How bad REALLY is the electric car charging network? | What Car?

[@GeekaWhat]

I have to say this video is a bit of a disappointment. Only 1 was a motorway based hub (the place the vast majority of hefty chargers take place), and in that you noted that there were only 6 Ionity chargers. There have been 18 Ionity chargers at Cobham since mid-December, three weeks before this video was released. Additionally, the speed comparison is totally pointless when the car is already at 70 or 80%. A publication like Whatcar should surely know you only get the top top speeds when the state of charge is lower. I agree that lots of the local chargers have a disappointing level of downtime, but half the video was Geniepoint and BP Polar, both rated as two of the worst networks. This video is useful for the people of Esher, but not overly representative of anything else.

[@johnevans6399]

Seems strange to have the vehicle at 70/80% no wonder charging speeds were so slow.

[@josepablomolinacarrillo3621]

Exactly.

[@dominiquecharriere1285]

Skoda told me never to exceed 80% and never go below 30%. So basically my range was less than 300 Kms in the summer and 200 in the winter. I refused to listen to them as many did so they put a software that automatically limits the max to 80% (to avoid batteries issues). It's a f---ing joke!

[@aacmove]

These tests always seem to be 1000 miles away from the intentions of the majority of people. Real world my backside!

[@expomm]

Good point

[@Antiguan_Dart]

Would be interesting to know the car’s state of charge at the start of each charging session. As this can impact peak charge rate.

[@loneskullkid]

This

[@rickmoz]

I was thinking that with the fast chargers. If the car was already around 70% the speeds will be slower

[@djtaylorutube]

Yes at one point he said "70 to 80%" and at that state, the Enyaq charge curve is 65kWh.

[@michaelridley2864]

And battery temperature of course. Disappointed that whatcar aren't really helping to educate prospective EV drivers on the basics.

[@mirceamihoc]

I was wondering the same…why blaming chargers when the car is the limiting factor?

[@chrisdaniels1767]

Agree that State of Charge makes a huge difference. What Car should know and highlight this. They should be encouraging people to use rapid chargers properly and try not to charge over 80%. This happens automatically with Tesla and means many more vehicles can charge as the speed of charging is rapid.

[@secretlifeofamillionaire2315]

dumb comment some people may need the full 100% to reach the destination and avoid another stop, petrol stations don't limit you also ev range in most models is only in the 200 miles which is worse in winter so only charging to 80% and looking for chargers are around 15% only allows you to use 65% of your battery.

[@chrisdaniels1767]

I agree. I am still learning how to use electric car chargers. Only had 9 EVs not counting plug in hybrids. I wondered what I was doing wrong.

[@chrisdaniels1767]

" The other reason for only charging to 80% is when you’re at a DC fast-charger. The physics of battery charging is that the time for an EV battery to charge from 0% to 80% is very roughly the same as it takes to go from 80% to 100%."

[@Robert-cu9bm]

​@@chrisdaniels1767 Well that works for you, but you're not everyone.

[@PedalPowerPanther]

'What Car' don't have any idea about EVs or EV charging. Why even mention the slow rate of charging when they conduct their 'test' in a car that's already close to being fully charged? And why on Earth pay for an ultra rapid charge in these circumstances. I don't know if they're utter buffoons or just completely inexperienced. Whether it's the former or the latter they really have no business making videos. Anyone who's subscribed should look elsewhere. I'd recommend the 'Fully Charged Chanel' where the presenters are experienced and well informed. Rant over.

[@josephloudon1728]

I am amazed by how positive this review is. In over 50 years of motoring I have never gone to a petrol station that wasn't working and a full fill up takes 3 - 5 minutes.

[@wendyhopkins2902]

The charging companies need to be more accountable in keeping these charging stations up and running all the time !!

[@MrGMawson2438]

Just like Tesla do

[@mdshovel]

To be fair, BP and Ionity are spot on with this in my area

[@salibaba]

The public chargepoint regulations 2023 should help with that. Whilst not perfect there is provision to fine if minimum uptimes are not adhered to. There is also stipulation on ease of payment and transparency on pricing.

[@peterjones6640]

@@salibabaThe problem with the “up time regulations” are who will monitor and enforce them? If there is no accountability and no fines for those operators then it is just so much hot air. Local councils certainly don’t have the manpower to enforce or monitor and if we leave it to self regulation we have seen how successful that has been with the water companies.

[@bbbf09]

@@salibaba You are talking of legislation originating from increasingly right wing Tory gov- which shows increasing disinterest in anything other fossil fuels. I wouldnt hold out much hope.

[@jools2323]

Charging power isn't just dependent on the charger - it depends on the car's charge. If your car's at 90% it will accept a lot less power than if it was at 20%.

[@Lewis_Standing]

Likewise winter ❄️, if your battery is cold or doesn't have a preheating function then it will charge more slowly in the cold.

