EV Chargers Still Rubbish? | Coffee and a Chat
Вставка
- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- What kind of state are EV chargers in? How often do you use them whilst out and about? Are they reliable and in the correct locations? Grab a coffee and I'll explain some of my experiences and frustrations and discuss what needs to be done to make them fit for purpose!
FOLLOW ME:
Instagram: evopinion
Twitter: / evopinion
Facebook: / ev.opinion.1
SUPPORT:
paypal.me/pool...
/ evopinion
ko-fi.com/evop... (Buy me a coffee here!)
MY ENERGY PROVIDER:
Bulb - Use this referral link and we will both receive £50! www.bulb.co.uk...
MY KIT:
Rode Lapel Mic: amzn.to/2Hos66v
Rode Video Micro Compact Camera Mic: amzn.to/2L68Fy9
Tascam DR-05: amzn.to/2HW9yYo
DJI Mavic Air: amzn.to/2vGCod3
Canon 70d: amzn.to/2rkaRbV
Awesome Lowepro Tatical Camera Bag: amzn.to/2Q4Qwpm
Vgate iCar OBD2: amzn.to/2S1m3Kz
Insta360 One X: amzn.to/2DKEQzR
![The TRUE COST Of Fixing An Electric Car Battery | High Mileage Tesla [Episode 5]](/img/n.gif)
6 years ago I bought Tesla model S P85 now 110,000 miles later boy did I make the right decision, the supercharger network and the genuine 250 miles range means better than any ICE car and Model 3 Is even better.Tesla has expanded its 100% reliable service ahead of sales.I'm so impressed
I would love a Tesla but
can't afford 40k for a new one
just been made redundant.
I bought a second hand S85 in December 2020 - best car I have ever owned. Someone backed into it a couple of weeks ago and I have a WV ID3 as a loaner while the Tesla is at the bodyshop. I had to fast charge the ID3, and tried three different 150kw chargers and the car wouldnt "talk" to any of them, fortunately I found an "old" 50kw charger nearby and it charged the ID3. This sort of trouble is unheard of with Tesla. I have also observed the obscene queues at fastchargers on public holidays here in Norway, it gets busy at superchargers as well, but most locations have at least a dozen stalls while the other chargers usually hav to or three. This is only getting worse as people ar buying more evs, the public charge networks are lagging behind.
@@richardh6756 sorry to hear that, 2022 should start to see greater numbers of lease ones being sold off which could open them up to more people
@@richardh6756 £8.5K VAT in that price. The GOV is BS'ing.
Oh the coffee and a chat is so welcomed back.
The situation in Scotland is quite good. I live in a small town (Pop 9000) yet it has 6x50KW rapid and 8x22Kw fast all on free vend thanks to ChargePlaceScotland who still have about 1200 free chargers in Scotland. I live in a Victorian flat so I have to use public charges and in all the time I've had my Leaf I've never spent a single penny to charge. Most town here and indeed villages have good modern chargers. Good to see you back.
Probably because our UK government subsidises them!😥
Hi I agree with you. The charging company’s do need to not just install them but maintain them as well.
This is exactly why I bought a tesla Model x4 years ago, the superchargers are great, they always work and are fast. I live in a small town in Ont, Canada of 7000 people. We have 2 free chargers in town, which I never need. I have tried them both just for fun, but 1 was not working. 50% is just not good enough. Love your show and glad to see you are back
In Stafford were I live no new charging points have been installed since I bought my first EV in 2016. Sorry there was one rapid BP chargemaster charger installed. Most of the time not working. This isn't going in the right direction 😮
Had my Ioniq for 18 months and luckily never had to use a public charger. Have you seen the Moto services chargers at Rugby - off junction 1 of M6? That's what we want!
Good to see Coffee and a Chat back. Totally agree with your experience. The InstaVolt chargers on the whole are very good but I did have a problem with the same installation that you where at on the A31. The problem was it lost internet conductivity which meant of course Customer Services couldn’t communicate with it either. So I tried a neighbouring BP Impulse installation. Neither of those would accept a touch card despite the best efforts of customer services. Nightmare! I made one long distance trip Wimborne to Prestwick generally went quite well but several of the Ecotricity Chargers were out of service. On another occasion on strip from Wimborne to Norwich went to one charger which was in a car park only to find it completely fenced off while the car park was resurfaced.
Don’t get me started about my Nissan SATNAV sending me to chargers that no longer existed. I love my electric car but for instance couldn’t recommend one to my sister who travels on her own because of charging on long journeys.
