App. No RFID card available, but their App is reliable and very easy to use. I have also used their Rapids at Lidl, and some other Destinations that have PodPoint. And if I'm planning a journey “outside of my local patch” I search for PodPoint locations near my route. Topping up credit on my account is easy. They accept Apple Pay

InstaVolt
On the rare occasions that I travel more than say 75 miles from home, I look for InstaVolt chargers. Frequently they are co-located with a McDonalds or Costa 75p per kWh I have RFID which I find easier/quicker than App or Contactless. I have a Pre-Paid account. They are reliable. Have only once seen a dead unit, and they are usually installed as pairs as a minimum, although this new install near Blandford Forum, Dorset stands alone.

SWARCO
Possibly not a network everyone has heard of, but there are several in Somerset. I have an RFID card which makes it easy to wake up the unit, and stop the charge. Rapids are more expensive than InstaVolt 79p v. 75p Because I have an account they bill me in arrears monthly

MER
Wiltshire have recently replaced many dead Polar/bppulse units with MER. Also some in N Dorset Shaftesbury. Many are 22kWh units so just Fast although some new are Rapids. Because I have an account they too bill me in arrears monthly.

So the above are the only Networks I would use. Have also used GridServe a couple of times with Contactless I don’t use often, so no account or App
- ………………………………………………………………………………. -
These are the ones I have tried, and/or avoid

GeniePoint
Often co-located at Morrisons, they were usually out of action, or proved difficult to use. They have installed newer units, but I rarely see them in use. They are more expensive than InstaVolt. I gave up and cancelled my account long ago

BPPULSE
While there were still some free to use old Polar posts at ASDA and around Wiltshire I use to exploit them. But their App is very slow to connect and start a charge, and similarly slow to stop, disconnect. Given the resources that BP have they could do much better, but of course this not their core business. I once tried a Contactless connection on a Rapid, which then failed to charge. They took £30 immediately and it took several weeks to get refund. So I vowed never again.

EBCharging Blink
Somerset Council have gone with these guys. Lots of units in Yeovil, others in Shepton Mallet and Glastonbury. Would be great if A. they weren’t so Expensive to use 55-59p kWh for Fast charging, plus B. they are in Car Parks, which increase cost. So yes, these lay idle despite being numerous.

[EEEE]

Charging stations are a miserable place to be for many reasons.

We shouldn't have to compare them, understand them, sign up to them, review them, etc. It's all just hassle that doesn't really need to exist. I try to avoid them at all costs.

Without trying to stir up the petrol vs ev debate , most petrol stations are a nice place to be. You get light, you get a covered forecourt, you get a shop, you get people.

Most EV chargers are in the corner, maybe no shops, maybe no people, no cover or lighting, and generally just not places to be. The last one you posted looks like a lovely place to slip over and break your neck (or if your lucky, just get some green sludge on the carpet). Not to mention when you get there it might be broken or there is a queue.

I tend to like instavolt - but even some of their sites have the old chargers which are a bit naff compared to the nice big screen ones which are in the majority. Also the fact a lot of them get put into a mcdonalds is quite annoying really.

[Verone]

InstaVolt have just started installing chargers here in Iceland, and their service seems super good.

They arrived with a bang, and installed a "Charging Park" close to Keflavik airport with 20x 120kW chargers on one forecourt. They've just finished setting up another 4x 120kW chargers out in the country at Reykholt too.

I'm really hoping they expand their network and start offering more services, as their chargers seem super good and really easy to use.

There's so many options for chargers in Iceland that it's becoming pretty ridiculous in terms of the number of apps you can have installed on your phone

[5thcivic]

Charging stations are a miserable place to be for many reasons.

Some very good points. Here in the UK the moan is the lack of chargers. If we were serious about electric cars there is a long way to go. Chargers have been built without the grid to supply them all. Minimum should be somewhere to have a coffee for 10 minutes while a fast charge happens, and out of the rain. Otherwsie you'll need some superlative entertainment systems in the car to while away half an hour of recharging on the road. To start off without a universal standard for connectors and electrics was madness.