[@sebastiansandvik825]

Well, it does depend on the charger as well, but once you're talking about chargers rated 150kw or above you're more likely to be limited by your car. The chargers here that were rated 50kw probably had some issued, but they were all very outdated models as well. Nobody really builds or maintains those old 50kw's anymore. It's almost all 150kw or above, or at home charging these days.

[@Neojhun]

@@Lewis_Standing Very few cars don't have the battery heating functions.

[@MePeterNicholls]

You shouldn’t be charging past 80% regularly anyway

[@dannywiltshire6545]

The cost of charging in the uk is disgusting. Luckily I have a Tesla. 34 p per kilowatt. Not sure how the government expect the public to jump into a EV with these charging costs

[@jasonallatt5410]

Luckily most people do there charging at home

[@si0664]

@dannywiltshire6545 I totally agree there should be 1 set price from energy providers for each of the charging types, ie slow, fast, rapid & ultra rapid. There are 22kW chargers near me run by the council at £1.00 per kWh and 2 mins down the road a 50kWh charger at £0.69p perkWh & another 2 mins up the road at services gridserve 350kWh chargers at £0.79p per kWh (used to be £0.69p). Pricing needs to sorted if they want mass adoption of EVs

[@stuartriddell217]

Luckily I have 22kw chargers local to me at 16p per kWh and 50kw at 40p per kWh but I do agree the pricing for chargers at 70p+ per kWh doesn’t make it a viable option to switch from ICE

[@georgepelton5645]

34p per kilowatt-hour. Charge point operators charge by energy received, or sometimes by the minute. Never by the kW charging rate.

[@ianelliott229]

I’ve done the calculations and using public fast chargers is more expensive than fuelling my ICE SUV. On top of much higher purchase pricing and no facility for home charging means I won’t be changing to an EV in the near future..

[@familycurtress6829]

A great demonstration of why you’d be mad to buy an EV. Absolutely not fit for any kind of purpose. They are toys. Refuelling is a complete pain in the neck requiring apps, trips out of your way, getting drenched or cold if it’s bad weather, pot luck whether a point is working or even charging at its nominal rate. Great if you’ve got nothing better to do with your time and don’t need to get anywhere particularly fast and have deep pockets. A complete and utter shambles.

[@alexanderblake3569]

I’m a courier and I use one for work. Not fit for purpose. If I get stuck without charge, it adds at least 30 minutes to my journey to get going again. Give me diesel any day. Fill up once for 3-4 days use. EV is a bad idea.

[@DonkeyDalek]

The prices ranged from 65p to 86p per kWh. My recent use of Tesla Superchargers ranged from 39p to 51p plus you don't have to have all of those different apps and RFID cards.

[@ianbailey509]

But not everyone wants a Tesla. It’s a sad state of affairs when the majority of UK charging points aren’t as economically priced or as technically up to the job as they should be. The future for EV's really isn’t looking good.

[@whocares264]

True, Tesla are way ahead , if you want a pure ev in the uk get a Tesla.

[@synthmaker]

@@ianbailey509 I didn't particularly want a Tesla but couldn't justify buying any other brand, it was a lot of money for me even for a used Tesla Model 3 that had depreciated over half it's original value. There's so many smart features that are unique to Tesla that now I can't live without independently of how I feel about how it looks. For me functionality and practicality with an affordable ownership is the most important. I never cared for image and considering they are everywhere, it's not a show-off car anymore which suits me.

[@peterosullivan8200]

the subsidies on the charging won't continue

[@benjimc1]

An Elli subscription gives a fairly equivalent charging experience. One RFID card for majority of networks and rates between 44p and 66p

[@Jaw0lf]

I have arrived at a couple of EV chargers not working. A quick phonecall to the number on the charger they remotely rebooted it and it worked. So always worth a call!

[@Thereishope664]

Shockingly expensive. BP pulse charge 83p kwh. To charge my I-Pace would cost nearly £75. That equates to £10 per gallon. Using 30mpg as the average.

[@mdshovel]

You can discount that with BP membership and I pay 47p with my Volvo card at BP and Ionity - plus I am billed monthly

[@Thereishope664]

Thank you or the advice.@@mdshovel

[@t3chnno]

The I-Pace is hugely inefficient and unfortunately that’s hitting you in the pocket. Agreed that 83p is a rip off. All the charging companies used the price hike in wholesale energy after Russian invaded Ukraine to hose their customers. Wholesale prices have dropped substantially vs last year but those prices aren’t coming down.

[@Thereishope664]

Fortunately I charge 99% of the time at home whereby I use the Intelligent Octopus tariff. Which is 7.5p kWh between the hours of 11:30-05:30. This gives me incredibly cheap driving, and a 250 mile range costing £6.75. The I-Pace also tends to truly relate it's range with the real world.

[@whocares264]

I agree , a video should be made shame these rip off public charging companies...

