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Motorway charging

Ingo Wilson

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Having just completed a 1500 mile road trip around England and Scotland I felt other ZS EV owners may find these observations.
Wherever possible I used ZapMap to find CCS Chargers, an essential aid if motorway service chargers don't work on MGs. I had several close calls where ECOTRICITY chargers didn't work and I had to search elsewhere, off motorway. AVOID ECOTRICITY LIKE THE PLAGUE AS THEY WILL GET YOU INTO TROUBLE. On my last leg of the tour I tried charging on an ECOTRICITY charger several times without success (having observed other cars charged there successfully) to find I couldn't power up DRIVE or REVERSE and head off to chargers off motorway. The fault message on the dash read HV BATTERY LOCK OUT. Fortunately MG's AA membership helped out promptly and managed to restore correct settings to enable a charge ( for free!).
In order of preference:
Best: INSTAVOLT charge with credit card. BP POLAR charge with credit card or apply for account and get RFID card. Also credit card swipe for a fast charger at a LIDL store shown on ZapMap.
Worst: ECOTRICITY for reasons above. They are the the main supplier with clapped out kit in motorway services. You need to set up an account and install an app. Often the WiFi on chargers are not operating so you can't use the app. Helpline is responsive but they can't fix faults but can reboot chargers.
IONITY are a ripoff +£0.65/kWh.
In my opinion, like Brexit and Covid 19, the UK is ill-prepared for easy access to operational fast chargers.
PS Many supermarkets, such as Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco, have free access to slower 7kWh chargers you could use but not all are tethered.
I hope my random notes help newbies and others. I welcome hearing of your experience.
 
I hasten to add that it is well worthwhile getting an account and an RFID for the Scottish government's scheme which includes many fast chargers. The RFID card cost £20 per annum and I believe you can then get charging for free. Sadly for visitors these chargers cannot be used via an app.
CHECK IT OUT IF IN SCOTLAND OR VISITING
 
Thanks for you insights and feedback. Much appreciated by me as I’ve yet to do a longer journey. I think Ecotricity will have to relinquish their hold on the service stations if we are to move forward as a nation.
 
EVM ( electric vehicle man) on YouTube puts a convincing case for the £0.65 P / KWh that Ionity charge. We need more charging stations similar that being built at Braintree.
 
Can you remember the name of video @Mgkev ?

I’ve just read an article about ionity and I cannot see any justification for the price. I see they have 350kW chargers and ambitious expansion plans but am I missing something?

That’s the one thing I missed in my electric car research, the price of motorway electric. You pay the same as petrol with the inconvenience of a 40 minute wait. :/

If the government really wanted to increase BEV ownership they should fund new electric charging stations on the motorway powered by solar/batteries. Charge £0.10 per kilowatt hour to cover maintenance and running costs.

As of 6pm today we (the world) have used 358 million MWh with 54 million MWh from renewables. The sun has given us 2.25 trillion MWh of solar energy so far today.

We need investment in solar and batteries. We need infrastructure powered by renewables. The future is here, it just needs development.
 
@lee graham
Probably best if you search EVM on YouTube as I haven’t the tec knowledge to put a link up on here. Basically the argument is that Ionity is funded by the German car makers together with Ford and their customers get a cheaper charge rate. The high rate for other users is to dissuade them from using them. Like Tesla chargers for Tesla owners.
I concur regarding renewables , I believe that all new builds should have PV panels and an EV wall box fitted to pass Building Regs.
 
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