Life without a home charger?

[Lovemyev]

I received an e.mail this morning, to advise that they are including a time delay into the start of charging sessions, to easy the load on the grid !.

 

[Lguk]

Randomising the start by a few minutes for scheduled charges is a good idea. A few minutes either way will stop that sudden bang of everyone coming online same time.

Not sure how I would feel about potentially slipping out of a cheaper tarrif rate though by 15 minutes.. Which is where intelligent octopus works nicely.

 

[Deleted member 6309]

Randomising the start by a few minutes for scheduled charges is a good idea. A few minutes either way will stop that sudden bang of everyone coming online same time.

Not sure how I would feel about potentially slipping out of a cheaper tariff rate though by 15 minutes.. Which is where intelligent octopus works nicely.

Aye all those 60p's will add up eventually ?

 

[Nutnut]

Char.gy will now have a night rate ? . This news gives me a little hope as they've installed a couple on our street... I was really starting to debate whether or not it was still economically worth it to keep the car or sell it when it arrives. I know it likely won't stay this price, but it's much better than the 45p/kWh + 35p connection fee that Ubitricity are offering:

Important! Our prices are changing
As you know, UK energy prices are abnormally high. Even with the government’s energy bill relief for businesses like char.gy, our electricity costs are more than double what they were a year ago.
We have to change our tariffs from early December, but we are doing so in a way that lets you take advantage of lower electricity prices late at night.

Introducing Night Saver prices
Electricity isn’t one price throughout the day. It is typically cheaper overnight and very expensive in the early evening. And our analysis of our customers’ normal charging patterns shows the vast majority can easily benefit from this.

Our new rates (includes 20% VAT)

• Night - applies from midnight to 7am - 29p/kWh
• Day - applies from 7am to midnight - 65p/kWh

How much night charging do I have to do to save?

• To pay less than our old rate of 42p/kWh, do two thirds or more of your charging between midnight and 7am.
• To pay less than the 56p/kWh average price of public charging, do at least quarter of your charging between midnight and 7am.

Save more - help us change VAT
When you charge on public networks, you pay 4 times as much VAT than using your home electricity. That’s unfair because a lot of people can only charge on public networks. At 5% VAT, our new rates would be 25.5p Night, 57p Day. Please help correct this. The FairCharge petition empowers you to email your MP in less than 60 seconds: Find your MP - Fair Charge

What do you think?
Let us know what you think of our new prices and how you’ll charge your car. This will help us tailor our products to better fit around your lifestyle.Take this short survey.

Thank you for choosing char.gy

Best wishes

Richard Stobart
CEO Char.gy

Source, and further info: char.gy

Also includes a link to Find your MP - Fair Charge for people to contact their MP re the 20% VAT on public charging.

Now the fight will likely be getting on one of the only two posts that we have. For anyone who actually has their ZS (facelift) already, has the scheduled charging via iSmart worked for you when you tried it? Say if I were to plug into the lamppost at 11pm but set the schedule from midnight to 7am, it'd start automatically? Only other thing I need to check for is idle fees - they surely can't expect people to traipse outside at midnight to plug in.

 

[Deleted member 6309]

Char.gy will now have a night rate ? . This news gives me a little hope as they've installed a couple on our street... I was really starting to debate whether or not it was still economically worth it to keep the car or sell it when it arrives. I know it likely won't stay this price, but it's much better than the 45p/kWh + 35p connection fee that Ubitricity are offering:

Also includes a link to Find your MP - Fair Charge for people to contact their MP re the 20% VAT on public charging.

Now the fight will likely be getting on one of the only two posts that we have. For anyone who actually has their ZS (facelift) already, has the scheduled charging via iSmart worked for you when you tried it? Say if I were to plug into the lamppost at 11pm but set the schedule from midnight to 7am, it'd start automatically? Only other thing I need to check for is idle fees - they surely can't expect people to traipse outside at midnight to plug in.

Oh god a new phase of charger hogging begins ?

 

[Nutnut]

The ignore function is a glorious thing

 

[Deleted member 6309]

The ignore function is a glorious thing

Uncomfortable truths? Sandy area for insertion of heads is that way ->??

 

[Deleted member 10041]

Oh god a new phase of charger hogging begins ?

Was definitely the case with the free chargers at Tesco's.
I was aware of owners that I new had chargers at home and still hogged the free chargers there

 

[Deleted member 6309]

Was definitely the case with the free chargers at Tesco's.
I was aware of owners that I new had chargers at home and still hogged the free chargers there

Daily Nail readers ???

 

[Gomev]

Aye all those 60p's will add up eventually ?

Who's paying 60p at home ?

 

[Deleted member 6309]

Who's paying 60p at home ?

??‍
I was guesstimating what your 15 precious minutes of full whack price electricity would actually cost you extra ?

 

[Nutnut]

Was definitely the case with the free chargers at Tesco's.
I was aware of owners that I new had chargers at home and still hogged the free chargers there

How is people taking liberties with the free juice at Tesco relevant to the post about chargeable residential services?

 

[Deleted member 6309]

How is people taking liberties with the free juice at Tesco relevant to the post about chargeable residential services?

