Owning an EV is pants

[Davn]

Owning an EV in this country is pants, on the north Wales cost and no fast charging again!! Now in line to use the 1 fast charger at a Lidl unbelievable ?

 

[webhiker]

How can we help you?

 

[dawson2099]

Could you install a home charger or even use a granny lead?

 

[JonnyG]

My experience in Leeds is completely different !!

Cheap overnight charging, cheap motoring and plenty of fast chargers when I need to do a long trip which I have done with no problems over the last year. My only gripe would be the cost of public charging but I hope this will start to reduce. Luckily I only need to top up on a public charger around once a month.

Where in North Wales do you live ? ... there seems to be quite a few fast chargers on ZapMap.

 

[Davn]

Could you install a home charger or even use a granny lead?

I do have a charger at home, and 6 fast chargers within 5 miles but that's 100 miles away! You would think somewhere like north Wales would be setup for tourists but no, the 1 fast charger I can find is over we 20 miles away.

 

[fnegroni]

Having been to north wales not long ago, it’s a charging desert.
Worst experience ever.
That Zapmap view is not realistic. Trust us.
Most chargers have one shared outlet, often in use when you need it. Takes ages to travel places.
Fill up at the Tesla just before the border and pray you don’t need to charge.

 

[MEH]

Due to the 20mph speed limits fewer public chargers are needed due to reduced consumption

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Was in South West wales a few weeks ago, can't comment on the rapids situation but it was very well served with 7kW chargers, almost every car park had some.

 

[Rolfe]

North Wales is notorious. I don't think I'd want to be motor touring there in an EV. I did have a bit of a situation in Scotland on Monday night, but overall it's much better. Come and spend your money in Scotland!

 

[CharlesCarmichael]

I live in South East Wales, the charging options are excellent here, hut then again it's more densely populated. Travelled to South West Wales 3 times 2 weeks ago in another EV and noticed quite a few chargers, didn't need them as range was mire than enough. I never really looked before being an EV owner.

 

[Davn]

Due to the 20mph speed limits fewer public chargers are needed due to reduced consumption

Don't get me started on that?

 

[Rolfe]

There's been remarkably little fuss about 20 mph limits here, and I think we had them first. Maybe people also realise what bliss it is when the houses and the church and the village hall and the pub all open directly on to the main trunk road, and the traffic is going past at 20 rather than 30.

 

[CharlesCarmichael]

There was loads of fuss here, the biggest petition in Welsh history to have them scrapped, if I'm honest driving around my locality I'd say more than 90% of people just ignore them, still doing 30 plus on most 20mph roads.

 

[AlunJ]

Was in South West wales a few weeks ago, can't comment on the rapids situation but it was very well served with 7kW chargers, almost every car park had some.

Been a massive improvement in this area in the last few years. Car park I use in Saundersfoot regularly had one or two 7kW chargers in 2021 when I first went EV. The following year a whole row and rapid chargers. That and plenty of rapids en route when we head down there.

 

[phil99]

Owning an EV in this country is pants, on the north Wales cost and no fast charging again!! Now in line to use the 1 fast charger at a Lidl unbelievable ?

So what you're actually saying is that driving an EV in North Wales requires planning?

I've nearly run out of petrol in North Wales on a Sunday afternoon because I messed up and didn't plan properly. Do you think I complained that owning an ICE car in this country is rubbish?

 

[tsedge]

There's been remarkably little fuss about 20 mph limits here, and I think we had them first. Maybe people also realise what bliss it is when the houses and the church and the village hall and the pub all open directly on to the main trunk road, and the traffic is going past at 20 rather than 30.

But was that just a local 20 zone? We have some of them here and they are fine in heavily built-up zones. However, in Wales it was a blanket 20 limit everywhere that had been 30, which is a whole different thing.

 

[Rolfe]

I had heard that, but then thought it wasn't actually the case.

It's been done on a local council basis here. Ours had something they called the "safer villages scheme" and dropped the villages that had been 30 down to 20. There was a bit of reconsideration in that whereas the whole of the A702 went to 20 as it went through this village, they reverted a short section at each end to 30. I don't see the point, myself, it just makes it confusing, and it's not a long section altogether. But I noticed that 40 mph villages have remained at 40. Mountain Cross could actually do with being 30, if not 20.

Turned out pretty well, as the places that are 20 are places where people are walking and crossing the road and coming out of their houses, and most people seem to me to be observing it. (I have seen a handful who very definitely weren't!) Carlops in particular has been transformed. "That bloody road" as people referred to it is a lot more liveable-with when cars are only doing 20. And it's only half a mile.

