Using Zapmap.

[Ian Key]

So I would advise looking at all the chargers you think you might need to use and see if they take contactless payment. If they don't, get either a card they will recognise or a phone app that will let you control charging and pay, and do it before you set out. Don't rely on being able to download an app right beside the charger when you need the charge, in darkness or in pouring rain or in such strong sun you can't see the screen. It might all work out but a bit of preparation can save on stress.

The one problem with phone apps is if you haven't got a signal. I think I'd either check the ones I was going to use took contactless bank cards or apply for the operators a card first.

 

[ukslim]

The one problem with phone apps is if you haven't got a signal. I think I'd either check the ones I was going to use took contactless bank cards or apply for the operators a card first.

If I were siting a public charger, I'd make sure there was a signal there. Or make the charger itself a hotspot...

 

[Ian Key]

If I were siting a public charger, I'd make sure there was a signal there. Or make the charger itself a hotspot...

Now you're letting common sense get in the way of the siting of public chargers

 

[Les burrows]

I only last week had this very issue with a pod point charger in the Cotswolds Zero network signal at the charge point I’m on 3, so to get around it I made a note of the name on the charger and plugged in the car locked it up then walked a short distance to a nearby hotel and then opened the app on the hotels Wi-Fi and selected the charger and then confirmed the charge ordered a coffee and a snack and sat down this was in Morton in marsh.
Never had this happen before but it did here the lady in the hotel told me the charger did not belong to the hotel but it was in thier car park very strange.
Les

 

[Buster72]

I'm at my destination having done my first long trip yesterday. The chargers on the motorway all took contactless and were easy to use. I thought the big Gridserve at Southwaite had latched on to my car and wasn't going to let go, but realised I had been too slow and it thought it had a new customer hooked. I just offered it my card again then pressed "abort charge" and it let me go.

The Instavolts at Kirkby Lonsdale also took contactless. No problem with that, but paying for the parking (£1.40 but you get it refunded if you buy something from the Booth's shop) practically took a degree in logistics (and an elderly lady in a hurry telling me what to do).

When I got to my destination it was more fun. There are type 2 chargers right beside my friend's house (at a rip-off price, but it's only for a couple of days), but they don't take contactless. I couldn't see a way to get a card for them in advance, although they did keep demanding a card when I got there. However I had been able (with some difficulty) to download their app before I started my journey and I eventually got the app to make the charger work. I dread to think what it would have been like if I'd arrived there with no app, no usable card and no clue though. At one point I phoned the number on the charger and it was answered and the girl on the other end was helpful. (The main problem was that there was strong evening sun which prevented me seeing what was displayed on the screen of the charger.)

So I would advise looking at all the chargers you think you might need to use and see if they take contactless payment. If they don't, get either a card they will recognise or a phone app that will let you control charging and pay, and do it before you set out. Don't rely on being able to download an app right beside the charger when you need the charge, in darkness or in pouring rain or in such strong sun you can't see the screen. It might all work out but a bit of preparation can save on stress.

Very good advice.
Instead of Zapmap, yesterday I was looking at Google Maps and you can select EVs. It looked at first glance to have pretty much all the relevant information about charging stations and which networks as well as filters for contactless payments. And of course the maps and route planner.
So maybe no need for downloading loads of apps?

 

[Rolfe]

The one problem with phone apps is if you haven't got a signal. I think I'd either check the ones I was going to use took contactless bank cards or apply for the operators a card first.

Yes, good advice, except I couldn't see a way to get a card from their web site at the time I looked, and it was a bank holiday weekend and there might not have been time for one to be posted anyway. I'd have got a card if I could have.

However the chargepoint is only 50 yards from my friend's house where I have stayed many times, and I knew there was a phone signal. I'd rather not have done it through the app but in fact it did work, which is a plus.

I also wasn't stuck, I had an offer of a 13A socket in my friend's garage for the granny charger if necessary.