[@djtaylorutube]

You said it yourself, "the high state of charge of the battery probably had something to do with it". This is one of the nuances of an EV that if the charge curve isn't understood, then the results will be misleading. If i'm not mistaken, the max charge rate of the Enyaq there is 125kWh until 37% and then drops linearly until 67%, thereafter it's 65kWh until 82% and then drops again. So, if as you said the battery had a high state of charge of between 70 to 80%, all you're going to get is 65kWh anyway. Therefore speed was never going to be "as advertised" if the only figure taken is the headline figure of "maximum charging speed". Public charging (non Tesla) remains a mish mash of ridiculous pricing and variable experience. The issue for transition is that every ICE car from a cheap sh*tbox to something super expensive delivers the same refuelling experience, consistently and for someone who just wants to use their car and not plan or can't plan then that's difficult when flipping to an EV where they now have to battle:- Chargers with different charge rates Where's the car on the charge curve? How do they queue if they're all busy? Which app to find them and are they available and working? What authorisation/payment method is required? (They're not all contactless bank card) Simple rule though, if you can't charge at home - don't get an EV with prices like these.

[@ISuperTed]

Yep, as an EV driver totally agree with this and having driven one for 15 months there’s just no way I’d get one without home charging yet (unless I can afford a Tesla!). We love our EV as a car and for smaller journeys it’s fantastic, but there’s a lot of work to do to make them more convenient away from home - faster charging, more range and much more infrastructure are all needed to move us closer to the fossil fuel fill up experience.

[@deanwhiteley3065]

Thank you for sharing your real life experience. I agree with everything you have said. I definitely wouldn’t consider a EV without the ability to charge at home.

[@AdrianNelson1507]

Incredible that this isn't common knowledge. Like seeking out ultra rapid chargers for your 10 year old Nissan Leaf

[@AdrianNelson1507]

(or hogging the 150 charger with your 7kw phev .. I'm not bitter though 😂)

[@Foersom_]

@djtaylorutube my Skoda Enyaq 80X charge at max 175 kW when battery is at ~30 C and start at low SOC.

[@bluesmartroadster]

Would love it if there were signs on the motorways showing live status and availability of chargers at services.

[@enyaq_gorm]

It's easier having it on the dash. The enyaq can do that. Why what car decided not to show that is a mystery. Green light beside the charger on the car screen means it's available. Red means it's in use.

[@Robert-cu9bm]

So you want the public to pay for signs so that you're not inconvenienced .

[@georgepelton5645]

In the US we have signs that show what services are available at interstate motorway exits. They show gas stations, restaurants, and hotels. Adding EV charging would be a big help for EV adoption. Even if people that drive EVs have apps or in-car nav with charging, signs would show *all* drivers where EV charging is available. Most non-EV drivers I know have no idea that EV charging stations exist, and where they might be if they do.

[@enyaq_gorm]

We do have signs showing that chargers exist at motorway services (they are at every service area to be fair) but they don't show availability ​@@georgepelton5645

[@Peoplestariff]

That’s a MUST ! Agree 100% & price too

[@KeithFLOOK-wd3uw]

Instead of doing this type of thing down the South near London come up here and try a similar thing in County Durham for someone that doesn't have home charging available.

[@BadMacs]

Yes, definitely! Petrol and diesel will rule up here until this gets sorted.

[@robsawalker]

85p per KWh? So it would cost just under seventy quid to fully charge your Enyaq using it. That's mental, what range does a petrol one have? You know 2024 will be the year of the £1/KWh charging station...

[@markburton8303]

I have an Enyaq and the average cost per mile for charging including charging at home and public charging is 4p per miles.

[@fyank1]

As an EV driver you quickly learn to ignore any GeniePoint chargers!

[@nigelpage612]

Very disappointing video. There is no way you are getting faster charge speeds if your battery is around 80%. Issue is your car is restricting the charge to protect the battery. The commentator is giving a false impression of what charging speeds to expect, and I doubt he is a regular EV driver.

[@CanariesExplorer]

The biggest downside is that if you have no home charger or want to travel longer distances then it is inconvenient to waste so much time looking for available chargers and actually charging, particularly in cold, wet and dark conditions. The availability of charging points is simply tiny in comparison to potential demand.

[@enyaq_gorm]

You don't look, other than looking at the dash of the car. The enyaq, like the tesla, shows you what chargers are available around you. The shortcoming here is of zap map not the car

[@johnnyforeigner11]

This illustrates beautifully why the Tesla Model Y is the best-selling EV in the country. Actually its the best seling car in the UK. Nothing comes close to Tesla for a premium charging experience......and its a lot cheaper, too.

[@jinxvrs]

The Model Y is not the best selling car in the UK, that's the Ford Puma. According to the SMMT as at 30th November YTD, the Model Y was in 6th place with 31k sales, the Puma had 46.4k.

[@Robert-cu9bm]

​@@jinxvrs If you discount the other 5 it's the best selling.

