Rapid Charging Network on Motorways still a challenge.

[ChrisT]

We don't do many long distance journeys requiring a rapid charge, thankfully, as our experience today shows that the network has a long way to go to provide a workable solution to rapid charging.

Stopped at Tamworth Moto services on 25% and plugged into the single Gridserve charger thinking how lucky we were to get onto it straight away.

The charger had a fault which sent the car into a HV software spin for 20 minutes. Wouldn't start properly and showed start up button fault HV fault and the charger showed internal fault.

Eventually got the car to respond and drove up to Appleby Magna Mcdonalds which has 2 Instavolts which whilst reliable in my experience had a queue to get on and require supernatural parking skills to position the car.

The network needs organising and improving rapidly!

 

[AbuG]

Indeed and it will get worse as more EVs are sold.

 

[ChrisT]

Now stopped at Lidl in Rossington with a Podpoint showing Isolation Fault.

 

[Simon S]

Sorry to hear of your experiences Chris. Like you I don't often use public chargers. I was expecting things to have improved this year (with Gridserve rollout etc.) but had to queue several times during our Summer holidays. I always had a plan B, but it looks like you need a plan D ...

 

[ChrisT]

So moved on and tried to top up a little just to avoid any stress. As above Lidl charger faulty, Doncaster Moto Services had 2 cars waiting on one charger and Lidl Scunthorpe in use with car on 27%. We need this minimum at every services.

 

[bwanamdevu]

So moved on and tried to top up a little just to avoid any stress. As above Lidl charger faulty, Doncaster Moto Services had 2 cars waiting on one charger and Lidl Scunthorpe in use with car on 27%. We need this minimum at every services.View attachment 6086

Pity you wasn’t a few miles further south. The Asda at Worksop on the A57 has 6 connectors, either 22 or 50kW. Free to use as well! Usually works well.

 

[Vipar]

Any free chargers south of Kimbolton on the A1?

 

[ChrisT]

Robert Lewellyn points the finger at charging companies in the latest Fully Charged when he thanks a charging company for their 'working chargers!'.

Fully Charged

 

[Mike]

I’m now almost 7 years into EV ownership. You really have no idea how good the infrastructure is now!!!!

All we had way back when was the Electric Highway. Nothing else. It worked as well!

But now we have a magnitude more EV’s on the road. The number of rapid chargers per car hasn’t gone up in proportion…..

To me, it is the motorway network that needs the investment. It is where most people on long journeys will want to stop at. Instavolts et al are great, but in my experience there aren’t often the facilities that you want- like toilets & a coffee shop! Motorway Service Stations need 12-14 ultra rapids minimum this year.

I was at Cobham a few weeks ago and every Ionity & Gridserve charger was occupied and there was a queue. Luckily I didn’t need to charge. I am really glad I have a long range EV now.

 

[ChrisT]

I’m now almost 7 years into EV ownership. You really have no idea how good the infrastructure is now!!!!

All we had way back when was the Electric Highway. Nothing else. It worked as well!

But now we have a magnitude more EV’s on the road. The number of rapid chargers per car hasn’t gone up in proportion…..

To me, it is the motorway network that needs the investment. It is where most people on long journeys will want to stop at. Instavolts et al are great, but in my experience there aren’t often the facilities that you want- like toilets & a coffee shop! Motorway Service Stations need 12-14 ultra rapids minimum this year.

I was at Cobham a few weeks ago and every Ionity & Gridserve charger was occupied and there was a queue. Luckily I didn’t need to charge. I am really glad I have a long range EV now.

Totally agree. We have been driving EVs since 2017 and the issue now is not range anxiety but charger anxiety. The services facilities are no different or better now than they were in 2017. What is developing in my experience is a preference for specific providers so for example I aim for Instavolts as my experience is that they are reliable. My thought is to avoid services until they improve their facilities.

