Feeling stupid about my first public charge…

[TimothyN]

I have managed to own this car for six months and never have charged it at a public charger.

I'm now going to go to Centerparcs, I will need a little boost and have booked a 7kW space.

It seems that the charging points are managed and owned by VendElectric and listed on their app, but CenterParcs' own website says to use the Monta app.

Can I just use whichever I prefer?

Sorry to be so dim, but the whole thing strikes me as very confusing!

 

[Archev]

I have managed to own this car for six months and never have charged it at a public charger.

I'm now going to go to Centerparcs, I will need a little boost and have booked a 7kW space.

It seems that the charging points are managed and owned by VendElectric and listed on their app, but CenterParcs' own website says to use the Monta app.

Can I just use whichever I prefer?

Sorry to be so dim, but the whole thing strikes me as very confusing!

I imagine you’ll find you’re not alone, there are many of us languishing in this club

 

[SteveMSJ]

I have managed to own this car for six months and never have charged it at a public charger.

I'm now going to go to Centerparcs, I will need a little boost and have booked a 7kW space.

It seems that the charging points are managed and owned by VendElectric and listed on their app, but CenterParcs' own website says to use the Monta app.

Can I just use whichever I prefer?

Sorry to be so dim, but the whole thing strikes me as very confusing!

I went to Whinfell Forest Center Parcs last summer. Charging using the Monta app worked with no problems. You effectively get a reserved parking space. There was no cell phone coverage in the EV parking area so best to setup the app with a payment method in advance if you are going there. Remember you need a type 2 cable as they are untethered like most public AC chargers.

 

[MG Clive]

When we went in November, I downloaded the Monta app, as it happened, I didn't need to charge while we were there, but all the necessary info was on the Monta app.

Also, after your first night there, you'll probably get a message asking you to remove your car from the charging area, just ignore it, you can stay there for the duration of your stay.

 

[T1 Terry]

That feeling stupid happens every time I need to use a charging station ..... I end on the help line and someone walks me through my mental block so I can get it to work ...... probably why most of my MG4 charging is from our motorhome, I rarely stuff that up .... I didn't claim I've never stuffed it up, but not as often as at a public charging station

T1 Terry

 

[Bam Bam]

I have managed to own this car for six months and never have charged it at a public charger.

I'm now going to go to Centerparcs, I will need a little boost and have booked a 7kW space.

It seems that the charging points are managed and owned by VendElectric and listed on their app, but CenterParcs' own website says to use the Monta app.

Can I just use whichever I prefer?

No idea I'm afraid.

Is it possible that VendElectric have handed the billing over to Monta to make their lives easier?

We used Monta at a holiday cottage and it wasn't too difficult in the end.

Sorry to be so dim, but the whole thing strikes me as very confusing!

Most things are difficult the first time.

And at the moment there are lots of different types and approaches to charging and so there is much to learn.

I think it will get easier as we get more experienced and in the meantime certainly nothing beat yourself up about.

 

[decrep]

Maybe, just maybe, a bit of sense will prevail and some sort of charging standard will happen.

 

[Hugo A Go Go]

Lots of those 7kW chargers are a bit of a faff and use a proprietary app. Sometimes you have to preload money onto the app and then use up the balance.

And also you will have to provide your own cable.

I tend to avoid them and just find a rapid charger nearby, which are a lot less hassle to use.

 

[TimothyN]

Sadly my itinerary just precludes that.

 

[Data]

When I first bought my new ZS EV (my first EV) I deliberately went out of my way to charge at a few public charge stations to take the 'fear' out of it. These were all ultrafast chargers. They were simple as long as you follow the payment & connection instructions. Surely the AC chargers can't be too different, aside from using your own type two cable?

 

[EvTek23]

Monta are partnered with Electroverse. The Electroverse card is always being talked about on the community as a worthy addition to have.

 

[Hugo A Go Go]

Surely the AC chargers can't be too different, aside from using your own type two cable?

I can’t speak for all of them, but in general I have found AC chargers to be a real faff.

Generally there is no contactless or RFID reader so you can’t just swipe your credit card or Electroverse, etc

Take evcharge.online (as used in parts of Northumberland).

They don’t even have an app - you have to go to their website, register an account, add a card, add some money to your online wallet.

