Finally found a well designed cable protector.

Nothing wrong with using a granny if it fits your requirement.

I don't really agree with free chargers though, even though it's nice when you find one and can use it. Tesco have stopped them (in most stores anyway) presumably due to the cost. But at the end of the day, someone is paying, whether it's the local ratepayers or the shop customers, and no-one expects free petrol for visiting a store. It's yet another thing artificially keeping motoring costs low for EV drivers (and also maybe encouraging EV ownership) which, when it goes, will cause outcry among some.
I think free charging and no road tax was the carrot to entice people into EV's. Free chargers are few and far between now, with some businesses using them to entice people in to spend more in their buisness than they save on charging costs. :)

When my nearest Tesco with chargers used to be free, you were lucky to find a space. One driver openly admitted that he connected the car and then walked around the corner to his workplace. Now, most of the time the chargers are empty or only used for 15 - 30 minutes whist people shop in the store.

On the subject of petrol at supermarkets, some used to offer money off a litre vouchers. Do they still do that I wonder?
 
Agreed. It looks like they limit the current though to save money and hassle. Nutnut mentioned that the lamppost EVSE are 5kW, which for overnight charging wouldn't be a problem. 3kW, the same as a "granny" would be adequate.
Absolutely agree, 3kW would generally be better than a granny charger which are usually about 10 amps circa 2.5kW as long as users understand that vehicles can be using the points all night and may be parked there even though the charging is complete.
 
On the subject of petrol at supermarkets, some used to offer money off a litre vouchers. Do they still do that I wonder?
I remember it well but Tesco stopped that years ago. They are now cutting back quite severely on their Clubcard points deals, cutting the value from 3x to 2x face value. I think the stores are struggling to keep shelf prices low to remain competitive so something has to give...
 
One of our EV's we have run for 4 years using a granny charger and a smart plug to do the timing, the lead from it came out under the garage door. All of the things that are frowned on by some!

What a complete nonsense, you use what you need to use end of. I did instal a ZAPPI wallbox for my EV and really like the convenience of the tethered cable. Park on the drive, plug in, done, solar and off peak tariffs in winter time charge my car. I was able to buy the Zappi at trade price which was £475 to me, I probably wouldn't have gone this route if it had be £1000 or more.

I'm not sure about the 'deserve' part, you should have access to a charging supply nearby be it destination charger or rapid charger where you have a coffee for 20 mins or so.

Most supermarkets are getting onboard, our local council have some little publicised free chargers which I use from time to time when I go shopping.

My garage has metal-jacketed power points and the garage electricity is on its own circuit with its own circuit breaker. (The circuit breakers in this house trip if a bloody light bulb pops or a faulty appliance is plugged in.) The power point is 1.5 metres from the car's charging port, so I don't need an extension lead, and I haven't bothered with timing as I don't have a variable tariff - I'm not convinced it's worth it for me. I just plug the car in whenever I feel like it. (I asked my electrician to look at the set-up while he was here fixing something else and he said it was all fine, also good that the plug and charger are in a cool place to let any heat dissipate.)

If I was 20 or 30 years younger I'd be more inclined to look at capital investment to reduce future running costs. My new next door neighbours have covered their roof with solar panels and acquired a fancy Tesla, and good luck to them. But I'll be 70 later this year and you can buy a hell of a lot of electricity for what that lot cost.

Maybe "deserve" wasn't the right word, but if EVs are the future, and I think they are, people without driveway parking need to be catered for one way or another. Imagine this was 100 years ago and electricity was new and the housing stock of the country didn't have any electricity supply and the government had been as lackadaisical as what's happening now?

We've rolled out mains gas, mains electricity, a sewage system, a piped supply of clean water to (almost) every house, telephone cables and fibreoptic to a lot of places. But somehow electric car charging is the Cinderella. Time for a rethink on that.
 
The lady on Panorama last night (Monday 12th June) took parking on the pavement to a whole new extreme when using the granny charger from her house. She could have just as easily used cable covers like in the posters picture and stayed on (or mainly on) the road.
 
We've rolled out mains gas, mains electricity, a sewage system, a piped supply of clean water to (almost) every house, telephone cables and fibreoptic to a lot of places. But somehow electric car charging is the Cinderella. Time for a rethink on that.
It's happening!

 
Be still my heart.

The goal is that everyone, in whatever property, should have access to suitable charging facilities that don't require a long walk in the rain, or a second family car to ferry the driver to and from the charger. This includes people living alone, living in upper flats, and people with restricted mobility. And that means meaningful access - not a couple of charge-points that are always in use so you practically have to camp out to get on one. Also that when needing to charge out and about, there should be sufficient working charge points that drivers can rely on getting a charge when they need it, without serious concerns about the charger being out of service, or a very long wait to get on it, so that one stop long enough for a meal can be planned, rather than all this half an hour here and twenty minutes there "just in case".