 

[bwanamdevu]

Often, using Zap-Map and a slight detour off the motorway of sometimes just a mile or so, it‘s possible to find chargers at supermarkets, fast-food outlets or small towns. It’s much better than crowded and smelly motorway services. I used to do this when driving an ICE as petrol and snacks were so much cheaper off the motorway.

 

[sido]

Often, using Zap-Map and a slight detour off the motorway of sometimes just a mile or so, it‘s possible to find chargers at supermarkets, fast-food outlets or small towns. It’s much better than crowded and smelly motorway services. I used to do this when driving an ICE as petrol and snacks were so much cheaper off the motorway.

Me to with the exception of Gloucester services on the M5 charging and services have always been first class when I’ve used, totally different t o most.

 

[Ron61]

I used an Ionity charger at Beaconsfield, 3 already installed with a fourth installed but not commissioned yet. two more bays without chargers so it could be upgraded to 6 without any problems.

The thing that annoys me is that they are 150kWh chargers. In my view they would be better of installing 50kWh chargers, they could put a maximum of 18 chargers in there then. love to know what you guys think.

 

[phillycee]

The thing that annoys me is that they are 150kWh chargers. In my view they would be better of installing 50kWh chargers, they could put a maximum of 18 chargers in there then. love to know what you guys think.

I dunno - I think the faster ones are good for future proofing..and quicker charges

As more cars can take advantage the wait time would be the same... e.g cars charging 3x as fast only need to be there for 1/3 the time... so the same number of cars can be served with 6 x 150kwh vs 18 x 50 kwh

I know the MG's don't aren't able to take advantage at the moment... but hopefully in a few updates time they will have faster charging cars as well

 

[Les burrows]

Hi today on my 200 plus mile journey south I stopped at Hilton park service’s on the M6, been there before without any issues there are two rapid chargers one is CCS and Chadamo unit, which was being used by a Zoe, the other one has two CCS plugs, so l park and plug in no problem charging away in seconds it was great.
After about 15/20 minutes a Kia ev6 ( very nice motor) is reversing along side of me to use the other CCS plug on the same charger as me, a very nice young lady ( very nice ) gets out of the Kia and plugs in taps her card and nothing is working for her, she tried unplugging and stated again still nothing she as a good look at my car which is still charging anyhow I get out to see if I can help and on the screen it says something like awaiting power, so she now calls the number on the charger which is Gridserve and after 1/2 minutes she is speaking to some one a person from Gridserve tells her that because there is a vehicle already charging on that unit ( mine ) she would after wait as you can only charge one vehicle at a time, we both stood there in amazement, anyhow by this time my car was at 81% so I unplugged and sure enough the lady place her card on the reader and it started to charge her car without further problems.
As anyone else experience this with a Gridserve charger the only other time I have had anything like this was a few weeks back at Rubgy Moto/ Gridserve services when I was charging and another car came along side and plugged into the same unit as me and the charge rate dropped from 48 to 30 kWh but we where both charging.
I sincerely hope this is a one off as what’s the point of having two cables and plugs if you can only use them one at a time, when I get the chance I am going to call Gridserve and ask the question.
So as I said above anybody had this king of thing happen on their travels
Les

 

[adiel]

Hi today on my 200 plus mile journey south I stopped at Hilton park service’s on the M6, been there before without any issues there are two rapid chargers one is CCS and Chadamo unit, which was being used by a Zoe, the other one has two CCS plugs, so l park and plug in no problem charging away in seconds it was great.
After about 15/20 minutes a Kia ev6 ( very nice motor) is reversing along side of me to use the other CCS plug on the same charger as me, a very nice young lady ( very nice ) gets out of the Kia and plugs in taps her card and nothing is working for her, she tried unplugging and stated again still nothing she as a good look at my car which is still charging anyhow I get out to see if I can help and on the screen it says something like awaiting power, so she now calls the number on the charger which is Gridserve and after 1/2 minutes she is speaking to some one a person from Gridserve tells her that because there is a vehicle already charging on that unit ( mine ) she would after wait as you can only charge one vehicle at a time, we both stood there in amazement, anyhow by this time my car was at 81% so I unplugged and sure enough the lady place her card on the reader and it started to charge her car without further problems.
As anyone else experience this with a Gridserve charger the only other time I have had anything like this was a few weeks back at Rubgy Moto/ Gridserve services when I was charging and another car came along side and plugged into the same unit as me and the charge rate dropped from 48 to 30 kWh but we where both charging.
I sincerely hope this is a one off as what’s the point of having two cables and plugs if you can only use them one at a time, when I get the chance I am going to call Gridserve and ask the question.
So as I said above anybody had this king of thing happen on their travels
Les