Lots to be done I’m afraid.🤔
The problem as I see it is there is no public charging strategy which is why we have the mish mash that we currently have. There needs to be a plan covering rapid charging, on street charging for those without a private driveway and destination charging for when you are away from home. Without a plan we will struggle to get something decent. Two things you need from public charging is confidence and consistency. With so many locations with just one charger you can not be confident that it will 1) be available and 2) work. First CCS charge I did on Ecotricity and it worked fine, second time I used them it failed so I had to drive two miles to the next charger location so there is the reliability issue. For me, over 95% of my journeys don't rely on public charging and the benefits of the 95% outweigh the potential negatives of the 5% but if I had to rely on the public charging network regularly I doubt I would own an EV
The charging supply is what is putting me off buying an EV. Most of the time we don't need to go that far but when we (or more usually, my wife) do, the usual route is up the A303 to London. Fine going up but coming back - there is a bloody huge gap between M3/A36 to the Somereset/Devon border where we live. The alternative route would be the M5/M4 and Ecotricity who are, at the moment, utterly hopeless - my wife pointed out one of the services (perhaps Leigh Delemere?) the chargers are surrounded by a big puddle when it's wet. Not a charging problem - but a I don't want to get out of the car in these shoes problem!
Understand exactly what you are saying. I work for a local council and they don't seem to (or is it want to) understand what needs doing with regards infrastructure. There's a climate pledge etc. but I can't see it being fulfilled. Extremely frustrating and I feel sorry for anyone coming to the area
Your coffee has gone cold! Just bought i3 and yet to do a long journey but have the safety of an ICE as a second car. Depressing report but we will see how it all goes. Thank you for the chat.
I have experience just what you described with locked in chargers and after lengthy discussion with customer service got to use the emergency button. Next lesson, charger not working because said emergency button needed to be twisted to release it from its pushed in position! thanks customer services. Then there's the many chargers that ask you to swipe your payment card but then don't start a charge, so you end up having swiped you card several times before the charge commences and you end up having no idea what you have actually spent until you get home and look at your bank account. Then there is overall design, the screens that you can't read because the resolution isn't sufficient to cope with the sun shining on it. And, I'm sure many of us have met the tiny, tiny red boutton which tells us what to do (ie PRESS STOP or other crucial instructions), on an insufficiently lit screen late at night- clue: you have to find it first (try bottom left). Then there are the chargers that want you to use your phone app (one hand), use your payment card ( two hands), insert charger (three hands),oh, and it's pelting rain in an Lidl carpark, it's dark, and my umbrella is tricky enough to navigate and ........I love my EV, I love knowing that I am not polluting my immediate location ( yes, I do know that the power has to be generated some how and it isn't always pretty). I like to think that by buying and using my EV I am being a part of the crusaders creating demand for chargers and a cleaner world. I also appreciate the smooth powerful silent drive, and knowing in queues that I'm not wasting fuel as my motor stills until it is next required. I have seen significant developments of charging systems and hope that people in rural areas don't get left behind. And one more ask - WHY DON'T THE GOVERNMENT INSIST THAT ALL NEW BUILDINGS HAVE SOLAR PANELS?
The big problem is the DNO.
For example, BP have installed 4 new Chademos at Reading services over a year ago.
DNO have not allowed them to be connected up.
Coffee & a Chat is back! Awesome. Great topic considering the new Ecotricity/Gridserve arrangement and the new Gridserve charging stop, the way of the future. So happy you're getting back into the groove Ryan. As much as you can. :)
It’s nice to be back. I won’t be doing as much as before but still have a few videos planned 😁👍
Any views on the apparently worse battery degradation on the 30kwh Leaf compared to the 24Kwh version? I have a 17 plate 30kwh and it is far worse than your 24Kwh.
@@EVOpinion Love to see if it was Chademo that caused the issue or if a CCS car used the same charger whether it would work. I know where I live there has been Nissan Leaf's having issues with chargers that CCS cars are not or the CCS plug is working but the Chademo isn't.
Interesting hearing a different experience of chargers during lockdown. Pre lockdown I didn't have any issues finding a charger.
I don't have home charging, when lockdown happened I also still needed to travel but found all the host sites of my local rapids had closed for Covid and removed access to the rapid chargers.
In the past 6 months more rapids have been installed locally and on my longer journeys there are now more rapids. With the polar, podpoint and Ecotricity networks getting me where I need to go and I have seen nearly every make of EV in that time.