[MaXPainT]

This might not sit well with some of you, but adding more chargers would not put significantly more people into EVs. With my previous ICE car, I had to stop for petrol every two weeks or so. It was a 5-minute stop and it was on my way home (the most convenient scenario possible). I still considered it a chore and hated every second of it. With the Honda E if I had to use a public charger only I would make a stop every 2-3 days and it would take much longer than 5 minutes. I would hate the thing if this was my setup. Charging stations are an answer for those who are traveling long distances but for the 99% of commutes to and from work this is not it.

What we need instead are powered parking spaces. Add domestic outlets (or phase 2 chargers) to every parking space so more people could trickle charge their vehicles when not in use. If you are 100% sure that you will be able to charge at your destination point, you will be much more likely to use an EV than with any public charging network with potential queues and non-working chargers. There is already a system in place that charges (money) for parking spots. Add another one for using electricity on top of it and you will have yourself a working infrastructure. The end goal is - if you can park there, you can charge there. Just my two cents on the matter

[EEEE]

Charging stations are a miserable place to be for many reasons.

Some very good points. Here in the UK the moan is the lack of chargers. If we were serious about electric cars there is a long way to go. Chargers have been built without the grid to supply them all. Minimum should be somewhere to have a coffee for 10 minutes while a fast charge happens, and out of the rain. Otherwise you'll need some superlative entertainment systems in the car to while away half an hour of recharging on the road. To start off without a universal standard for connectors and electrics was madness.

There is so much wrong with the state of public charging I will resist the urge for a rant. Everything from the car, the varying standards, the payment mechanisms, the locations, the lack of standardised apps, the lack of standardised signage / location requirements, the lack of reliability right down to the choice of chargers/locations. I hate to call for government intervention, but in some technical arenas I think that actually the better outcome would be for all of this to be standardised so there isn't such a burden on the consumer to sort it out.

To view it from the other angle where there is just a single provider like tesla - it's all integrated and beautiful, you don't hear them moaning too much about planning trips or chargers being crap. It's not technically an impossibility to have that across all EVs with open standards, and it should have been that way from the early start - not this muddle we find ourselves in now.

[EEEE]

This might not sit well with some of you, but adding more chargers would not put significantly more people into EVs. With my previous ICE car, I had to stop for petrol every two weeks or so. It was a 5-minute stop and it was on my way home (the most convenient scenario possible). I still considered it a chore and hated every second of it. With the Honda E if I had to use a public charger only I would make a stop every 2-3 days and it would take much longer than 5 minutes. I would hate the thing if this was my setup. Charging stations are an answer for those who are traveling long distances but for the 99% of commutes to and from work this is not it.

What we need instead are powered parking spaces. Add domestic outlets (or phase 2 chargers) to every parking space so more people could trickle charge their vehicles when not in use. If you are 100% sure that you will be able to charge at your destination point, you will be much more likely to use an EV than with any public charging network with potential queues and non-working chargers. There is already a system in place that charges (money) for parking spots. Add another one for using electricity on top of it and you will have yourself a working infrastructure. The end goal is - if you can park there, you can charge there. Just my two cents on the matter

Exactly this - the lack of numerous slower speed charging where cars are left/parked is painful. I saw a terrible example of this at an ikea store recently. 1 rapid charger, that was it! No one goes to ikea for 30 or 60mins. You'd be lucky to get in and out even if you didn't buy anything in that time. It would have been much better served by several slower points. At least the Oxford Westgate has a good 25 or so 7kw chargers which are free, and I think there are 3x 22kw chargers in the back corner as well.

Luckily we have 6x 22kw chargers at work, but they are not free, 40p/unit and you have to use the app to pay which is only slightly painful.

[Verone]

What we need instead are powered parking spaces. Add domestic outlets (or phase 2 chargers) to every parking space so more people could trickle charge their vehicles when not in use. If you are 100% sure that you will be able to charge at your destination point, you will be much more likely to use an EV than with any public charging network with potential queues and non-working chargers. There is already a system in place that charges (money) for parking spots. Add another one for using electricity on top of it and you will have yourself a working infrastructure. The end goal is - if you can park there, you can charge there. Just my two cents on the matter

Not to get too political (even though EV adoption has become hugely political in the last few years), but the problem is that the government in the UK is a total disaster and hasn't had any form of direction since the Conservatives came to power in 2010. With so many different Prime Ministers and ideas of how to run the show, there's been no continuity.

There's also been no serious investment in controlling runaway energy prices and preventing private energy providers gouging prices to the point where it just doesn't make sense to run electric over ICE. This is one of the main reasons for low adoption rates in most countries, especially the UK.

