Tag: charging

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On street EV charging

One feature of London suburban streets is the availability of on-street EV charging, usually making use of street lighting to provide the power.

I was staying with family in Wimbledon in London and I decided to take advantage of the availability of the charger to charge the Funky Cat.

It is a slow charger just pushing out around 5 kWh, so this is a solution for when you have time to charge. There is a twelve hour limit for the charger I was using. Despite the slow speed, it’s not cheap, between 7am and 12pm it’s 60p kWh but overnight it falls to 40p which is better value.

I only used it for three hours getting 15.6 kWh. The real advantage was convenience, not having to drive somewhere to charge was a real bonus. Of course for local residents who don’t have a driveway, this is a solution for when you need a charge.

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Problem, not my problem

One of the regular places I charge when travelling back from London is the Tesla chargers at the Westbound Reading MOTO Services. There are no Tesla chargers on the Eastbound side, why that is, I do not know.

It normally just works at these chargers, but on this visit, the charger failed to work. Usually I never have problems with these chargers, however having arrived and parked, but was unable to start he charge on the app. This also then locks the charging cable  in the car. I then had to do the usual hassle of opening the bonnet to manually release the charger from the car. I moved the car and put it on charge and it all worked fine from then on.

I don’t think this was a problem with the Funky Cat, I think that there was a specific problem with that charger.

I did get 23.8 kWH in 35 minutes, which took the Funky Cat from around 30% to 50%. This was delivering at a rate in the region of 50kW. One of the downsides of the Funky Cat is that it can’t take advantage of the speed of some of the rapid chargers out there. Some are rated to deliver 350kW, the Funky Cat can’t take that kind of power.

Having reached just over 80% I stopped the charge and unplugged. I find it strange that unplugging after a successful charge just works. I wonder if there is a kill switch on the charger itself so that it doesn’t remain locked when a charge fails to initialise.

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Charging once more at Stourhead

Stourhead

Back in February I visited Stourhead and did a behind closed doors tour, however the house’s state rooms weren’t open, since I had always planned a repeat visit to see these rooms.

On that visit I did make use of the EV charging facilities. Though I had a few issues with the ChargePoint app and my bank card, in the end I used ApplePay and all was fine.

So, on a recent return visit to the property I was able to easily plug the Funky Cat into the chargers, and again I used ApplePay to set the charge going.

Stourhead also had some rapid chargers which looked like they could deliver more charge (so faster charging). The last time I was there they weren’t available as there had been a cable theft. This time they were working. After my visit I disconnected from the fast (11kWh) chargers and decided I would top off my charge using the rapid chargers. I was at about a 70% charge, so wasn’t expecting miracles, but the actual charge rate was very slow, so I didn’t connect for long.

There was an issue which may be just me, but on the fast charger   ChargePoint put a £15 hold on my card, I spent just under £10, but the remaining hold was still there five days later! The rapid charger took a whopping £35 hold and likewise it was still being held five days later.

I don’t think I had this issue at other National Trust properties recently as I have spent more than the £15 held. This time though there was a £50 hold on my bank card and I only spent £13.

Didn’t put me off, and I do appreciate the fact that chargers are available at some National Trust properties.

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Charging at the National Trust

I recently visited Stourhead, my last visit was nearly ten years ago back in May 2016.

 Having arrived at the property, I was pleased to see EV chargers, so I put the Funky Cat on charge. I could use contactless to start the charge, though if you have the ChargePoint app you can use that. I did in fact try to use the ChargePoint app, which then attempted to charge my debit card, which the bank blocked. No idea why, so I avoided the app and used ApplePay instead.

As well as 22 kWh EV chargers, Stourhead also had some rapid chargers which looked like they could deliver more charge (so faster charging). I was less pleased to see that there had been a cable theft from the rapid chargers.

It all worked out using the 22kWh chargers, though the Funky Cat can only draw down 11KwH.

When a couple of weeks later, I made a trip to Kingston Lacy, another National Trust property down in Dorset I was pleased to see they also had chargers. I headed to the EV charging and I put the Funky Cat on charge.

By the time I finished my visit to the house and gardens, the Funky Cat was at 100%. I had time left, and it was only twenty miles away I headed off to Corfe Castle.

I parked in the National Trust car park, and was pleased to see they also had EV chargers. I didn’t put the car on charge, but with hindsight, it might have been a good idea, but I hadn’t used that much charge travelling there. In the end I didn’t need to charge on my way home.

With the often rural locations, travelling to National Trust properties often means finding a charge on the way there or the way home. However, as the National Trust starts to install more chargers at different properties it becomes a lot easier for EV drivers.

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It must be getting warmer…

Having charged the car to 100%, I was pleased to see that the predicted range was 182 miles. This is the biggest range I have had in a while (and is close to the advertised 193 WLTP electric range). I think part of the reason is that my AEC (Average Energy Consumption) figure which over most of the winter had been in the 32+ range, has been much lower recently, around 25 kWh/100 mile.

I used the Revive chargers at the Diamond Batch car park at Worle Station. When I first connected, it initially said it was going to take nearly six hours to charge from 23% to 100%. In the end it did the charge in just over three hours.