Had some early problems with podpoint customer service, very pleasant but unable to do anything when a fault occured with the ap was unable to see charger status to authenticate a charge. Polar were at least able to fix an issue quickly on the rare occasions I had to call them.
Do see the same handful of Tesla's, but the nearest supercharger needs a 50 mile detour, so I think they go the long way round.
Nail.On.Head. This is precisely why I am not going electric yet, though I’d love to. I cannot charge at home.
Hey Ryan - great to see you spill the (coffee) beans again. In my region (US), we’ve seen a big increase in chargers coming online over the past year or so, and although they are usually 2 at a time installations, they are mostly reliable so far, allowing us to drive further distances without the risk of having to use L2 for some of the trip. Lots of the new installs are Chargepoint 50 to 62.5 kw, which seem to be well made and maintained. I sense the pace of installations is not likely to keep up with EV sales, as more car models come online. Hopefully the governments will help to encourage faster charger deployment in the remote travel areas.
Hi Ryan, Good chat. In my home town, Kilmarnock in Scotland we have 9 rapid chargers 7 Charge Place Scotland one's which are free and 2 instavolt one at a shell garage which you have to pay for. My problem is when I'm traveling for my work through all the other towns in west of Scotland there is only one rapid per town, Which are normality in use or worse, ICED when I get there. As I drive a 30kwh leaf I need at least a top up charge per shift. There really needs to be more charging hubs built.
I totally agree. I found lots of issues of infrastructure various apps and accounts required on my 2019 UK road trip in my 40kwh leaf. The combination of rapid gate even with the software fix and public chargers made me sell the car after. The leaf was £28k, and to not be able to take it on infrequent long road trips defeats the purpose of having a nice car. I dont want a tesla, but they are the only Evs that work for road trips. Frustrating infrastructure and 50kw chargers aren't good enough for 2021, hopefully it'll be better by 2025 when we next change our car. But will stick to a phev for now that can do 25 miles ev range.
Good video Ryan. Your correct of course. I know it's a big investment for oil companies but I do believe that every Shell/ BP station should have at least one charger installed and two or more if it's on a main trunk road. Hopefully that will happen not to far into the future as sales of other fuels slow up to private users.
I'm on my second EV, first a battery owned 2016 Zoe now a 2018 Kia Soul EV. I managed to home charge the Zoe despite being in a terraced house. A fortunate drain channel across the pavement and co-operative neighbours. Still less hassle than unpredictable public chargers.
Now I have a drive, garage and home charger. BLISS!
Hi Ryan, I have missed our coffee and chats together. So I was pleased to see this one. I totally agree with you, the infrastructure just isn't there, and the take up of new EV's has been great due to all the different models that are available. Also, the chargers are probably being used by many more people, and this will affect the chargers reliability. The solution is to have more chargers and have them in more places, surely the sales of EV's will justify the investment. Thanks again Ryan👍🏻
We have a 2016 Leaf and a Model 3. I had experience of standing in the rain on the phone to polar for over 15 minutes while my mates were sat in the holiday inn laughing at me (on the way to fully charged live btw). I also had issues charging on charge place scotland without the RFID card. Not one issue with superchargers which I actually used way more than any other networks despite owning the Leaf for longer. What drives me nuts the most is that Tesla figured out a way to bill without cards apps and accounts in what... 2014? Why can't other manufacturers take your VIN via the CCS connection and bill you the correct amount at the end of charge without having to give you a touch screen and contactless connections. Yes contactless connections are good for chargers you have no account for, I get it. Ionity charge a £69 authorisation fee, ecotricity is £12, instavolt are £5. I use starling bank which sends me a notification as soon as I spend money. As I unplug at the Tesla supercharger, before I even manage to put the cable back into it's place, I get a notification I paid x at Tesla. And it's the correct amount. Why charge me £69 or any other amount upfront to then refund me a week later. It's just bonkers.
Being Positive I love PodPoint @tesco Yes, they are not Rapid, but they are free, and very easy to use. I have noticed they have got more popular of late, and on some occasions I have to wait a short time. But not long.
Agree that many old Polar chargers need an update. Have reported some to BP Pulse. One was fixed, 2 others not. Local Council Wiltshire claim they don't have funds to invest.