[@jinxvrs]

@@Robert-cu9bm That's how things work in fantasy land.

[@TheMurdoch]

​@@jinxvrs "best-selling EV in the country" as per SMMT

[@jinxvrs]

@@TheMurdoch But not the best selling car in the UK, which is what I was correcting. Keep up boy.

[@EssentialTA]

You started the test with too much battery. Charging speed is related to the percentage of the battery. The lower, the better for charging speed. Doesn't really matter how much the charger can provide when it is the car itself which is the limiting factor...

[@davidfarrell1062]

That's fine for high speed but getting 26kw off a 50kw is a disaster. All evs should be able to take 50kw at all stages of charge. If its not technically possible then evs will never go main stream. The 150kw plus references are a joke if you have to stand on one leg, on a Wednesday when the sun shines and the wind is coming from the east 😂 to get 5 mins of fast charger speed before it drops to the floor.

[@bricktop7803]

The cost of charging using public chargers is extortionate. What is not mentioned on this vid is the money the charging company takes out of your bank account. They take anything from £10 to £30 in advance before you can use the charger. The cost of charging an EV is criminal. No surprise there is little take up with EV's and it is the affordability of charging. There used to be free charging, NOT any more. I have only done 400 miles in my EV and it has cost me £150. The cost of public chargers, usually 70p/Kw. If Tesla can charge 34p/kw (44p/kw for non-Telsa cars on V4 chargers) that price is more affordable. Hopefully Tesla roll out more V4 chargers to cater for every EV. That will force other companies to compete. I am still waiting on getting my home charger fitted, which will make it affordable. But currently -EV charging is a rip-off.

[@GF-ep1pf]

Do most of my charging at home but on the road I normally set zapmap to 2+ or 3+ chargers to increase the chances of having one free and functioning (in two and a half years I don't think I've ever had to wait for a charger).

[@ChrisdyMD]

In July, we drove from Dorset to the Scottish Highlands, spent two weeks in Scotland and then drove back to Dorset. We covered 1460 miles, and used public chargers 11 times in the two weeks, mostly when driving up and back on the motorways. We only had to wait once, at Gretna Green services, on the way back, which was absolutely packed for some reason. At all the others we drove up, connected, and the car was charged by the time we finished our coffees. Very painless indeed.

[@JamesSmith-qs4hx]

Is this Morag?

[@salibaba]

Gretna is always mobbed, regardless of ICE or EV. I try to avoid it. Abington now has new applegreen units and Annandale is getting some new Gridserves- they’re nearly done. New v4 superchargers too apparently but they’ve not been started yet.

[@Pesmog]

Eleven visits to the charger on a two week holiday would have completely ruined my holiday trip. 😱 However, I admit I am spoiled as my ICE car does 950-1020 miles on each tank, so a driving holiday usually means only one stop for fuel. It does sound though that it can be a relatively painless experience if a driver will accept the shorter range with an EV 👍

[@ChrisdyMD]

@pesmog, yes, but you can’t drive 950 miles without stopping. The car didn’t need to stop 11 times, but I did. The fact is that apart from the wait at Gretna, I never needed any ‘extra’ time to refuel the car - it all happened while I was doing other essential things like having lunch or just a comfort break and a coffee. ICE car fuel ranges are a fallacy, you, the driver, need to stop, and should stop, at regular intervals for safety. That’s when my car recharges itself, at the same time as I recharge my batteries.

[@ChrisdyMD]

@salibaba - Gretna wasn’t an issue on the way up. We got on a charger immediately, no waiting involved.

[@bshah4831]

I never go to a charging point with less than 4 units as one is usually faulty and one or two are usually in use. I would never unplug from someone else's EV even if 100% charged. Chobham services now has 16 Ionity charging units.

[@jameschapman4824]

I must admit that I thought it was not the done thing to remove a cable from another car Could cause all sorts of problems.

[@forferdeilig]

Would be nice if the cost per mile could at least be kept as low as service station fuel for public chargers... At the moment it's about 25p per mile if it's 80 pence per kwh.... Vs diesel being about 15p per mile

[@macroman54]

Exactly.

[@BarryMakariou]

After 1 year of Tesla ownership I can say range anxiety doesn’t exist. The car always out performs me I regularly need to stop before it does and when I do I need to rush back because it’s so fast to top up.

[@bbbf09]

Thats my experience as well. Have driven length and breadth of UK - and last year did 1000mile+ driving holiday around Scotland in more remoter parts. Never any inconviences encountered.

[@nickbrooker1411]

100% this. Most reliable chargers, and paying 39p/pkW/hr as opposed to 79p/p/kW/hr is sweeet! - best bit though is the nav and routing for the chargers! Then no apps and plug and charge! Easy!

[@cleggbrendan]

As a Tesla owner for four years, I knew they had cracked charging infrastructure from the outset. This is another failure of our shambolic government...

