I'm having similarly disappointing experiences with the Ecotricity CCS network and while I'm conscious that we would be open to justifiable criticism for complaining about a free service, I am also an Ecotricity customer for FIT, gas and electric, partly because of their commitment to the motorway network.
I tried the new Wetherby CCS a few days after collecting my i3 in early Oct and it was out of order, but I had to chide myself as I hadn't checked the ElecHighway map which showed it u/s. As far as I can tell it has been u/s ever since despite being upgraded in the last couple of weeks.
My first longer trip was from Leeds to Holy Island and back, c150 each way and I was let down by the CCS at Scotch Corner which was u/s but hadn't been reported. The CCS at Washington worked but I'd been forced to REx to reach it. All three Northumberland Council CYC CCS chargers that I tried worked.
The next trip was Leeds, Sutton Coldfield, Ross on Wye, Twickenham, Telford, Leeds - Fri-Sun. I planned to use the CCS at Ferrybridge to give me enough to reach Trowell S but Ferrybridge was u/s and hadn't been reported, Trowell worked fine after about 15 miles REx to reach it. I had about 15 miles left when I left Sutton Coldfield so slogged W thro the suburbs at 3pm Fri to get to IKEA, which was also great. From there I made it to Ross in heavy rain with not much left but abandoned the plan to charge at one of Herefordshire's CYC chargers in the public car park as it was about 10 mins from where I was staying and hosing down.
So next day it was a detour to pick up the M5 N and call at the excellent new independent services for a CCS charge before heading up to the next junction and escaping cross country towards Swindon. The first two CCS units on the M4 E were u/s but I got a charge near Slough. Then on Sun morning it was N Circ to M40, where the first two CCS were again down but finally Warwick was good.
After that the plan was to use a 7kW unit at Asda in Telford while spending a couple of hours at the Exhibition Centre , then head for Knutsford on M6 N but Telford was gridlocked beyond the Exhibition Centre so that plan was abandoned and I just parked at the Ex Centre then set off ENE to pick up the M6 further S than planned at Stafford but that was u/s. The next stop was Keele, where I stopped long enough on a med charger to get 10%SoC and hold it rather than risk having to cross the M62 from a 6.5% start and possibly hit limp mode. It was a good thing too because Knutsford CCS was u/s and so I took a diversion to Warrington IKEA where the CCS was nowhere to be seen. One of the car park guys told me it had blown up 3 days before and made rather a mess of the car that was charging, what was left had been removed,
So off I went on REx again, E on the M62, with 9.5%, switched to EcoPro+ and 56mph at the start of the climb and made it comfortably, altho from 6.5% it would have been marginal. A total of 635 miles of which about 2/3 was REx.
The next trip was Boxing Day. Headed straight down the M1 as Ferrybridge still shown u/s on the ElecHighway map. Fought the traffic into Meadowhall thro the Sale traffic to use the new and much publicised S Yorks CCS but it had a makeshift out of order sign, continued to Trowell where the CCS looked good (and I've used it twice before, albeit before the upgrade) but it gave a DC charge unavailable message as soon as I selected CCS before reaching the Connect Now instruction. Helpful lady at Eco said it shoudl work and unseuccessfully tried a remote start before suggesting driving round the car park before trying again but I gave that a miss as I couldn't see how it would help if the error message had come up before the car was even connected. Worrying that it had worked before the upgrade but not after. Drove to Sutton Coldfield on REx dropped off pressies and drove in to centre to use the 7kWh CYC charger in the public car park. All looked good until I checked the app shortly after leaving and it showed not charging.
Resorted to driving up to the CCS on the M6 Toll just as the snow started but that gave an error message. Abandoned all hope, returned to Sutton and drove back all the way on REx next day. A round trip, with diversions, of 286 miles, 220 on Rex.
Thank goodness the car is terrific.