However since owning my car Aug 2020, I have only TWICE made a Journey greater than 100 miles, so only TWICE needed a reliable, Rapid Charge. And PodPoint at Lidl Portland was easy. 44mins £2.66 - cheaper than a coffee. And of course I’m driving an BEV with “limited range” 🤣
One great thing about the Tesla is the ability to release the cable from the car. Saves a lot of hassle.
Great to see you back. As for public charging, I live in Northern Ireland and you lot don't know your living LOL (yes the network really is that bad here)
I have found that a lot of chargers that are going in are 50kW+ rapid chargers. I find this frustrating in some locations where you are going to be parked for half the day or longer, then you have to queue for a rapid charge to return home. It makes more sense to install 7kW chargers adding about 100 miles in 4 hours. For the price of one rapid charger, you could fill most of a car park if not the entire car park with 7kW chargers. This makes EVs fueled like EVs and not like ICE cars which the oil companies are trying to do with chargers on petrol forecourts.
Its definitely getting better. Thinking of the partnership that Gridserve now have with Ecotricity that effectively means that Ectricity will soon no longer maintain a presence on M-ways, except in name only. All their crappy old chargers that earned them a toxic reputation, alongside their business hours only helpline - all soon to be gone. Hurrah!. Then you have Instavolt growing all over, Gridserve forecourts etc. Its taking off now.
The big thing now is that SLA standards need to be enforced. We need 99% reliability, enforced with a regulator with penalties for failure. And we need to be rid of the crappy apps. Any company that makes it difficult for me to interact and spend money with them will find that I don't.
Hi, I really enjoyed your chat. I got an EV in January and I now scour youtube for EV content and have watched many of your videos which I greatly enjoy your presentation and the video content. Like many late adopters I have an EV with a range of 282 miles so in reality 230 to 250 miles (I have a Kia Soul Maxx). I have only used the public charging network once when bringing my new car and used the Instavolt @ Banbury which has 8 charging points, no queuing and a seamless experience so a thumbs up from me. We don't seem to have seen any videos from you for a while do you still have the leaf? Hope all is good with you and your family.
Glad to see you back! A week away from my first EV so interested in how public charging is shaping up.
Great topic - I’ve found the charger availability issues exactly the same. One big thing in London has been loads of on street rapid chargers but many sign posted for electric taxis only and they’re always empty - the ones that remain always have a electric taxi charging in them, it’s a nightmare! Personally I think they should all be available for all and there wouldn’t be such an issue.
Great to have coffee and chat back 👍🏼👍🏼
Waiting for the delivery of my 1st EV in June and so I'm soaking up as many relevant YT channels as I can find - this is my first visit to Coffee and a Chat and I'll be back - thank you.
For what it's worth I have an acquaintance who is an energy expert. I believe he advises the government.
A while back he told me, 'Problem is.....if everyone in a street of 100 houses all have EV's and all chose to charge them at the same time ,
the underground electricity cables in the street would melt because the grid infrastructure is inadequate to handle such a sustained demand'
True? What do I know? I'm just an excited Polestar owner in waiting.....but then he's a university professor.
I'm unlikely to do 200 miles+ most days so home charging will be my principal source but just maybe an efficient well maintained public charging network
will become not just desirable, but essential. Regards, Jeff.
Hi Jeff and welcome😁. I’m not surprised you are excited. The Polestar is a lovely car. I think smart meters are the first step towards managing the demand of EVs on the grid. I’m sure in the future we will be smarter about the times we choose to charge and renewable energy will be more affordable.
I live in the Milton Keynes / Bedford area. BP Pulse (chargemaster) are the predominant network round here so I use them a lot.
I've been a subscriber for over 4 years and in that time their customer service has been getting worse and worse. You regularly have to wait over 10 mins yto get a call answered. When you are answered they often can't fix your problem. When you email it takes days to get a response. And it gets worse the busier the network gets.
On the plus side they have installed a lot of charging infrastructure in my area which needs acknowledgement. It has made owning an EV much easier.
But their customer service is soon going to push me to unsubscribe and leave the network, especially as other networks move into the the area
Great to see you back with the coffee and chat. When I had my 40kWh Leaf we regularly made the 90+ mile trip to see our son in Southampton, which required a 20-25 rapid to get us home and we never had an issue with the Polar at Lower Swanwick. Of course there are the charge points at Rownham services, which twice were on free vend. Other then that where went away for mini breaks we planned our trips near destination chargers
I live in CA. DCFC and L2 infrastructure is getting better every month. I mostly charge at home but rely on PlugShare to avoid problematic stations when traveling. I recommend people to buy an EV that had at least 1.5x the range of their daily commute. I understand you are making do as an early adopter but a forced DCFC daily is not for most.