[@rubenh0802]

As soon as you mentioned Geniepoint i just laughed. Do any of chargers at Morrisons work anymore?! 😂 If I have a choice, I'll aim for an ionity, osprey or gridserve as they tend to be more reliable (in my local area anyway). Equally and unfortunately, all are too expensive to run your car if you do not have off street parking/charging. 😢

[@pjbell007]

GeniePoint have given up. We have one next to us that has been out of service since 2021. Never use them!

[@steveharvey2001]

Geniepoint rapids should be deleted from Zapmap at they are taking the pi$$

[@davidsworld5837]

no i went to a morrisons not for a charge but to just get some shopping and the charged had red lights on. poor supermarket support for ev's. if all supermarkets did for ev's what they do for petrol cars we would have better prices. since superarket fuel sales and cheaper prices make them the number 1 buyer of fuels.

[@garyhill9723]

May be a Morrisons thing, Geniepoint have some AC chargers in local council car parks around here. I’ve used them a few times primarily when all the car parks are rammed and the only available spaces are EV chargers points, another EV advantage!

[@TheOllie798]

They don’t work anywhere in my experience.

[@Mountain-Man-3000]

Do this test again starting in Exeter. Or York. Or Norwich. I bet it'll be a very different experience.

[@davedean3762]

I agree, all the info I have seen indicates that within the M25 has more charging points than the rest of the country put together!

[@grahamcastle8189]

My personal experience of ev charging in the Highlands of Scotland is excellent even at peak holiday times you can find chargers every 20 to 30 miles even in the remotest of areas. We holidayed in the Outer Hebridies recently and charging was effortless. Charge Place Scotland has good courntry wide provision.

[@fracturedorb1]

I live in the US (Portland OR) and the charging station situation is not great. I bought my car last summer and the regular spot I go to to charge (I can't charge at home) has 1 double L2 charging spot and 4 level 3 spots. However, one of those level 3 spots has been out of order since August of 2023. I've seen this kind of thing a lot around town. As soon as a charging station dies, it's rare that you ever see it come back online. I'm not sure what the deal is with that, but the office I work at has a L2 charging spot in the parking lot and it's never worked since I've been there (2+ years now). I actually inquired about it and the building said it was a low priority to get fixed. In the states there's financial incentives to have these installed in your business but no incentive to maintain them so once they get that kick back, they stop caring about it.

[@GF-ep1pf]

According to zapmap Cobham now has 20 Ionity. It also has 3 older gridserve chargers.

[@garywright4233]

We live in Bournemouth and have travelled all over the country in our id.3. The problem is there are charging deserts .I do some homework before setting off. Allways have a plan if your travelling long distances. I tend to use Pod Point and Instavolt. Very reliable. Sainsburys are also putting 100.s of chargers in .

[@TerenceBiddle]

My biggest issue with public charging is the huge variation of price. People understand mpg and litre pricing but not kwh. People will be ripped off by profiteering energy companies even more than oil companies. And this is before the government inevitably starts to tax it to compensate for the loss of its current fuel tax income

[@LiveMyJourneyTom]

The government has to regulate this and definitely decrease the 20% vat to the level of 5% vat of domestic electricity.

[@TerenceBiddle]

@@LiveMyJourneyTom never going to happen. The government cannot afford to lose a penny. Though I dont see why there should be any greater price variation with electric as we do with petrol or diesel. We need people with a profile to raise this issue as its a huge potential problem. So bottom line DONT go electric unless you can do 95% of charging at home. Ill keep my gas guzzling jaguar for long journeys

[@jonathantaylor1998]

You're probably right on all counts... 😥 However, all the EV charge point locator Apps show the cost/kW charges for each site, so no-one should ever need to get ripped off... they would just plan a route to stop at a less costly charge point. 👍

[@leighsmith7965]

What gets me is the cost for charging. Travelled through the whole of France in the summer all chargers were 54c per kWh about 47p so much cheaper than the UK

[@rabsrealm]

As an experienced user of chargers, I've often found that a reset of the charge point usually brings them back to life. Just locate the red emergency stop button, push it in, count to ten then pull it back out and the charger reboots and comes back online again :) It doesn't always work but more often than not, it does the trick.

[@Blind-Dave]

You didn’t mention whether each new site visited connected and charged the Enyaq first time and whether each brand accepted contactless / bank card payments or whether an app was needed with registering prior to charging?

[@ISuperTed]

We have a Peugeot e208 which only has about 180 miles real world range. Have done a few longish trips in it and only been let down once when going to Coventry and 5 chargers in the centre were broken/wouldn’t work. Being down to 20 miles range in that situation isn’t fun. Was sorted by a Podpoint charger at a Tesco’s, but does put you off. We home charge 95% of the time at cheap rate so if you can do this having an EV is fantastic as the cars themselves are brilliant, but we have to get way more reliable infrastructure out there that is way easier to use like the Supercharger network is. Car technology will get better and better with more range, cheaper cars, faster charging etc but without the charging network to match it that won’t matter.