I don't think Lanarkshire or Midlothian have done it though, or maybe it's because Dolphinton and Silverburn have always been 40 limits. So if you're coming north on the A702 you're on 40 through Dolphinton, then 30 as you enter West Linton, then within a few 100 yards that drops to 20, then up to 30 again as you get to the end of the village, then back to 60 till Carlops, which is 20. But Nine Mile Burn has no limit (the houses are mostly off the road), then Silverburn is 40. My impression is that it's the LA, because Carlops and West Linton are in Peeblesshire while the other villages are not. Silverburn really should be 20 like Carlops.

There is an issue with the way the car has been allowed to claim ownership of roads that used to be shared with pedestrians, horses, bicycles and so on. Carlops is an old settlement that was built when what is now the A702 was a cart track, and people could come and go within the village without risking being mown down, and could hold a church service without being deafened by roaring engines and clashing HGV gears. The principle that the stronger should give way to the weaker is a good one, but somehow motorists have got the impression that the roads are theirs and other road users should get out of their way. I'm generally in favour of these limits, so long as the application is reasonably sensible. Motorists waving to pedestrians to cross in front of them is becoming more common within the limits, and I think it's a good thing.

 

[fnegroni]

So what you're actually saying is that driving an EV in North Wales requires planning?

I've nearly run out of petrol in North Wales on a Sunday afternoon because I messed up and didn't plan properly. Do you think I complained that owning an ICE car in this country is rubbish?

its different, you can plan all you want but when chargers are far and few in between and are not reliable and slow, and in north wales the roads are slow.

Ok for someone who lives there. Or visits someone. But if you are travelling to visit places, not good.

If you run out of petrol because you decide not to stop at a petrol station, that’s on you.

If you run out of charge because every single charger is out of order it’s a different story.

 

[Davn]

North Wales is notorious. I don't think I'd want to be motor touring there in an EV. I did have a bit of a situation in Scotland on Monday night, but overall it's much better. Come and spend your money in Scotland!

Just found 10 type 2 chargers in Colwyn bay , none working but all the bays full of ice cars anyway!!

I had heard that, but then thought it wasn't actually the case.

It's been done on a local council basis here. Ours had something they called the "safer villages scheme" and dropped the villages that had been 30 down to 20. There was a bit of reconsideration in that whereas the whole of the A702 went to 20 as it went through this village, they reverted a short section at each end to 30. I don't see the point, myself, it just makes it confusing, and it's not a long section altogether. But I noticed that 40 mph villages have remained at 40. Mountain Cross could actually do with being 30, if not 20.

Turned out pretty well, as the places that are 20 are places where people are walking and crossing the road and coming out of their houses, and most people seem to me to be observing it. (I have seen a handful who very definitely weren't!) Carlops in particular has been transformed. "That bloody road" as people referred to it is a lot more liveable-with when cars are only doing 20. And it's only half a mile.

I don't think Lanarkshire or Midlothian have done it though, or maybe it's because Dolphinton and Silverburn have always been 40 limits. So if you're coming north on the A702 you're on 40 through Dolphinton, then 30 as you enter West Linton, then within a few 100 yards that drops to 20, then up to 30 again as you get to the end of the village, then back to 60 till Carlops, which is 20. But Nine Mile Burn has no limit (the houses are mostly off the road), then Silverburn is 40. My impression is that it's the LA, because Carlops and West Linton are in Peeblesshire while the other villages are not. Silverburn really should be 20 like Carlops.

There is an issue with the way the car has been allowed to claim ownership of roads that used to be shared with pedestrians, horses, bicycles and so on. Carlops is an old settlement that was built when what is now the A702 was a cart track, and people could come and go within the village without risking being mown down, and could hold a church service without being deafened by roaring engines and clashing HGV gears. The principle that the stronger should give way to the weaker is a good one, but somehow motorists have got the impression that the roads are theirs and other road users should get out of their way. I'm generally in favour of these limits, so long as the application is reasonably sensible. Motorists waving to pedestrians to cross in front of them is becoming more common within the limits, and I think it's a good thing.

Roads with no pavements are one thing a dual carriageway is another

 

[Davn]

So what you're actually saying is that driving an EV in North Wales requires planning?

I've nearly run out of petrol in North Wales on a Sunday afternoon because I messed up and didn't plan properly. Do you think I complained that owning an ICE car in this country is rubbish?

I don't know did you, you can plan as much as you want but if the only option is slow chargers then your planning for a 3-4 HR stop to get any decent charge. I was up in north Yorkshire earlier in the year and the same thing there, doubly worse as every charging point had a different app and generally you couldn't get a good data signal to download it