Perfect timing! I’ve followed you since you started, love what you do. I’ve been watching hundreds of u-tube vids on ev’s & I concluded that charging is my main concern. It’s not range anxiety it’s charger anxiety. So I’ve now ordered a Tesla just because of charging when away from home-what a shame, so many cars I liked but they’ve lost my business solely due to charging. Nice honest review once again.
Hi Michael. I think you’ve made a good decision. There are some great cars out there but you ha e to look at the whole package and that includes charging. If it suits your needs then it’s the perfect fit. Thanks for your support 😁👍
I have been a non Tesla EV owner for 5 years now and the Tesla model Y can’t come soon enough for me.I think that says what I think of the non Tesla charging infrastructure.
Just wait for 2021 Oct when the new ulez comes in BEV car sales will go through the roof then think how busy the chargers will be
Great to see you back doing these chats Ryan 👍 and I do agree with you here.
Great video chap, things are improving but new companies and old need to maintain and look after their customer. I held on a call with BP the other day for 20mins with no response no good if you rely on them. That said my experience has been more good than bad
Totally agree with everything you say and having had electric vehicles for 6 years like you I echo your thoughts.
I don't won't to waste my time and added frustration of playing the charging lottery so I decided to make the decision to buy a Tesla because the network does what you expect it should do.
I will only return to a non Tesla when I am confident the charging network issues are sorted.
This may take a few years.
I really enjoy your videos but I think your experience is atypical, at least around here. Used a lot of public chargers and the only time I haven't charged was at M40 Beaconsfield, and that's only because there was a queue and I couldn't be bothered to wait. Everywhere else - BP Pulse, Podpoint, Instavolt and Osprey mainly - have been fine, albeit the BP Pulse app isn't great. That's with the proviso that on long journeys I check the chargers beforehand and avoid any with low scores. But most people will use a handful of chargers 90% of the time so will find the best local ones, in the same way people know the cheapest local petrol stations.
we have done 52k miles since june 2019 in our leaf, doing on average 1-2 rapids per working day. yes some networks are better than others it just requires a little planning and checking the charger you are heading for is working before you leave. most of the charging we do is basingstoke/sutton scotney/southampton
Welcome back , keep it real this time and don’t accept any gifts .
In BC, Canada, the BC Hydro chargers are fairly reliable - but usually queued. They mostly top out at 50kw/h charging rate. Petro-Canada - the only gas station company in Canada to install a network is fairly reliable and their phone/email support is pretty good. They do often throttle charge rate, though. They advertise up to 350kw on many charger locations, and while top rate for my car is about 80kw/h, I rarely see more than 52kw/h when charging. The real need is for municipalities to encourage more installation - or provide sites themselves to provide more chargers for tourists and commuters.
I think it is getting better! New chargers (InstaVolt )at Corley services M6. New services open at Rugby M6 J1, 12 electric highway and 12 V3 Tesla. New ionity charges at Peterborough services. Saw 2 fast chargers on a Radom street in Coventry! This is just few of the new fast chargers going in around the country! It might seem slow if you look local, but travel around and you start to see the bigger picture!😃🧐
On occasions I will use the charge network. Like Christmas, which last time I went, a charger located on a petrol forecourt was inaccessible because that was one of the few days of the year that the petrol station was closed off by cones at the entrances! I reported to charger company but no feedback received on if any changes for next Christmas! Their app had said it was available for charging before I went there
So good to have you back. Always enjoy your videos.
Personally don’t dot much long distance but when I have to it terrifies me. Had a few difficulties in my time. Can’t really comment of late though as we’ve not been anywhere.
Hi Gavin. Good to hear from you. Thankfully I’ve just pulled into BP and the charger is working today so a little bit of positive news 😁👍
@@EVOpinion Forgot to mention the most important thing. I was having a coffee in..... my EV Opinion mug whilst watching :-D
I switched from a Zoe to a Prius because I could only charge publicly and Salisbury’s network is in a serious state of disrepair. Not helped by the fact polar managed them but the council own them. Polar won’t repair as our of warranty. Councils has to use another company to repair. If polar is managing them they should maintain them. The two polar chargers in Amesbury have terrible reliability and the new instavolt one does not support type2 so no good for cars that only have that even if they take the higher ac charge rate.