[@haaibaai]

Lets say it’s challenging. Depending on how busy the roads are. Just did a road trip from Lelystad in the Netherlands to Blackpool. It went great driving through the Netherlands, Belgium, then France was harder. England south of London all the way to Birmingham was also just great. Then came Blackpool. All chargers were taken, took us all afternoon to find an available charger. Then it was really hard getting back to Coventry. Then after Coventry it was all right all the way back to Canterbury. Then the charger at the hotel did not work, the charger at the nearby shopping mall was not working, Kempower could not help us. Finally we charged at an instavolt, which was at a private property, but it took our charge anyway. We’re at 71% now. Tomorrow where going back to Calais, Belgium and the Netherlands.

[@15bit62]

The trick for france i have found is to get a Freshmile RFID tag. It activates a lot of chargers that can't be started with an App.

[@ajward137]

There do seem to be black spots in the north of England, and I've heard Scotland is better. I'm guessing demographics has something to do with it - the North-East being (how shall I put it?) in dire need of levelling up. If I was putting in charging stations, I'd worry about how many EV owners would be living or transiting through the area.

[@brabbysmarty]

17 minute wait? I’d have filled my petrol car up in half that time and then have 450 miles range! 🤔

[@duncabiscuit]

Try charging outside the southeast. I travel north to south, and the experience is very bad. Expensive, don’t work, long waits with no queuing system. Getting rid of my EV.

[@martinandcarolyn]

A proper EV charging network should look and operate like the petrol station network - lots of chargers at each location and no need to be a member of each particular operator in order to use them - not what we currently have which is the odd charger at a supermarket, gym or fast food drive through (and often needing to be a member of that particular company's scheme). Would have loved to see what the owner of the car you unplugged looked like when they found out!

[@grahamleiper1538]

Hopefully embarrassed at leaving their car on a rapid until it was at 100%. Do many people abandon their vehicles on petrol pumps?

[@jonathantaylor1998]

Completely agree with your suggestion about more chargers per location and contactless payment rather than Apps. However, your comment about odd charge points at supermarkets etc...? Actually, for the vast majority of EV drivers, what we need is MORE destination chargers. For example, there's a UK hotel chain that's installing about 6 ultra-rapid 350kW charge points at each of its hotels - I can't remember the chain's name, sorry. But, that's a ludicrous position - by the time an EV owner has plugged in, wheeled their suitcases to Reception and checked in, it would time for them to unplug their car...! (which, sadly, they are very unlikely to want to do, so blocking the charge point overnight) Considering the over-2MWs of power required at each site to run 6 x 350kW charge points, instead, they could've fitted 300 x 7kW destination charge points - basically, an EV charging point for each & every parking bay they have in their car park...! That way, every visitor - EV driver of not - would have the opportunity to plug in and leave their car overnight to charge. THAT'S what a good public charging network would look like.

[@markatkinson167]

The last stop shows that our charging infrastructure has so far to go. I mean are we expecting to see literally hundreds if not thousands of charging stations in our motorway network as well as say out of town shopping centres. It just all looks light years away

[@stevehayward1854]

Not light years but my local motorway service station has just gone from 3 to 36+ rapid chargers. People are managing a charge when they go out and about but I feel that your statement is massively over exaggerated. When I first started driving EV's there were no chargers at all in North Devon and just 4 on the South Coast, there are now literally hundreds, even in my home town of Plymouth their are over a hundred chargers of all types, with a Fastened EV charging hub in the planning stage.

[@stevehayward1854]

I'm sure that when the first motorcar came to market there wasn't a filling station on every street corner

[@ingatestone100]

Cobham services on the M25 has 20 IONITY chargers now so how old is this piece?.

[@Robert-cu9bm]

​@@stevehayward1854 They also weren't selling millions of them to the masses. Ev's are getting sold at a faster rate than chargers.

[@stevehayward1854]

@@Robert-cu9bm There will always be times when there are either not enough or too much in the supply chain as the market evolves. 99.9% of EV owners charge at home. The average annual milage for all car drivers covered is 12,000 miles, thats 33 miles a day, I could recharge that at home in a couple of hours, rapid charging is only used when covering long distances, which the vast majority of people dont do on a daily basis

[@yellowa4725]

Be interesting to try this away from London, say a tourist destination like Cumbria or South Devon as a comparison.

[@swampthing20]

Why the hell are there different types of chargers? A fuel pump is a fuel pump is a fuel pump, and it doesn't matter if I'm driving a brand new car or a 40yo shed, I can still fill up because everything is standardised. And I also dont have to worry that an old battery won't hold any charge for any length of time. It just seems like EV cars have developed without sufficient thought or planning being given to the infrastructure. All these different 'providers' just seem to have sprung up, its like the wild west and is unnecessarily confusing.