People hooking up their cars but delaying the charge until it's on cheap rate = hogging chargers = people charging at Tesco's all day ?

 

[Deleted member 10041]

How is people taking liberties with the free juice at Tesco relevant to the post about chargeable residential services?

We were talking about people taking the ???? There are multiple threads on here where the subject goes a bit of piste.

 

[Nutnut]

We were talking about people taking the ???? There are multiple threads on here where the subject goes a bit of piste.

OK, well thankfully that's not the case for us here at least. We're not worried about Tesco bandits when it come to on-street charging - biggest hinderance is space.

 

[slmorgan42]

OK, well thankfully that's not the case for us here at least. We're not worried about Tesco bandits when it come to on-street charging - biggest hinderance is space.

Lol this true. The council have put loads of lamp post charge points in the busiest roads where it is almost impossible to park when 1 street over is always empty lol. I asked them to put some more there. Fingers crossed.

 

[Nutnut]

Lol this true. The council have put loads of lamp post charge points in the busiest roads where it is almost impossible to park when 1 street over is always empty lol. I asked them to put some more there. Fingers crossed.

I know what you mean - when I walk through to the next road over, they have empty spaces galore but only 1 lamppost point . Don't give up asking though! I think there were only 1 or 2 on ours to start with, and now there will be 7 - the council have been slow, but at least there is some movement.

And finally after much harassment, the points at work are in and operational. Not many, but it all helps - got a kick out of seeing them in good use already. I think for those of us with no home charger, residential and work facilities are absolutely key as a minimum.

 

[Batmanbooyah]

I know what you mean - when I walk through to the next road over, they have empty spaces galore but only 1 lamppost point . Don't give up asking though! I think there were only 1 or 2 on ours to start with, and now there will be 7 - the council have been slow, but at least there is some movement.

And finally after much harassment, the points at work are in and operational. Not many, but it all helps - got a kick out of seeing them in good use already. I think for those of us with no home charger, residential and work facilities are absolutely key as a minimum.

I’ve contacted my local council in regards to the lamppost chargers for residential streets. I live in a terraced property and parking is the on the opposite side of the street.

I see more and more EVs but all seem to be with houses with off street parking.

Getting lamp post chargers I think people will be much more open to getting an EV when living in terraced housing.

 

[Nutnut]

I’ve contacted my local council in regards to the lamppost chargers for residential streets. I live in a terraced property and parking is the on the opposite side of the street.

I see more and more EVs but all seem to be with houses with off street parking.

Getting lamp post chargers I think people will be much more open to getting an EV when living in terraced housing.

We're mostly terraced here also... If the ability to lamppost charge wasn't an option, I honestly don't know if I'd have put in an order for an EV. It's not like I'd be able to rely on the local supermarkets as they either still have inadequate facilities, or none at all.

Fingers crossed we get to where there's a point installed on every post (ideally from a mixture of providers). I think it'd be great not only for us residents with/buying an EV, but for our visitors too who might worry about where they can top-up.

 

[slmorgan42]

Hey

Thought I would give little feedback now I have my EV and how I am managing without a home charger.
I have an MG5 FL.
Got the car in December and done about 1300 miles.

I have come to love the ElectroVerse (Octopus) card. It is my go to card for most of my local charging as it offers cheap rates.

I am regularly using a Allego 22 kw charger 5 mins from my house. With the onboard charger being rated at 11kwh I am constantly seeing about 9.5kw. This is giving me about 20% per hour so not bad.

With the ElectroVerse card it is 30p/wk to use this charger. (This is cheaper than if used the Granny at home). The regular rate for the charger without the card is 45p so good saving.

Following MG's guidance I am charging the battery to 80% and then running it down to about 50% before charging again. As I do not do a great deal of regular millage I end up charging once every week or two.

As I work from home I normally drop the car off between meetings and pick it up later. So not much of a hassle specially as I can see the progress on the app.

I was thinking I would do more grazing charging when at the supermarket etc.. But I found unless I was going to be there for 1h or more it was not worth the hassle with the slow chargers there.

Thanks to a fellow EV owner on a Facebook group I just find out there are some ESB 50Kw chargers near me that are only 35p/kw using the ElectroVerse card. So good to note if I am in a hurry any time.

My first long journey requiring a charge in the middle was not a bad experience but not great. I think I need to plan better but I had picked out an off the motorway place with 2 rapid chargers. I had checked when heading there and they were not in use. Sadly when I arrived about 30 mins later both were in use. The charger app was good so I could see how long they had been there. With no other chargers near by I ended up waiting for 30 mins before I could charge. Then charge for 30 mins enough to get me home.

I also just did a trip to Dieppe France to visit my mum. A trip I do many times throughout the year as it is a really easy trip from Newhaven. One full charge was enough to get me there with no problems. Sadly there is currently no charging at the port or on the ferry.

Having scoped out chargers on my last visit I was happy to use the local Lidl which has 22kw and rapid chargers. Using ChargePoint (which was a recommendation from someone as a good choice for France) both were only 25euro/kw. So very happy with that price.

I need to do a few more long trips before I will get over my range anxiety.

In short I am still envious of those who can charge at home but now I have a working routine it has not been an issue.