I want to be able to say, I know I can get to Killington Lake, that's a nice stop and a nice restaurant, and I'll stop there long enough to have lunch and fill right up. Because I know I can rely on getting on a rapid charger that works there, just as much as I knew I could rely on getting my ICE car a tank full of petrol there.

I don't want to have to think, bugger here's Southwaite, it's a bit of a dump but I better stop for a coffee in case I can't get on a charger at Killington Lake. Conversely, I don't want to be approaching Killington Lake at a low SoC thinking, this had better be bloody working because I'm not sure if I can get to Kirkby Lonsdale if it isn't.

I don't want to be getting out of my car in the dark in a monsoon struggling with a charger I don't know how to pay for while getting soaked to the skin. I want to park at a charger that works, that takes the same payment a petrol station would accept, that's under a canopy similar to the canopy over a petrol forecourt, and walk dry and sheltered to a Costa or something.
 
I'd get an ICE if I were you :)

I totally get what you're saying... but as I keep having to say, this is all in progress and can't happen overnight. I also think there is something of a compromise with an EV and things will never be quite as easy as with an ICE - or at least not for some years and/or not till the range has improved anyway.

In another thread I got a bit slated before for implying maybe an EV wasn't right for someone but I still think that' s a reasonable comment. I wouldn't have bought one yet if it didn't fit the bill for me, same as I didn't buy a motorbike or a fire engine. It's a major purchase of relatively new technology which ought to be done with eyes wide open.

I've often been an "early adopter" of tech but also often had not inconsiderable problems which are part and parcel of choosing to take that role. All the home automation stuff I use was once to be really quite complex to operate and integrate but a few clicks does it these days. I used to program in COBOL and had routines just to scroll up and down a (text) list which ran to many lines of code but in Windows style programs that's effectively all done for you. The time will come when you can visit Killington Lake without concerns but in the scheme of things EVs are still in early days.



EDIT: Before I get flamed again, my opener was meant light heartedly.
 
I definitely knew what I was doing and I'm not complaining. My setup suits me fine and if I wanted only to charge by plugging my car into the granny charger in my own garage and never go near any other charger, I could almost do it.

(Yesterday's conversation. "Gosh, getting out of the car was like getting into a furnace, it really makes you appreciate the car aircon." "My car doesn't have aircon." Long pause. "You know I suggested that if we go off on another road trip we take your car because it's petrol? Well no. Just no. Charging ain't so bad.")

But being prepared to manage and cope under the present circumstances should not mean we accept these circumstances and don't make waves about needing them to be better - as much for other people comeing into EV ownership as for ourselves. Sitting back and saying, stop complaining it takes time, is no way to achieve change.

Plugshare says there are new rapid chargers under construction at a petrol station I used to use quite a lot. Driving past it I can see no sign of any construction works at all.
 
When they changed our street lamps to LED they replaced the lamp posts.
but did they replace the wiring ?

...

On the subject of petrol at supermarkets, some used to offer money off a litre vouchers. Do they still do that I wonder?
I remember it well but Tesco stopped that years ago. They are now cutting back quite severely on their Clubcard points deals, cutting the value from 3x to 2x face value. I think the stores are struggling to keep shelf prices low to remain competitive so something has to give...
Morrisons still do it now they have returned to their points system.

. Imagine this was 100 years ago and electricity was new and the housing stock of the country didn't have any electricity supply and the government had been as lackadaisical as what's happening now?
100 years ago was it the government that rolled out the electrical supply ? No it was originally local councils that built their own power stations and distributed power.

..

We've rolled out mains gas, mains electricity, a sewage system, a piped supply of clean water to (almost) every house, telephone cables and fibreoptic to a lot of places. But somehow electric car charging is the Cinderella. Time for a rethink on that.
If only they had known about EVs when they did the mains gas, the sewage systems and telephone cables they could have installed car charging at the same time.
Perhaps the will do what they have done with for example fibre optic and add to a previous infrastructure.
 
But being prepared to manage and cope under the present circumstances should not mean we accept these circumstances and don't make waves about needing them to be better - as much for other people comeing into EV ownership as for ourselves. Sitting back and saying, stop complaining it takes time, is no way to achieve change
But coming to an EV forum to complain doesn't seem the right approach to me, even if I thought it was worthwhile. And there is already stuff being done, on quite a large scale apparently, so it does seem to me a minor waste of breath...
 
It's my breath. Or my typing fingers. I'm doing a hell of a lot more on here than moaning about charging, but if you don't want to read it, then don't. I'm sure there's an ignore function.
 
I'm doing a hell of a lot more on here than moaning about charging

I know you are and I've engaged with you on other conversations, and I am interested in what everyone posts, even if I sometimes have a different view!

Sorry that you've got cross, that wasn't my intent. I don't want to ignore you (or anyone else for that matter) but I will do my best to not respond to any more posts you put up about the charging infrastructure requiring improvement.

Peace!! :)
 
Peace. If you're not interested, just don't read it and don't reply!

I find that moans about stuff like chargers and software and so on often elicit quite informative replies, actually.
 
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