How you've described above in the quote I pulled from your post is exactly how I use my e, based in Iceland. I'm the perfect use case for the car - solely urban commuting with good access to charging (a lot of it free or very cheap), and it makes the e the perfect city car. Honestly, if my e was to die, or god forbid be totalled, I'd 100% just go out and buy another one. Makes total sense. I'm not even bothered that the range is starting to drop as the winter sets in, because I know I'll have solid access to charging infrastructure.

Below is a base map of the charging infrastructure in Reykjavík and the surrounding area (population of the greater capital region is about 180,000). Bear in mind that this map only covers about 75% of the charging providers, and doesn't include free chargers paid for by the city that are in covered public paid parking, or chargers that people have set up on their own driveways (a substantial number of homes with EVs now have this, both apartment buildings and single family dwellings). It also doesn't cover chargers that are set up at businesses and are restricted only for the use of employees of that business.

The main blackspot areas on this map are the heavily suburban areas where there are no public chargers, but typically people have them for private use at their homes, usually type 2 chargers. Generally, if you can afford to run an EV in Iceland, then the cost of a 22kW home charger is negligible. For instance, installation of one is around 30% of my monthly salary after tax, so I'd need to save for 2-3 months to have one installed. The only real heavy cost is pulling in a 3 phase power supply, but even then you could install a single phase charger, charge at 7kW and plug in overnight when you're not using your car.

Given the development of the infrastructure in Iceland, I don't even really charge at home any more, because I can charge whenever I need to. Most of the covered parking garages in downtown Reykjavík offer free Type 2 charging spaces, so long as you pay for the actual parking the same as an ICE vehicle would. This means that if I go out to dinner, or I go for groceries, I can just plug in and get a top up, even if it's just for 30-60 minutes of Type 2 charging.

When I'm not downtown, I'm at work, and there are 24 type 2 charging spaces in the parking basement that are for use, along with 4 mobile CCS chargers that are put out sometimes too if demand is heavy, so if I need to charge, I just plug in while I'm at work and when I leave at the end of the day it's 100% juiced up and ready to go.

Of course, Iceland has done things right where many other countries have done things wrong. The national grid is just that - nationalized, which means the cost of electricity is heavily controlled by the government. It's also kept very low because Iceland runs on 100% renewable energy, save for a few small towns that are off the grid in the Westfjords that need diesel generators to function.

The result is that EVs lead the way in car sales by a wide margin. These are the figures for 2023 so far:

The point of me long-posting this is that the viability of an EV is entirely situational, and most countries just aren't there yet. EVs work, when the infrastructure is there, and the government isn't full of greedy bastards who are being lobbied by fossil fuel companies to keep them dependent on oil and gas.

It's really shitty, but until governments step in and start to regulate energy prices, and provide incentives for energy companies to start installing chargers, then there's always going to be this situation. It's to the point now in Iceland where all the major fuel station companies (N1, Orkan, Olis and OB) have started shitting themselves about the loss of fuel revenue, and are all installing CCS chargers on their filling station forecourts.

One of the largest electricity companies (ON) is also putting up CCS and Type 2 chargers wherever there's wall free that they can bolt them to. There's also an independent company (Ísorka), that's been set up purely to deal in EV charging and EV supplies that's also doing well.

On the topic of the e in particular, its short range in the right circumstances, where it will perform as the perfect city car. The seventh generation e-golf (35.8kWh) is also popular over here too, and the first generation Nissan Leaf (24kWh) was a huge hit here too

My view is the problem is with the time period in which it was released when it comes to the infrastructure in most countries. If the adoption of EVs stayed at current trajectory and the e was launched ten to fifteen years from now, say in 2035, it would be a massive hit because it would have the infrastructure to support it.

As with the FCX, Honda are just fifteen to twenty years too early.

[EEEE]

I think the problem is that the government don't want too many people to buy EVs here, since if we do - it will detract from ICE purchases which is what keeps the UK manufacturing base in play. The 2030 deadline has already been watered down (probably to try and get under the 10% value limit on the batteries value for the upcoming tarrifs). All in all it's political - the UK manufacturers will pull out eventually, but the UK gov will eek it out as long as possible in order to avoid admitting it was anything related to brexit.