UK Public rapid charging costs

[Bam Bam]

It costs a lot to put these rapid DC charge points in.

They need to recoup their investments through the charge per kWh over and above the cost of the electricity to themselves.

I barely use them because I rarely go out of the range of the car. Those who rely on the DC system can get a membership and save.

We are quite a long way behind Norway with our network and I believe (though not 100% sure) theirs got a lot of public funding.

Once some of the sites are "paid off" and there is more choice of them then competition will bring the cost down.

 

[5teep]

It costs a lot to put these rapid DC charge points in.

They need to recoup their investments through the charge per kWh over and above the cost of the electricity to themselves.

I barely use them because I rarely go out of the range of the car. Those who rely on the DC system can get a membership and save.

We are quite a long way behind Norway with our network and I believe (though not 100% sure) theirs got a lot of public funding.

Once some of the sites are "paid off" and there is more choice of them then competition will bring the cost down.

I've been told that a rapid charger (talking about a 50kw) costs in excess of £20,000. Plus whatever it costs to install I suppose.

 

[Bam Bam]

I've been told that a rapid charger (talking about a 50kw) costs in excess of £20,000. Plus whatever it costs to install I suppose.

I think getting the high voltage grid connection is going to be a big cost, there are huge queues in connecting things up to the grid.

Often there are transformers in big boxes as well, not just the units that connect to the vehicle.

Plus there is the skilled labour involved in designing and installing it all.

Some of those costs might come down with scaling, but it isn't ever going to be free.

If the government doesn't pay for things up front then it just gets passed on to consumers.

 

[GaryMG4]

It's a shame there aren't more destination chargers around. On my recent trip to Scotland it worked really well, a couple of 15-20 min stops on the way using expensive chargers (71-79p) but the rest were destination chargers, the most expensive was the on site pod point at 55p.

 

[Rolfe]

I'm going to stay in a posh hotel for a couple of nights and there are no chargers at the hotel and no rapids in the town. Pathetic.

 

[GJMG4 North]

One of the problems with public charger pricing is there is no clear link between the price and anything. In the past couple of weeks combustion fuel prices have dropped because oil prices have dropped. In theory OFGEM announcing a 7% drop in domestic energy pricing at the next price cap date, should equate to similar price drops for public charging (but probably will not).

The issue for CPO's is that their network charges have dramatically increased, the price of the electricty is only a small proportion of their cost structure. Small drops in the kWh rate have no real effect. There have been some interesting videos recently about this, e.g. from "Dave Takes it On" where he speaks with a CPO (Evyve) about costs.

 

[maskull]

I'm going to stay in a posh hotel for a couple of nights and there are no chargers at the hotel and no rapids in the town. Pathetic.

I went to one in Cardiff at the back end of last year. No chargers there as such but they did have about six posts there that you could plug in a granny for free . And I mean a granny charger ,not an elderly relative

 

[5teep]

I think getting the high voltage grid connection is going to be a big cost, there are huge queues in connecting things up to the grid.

Often there are transformers in big boxes as well, not just the units that connect to the vehicle.

Plus there is the skilled labour involved in designing and installing it all.

Some of those costs might come down with scaling, but it isn't ever going to be free.

If the government doesn't pay for things up front then it just gets passed on to consumers.

The ski resort in Glencoe want to upgrade their electricity supply, so that they can upgrade the ski lift etc. they were quoted North of a million pounds for SSE to do the work.

 

[mg4mc]

When my wife worked for a wind farm company, they had to pay for the grid connections up-front (multi-millions) but there was no limit on how long the work took nor come-back on the grid company. Some wind farms they had to wait years for the actual connection to be put in.

 

[Rolfe]

I went to one in Cardiff at the back end of last year. No chargers there as such but they did have about six posts there that you could plug in a granny for free . And I mean a granny charger ,not an elderly relative

I didn't bring granny. Maybe I should have. I'm currently hogging an Ionity in Perth in an attempt to arrive with as much charge as possible.

 

[Archev]

I'm going to stay in a posh hotel for a couple of nights and there are no chargers at the hotel and no rapids in the town. Pathetic.

So it’s Granny on a lead out the window

 

[Ecoman]

I have heard that the DC charging companies have to pay a large bill to be connected to the grid in the first place followed by an equally large bill EACH YEAR so the grid will guarantee that a continious power supply is available.

Not sure of all the facts, but it seems the grid are responsible for the excessive charges.

They seem to assume they have hit a cash cow as there is no competition which always works well for a monopoly supplier.....

 

[MGCamb]

It's a shame there aren't more destination chargers around. On my recent trip to Scotland it worked really well, a couple of 15-20 min stops on the way using expensive chargers (71-79p) but the rest were destination chargers, the most expensive was the on site pod point at 55p.

Harrogate (bit of a detour); then either Gretna Green or Larkhall Tesla chargers. pay fee for the month and immediately cancel and if you are coming back you will be £££s better off.

 

[maskull]

I didn't bring granny. Maybe I should have. I'm currently hogging an Ionity in Perth in an attempt to arrive with as much charge as possible.

Seems like a plan

 

[Rolfe]

Seems like a plan

I was ahead of time so I hung on to get to 100%. THEN I realised there were two cars waiting. (I was parked on the charger nose in, and didn't see them. When I looked earlier there hadn't been a queue.)

