I have many grumbles about EV charging stations, not least the factors that led to my Trimalleolar Fracture. I cannot talk about the case specifically, though.
In my experience, IF these places have a canopy, they are not sufficient to cover you and the vehicle.
I have to disagree with Steep, though.
Even the newer ones like the Instavolt one we visited on our mega near-900 mile trip recently had nothing canopy-wise and that was a brand new 40-odd bay charging hub just off the A34 near Winchester. Good facilities, like a Starbucks and a toilet block, but no canopies. And no solar, which in that neck of the woods seems a strange omission.
Some places have painted floors in nice bright colours. I don't know why. ICE forecourts do not. And they have a canopy.
Susanna...I agree with you about the screens. Some of them are very small and difficult to read in bright sunlight.
Plus, the other thing that annoys is that (if you want a preferential rate), you have to download the app for that charger, so you end up with loads of different apps on your phone.
Although it is useful to have an Electroverse card.
Even worse, you end up like us, in a motorway service station, under the eye of a camera with signs warning that if you are parked there for more than 10 minutes without charging, you will receive a £100 invoice for the pleasure... Adds to the pressure when you are downloading the app with a poor signal, installing it, entering all your details and then trying to work out how to ask the charger to start charging (it wasn't intuitive).
That was Applegreen. Anyone familiar?
The other thing is displaying prices.
By law, ICE fuel retailers have to display their prices so you know what it is before you dispense. And you have the right to change your mind, replace the nozzle and not be charged.
But, certainly when we got our MG4 in July 23, there were charging points where it was not at all clear what we would be charged per electron.
There was one time in Derby where we struggled to connect to a charger and had three lots of "pre-authorised" £45s going through our account. I rang their helpline and was told not to worry, that only one would go through, but burger me, they all did. So I rang the helpline again. Who were not very helpful. In the end, I rang First Direct who put two chargebacks on the payments. There was a bit of a dispute over it. Even the bank understood that there was only one (car) charge made, but the charger company (forgotten who) seemed to think different. Even though they had refunded the portion of the £45 that we didn't use after finishing charging.
Anyway, 'twas all sorted out by FD.
I promised myself when I was young, I would never be tempted to get a credit card, but now it seems like a good idea for stuff where purchases are disputed. Section 75 and all that.
