What would make public charging better for you..?

No point for me - I park up and go use the facilities while charging. Hoovering can be done at home, or anywhere else (as I have a 12V car hoover in a bag in the boot).

More important are:
  1. Protective canopies (for rain / sun shade - could incorporate solar panels)
  2. Lighting
  3. Security or CCTV monitoring, rather than charge points being tucked in a dark corner of a car park where drivers are exposed
 
Canopies with lights under them to protect from weather (and excessive sunshine on LED screens) and let you see what you're doing, as is taken for granted by every ICE driver in the country.

A wee shop with an actual human being in it, just like there is at ICE fuel stations, incorporating a coffee shop and somewhere to sit. A coffee vending machine, even.

Security cameras.

Basically, rip the pumps out of a service station and put chargers in, and add a seating area with some way to buy coffee and a snack to the adjoining shop.
 
Honestly, better error messages and instructions. The most frustrating part of charging for me has been when I try to charge via CCS and then the car just sits, saying "Connecting" and the dispenser usually says the same thing forever until it times out and just quits. Specifically had this problem with a Geniepoint charger.

The other times I've had problems is with ChargePoint Scotland's chargers, where plugging the car in causes a "DC voltage fault" (paraphrasing) and sits for two minutes doing nothing - however, once that error clears, with the cable plugged in I can then attempt charging again and have had a 50% success rate of it just working fine?

Not sure if the problem lies in the software on the car or in the charger, but that's still the primary annoyance I have with charging this car.

(100% success rate at Instavolt and Podpoint charge stations FWIW)
 
In addition to the comments above. All new installations should follow the same charging protocol, so you are not trying to follow each providers individual processes to start the charge. Usually P***ing down with rain trying to read tiny text urrggghhhh.
 
Last edited:
alix said:
The other times I've had problems is with ChargePoint Scotland's chargers, where plugging the car in causes a "DC voltage fault" (paraphrasing) and sits for two minutes doing nothing - however, once that error clears, with the cable plugged in I can then attempt charging again and have had a 50% success rate of it just working fine?
Click to expand...

I have noticed that every single time I go to my local ChargePlace Scotland charger and connect to the CCS cable, I get a message about the car not connecting properly or something like that. (It isn't "DC voltage fault" though.) Unplug the car and start again. I unplug the car and re-holster the connector. I stand and look at the screen for about two minutes, then a box appears with "OK" in it, which I tap. The screen then goes right back to the beginning again, "member or guest" and I tap my card again, and the second time it all goes swimmingly.

I have no idea why it is doing this. I thought at first I wasn't connecting up the cable cleanly enough, but it's not that. It seems to need to reject me once before it will let me connect. It has always worked the second time though. This is the only ChargPlace Scotland DC charger I have ever used. It isn't doing it with type 2 charging.

Alix, were you driving north on the A702 round about Hillend/Damside at about 5.30 yesterday? (Or indeed on Newington Road about 4.30 on 13th May?) Because both these times I saw a blue SE doing exactly that, and I'm wondering if it was you.
 
  1. 5% VAT for all EV chargers.
  2. 215% increase in rapid chargers. (that's how far behind the country is in 2023. Only 7 years to go folks before the estimated number of EVs will need that increase.
  3. Rain covers (why not put solar panels on top)
  4. Clear display of charges per kWh before you enter.
  5. Safe location, not hidden in the dark near the bin area.
  6. Clean and maintained toilet facilities.
  7. A place to get a drink or snack.
  8. A queue system if the chargers are occupied.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ideally, an industry standard, works everywhere, system whereby you just plug in and walk away.

Car and charger communicate to establish who you are, and who they are -- and charge according to a policy you've set up globally at some point. Options for overrides of course.

Really you want classes of charger beyond just "what's the wattage". A class of charger intended for overnight or all-day parking, another intended for for splash-and-dash, and so on. So you might have a rule like "On a long-stay charger, charge me to 60% when the rate is under 30p, keep going to 80% when the rate is under 28p".

Overcomplicated? Have preset curated rule sets with friendly names.
 
ukslim said:
Ideally, an industry standard, works everywhere, system whereby you just plug in and walk away.

Car and charger communicate to establish who you are, and who they are -- and charge according to a policy you've set up globally at some point. Options for overrides of course.

Really you want classes of charger beyond just "what's the wattage". A class of charger intended for overnight or all-day parking, another intended for for splash-and-dash, and so on. So you might have a rule like "On a long-stay charger, charge me to 60% when the rate is under 30p, keep going to 80% when the rate is under 28p".

Overcomplicated? Have preset curated rule sets with friendly names.
Click to expand...

There are some silly rules around for sure. I sometimes use the type 2 chargers in a city centre car park. There are eight connectors and they are never all in use at once. There is a four-hour limit on them, and you are immediately fined £40 if you go over that. It's ridiculous. The car park is expensive to park in and nobody is going to stay longer than they need to. Four hours may be OK 80% of the time, but some meetings, and indeed some theatre performances, exceed it.

If there aren't enough chargers, put more in! The car park is in the new Low Emssions Zone and if it all goes the way the council wants, they'll need to put chargers at more than 1% of their parking spaces eventually. Fining people for overstay when nobody else is waiting and it's supposed to be a destination charger is ridiculous.
 
Rolfe said:
<tries really reaslly hard not to wonder aloud how you can start to type "queue" and the auto-complete gives you "cue"....>
Click to expand...
It's often called "auto-mangle" for good reason!
ukslim said:
Ideally, an industry standard, works everywhere, system whereby you just plug in and walk away.

Car and charger communicate to establish who you are, and who they are -- and charge according to a policy you've set up globally at some point. Options for overrides of course.
Click to expand...
You mean like Tesla use, or "Plug & Charge"as defined in ISO51118 ?
 
WonkoTheSaneUK said:
It's often called "auto-mangle" for good reason!

You mean like Tesla use, or "Plug & Charge"as defined in ISO51118 ?
Click to expand...
I probably do, but I don't just want it to exist. I want it to be ubiquitous.

The technology isn't difficult. The politics of getting it adopted is. (See also the UK smart meter SMETS1/SMETS2 shambles)
 

Are you enjoying your MG4?

  • Yes

    Votes: 506 79.2%

  • I'm in the middle

    Votes: 86 13.5%

  • No

    Votes: 47 7.4%
See comments…
Support us by becoming a Premium Member

Latest MG EVs video

MG3 Hybrid+ & Cyberster Configurator News + hot topics from the MG EVs forums
Published
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom