Public Charging

[RTB]

As we are planning a holiday soon this morning I ventured out to use public charger for first time, I chose Pod Point at Tesco the fast charge as one close to where we are staying, I plugged in the car followed the instructions presented my card which was authorised pressed start locked car returned 30 minutes later to find nothing had happend, the sign on the charger showed a car with a z, but where it shows the % of the charge was at zero, contacting Pod Point to speak to someone is impossible! Is the problem the charger or me? They have my £30.!!!!

 

[Jomarkh]

The £30 is a pre authorisation fee so should be refunded in a day or two.
I have only ever used the app with podpoint. Have you got an Electroverse card or app so you can try other chargers?

 

[Catsailor]

Charged my 2025 plate ZS Long range today at public charger. Claimed to deliver 11kW. In 28 mins had provided 1.57 kWh which I calculate as 3.36 kW. Battery was showing 51% so there should not have been a reason for slow charging. I'll take it to another 11kW charger and see if the result is the same but it makes long distance route planning a problem if the charge rate is so slow on an 11kW charger. I do realise the onboard charger only operates at 7kW. No problem using CCS charge points but sometimes they aren't available.

 

[peterseddon]

Some so called 7 kW chargers can be throttled to 3kW, I've come across a couple. Make sure you have turned OFF scheduled charging or it wont start as the allotted time may not have been reached, been caught out a couple of times. If you're going on a long trip then you'll be using rapids (DC) chargers. I suggest you try one before you go.

 

[DBedford]

Destination chargers (7kW AC) are waste of time unless you're prepared to wait hours !

 

[Catsailor]

Some so called 7 kW chargers can be throttled to 3kW, I've come across a couple. Make sure you have turned OFF scheduled charging or it wont start as the allotted time may not have been reached, been caught out a couple of times. If you're going on a long trip then you'll be using rapids (DC) chargers. I suggest you try one before you go.

Good advice. Scheduled charging was turned off. My concern is long trips to regions where DC chargers are pretty scarce. I also suspect I have a defective charger. That needs another test on a different charger

Destination chargers (7kW AC) are waste of time unless you're prepared to wait hours !

Agreed

 

[Coulomb]

I'll take it to another 11kW charger and see if the result is the same but it makes long distance route planning a problem if the charge rate is so slow on an 11kW charger.

An 11kW "charger" is limited to 16A. A car with a 7kW on-board charger is limited to a single phase. That means that this combination is limited to 16A x 240V ~= 3.6kW. So for 7kW cars, 11kW charge points are only useful for the most dire emergencies, or overnight destination charging in some circumstances.

A car with an 11kW on-board charger is more flexible. It can achieve maximum charging rate from any "charger", up to 11kW of course, unless you have the wrong BYO cable. I actually carry a 16A single three phase cable with my Extended Range MG4, meaning I'll end up with 3.6kW from an 11kW "charger". But where I go, such "chargers" are rare, so I'm happy to trade that possibility for a lighter, more flexible cable.

 

[Jomarkh]

Charged my 2025 plate ZS Long range today at public charger. Claimed to deliver 11kW. In 28 mins had provided 1.57 kWh which I calculate as 3.36 kW. Battery was showing 51% so there should not have been a reason for slow charging. I'll take it to another 11kW charger and see if the result is the same but it makes long distance route planning a problem if the charge rate is so slow on an 11kW charger. I do realise the onboard charger only operates at 7kW. No problem using CCS charge points but sometimes they aren't available.

You will only get that on a 11kW EVSE as your car is not three phase. Try a 22kW EVSE then you will get the 7kW that your car is capable of.

 

[RTB]

The £30 is a pre authorisation fee so should be refunded in a day or two.
I have only ever used the app with podpoint. Have you got an Electroverse card or app so you can try other chargers?

Thank you I'll look into cards and apps

 

[peterseddon]

Destination chargers (7kW AC) are waste of time unless you're prepared to wait hours !

Not all a waste of time. At hotels for overnight charges and theme parks for long stays. You don't have to be with the car when it's charging. Now just rapids only at hotels are a waste, for one 50 kW rapid you could have seven 7kW chargers

 

[Catsailor]

An 11kW "charger" is limited to 16A. A car with a 7kW on-board charger is limited to a single phase. That means that this combination is limited to 16A x 240V ~= 3.6kW. So for 7kW cars, 11kW charge points are only useful for the most dire emergencies, or overnight destination charging in some circumstances.

A car with an 11kW on-board charger is more flexible. It can achieve maximum charging rate from any "charger", up to 11kW of course, unless you have the wrong BYO cable. I actually carry a 16A single three phase cable with my Extended Range MG4, meaning I'll end up with 3.6kW from an 11kW "charger". But where I go, such "chargers" are rare, so I'm happy to trade that possibility for a lighter, more flexible cable.

Thanks for the explanation. What does this mean in terms of a home installation? At the moment I happily cope with the supplied "granny unit". I get about 2 kW from that which is normally sufficient as I only drive 9000 miles a year. For the occasional long journey I use commercial CCS charging stations. If I can only get 3.6 kW from an 11 kW charge point will I only halve my charge time with a home installation?

 

[peterseddon]

Thanks for the explanation. What does this mean in terms of a home installation? At the moment I happily cope with the supplied "granny unit". I get about 2 kwh from that which is normally sufficient as I only drive 9000 miles a year. For the occasional long journey I use commercial CCS charging stations. If I can only get 3.6 kw from a 11 KW charge point will I only halve my charge time with a home installation?

All single phase home chargers will give you 7kW or in my case 6.8kW as that's the limit of the car.

 

[Catsailor]

You will only get that on a 11kW EVSE as your car is not three phase. Try a 22kW EVSE then you will get the 7kW that your car is capable of.

And I did. Thanks.

 

[Coulomb]

What does this mean in terms of a home installation?

Just make sure that your home "charger" is rated at 32A, not 16A. Most homes in the UK are single phase, and these days nearly all single phase wired-in "chargers" are 32A. So it's nearly impossible to go wrong.

So it's just the 11kW public chargers that you need to watch out for.

 

[fred12345]

My concern is long trips to regions where DC chargers are pretty scarce. I also suspect I have a defective charger. That needs another test on a different charger

What I do is charge my car at the one before the last fast charger before entering a "no-charge zone" (just in case that one is not working so I have one more go at the next one). That way I have plenty to get out of the black hole to the next fast charger. Works for me.

 

[hmadsen]

Not all a waste of time. At hotels for overnight charges and theme parks for long stays. You don't have to be with the car when it's charging. Now just rapids only at hotels are a waste, for one 50 kW rapid you could have seven 7kW chargers

I regularly charge my elonmobile at 11KW chargers in hotels, the car finishes while i sleep, i would imagine, even at 7KW it would be finished charging before i was finished "recharging" in the hotel bed.