Tag: revive

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Working now

I mentioned previously the last time I tried to use the Revive chargers at the Diamond Batch car park at Worle Station they didn’t work. I was unable to charge my Funky Cat and had to move to a “normal” space.

This time, when parking at the car park, I connected the Funky Cat to the charger, went to the app, and all worked fine.

The only downside is that North Somerset have raised the cost of parking at the car park by 20p and now charge 10p if you use the app. Still, as I was going to park there anyhow as I was catching the train to Bristol, it’s nice to be able to charge the car up as well at the same time.

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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.

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Charging at Diamond Batch

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. I was on my way to Bristol I was catching the train to work. I wondered if the chargers were installed and saw that they were and decided I would try out the chargers.

They were Revive chargers, which I had used before elsewhere.

These 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.

The Revive charger was charging 55p per kWh. This is less than the 85p that MFG charge. Obviously, there is the £2.40 car parking charge as well.

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.

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Charging in Portishead

Went off out. I originally planned to go to a National Trust property, but decided it was probably a little too far away, so went to Portishead instead.

Parked on the road, but as I walked towards the marina I saw an EV charging station in the Parish Wharf Leisure Centre car park.

It had four spaces and was on the Revive network. The car park it was in was free for three hours. I didn’t need charging (urgently) so didn’t use it. Useful though to know it was there for a future visit to Portishead.

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Charging in Sand Bay

I hadn’t planned on using the EV (electric vehicle) chargers in the car park at Sand Bay. I had driven down to go for a stroll along the beach. However many others had the same idea and though the car park was full, the two EV car spaces were free. Well I was driving an EV, so I parked there. Paid for my parking through the MiPermit parking app. 

This was a Revive charger. I had issues with the Revive chargers up at Cribbs Causeway. Mainly as they didn’t accept my debit card or my Shell Recharge card. As I had some time I decided to register with Revive and use the charger.

They don’t have an app, so you register for the chargers on a website.

This I managed to do, but had to immediately do a password reset, as my saved password didn’t work.

It was then a “simple” matter of plugging my Funky Cat charger into the charging point and the car.

You then use the website to start the charging process.

Well. Though the charger itself said it was charging, the right light was lit up, the website said it wasn’t. The Ora app, also said it wasn’t charging. I waited, but in the end I did want to go for a walk.

As I walked along the beach I checked the Ora app and saw that the charge had increased by 2%, so it was charging.

When I got back, I did find it quite challenging to initially stop the charge. The initial website status page had “vanished”.

There was no menu item for stopping a charge. 

I found out that I needed to scroll down the page, past the menu, and then I could see my current charging session. I was then able to stop the charge, disconnect the cables and drive home.

Well at least now I have registered for the Revive network. I could get an RFID card for the service, but it costs £9, which seems expensive, compared the free apps and cards from other services. I think I will stick with the website instead.

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I couldn’t charge, but I got two strikes

bowling alley
Image by Sharon Ang from Pixabay

We had headed up to the Venue at Cribbs Causeway for a game of bowling. The car park was really busy, but I had anticipated that and had planned to park in an electric vehicle charging space.

Having arrived there were spaces there. The chargers were provided by Revive.

Having connected the car I tapped my contactless bank card, but they didn’t accept contactless payment. I then tried my Shell RFID card, but that wasn’t accepted either.

I was running out of time, I didn’t want to miss our bowling slot. So I moved the car to a non-charging space.

Later I checked online and found that the Revive Charging Stations at the Venue only take Geniepoint web app or the Revive RFID card. I didn’t have time to sort that out when I was parked, but is something I will remember if I decide to use them in the future.

Oh I did get two strikes when bowling.