[@lykaiosgamingtv7886]

This is a very poor testing method being used… on one screenshot it shows you at 80% and charging for 2 minutes on the IONITY charger. This is why you have poor speeds on charging. Would recommend a full retest with a very low SOC and then you’ll see the full speeds! Being a respectable car channel, this is putting a poor light on EV’s due to improper testing! Also since this video was published there is now an additional 12 chargers (18 total) at Cobham

[@David-kf2rw]

I work near a train station that has four public chargers and I see two sometimes three cars regularly parked not connected to the charger. These are the same cars parked there daily. Now I don’t have an EV but I would be mighty p***ed off if I needed to charge and found cars not charging in the charge bays.

[@krob2327]

What happens when every car on the road is electric. How on earth can people without drive ways charge and go? It will be chaos

[@m4rvinmartian]

*3:00** The silliness of EV charging and how long it takes, just proves, we don't need most people on this planet. Most people are useless, pointless and wasting space.* There isn't a point in the year, where I could just disappear for an hour to charge a car. I'm a Five 9's person.

[@ronaldusher39]

Charging does change depending on battery temperature! And amount of charge! May be you should have started with battery at 20% for a better idea as when doing a trip it's normally 20%to 80%

[@michaelridley2864]

Great advert for geniepoint! They are notorious amongst EV drivers.

[@Peoplestariff]

lol

[@colinrenfrew48]

Would have liked to see this away from the south east. The inconvenience is minimised and assumes that everyone can just drive on to find a charger that works. Try this in Scotland?

[@oploupe]

Quite. Most comments here are picking up on the fact charging rate depends on the battery's state of charge. But real world drivers won't pull into a charger at 80% and so we can move on. We should instead be talking about the elephant in the room, which is that a too-high proportion of chargers remain broken in a highly urbanised and wealthy area of the country. When you do find one that works, the price you pay is sadly inline with every other cost of EV motoring, which is to say much more than expected. More on insurance, more on depreciation, more on electricity. It's enough to make you want a diesel.

[@harryadam1671]

My Kia Niro EV4 has a similar satnav system integrating charge stops and preconditioning before arrival to speed up charge, as Tesla does.

[@FernandoMiguel]

Your battery was not pre conditioned and a very high state of charge. That's a terrible way to test peak charge values.

[@marktaylor484]

Rather than using the term "Free" to indicate availability perhaps use a different phrase and it was interesting to see a 20p per kwh difference on charging costs.

[@terryosborn]

Who can afford to run an electric car at these prices and that’s ignoring the additional costs of buying an ev and insuring it, will stick to my diesel and enjoy 50-60mpg with a four minute fill up time!

[@joejones3434]

People who need to rely on rapid charging for all their charging shouldn't buy an EV. I haven't been to a petrol station in years and I pay about £5-10 per month for my commuting cost. My fill up time is zero since the car charges while I am asleep and is warm and defrosted when I wake up. I drove a diesel for years and I will never go back. Life's too good with an EV.

[@niceboy60]

There's a charging a issue which most fail to cover, 60 min parking restrictions or £100 fines , if you had to wait 15 minutes than are stuck with 30kwh chargers which were supposed to be much faster that men's you are only allowed to charge a bit

[@ImDavidJames]

I’m ev curious and would have to rely on public charging. It just still too much of a faff. Waiting 20 mins to get in a charger to wait while it’s charging. I’m not patient enough

[@andrewwaller5913]

A big problem is the uncertainty of whether the charger will work or already being used. You dont have that problem with petrol stations. Also while you're charging you can't use the car, even a phone can be used while charging! Ok to be fair you can't drive a petrol car while filling up either but you'll only be 10 minutes at most. Plus you can pay with cash or by card, no apps to worry about. You also wont get wet if its pouring with rain at a petrol station, no covers over these EV chargers. A long long way to go yet.

[@mbak7801]

Yes but with a petrol station I would have a car that is slow, smelly, dirty, expensive to buy and maintain. I do actually have one of these as well as the Ev for historical reasons. Being an MX5 it gets pulled out a couple of times a year, too frequently needs a new 12 battery, and gets driven about 400miles before being put away again. Then the EV is used for comfortable, quicker (than the MX5) and super cheap motoring. I have to stop being sentimental about the Mazda and get rid of it.

[@andrewwaller5913]

@@mbak7801 Then you've bought the wrong petrol car. Get a new one they're superb.

[@gmark007isGianmarcoMaioli]

Haven’t finished the vid yet, but I think it’s fundamental to point out a couple of things: - at least the UK has a public charging network somewhat developed. Many European countries are far behind on this matter. - Most economic analyses agree that a highly electrified automotive sector is beneficial to the environment. It’s down to the governments (and in part by private organisations)to bring the system to its max. efficiency

[@fullrulle77]

As a swede, I was thinking that there seems to be few chargers in the UK with more than 50 kW.

