Accuracy of public chargers

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londiniumperson
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Post by londiniumperson »

Are we getting what we are paying for?
Does anyone have details of the whether public charger points are verified as providing an accurate amount of energy?

I don't know what public body oversees this & don't trust the random musings on the internet.

This question has come about from a another thread on this forum, but I didn't want to detract from it.
Last edited by londiniumperson on Sun Sep 06, 2020 2:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Jeffers
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Post by Jeffers »

Good question. I would assume all would bill based on what has been measured to have left the charger, but I seem to remember some provider billing only for what the car received. I think that was a on a Tesla Bjorn video a while back, could be mistaking things.

As to how accurate the reading is, I would hope there'd be some sort of auditing process but not sure who by. I'd be interested to find out if anyone has more info on this also.

I know some chargers go on free vend every now and then, and I'd assumed that was due to comms errors or similar, but now wondering if it could also be coulomb counter calibration out of whack, or whatever method they use to measure charge. Maybe there are penalties for overcharging customers that makes free vend the cheaper option?
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MattHero
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Post by MattHero »

I would assume public chargers which charge based on delivered kWh would have to be licensed and checked by the local authority, the same way petrol pumps are? Or am I over assuming?

EDIT; UK specific response.
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advance2020
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Post by advance2020 »

Londinium: I'm curious to know the real reason behind your question?

I assume you are aware of the inherent losses i.e. not all of the kW delivered by the charger (the amount of power you pay for) is stored into your car battery. Some of this energy is lost in heat, due to chemical reactions. Losses can range from 12-15% or higher, see link below, so not all of the kW you buy is stored into your battery.
For example I charged up at Tesco today. Pod Point tells me I got 11.9kWh over approx a 2hr charge from 7kW charger. I assume that is the amount of energy the Pod Point used, rather than what ended up in my battery.
My Car said Battery % had increased from 59% to 95% = 36% which seems a significant increase.

For more see:-
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... ischarging
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londiniumperson
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Post by londiniumperson »

There are regulations regarding the accuracy of petrol/diesel pumps to ensure that the customer is getting what they are expecting in terms of the volume of fuel, I was wondering if there are regulations relating to the supply of electrical energy at public chargers.
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