 

[Archev]

Today I drove through to Ayr to Dobbies garden centre restaurant to catch up with my Daughter. She and my Granddog were en-route to Newton Stewart for their week’s work. I left home with the GOM saying I had about 150 miles. Waze said about 70 miles each way so I booked a charger at Arnold Clark’s new charge station at their Peugeot branch in Ayr just off the A77. I booked stall 3 for 18:20 and actually arrived a few minutes before 18:00 and jumped out to connect up at their quoted 55p per unit.
Two guys in AC uniforms came over and asked if I was nearly finished. I told them I had just arrived and they said the place was closing and they were locking the gate as they left. I pointed out that charging was available 24 / 7 but they said that’s jumping the gun a wee bit as the gates have yet to be moved to enable that access at that branch.
There’s another branch of Arnold Clarke just a couple of miles away and a whole bunch of Ionity chargers just beside the branch I was at.
So I drove out and parked to let them lock up and scrutinised Waze, maps and GOM. The Tesla chargers at Heartlands were available and only 35p for members (which I am) so I set course and mainsail for a splash ‘n dash there.
As I neared Heartlands I rejigged Waze and guessed I might be able to squeeze enough from the battery to get home with a wee pocketful of miles in hand. I thought that might be a good plan as I could then do a 100% and balance battery maintenance charge overnight and keep in Berlingo’s good books
Well it all went pear shaped, the daft Citroen arrived at the homestead with 14% remaining, and me wishing I’d thought about a comfort break somewhere along the way. I parked in the driveway and rushed indoors. Subsequently I went back out, circled the town in ever increasing circles until finally the screen popped up a red battery picture and said there was only 10% / 12 miles remaining.
So Berlingo’s back in the drive, attached to the Ohme, and promises to be 100% ready at 10:00 tomorrow for an estimated £3.59 which will be something just under 1.9 p /mile. It’ll be interesting to see the range it quotes- the best I’ve seen so far is 208 miles. The efficiency meter has since moved up to a steady reading of 3.6 miles / kWh. It’s a good bit taller, heavier and more in the shape of a brick than the MG5 was so I’m pleased with that.

 

[Gomev]

Today I drove through to Ayr to Dobbies garden centre restaurant to catch up with my Daughter. She and my Granddog were en-route to Newton Stewart for their week’s work. I left home with the GOM saying I had about 150 miles. Waze said about 70 miles each way so I booked a charger at Arnold Clark’s new charge station at their Peugeot branch in Ayr just off the A77. I booked stall 3 for 18:20 and actually arrived a few minutes before 18:00 and jumped out to connect up at their quoted 55p per unit.
Two guys in AC uniforms came over and asked if I was nearly finished. I told them I had just arrived and they said the place was closing and they were locking the gate as they left. I pointed out that charging was available 24 / 7 but they said that’s jumping the gun a wee bit as the gates have yet to be moved to enable that access at that branch.
There’s another branch of Arnold Clarke just a couple of miles away and a whole bunch of Ionity chargers just beside the branch I was at.
So I drove out and parked to let them lock up and scrutinised Waze, maps and GOM. The Tesla chargers at Heartlands were available and only 35p for members (which I am) so I set course and mainsail for a splash ‘n dash there.
As I neared Heartlands I rejigged Waze and guessed I might be able to squeeze enough from the battery to get home with a wee pocketful of miles in hand. I thought that might be a good plan as I could then do a 100% and balance battery maintenance charge overnight and keep in Berlingo’s good books
Well it all went pear shaped, the daft Citroen arrived at the homestead with 14% remaining, and me wishing I’d thought about a comfort break somewhere along the way. I parked in the driveway and rushed indoors. Subsequently I went back out, circled the town in ever increasing circles until finally the screen popped up a red battery picture and said there was only 10% / 12 miles remaining.
So Berlingo’s back in the drive, attached to the Ohme, and promises to be 100% ready at 10:00 tomorrow for an estimated £3.59 which will be something just under 1.9 p /mile. It’ll be interesting to see the range it quotes- the best I’ve seen so far is 208 miles. The efficiency meter has since moved up to a steady reading of 3.6 miles / kWh. It’s a good bit taller, heavier and more in the shape of a brick than the MG5 was so I’m pleased with that.

Did you put the heater on full whack to help get the SOC down ?

 

[Archev]

Did you put the heater on full whack to help get the SOC down ?

Gracious no, do you want me to stew ?

 

[GaryMG4]

Harrogate (bit of a detour); then either Gretna Green or Larkhall Tesla chargers. pay fee for the month and immediately cancel and if you are coming back you will be £££s better off.

I did consider a membership, I looked at Ionity but the locations didn't suit my route/timings. I could have saved £20-30 by doing that but given the overall cost of the holiday I went for convenience. In the end and the cost of 'fuel' came out about the same as if I'd used petrol.

 

[DelBoy]

And that is the kicker, because fuels are taxed into next decade (I think around 75%) and yet you have approx 14 pp/mile, as electric is more efficient and taxed at 20% (public charging) how the f@c£ do the providers justify this offering the same cost as ICE drivers, no oil spillages, no transport costs, no person on the tills, frankly a bloody rip off