Infrastructure is one of the main reasons I haven't invested in an electric vehicle, where I live, on my journey to work, there's no chargepoints, the only chargepoints near me, one solitary car park which closes at night, I work long unsociable hours, the car park is usually closed when I go to work and when I come home, I would be solely reliant on public charging as I can't have a charging point at my home as I have a shared driveway with public right of way to walk through.
Coffee and chat is back 🙂 I’ve not rapid charged since before lockdown. We’re due to go up to Liverpool for the weekend soon and in my i3 I’d need to charge for the return journey. If I was on my own, no problem but as I’m going up with my wife I can’t face having any hassle. Diesel it’ll be as bad as it is.
To be fair the UK is probably 2nd only to Norway for its charging infrastructure. Still various deserts though.
I’ve charged today using ecotricity ....the charge worked , but why do we still need to scan a bar code ? I was lucky today the weather was ok, but if it’s raining it’s a lot of hassle , and why do they charge you £12 ? I only needed £4 of charge to get me home, it’s so frustrating, can you imagine pulling into a service station scanning your card and it takes £50 from your account and you only put £30 petrol/diesel in your ice car ?
FFS! Literally half way filming this very topic for an upload this Friday! Pretty much the same conclusion too!
People will think I've copied!
Sorry!! I don’t think you can ever be accused of copying anyone and I’m sure you’ll add your own special brand of humour to your description 😁
Really good video, the charging network is the reason I'm still on the fence about electric. Will look at again hopefully when it starts to improve.
Good to see you back chatting 👍 Have you tried the new Poundbury charger yet, too close to my home charger 😂
Haven’t you got in touch with the bosses of polar to sort this out. They would rather you call them than lose money. There is going to be a 24/7 service on the motorway services now that GridServe have brought 25% of Ecotricity’s charging infrastructure. Might be worth the wait for this to take hold.
I suspect it's going to get worse before it gets better, EV sales are greater than new charging stations . It's far easier to make and buy an EV than to get planning permission and fund charging stations . Also likely more people without home charging will buy EVs thus meaning the ratio of chargers to EV needs to increase. It will sort itself out eventually but until then it will be a rocky ride
In 1yr and 11500 miles. I ice blocked charger. 1 ecotricity 50 worked. 5 not. 1 failed shell. 1 failed but call centre sorted polar. Ionity ace instavolt 4 of 4 good. Pretty good so far with bit of thought. Kent to Cornwall Kent to crewe. Liverpool to Kent.kent to brum twice Kent to cannock twice good.
It 's all about the local government, they need to make it easy for companies to add public chargers, I ordered a Kona which will arrive in a few weeks, pretty much can' t charge at home ever.
But when my car arrives and I don't have a charger in less then 200m from my home they will realise one within those 200m.
What this means is that all over my city more and more chargers are popping up and not only in city centre.
And this pretty much is happening all over the country.
Now we just need some EU regulations for pricing on fast chargers and getting rid of the utter bs for needing a dozen different cards, key chains, apps and what not from companies that add no value to the charging infrastructure whatsover accept for a card with flashy colors.
Refreshing to see an EV convert being honest and realistic about the state of public charging. Gridserve seem to be the only player making a real go of it, but they are still very much at the beginning of their journey, hopefully their involvement with with Ecotricity will lead to improvements at MSA's. There doesn't appear to be any countrywide plan or coordination on provision of public charging, it is all be left to 'market forces' to sort it out. That being the case provision will always lag behind demand. There are some dreadful inconsistencies in local authority attitudes to EV's and charging infrastructure. One local authority declined an application for a taxi licence for an MG5, because they were afraid it would lead to increased demand on their inadequate provision of charging infrastructure, I mean how backwards can you get!
Good to have you back fella 👍
Nice to see coffee and a chat back, Wouldn't it be better for this journey, if your workplace had a 7kw charger? Might be a better way to promote electric cars to people too, especially for the travel to work, 2nd cars.
You are absolutely right and they do have some pod point chargers for the firms fleet but they have been closed off to employees ☹️
@@EVOpinion thats a real shame
Charging free still in Northern Ireland but I regularly find cars abandoned at the rapid charger left charging to 100% for well over an hour, people getting a lift away in another car. Only one rapid charger in my city, makes my blood boil in my 24kwh leaf trying to get a quick charge to get home. Most of the slower chargers are broken as there is no incentive for the supplier as they can't charge for electric, with more cars on the road the freeloading abandoned cars causes more issues. Can't understand how someone that can afford a 50k car with long range can't afford to charge it up at home.
