UK Finding/ using recharging points

Talking of blocked chargers you may be interested to hear my exchanges with NCP car parks and Chargemaster. The Chargemaster website shows a charging station at Witham Station Car Park. Could be useful I think. So whenever I take a train I note that the two spaces are occupied by ICE vehicles. So I email NCP asking if these vehicles are given penalty notices. They reply that they are not issuing penalty notices as "the bays are normal parking spaces and the customers have to pay to park in the bays". Puzzled by this response I emailed Chargemaster and ask how an EV will ever get to use this charging facility. This is the response I got. "Our understanding is that these bays are premium bays reserved for season ticket holders, the term comes to an end in December so if you would like to apply for a season ticket for your EV let me know and I'm sure we can negotiate a reasonable price for you".
The conclusion has to be that this is not a public charging point and should not be appearing on Chargemaster's map. The chances of an EV being able to use this particular charger is nil.
One does wonder how many more of the charging points shown proudly on the maps are actually a mirage!
Chris
BEV ordered 23 June- delivery for Christmas?

Exactly the same issue in my local station car park.

I'm surprised that any charging point provider would be happy to invest in the infrastructure if they have no control to prevent the space being allocated to a long term ICE season ticket holder - return on investment nil, apart from whatever Govt grant they get. Perhaps you should make a complaint to OLEV.

Another frustrating experience was at BMW Lancaster dealership in Milton Keynes. There are two charge master stations immediately out side the dealership. Unfortunately the bays were blocked with a long row of parked cars. When I asked the bmw service engineer, he told me that all of the cars belonged to employees of the dealership. 45 minutes later the parts manager came out to move his car!

btw. This charge point failed to work.

BoMW said:

Another frustrating experience was at BMW Lancaster dealership in Milton Keynes. There are two charge master stations immediately out side the dealership. Unfortunately the bays were blocked with a long row of parked cars. When I asked the bmw service engineer, he told me that all of the cars belonged to employees of the dealership. 45 minutes later the parts manager came out to move his car!

btw. This charge point failed to work.

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Just as well I didn't try to use it on our recent trip down south. I suspect this will be the story at some, perhaps many, of the dealership chargers.

RJSATLBA said:

Not surprisingly, I've been taking rather more interest in recharging points since waking up to EVs and much more interest since ordering my i3.

Am I right in thinking that the EV points are more often than not 'conveniently' located fairly close to the entrance to the facility where they are sited, especially at Mway services. Those who have suffered (and blogged about) finding an ICE in the only EVSE space are probably particularly well placed to comment.

If so, perhaps it means that the helpfulness of the provider is misplaced and it would be better if the EVSE space was much further away from the entrance so as not to tempt lazy ICE drivers. My guess is that a majority of us would rather have a longer walk than a blocked charger, even in the rain. Has anybody in the UK raised this with, say, Ecotricity.

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Hmm I have often thought this and have experienced blocked charge places by ice cars... luckily on both occasions my Type 2 cable was long enough to reach the next space.

It is not necessary to have spaces right next to facilities such as disabled or parent/child places need to be.

I would be quite happy being in any other location in the car park, except perhaps hidden away in the distance, as I like to gaze and admire my new toy.

Their choice of site is much more to do with length of electrical feed and consequent ground works than EV user convenience.

I mentioned this in my Born Electric blog. There are Chargemaster points all over the place but the issue of ICE blockage and whether they are truly public is a big concern when you want to rely on one. Up until my recent Asda experience and reading this, I had worked on the assumption that if a charge point is listed in a car park then at least it was properly public and that there was a reasonable chance of the car park owners enforcing the ICE aspect. Seems I'm sadly mistaken.

Bill

BoMW said:

Another frustrating experience was at BMW Lancaster dealership in Milton Keynes. There are two charge master stations immediately out side the dealership. Unfortunately the bays were blocked with a long row of parked cars. When I asked the bmw service engineer, he told me that all of the cars belonged to employees of the dealership. 45 minutes later the parts manager came out to move his car!

btw. This charge point failed to work.

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I've visited this one three times now and like you found it blocked by ice cars too. However after complaining at the dealer i was informed that as the road belongs to mk council it's their responsibility to put a marker on the road along with signage, at the moment there is none and anyone can park there....hmmmm!!!

M.

RJSATLBA said:

Am I right in thinking that the EV points are more often than not 'conveniently' located fairly close to the entrance to the facility where they are sited, especially at Mway services. Those who have suffered (and blogged about) finding an ICE in the only EVSE space are probably particularly well placed to comment.

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Not at the motorway services that I have used so far. They are located as far away as possible from the gas stations and have very clearly mared bays as being for EV use only. I've not encountered ICE blockage yet.

I've also visited two shopping centres, one with a Source East/Chargemaster unit the other with Source London, both very busy centres. So far the EV bays which are very clearly marked as EV only have been free.

I can see that particularly in public places, unless bays are very clearly identified, like disabled bays are, with penalties for misuse, ICE blockage is a problem.