Gridserve are awaiting a software update to the majority of their charging units at service stations to allow two chargers to work simultaneously. Rugby seems to be the exception but they are different charging units (350kWh) than the ones installed at most service stations like those at Hilton Park.

 

[Les burrows]

Hi adiel thanks for your response to the question I’m not doubting what you have said above but I’m sure I have used that same charger in the passed while some one else was also plug in without any issues I know the ones at Rugby are far more powerful as I have also used them quite a bit
I have e-mailed Gridserve about this event and will let you know what they say when I get a reply thanks again
Les

 

[adiel]

Hi adiel thanks for your response to the question I’m not doubting what you have said above but I’m sure I have used that same charger in the passed while some one else was also plug in without any issues I know the ones at Rugby are far more powerful as I have also used them quite a bit
I have e-mailed Gridserve about this event and will let you know what they say when I get a reply thanks again
Les

Hi Les, It will be interesting to hear an update from Gridserve as this has been an issue since June 2021 and they were anticipating it only taking a couple of months to resolve.

See official update here: GRIDSERVE | Dual charging on the Electric Highway

I regularly use Hilton Park, Donnington, Knutsford, Rugby and occasionally other Gridserve sites, so I'm quite familiar with the good and bad Gridserve experiences. The ongoing upgrades, especially those announced in December and the fact that prices are still 30p per kWh makes them my preferred network.

 

[Les burrows]

Hi again adiel
You where bang on with you response about a Gridserve software update, I got this reply today from my E- Mail I sent them yesterday so many thanks again for that.
And yeh they my first choice also when travelling away from home that set up at rugby is fantastic my only crib about it is, it is the chargers are a fair way away from the Facilities if you don’t like my missy’s walk to well, so I drop her outside the facilities first, (I did a write up about this after my first vist there the first week it opened to try and help others who might also have walking issues ) drop her first then I go and plug in normally 20/30 minutes gives me enough charge to complete my journey to my sons home in SE London which is around 225 miles from home
Les

Dear Les,

Thank you for getting in touch. We would like to firstly apologise for the confusion around dual charging on the GRIDSERVE Electric Highway.

Despite the fact there are two connector cables, the charging units are operating on a first-come, first-served basis which means only one car can charge at a time.

Our teams are working very hard with our charging partner ABB to expediate the software to enable Dual Charging, and this is undergoing significant testing because we really want to get it right! Once this is complete two cars will be able to charge simultaneously.

We ask you for your continued patience as we upgrade and refit the Electric Highway and look towards a fully charged future together!

Warm regards,

Dexter | Customer Service Team | GRIDSERVE®
e: [email protected] | t: +44 333 1234 333

 

[sido]

I have encountered this problem three times before. First occasion young man who was already plugged in advised me of the problem, said he only needed ten minutes more charge I waited and was then able to charge. Second time the screens in both chargers were showing out of order and I only had 8% charge left after earlier problems. Just then a young lady in an EV stopped got out said she could make it work, and sure enough she did and I got up to 70% for free. Thanked her most graciously. The last time was a little more frustrating car already charging and one waiting so opened up Zap Map and found a different charger at local Morrison’s, full charge no problem. I assume all of these only charge one car at the moment, would be useful to have a sign saying so whilst we wait for upgrades.