Time to start charging so the people who genuinely need them can use them and some money can be invested back into the infrastructure.
@@EVOpinion I understand there is some kind of loophole that prohibits charging for public charging in Northern Ireland. Our devolved assembly takes forever to agree anything, if they ever do. They started paying for charging in the Republic of Ireland last year, you used to have to queue to charge now the public chargers are always empty!
Enjoyed your leaf 75k review, very informative and I've had that dash rattle too 😂
Hi Ryan, I have had a 40kWh Nissan Leaf for three years and I have recorded every rapid charge I have done in that period because I am "sad" that way :-) Like most EV owners 90% of my charges are done at home overnight and only used rapid chargers on long trips and holidays. I have rapid charged 43 times in three years and only once have I had a charger not working and that was a chargeplace Scotland charger that looked like it had been vandalised. I have had maybe three minor issues that were solved by a quick call to the providers helpdesk. Instavolt are my favourite because they are so easy to use with contactless payment. I have never had an issue with Ecotricity but I would rank them lowest only because of the annoying app that you have to use, although thankfully this is not needed for the new Ecotricity/Gridserve chargers.
With the ever increasing number of chargers and the improving technology rapid charging is only going to get easier.
Thank you for sharing your experiences. It’s good to hear so many successful charges.
I'm hoping that the Gridserve tie up with Ecotricity will change things on the motorway. The start at Rugby is encouraging.
This was some of the best news we could have hoped for. So long as they match their promises it will make a huge difference.
@@EVOpinion Definitely. I always went out my way to avoid Ecotricity. Hopefully soon I won't have to do so.
Had Ev 3 days now, love it but Genie Point rapid chargers at a new Asda work, but not as they should. Instructions say use any rfid card to start. That doesn’t work, so try app,… works ok,…charge started! Yeh! But, now can’t stop charger. Rfid card doesn’t work, app doesn’t work.
Ended up pressing emergency stop button so I could release cable!
Can’t really complain as point is free to use at moment, but these are brand new & they can’t get it right!
I feel your frustration!!
It's almost as if the big oil companies don't want you to buy an EV and deliberately under invest in their own charge networks thereby instilling fear, uncertainty and doubt? Surely that isn't true, anyway Tesla model 3 for me charge network is fast, easy to use and never fails.
Some regions like where I live have great public charging. Though not much use to me with home charging. Sadly the regions I travel to often have terrible provision with broken being the norm :(
Can’t agree with your conclusion not to recommend EV’s. And both the Zoe ZE50 and new Nissan Leaf will both do 200 plus miles. Maybe part of the problem isn’t the public chargers but the range of less than 100 miles of your old Leaf. With a newer car you would only need to charge at home...
So true. Hopefully the existing Government survey will show this and bring about a Bill to make these companies bring in a set of standards to have unity across the board. Eventually I hope we end up with chargers with two systems incorporating a Contactless pay as you go ability but also a Car account system like Tesla, VW and Mercedes now have where you pull up and plug in and the Car’s account gets billed. Other way could be like what Octopus 🐙 Energy have with their Electric Juice Card and App where they have lots of charging companies linked to the card and your home Energy account gets billed. I use it and works great. Also in Scotland we gave the current Charge Place Scotland Card which works with all their installed chargers and some others and you get debuted from your set up account. It’s in process of switching over to SWARCO to run and without membership fee!
There’s a few options.
I’d love to just plug in and be charged automatically. I’ve also just signed up for Octopus so looking forward to taking advantage of lots of their benefits 😁👍
I regularly travel to Eastleigh and Southampton and the BP and She’ll chargers in Eastleigh always seem to fail me.
I always end up stopping early at Corfe Mullen just to make sure.
Good profile of the present problem, exactly the reason I bought a Tesla4 years ago, even now I wouldn’t buy any other brand simply because charging is so unreliable.
Hi Ryan. Seems ages since I shot that rather rubbish instavolt vid for you. Since bought an MG5 and on a trip to Cornwall 3 out of 4 Rapids wouldn't work. Its crap. My complaints about the ridiculous experience I've had with Geniepoint could fill a short vid on their own. Even when it works it's so bloody complicated and long winded. Instavolt and Swarco are my favourites.
