Land's End - John O'Groats

SteveIsGreen

SteveIsGreen

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Crawley
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MG ZS EV
I've Live in the West Sussex and in my time I've travelled the world a fair bit.
But in my 52 years I've never been to Scotland!
So I thought I would take the ZS and give the Lands End To John O' Groats a go. (I've never been to Lands End)
I have some free time coming up at the end of AUG so I'm planning on 5 day trip to take in some site along the way starting on the 23rd.
I been looking at the route to plan charging and all was well until I got to Scotland.
I am finding it hard to find out how to use (pay for) the ChargePlace Scotland Chargers (CPS)?
I did found out I could of used a Charge Your Car (CYC) RFID card but I believe this is now no longer the case because CYC are no longer running CPS.
IT seems CPS has just changed operators (On the 26.07.2021 I'm told) to Swarco.
I have emailed both CPS and Swarco to see if I can get any information from them but no reply as yet.
Does anyone know if I need a RFID card or app or are they debit card able?
I just wonder if anyone here can help and guide me in the right direction?

I realise it might be short notice but I also wondered if any members fancied joining me and making up a convoy?
Might be better to plan it again as convoy for next year?
Let me know if your interested?

Edit.... I just seen I should of posted this in the General Forum and not just the ZS Forum. Soz about that. S
 

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Can't help with your trip other than to say it may well be mental in Cornwall with staycations and so on. It gets really busy around southern Cornwall in holiday season, although I guess by the end of August the worst of it will be over. I speak from first hand experience and riding in to Cornwall a lot over the years. HTH.
 
ARealHuman said:
Can't help with your trip other than to say it may well be mental in Cornwall with staycations and so on. It gets really busy around southern Cornwall in holiday season, although I guess by the end of August the worst of it will be over. I speak from first hand experience and riding in to Cornwall a lot over the years. HTH.
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I'm only planning on spending one night there. Drive from Home to Lands Ends, look about a bit, Sleep and hit the road in the early hours. Then maybe Blackpool for a overnight? (Not sure yet) then John O' Groats. I'm Planning to go to Great Yarmouth from there to stay at friends house for the night and then home.
 
Charge Place Scotland now have app. You can download the app and register payment details online. Works well and some of the chargers are free especially in the Central belt.
 
Scottguardian said:
Charge Place Scotland now have app. You can download the app and register payment details online. Works well and some of the chargers are free especially in the Central belt.
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Thank you. Got the app now and heard it's working with the odd exception. So sounds like they are working just as well as any other charger then lol
 
Scottguardian said:
Charge Place Scotland now have app. You can download the app and register payment details online. Works well and some of the chargers are free especially in the Central belt.
Click to expand...
One word of caution - some places in the Highlands don't have a good (or any) mobile signal. As such you need to have a contingency - which is why I liked the RFID card option.

I live in Scotland and have a Charge You Car RFID card. Tested it today on a Charge Place Scotland charger and it still works. Here's hoping it keeps working 🤞
 
Scottguardian said:
Charge Place Scotland now have app. You can download the app and register payment details online. Works well and some of the chargers are free especially in the Central belt.
Click to expand...
As far as I can tell, all the ChargePlace Scotland 50kW rapids (and 7kW/22kW) in North & South Lanarkshire (M74 & start of M80) should be free 👍
 
I hadn’t realised so many regions in Scotland were still free - visited Fife a few weeks back and they seemed to charge so made a bit of an assumption. Turns out they’re the exception rather than the rule.

Figured out how to filter Zap-Map to see ‘free to use’, which is useful given how tight I am!!
 
biffo said:
I hadn’t realised so many regions in Scotland were still free - visited Fife a few weeks back and they seemed to charge so made a bit of an assumption. Turns out they’re the exception rather than the rule.

Figured out how to filter Zap-Map to see ‘free to use’, which is useful given how tight I am!!
Click to expand...
Agree....I like the free charging too :)

However, the network needs money spent on it badly. It's understandable that local councils are, at best, slow to fix problems. No a priority if they get no revenue from the chargers. IMO, it would be better to have a reasonable charge and for the funds to be used to increase the number of chargepoints and for timely maintenance.
 
Totally agree with your point - think I’m slightly spoiled in Lanarkshire due to recent government investment - but when budgets are right, it’s maintenance that gets hit first 👍
 
West Yorkshire still has free rapids, courtesy of West Yorkshire Combined Authority - a conglomerate of all West Yorkshire councils- and Engie, (which is really Genie) for another two months and then sadly I will ignore them.
 
Gomev said:
West Yorkshire still has free rapids, courtesy of West Yorkshire Combined Authority - a conglomerate of all West Yorkshire councils- and Engie, (which is really Genie) for another two months and then sadly I will ignore them.
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Gomev
I thought Engie would extend the end date , however WYCA say Engie have indicated their intention to start charging will be interesting to see their proposed rates as I have found them convenient and reliable .
 
Frank said:
hi Jamesie,

I don't know where you live but it may be of interest to you that a MG dealership has just opened in Dumfries, Haughs, now MG and Vauxhall.

Frank
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Thanks, Frank.

I live between Hawick and Jedburgh. I will be looking for a dealer for servicing and was thinking of Frasers in Falkirk. Maybe the Dumfries dealer would be a better option. Have you any experience of their after sales?
 
Bazzer44 said:
Gomev
I thought Engie would extend the end date , however WYCA say Engie have indicated their intention to start charging will be interesting to see their proposed rates as I have found them convenient and reliable .
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@Bazzer44 They are convenient but I don't really need to use a rapid locally, and I use the term rapid in a loose sense. I have never managed to get more than 22Kw, out of any of their 50kW chargers, so a very fast charger somewhere between fast and rapid.. I suspect that this may be because they are on free vend, who knows, maybe others get better.
However, I quite like that speed as it means I can spend a happy 45 /60 mins sat there reading a book in peace and solitude, thinking this isn't as bad as a rapid but quicker than a 7kW supermarket jobbie.
I normally only use them when I am quite low to take me to somewhere around 80% and then finish on a 7kW if I need more.
 
jamesie said:
Thanks, Frank.

I live between Hawick and Jedburgh. I will be looking for a dealer for servicing and was thinking of Frasers in Falkirk. Maybe the Dumfries dealer would be a better option. Have you any experience of their after sales?
Click to expand...
afraid not ,just new, but they have a good rep as their original Vauxhall dealer.

Frank
 
Enjoy your trip. Highland Council introduced charging effective 1st June this year -

The tariff will be 30p per kWh for journey chargers (43kW+) and 20p per kWh for destination chargers (22kw or less).

A minimum charge of £1 will apply to all charging sessions as will a 30 minute no return period. In the case of journey chargers, an overstay charge of £1 per minute would be applied after 45 minutes (plus a 15 minute grace period)
 
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