Still find it a little strange (and need to remember) that when the battery is at 100% there isn’t any regenerative braking, so I have to use the brake pedal more.

 

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These ones worked

After my poor experience with the Tesla chargers at Merry Hill I was a little hesitant when I arrived at the Frankley southbound services on the M5. I did know that if these Tesla chargers didn’t work, there was a bank of Gridserve chargers I could use.

However, unlike Merry Hill, this was a seamless experience, I parked, plugged the Funky Cat into the chargers and set it charging on the Tesla app.

I had time for a quick lunch, and, it wasn’t long before I had sufficient chaarge to continue my journey.

When I went to York last year, these chargers weren’t installed. I have also seen at the southbound Gloucester services on the M5 they are installing a bank of Tesla chargers.

I have also seen that there are now Tesla chargers that can be used by non-Tesla vehicles in Eastville in Bristol. It’s getting much easier to find and use Tesla chargers with my Funky Cat. 

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It just didn’t work…

I was travelling from Weston to Loughborough via Wolverhampton and had planned to stop at Merry Hill in Dudley and use the Tesla chargers at the shopping centre.

I arrived, plugged in the charger. The Funky Cat recognised that it was plugged in. However on the Tesla app, it failed to recognise the Funky Cat. I couldn’t get the charger going. It also wouldn’t unlock me from the cable. I had to use the manual release to unlock the cable. I remember the first time I did this, I struggled to find the cable under the bonnet. I think it was because I was looking for a substantial cable and handle, and not something that looked like a bicycle brake cable.

I did try a different charger, but this also didn’t work.

In the end I use the Ora navigation to find a charger nearby, and up on the hill there was a choice of three, MFG, Instavolt, and BP Pulse all very close together. I chose the MFG as I had a card I could use with them. 

Alas my plan to walk around the Merry Hill shopping centre was scuppered and I had to make do with Greggs.

Having got a 77% charge, I unplugged and drove off.

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I think the app was faulty

Decided to catch the train to Bristol, but left earlier to plug the Funky Cat into the Revive chargers at Worle Railway Station. When I arrived I saw there was another electric vehicle already plugged in. However after plugging in the Funky Cat, the app said there was a fault with the charger.

Looking at the other chargers (on the app) they were all at fault. However I think there was a fault with the app, as the other electric vehicle looked like it was charging.

I moved the car to a normal space, paid for my parking, and walked to catch my train.

Checking later the app was still saying Faulted.

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So you know it doesn’t exist?

I wrote in a previous blog post about my experience with a non-working revive charger.

On my first use of the chargers, mine was the only electric vehicle using them. On my second visit to the chargers, quite a few of the chargers were in use and my car’s charging port is on the front nearside. There was one optimal space where I parked. I plugged the car in and then used the Revive (web) app to find the charger and start the charge. However the (web) app said no such charger existed. Which I thought was weird. As there wasn’t a suitable alternative space, I moved the car, parked in a normal space and caught my train to work.

I decided to email Revive and see if there was an issue with the non-working revive charger. I did get a response.

We are aware of the issues with this charger and our faults team are currently investigating.   Please be advised, that the charger RV01082 has been removed from our network until further notice. Once charger is available again, it will show on our live map.

I do think that they should at the very least turn off the faulty charger, or even put a sign on it…

I will wait until it appears on the map.

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What do you mean it doesn’t exist?

I had seen a few months back they were preparing the Worle Station Diamond Batch car park for EV charging, well they had put in the space markings, but there were no chargers. The chargers are now installed and I have used them before and was pleased with their speed and cost. The Revive charger charges 55p per kWh. This is less than the 85p that MFG charge. Obviously, there is the £2.40 car parking charge as well. I said before:

I was actually quite impressed with the speed, taking just over three hours to charge from 25% to 100%. I would certainly use these chargers again.

They are Revive chargers, which I had also used before at Sand Bay. The chargers at Diamond Batch are 22 kWh chargers so are not “quick” compared to the rapid chargers you find elsewhere. However they are ideal for a station car parking, you park, plug in, catch the train, go to work, come back, your car is charged to 100%. It’s also great that there are no idle fees, this means you can set your car to charge and not worry about moving it once you have a 100% charge. This is ideal for this kind of car park, where you are likely to be parked for the whole day.

Now it hasn’t all been plain sailing. On my first use of the chargers, mine was the only electric vehicle using them. On my second visit to the chargers, quite a few of the chargers were in use and my car’s charging port is on the front nearside. There was one optimal space where I parked. I plugged the car in and then used the Revive (web) app to find the charger and start the charge. However the (web) app said no such charger existed. Which I thought was weird. As there wasn’t a suitable alternative space, I moved the car, parked in a normal space and caught my train to work.

Worle Railway Station

The following day I went to charge the car and used a different space with a different charger. This worked as it had the first time I had used these car chargers. All worked as expected. It took three hours and forty-three minutes to go from a 8% charge to 100%. At the end of it, there was a 152 mile predicted range, which is expected at this time of year.