The only problem I've encountered in practice so far is the uncertainty over whether the chargers are actually going to be working when I get there. On my most frequent routes, there is one Ecotricity CCS charger out of about 5 within easy range that has been faulty for two separate periods of a few days and this is enough to cause me "anxiety" each trip.

bishbosh said:

BoMW said:

I've visited this one three times now and like you found it blocked by ice cars too. However after complaining at the dealer i was informed that as the road belongs to mk council it's their responsibility to put a marker on the road along with signage, at the moment there is none and anyone can park there....hmmmm!!!

M.

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The ecotricity sorry its a chargemaster station at Milton Keynes bus terminus just off the M1 works great btw

BoMW said:

bishbosh said:

BoMW said:

I've visited this one three times now and like you found it blocked by ice cars too. However after complaining at the dealer i was informed that as the road belongs to mk council it's their responsibility to put a marker on the road along with signage, at the moment there is none and anyone can park there....hmmmm!!!

M.

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The ecotricity station at Milton Keynes bus terminus just off the M1 works great btw

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Thanks for the update. I did go there on the day I collected the car (6/7th July) and it was not working. It looked like it had only just been installed.

M.

bishbosh said:

BoMW said:

bishbosh said:

[quote
M.

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The ecotricity station at Milton Keynes bus terminus just off the M1 works great btw

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Thanks for the update. I did go there on the day I collected the car (6/7th July) and it was not working. It looked like it had only just been installed.

M.[/quote]

No it's been there since at least April when I used it on my first trip to London. Worked ok but failed to work on the return drive. I also received an invoice of £7 for using it!!


http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1006

My fear is that in the near future charging bays will be blocked for extended periods by fully charged EV's and it is something we all have to commit to avoid. We have all seen selfish fools park in disabled bays & then spring energetically from their cars & we need to bear this in mind for the future.

Geoff

I wonder if anyone who has found the charging bay blocked at a supermarket or motorway services has tried parking on the petrol pumps and going for a coffee. I suspect that might provoke more reaction than simply complaining.

Perhaps any particularly unhelpful site (within round trip range) would be a good place for an EV meet!

I have found the fast charging points fine provided by Ecotricity at IKEA Wednesbury and The motorway services at junction of M4 and A34 near Newbury to work fine. I can't however get the ecotricity ordinary 7 pin plugs to work,failures at Warwick motorway services,A34 little chief Oxford and Magor services M4 Wales. I get on fine with my own 7 pin charging system at work and the ones at my local Tesco stores in Stourbridge (10 charging points). So it seems that the network system needs clarification as to what will work for a BMWi3 with fast dc charger and what will not. Luckly I have the petrol back up engine model but would rather not use it if possible. It looks to me like the only 7 pin charger points we can use are where we need to use our own public charging cables.Have I got that right?

electricbaggie said:

I have found the fast charging points fine provided by Ecotricity at IKEA Wednesbury and The motorway services at junction of M4 and A34 near Newbury to work fine. I can't however get the ecotricity ordinary 7 pin plugs to work,failures at Warwick motorway services,A34 little chief Oxford and Magor services M4 Wales. I get on fine with my own 7 pin charging system at work and the ones at my local Tesco stores in Stourbridge (10 charging points). So it seems that the network system needs clarification as to what will work for a BMWi3 with fast dc charger and what will not. Luckly I have the petrol back up engine model but would rather not use it if possible. It looks to me like the only 7 pin charger points we can use are where we need to use our own public charging cables.Have I got that right?

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I was advised by the service dept that the 43 kw type 2 ecotricity sockets do not work with the I3 as they are 3 phase, and I3 use single phase.

electricbaggie said:

I have found the fast charging points fine provided by Ecotricity at IKEA Wednesbury and The motorway services at junction of M4 and A34 near Newbury to work fine. I can't however get the ecotricity ordinary 7 pin plugs to work,failures at Warwick motorway services,A34 little chief Oxford and Magor services M4 Wales. I get on fine with my own 7 pin charging system at work and the ones at my local Tesco stores in Stourbridge (10 charging points). So it seems that the network system needs clarification as to what will work for a BMWi3 with fast dc charger and what will not. Luckly I have the petrol back up engine model but would rather not use it if possible. It looks to me like the only 7 pin charger points we can use are where we need to use our own public charging cables.Have I got that right?

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As far as Ecotricity are concerned it's pretty clear on the their website that the AC/DC 7 pin charger is not compatible with the i3.

http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/for-the-road/charging-your-vehicle/ac-dc-fast-chargers

Bill

Yes Bill you are correct looking at that now I can see.So the only Ecotricity points we can use are the new fast charger ones.
Thanks.

electricbaggie said:

Yes Bill you are correct looking at that now I can see.So the only Ecotricity points we can use are the new fast charger ones.
Thanks.

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No not quite, Ecotricity there are a few single phase 7 kw level 2 chargers like the ones you have found elsewhere.

Bill