Ecotricity rapid charging customer satisfaction poll - share your experiences

[Stuart Wright]

How would you rate your experience charging with Ecotricity chargers?
If you have used their chargers, please vote on the poll.
And if you have any additional comments to make, please reply in this thread.
Thanks

 

[jonathanhoey]

I voted 'poor'.

I have not yet used Ecotricity in my MG5.

I play drums and prior to Covid I used to go up and down the country most weekends in my previous car (an i3) to play shows.

The 94Ah i3 will only cover 100-120 miles on the motorway so I got very familiar with public rapid charging throughout those years.

Too often, Ecotricity chargers were out of order, or in many cases hadn't yet been upgraded to CCS.

Even when the chargers were available and ostensibly working, there was a persistent CCS-i3 handshake issue that meant the Ecotricity charger would keep disconnecting. You could reconnect and start another charge but this caused another pre-authorisation on the payment card (which would reverse out a day or two later, but it's still a hassle in the mean time, when your available balance appears much lower than it really is). I think my record was seven restarts before receiving enough juice to get on my way.

Perhaps these issues have been corrected by now (I haven't been on a long motorway journey at all since March 2020, because of Covid) but from those prior experiences I would still treat Ecotricity as an option of last resort, not first.

Instead I pay a monthly Polar sub (now BP Pulse, I guess) and will go slightly out of my way to use their rapids whenever possible.

 

[mj224]

I voted average, on the grounds that they are not very reliable, and that they don't all have CCS connectors.

I might add to that list that they just don't have enough chargers at motorway service stations. I accept its a movable feast, and when the chargers were installed there where not many EV's around, but this needs to be modified fairly quickly now.

My nearest three Ecotricty pumps score as follows; Pont Abarham No CCS and one pump. Junction 47 M4 has three pumps, but I think only one CCS, and Sarn services has 2 pumps but still only one CCS.

The Chademo pumps often (always??) have Nissan written on them, so perhaps that it historical reason for a lack of CCS. But they Ecotricity does need to put in more investment, even if they charge (sic) a bit more to use them..

 

[jonathanhoey]

The Chademo pumps often (always??) have Nissan written on them, so perhaps that it historical reason for a lack of CCS. But they Ecotricity does need to put in more investment, even if they charge (sic) a bit more to use them..

From memory (it’s a good while since I’ve thought about this stuff) that’s about the height of it. Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi put up a lot of the initial capital to get the chargers installed in the first place. At the time the Leaf and Outlander would have used Chademo. You’ll also notice a 43kW AC supply at the same chargers, which I believe only the mk1 Zoe ever used.

The rollout of CCS upgrades remains haphazard at best. It may not have been actively hindered by Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi, but there was certainly little incentive for them to help.

 

[Alansurfer]

Over 7 years of ev using both Chademo and CCS Chademo is much more stable and CCS can require several attempts to start (this i find is the case on some brands of rapid though not just Ecotricity). In my experience Ecotricity are good and are my go to if using motorways, I always get a good fast rate (especially compared to Genie that are even worse in the MG5 than the ZS). From 10% to 85% Ecotricity were just 8 minutes slower than IONITY 350kw rapids with my ZS, had 77kw on the IONITY but it drops off early whereas ecotricity pushes 40ish kw for longer, and at 19p per kWh compared to 64p on IONITY the extra 8 mins isn’t a problem for me!
For me Polar are the network I’ve had the most hassle with over the years and avoid them now.

 

[Stuart Wright]

19p per kWh

Ecotricity are 30p/kWh

 

[Alansurfer]

Not if you’re a home energy customer

Ecotricity are 30p/kWh

It’s 19p if your a home energy customer.

 

[Stuart Wright]

Not if you’re a home energy customer


It’s 19p if your a home energy customer.

Off topic, but how have you found them as an energy supplier?

 

[Alansurfer]

Off topic, but how have you found them as an energy supplier?

Not had any problems with supply or service over the years, I’ve been with them for a long time, I’ve not had to make any phone calls for some time so can’t comment on that but sort any issues out with app or by email. I like their continued stance on green issues and they are the only energy company that produce its own green energy at the moment (20% when last checked from owned wind, solar etc)

 

[Fishettibean]

The only two times I used Ecotricity is for my trip to london.

First charge in the morning, was on free vend, so win. Charge rate not brilliant but was high SoC (about 55%). This was more of comfort break for me, a "splash and dash" charge, and is my normal services I use when travelling to london. Thankfully a CCS services.

Second charge was late afternoon went coming back from London. Again, high SoC, as i did a full 7kw charge in Westfield. 35kw rate, 7.7kw delivered in 12mins. £2.31. Again mainly a "splash and dash", especially when stuck in traffic for 40mins but the car using no fuel while waiting. If I didn't spend ages in traffic, then I would have preferred to go to next services but then that didnt have a CCS....

Also only 12 CCS connectors across 15 services stations along the whole of the M4, come on. Telsa has only has 24 CCS connectors from just 3 services stations.

Ecotricity, if they got there act together, they could easily be a big player in EV charging. But Dale is too busy with his vegan football team to do that. Sell up or start expanding (& replacing old units) the number of connections at sites.

 

[smithgt]

I've voted poor. I've tried and failed to charge too many times in my MG ZS.
Now I just avoid them, or use them when I'm not desperate for a charge.

 

[DamianB]

Only tried them once but poor charging speed and lousy CS so avoided since