You then use the website to start a charge. If you didn’t add enough money then the charge session stops when your balance hits zero. If you added too much money, you have to either use it up another time or request a refund.

Podpoint works similarly, except it’s done through an app instead of a website. And they allow you to go onto a negative balance instead of just ending the charge for you.

I’ve got an £8.36 balance with them which Ive had forever and cba trying to get a refund on.

DC rapid chargers on the other hand - plug in and swipe your credit card or Electroverse card, and a few seconds later your car is charging.

 

[T1 Terry]

We have a few of the networks using the slower AC chargers, each have their own card and method of initiating charging, if not followed to the letter, the charger and the car start to act like teenagers giving each other the silent treatment. On more than one occasion, I've had to change chargers to find one that hasn't got the huffs because it wasn't treated the way it thought it should be .....

DC fast chargers .... at least they don't have an attitude problem, they just have issues with whose network card they want to see ..... still getting my head around how to set up the AEVA all in one card .... but I have another 12 mths to do battle with it .... hopefully

T1 Terry

 

[James Dean Driving School]

I am in the "never charged at home" club so can give a valuable tip: borrow a label printer and mark up which end of the type 2 cable is which. When its cold wet and dark you will be glad you did. Also, DC is much less hassle than AC.
Of course, not ever charged at home I didn't clock you would be very familiar the AC cable. I'll get me coat.

 

[TimothyN]

Um, no. My home charger is a granny charger and therefore only has one end. (Well, it has two, but one of them is a 13A plug and I'm pretty good at recognising those after the first 68 years.)

I had no idea that the cable had ends...how do I recognise them? I assumed that they were symmetrical.

 

[Bam Bam]

Hi EvTek23 - happy new year.

Monta are partnered with Electroverse. The Electroverse card is always being talked about on the community as a worthy addition to have.

This does not seem to be the case in my experience.

The Monta chargers I am aware of are not even listed on the Electroverse app as being 'not yet compatible.'

Perhaps because they are private sites, though one near me is at a retail park car park and doesn't seem to be on any of the apps (Zapmap, Electroverse).

They are listed on the map within the Monta app, though. The one in the retail park says it is operated by Rolec and the one we used at a holiday cottage says 'operated by JEC electrical' (a local company), so I think Monta just offer billing services.

 

[T1 Terry]

I am in the "never charged at home" club so can give a valuable tip: borrow a label printer and mark up which end of the type 2 cable is which. When its cold wet and dark you will be glad you did. Also, DC is much less hassle than AC.
Of course, not ever charged at home I didn't clock you would be very familiar the AC cable. I'll get me coat.

I start out at the supply end with both plugs in hand, that reduces the odds of getting it wrong when I get to the car end
In Aust we have different wiring and plugs, the standard house power point is 10 amps.
I use a variable control type single phase 3 pin charger supply plug and can adjust the supply rate depending on the conditions ..... with the motorhome, if the air con is running and the wife is likely to use the kettle, anything more than 6 amps is asking for the circuit breaker to trip with a circuit overload, if over night and the air con is off and the kettle not likely to come into play, I can ramp it up to 16 amps ..... and hope it's charged before the wife gets up and turns the kettle on .... otherwise, any hope of a sleep in is out of the question.
When visiting friends, it depends on what circuits they have available, if it's just the house circuit with lots of other appliances, 6 amps, a garage supply, 8 amps, maybe even 10 amps over night, a 15 amp supply, 13 amps, 15 amps or full loud and 16 amps if over night type of thing.

If it's public charging, unless I have something else to do to fill in the time, I use DC fast chargers and pay the price penalty, if I have a few hrs of things to do, a CCS to CCS AC charger is cheap to use, sometimes free at shopping centres with mega solar arrays ..... plug in and head off for a meal or movie or serious shopping, what ever goes in during that time is a bonus really as far as I see it ...

T1 Terry

 

[Ian Key]

I had no idea that the cable had ends...how do I recognise them? I assumed that they were symmetrical.

The end which goes into the car of a type two cable is larger and the holes have a silver coloured metal liner. The end that goes into the charger has black pins at the bottom of the holes and is smaller.

I have a rain cover over the car end so it's easy to distinguish.

Charger end on left, car end on right