Great chat Ryan. I think the analogy would be that we are at the dawn of a new day. There are so many interesting developments going on. Rugby MSA for example and Gridserve partnering up with Ecotricity. I've heard that there is a lot going on along the A1, but am not sure about the details. The thing is - what sort of day is it going to be? Will it be a Sunday, which tends to drag on until the evening TV kicks in, or will it be a Monday, when it's all systems go and lots get done. We'll just have to wait and see. Personally I'm hopeful that by the end of this year there will be massive improvements to the infrastructure.
On the BPPulse chargers the secret is in the name. Have BP really come into the Light or are they still with the Dark and trying to keep the EVolution down?
I've only used an InstaVolt charger once, last week in fact, and it too was a faff to get disconnected. Started it with the app and tried to stop with the app, but no joy. Pressed the stop button several times and eventually it worked.
It's worth having the InstaVolt app as it reduces the price without having to preload. Your charges all get gathered together and billed at the end of the month. This also means that there's no hold of money from your bank account until you've paid.
Really enjoy your vids....welcome back
Thank you 😁👍
As a country we don’t have all that long to get up to speed with facilities not to mention the purchase cost of vehicles.
The underlying issue is SERVICE and CUSTOMERS are not respected nor are they being given the care they both deserve and need. Bad customer service leaves a bad taste in your mouth and is more likely for that person to tell on average 10 people. Looking at how many subscribers you have... so the fact that they didn't train their customer service people properly shows a lack of respect and concern for their customers and the workers. EVERY INDUSTRY has this issue and we've put up with bad service for too long.
Couldn’t agree more.
I haven't had a problem but only had ev since September last year so with lockdown haven't done as many trips as I would normally but going to Midlands from Essex seems OK at the moment fingers crossed
The instavolt not disconnecting, my Kia Niro has an emergency release lever under the bonnet, I would have thought the leaf would have the same as it’s the car that locks onto the cable.
Going to respectfully disagree with your first comment about that we all want things right away. I have found I actually appreciate things more when I need to wait for them to arrive, and have been totally content to wait a week for a nice product, instead of buying some cheap lower quality stuff that can be delivered quickly. Rant over.
A fair point but what if you could get that perfect item that’s high quality immediately? 🤔😀
Here in Spain, outside of tesla could be a nightmare, we need more and more reliable networks. They are growing but too slow
At the moment EV drivers are a captive market.
It's been a while, agreed with you on everything you said.
I have only used Source London destination chargers. Both times worked perfectly. Is there no way you could charge at work, Ryan?
Looking at the thumbnail I’m guessing you got stuck at the Corfe Mullen Starbucks. I’ve used those a few times but my Zoe has a button inside which releases the cable so not a problem.
My problem with InstaVolt is their chargers in Bridport are in a leisure centre car park which has a chain across the entrance when they are shut, not much use late at night, as you said they need to take their business more seriously.
Yes. You know your chargers😁. Fun fact, I worked at that leisure centre in the late 90’s.
There’s no way I would get into an EV till charging is as fast as filling a tank of fuel and the range is 600 miles + miles as is my 4.4 Range Rover ,
I'm taking a risk and getting a ioniq with no home charging. I am looking to move to a house with a drive but in the meantime I'm planning on relying on the local shopping centers 56 free 7kw posts. Believe it or not the last time i was there it was mainly filled with ID3s and polestars
The network in N.Ireland is old and needs update still free to use but no good if there not working, wouldn’t mind paying for the chargers if they were update and working my nearest rapid charger for my Leaf has not been working for about a year now
Ryan on the ChargePoint instavolt units the charger number is in the display it tells you charger number and if it is charging and how many kw
So electric car charging and payment its so straight forwards. VHS, Betamax or Video Disc. Not to mention the complications of payment. Its too complicated.
they need to pull their finger out , i can think of two fast chargers then the next ones are on the motorway, one at a texaco and one at lidl.
If you are an AA member, will you get any discount on Instavolt charging?
Charging in the US is absolutely abysmal!
If you can't rely on Instavolt it's bad news.
I’ve just seen an Audi E tron and an e corsa on charge at our local insta volt charging points, they are very popular as they are 50kw chargers the other ones in town are 7kw. I chose to go with a new petrol car three weeks ago as it is my only car, I was seriously considering the kona.
What are things like now?
I ask myself a question do people really need rapid chargers or just a trickle charger ? just trying to see what's more convenient to people
Instavolt don’t cater for Zoe’s with AC.
Hello, please can you all ev car user recommend some good electric company who can install charge point at my home, live at West Yorkshire
Regards