[@ianelliott229]

I’ve done the calculations and using public fast chargers is more expensive than fuelling my ICE SUV. On top of much higher purchase pricing and no facility for home charging means I won’t be changing to an EV in the near future..

[@lw2978]

This is Esher, which is close to the London-Surrey border and is described as in an outlying suburb of London (it's 18 miles from central London)! That isn't exactly a typical representation of the Uk charging situation, as it's well known London and within the M25 have the by far the largest amount of chargers.

[@davefitzpatrick4841]

Use zapp map a look around the country , I live in a town near Nottingham , there are plenty around .

[@lw2978]

@davefitzpatrick4841 Don't get me wrong, I live in Reading, where there are quite a lot of chargers available but it's nowhere near as good as within bigger cities (Nottingham and its wider area is double the size of Reading). The more chargers there are, the cheaper the charging rates will become, which will increase the EV uptake by both business and private users. When the average charging rate drops below 40p, I'll look to swap my Phev for a full EV.

[@BuffaloDoctor]

The main problem with public charging is the price. 79p/kWh NO THANKS!

[@aacmove]

Well. If no-one is using them no-one is buying EVs (as the politicians would hope), and do people really have to spend their days travelling to locations they would normally have no intention to visit?

[@AlessandroFiastri]

You could have also tested Skoda’s integrated infotainment charging station map

[@willtrent3077]

In July 2023 I rented a Polestar 2 at Heathrow. I drove to South Wales and visited family in Monmouthshire/Torfaen. As it was not possible to charge the car where I was staying, I had to rely on public chargers. Firstly, finding charging stations was a real challenge. The ones I did find were either occupied or not working. The ones that were working relied on Apps for payment. As I had a US mobile, the Apps would not download and I was unable to use those chargers. I had to drive to the M4 to find service stations and use GridServe chargers as they use RFID/tap credit cards or Apple Pay. In short, your experiment was in an area that had a fairly good supply of chargers but you did not say whether those chargers used Apps or RFID for payment. I suggest going to South Wales, away from the M4 and try the same experiment. My experience of the UK charging network was frustrating and disappointing.

[@dangreen3388]

I’ve done a similar journey to Wales in my Tesla and it was no bother but there are very little chargers across Wales and would not have done the journey in my Wife’s Q4. Not a chance.

[@simplygregsterev]

State of charge makes a huge impact. There is no point going 80% SOC unless you really really need it. That last 20% takes as long as the first 80% As for the motorway services it getting a bit better but still can be fairly packed especially on holidays. What I’ve noticed is a logic of “I don’t need to charge but will charge anyways if there is a free spot”

[@mickmills5404]

The price for charging is the biggest turn off for all EVs bar Tesla 😒

[@animalxxv]

10am on a Thursday morning... Hardly peak demand

[@Hen71557]

Shell recharge recently opened at my local Waitrose, 4 100kW chargers, 81p kWh, always busy. After that you’ve got to start looking 10 miles or so in all directions to find the odd pair in random locations. Without home charging I couldn’t tolerate the hit & miss and high prices. Love my EV but it’s a hard sell trying to convince people that can’t install a charger at home.

[@alexanderfinch1323]

The issue you don't mention is the time it takes to work out how to actually use the charger as every one seems to be different. This means ages installing and registering yet another app.. Often I have failed to get them to work at all, even after phoning the help line.

[@Pete-rf6zz]

This is great and must admit of late I am less stressed about charging. I always seem find one on the rare long journeys we take. Most of the time I am fortunate enough to charge at home, normally charge once a week at most sometimes get away with 2 weeks before having to charge. Plentiful of low speed chargers around when shopping to note

[@michaelgoode9555]

We live in the English midlands and mainly chsrge on cheap rate juice overnight at home. We are planning to visit Orkney this year so a combination of the VW We Connect charging card, a ChargePlace Scotland card and a few minutes of online checking by the co-pilot whilst on the move will be more than sufficient. We will need to stop for toilet breaks, to eat and simply to take a break so we will not lose time to charging. Plug in when we stop, unplug when we are ready to leave. Simple.

[@Snickers4211]

Anyone that needs to rely on charging anywhere but home in the UK is insane to consider an EV with those rates per kw/h.

[@loneskullkid]

Pretty sure I get better price per mile out of my hybrid.

[@stuartodell2828]

Most people will only use super chargers for long distance trips and charge at home most of the time

[@simonhague9410]

I’ve just messed up and got a EV without the ability to charge at home considering a granny cable tho

[@stuartodell2828]

@@simonhague9410 if you can off street charge I would definitely get a 7kw charger and a cheap ev tariff,I’m on octopus and 7.5 pence per kWh at night is really good.

[@darthstemcell]

How did the actual payment work, as I hear this is also problematic with them all needing different apps some will take CC. So was it a nightmare also?

[@antonymcneillis]

At the last service station you should have looked to see what the other cars were charging at. I think you might not have got very high charging speeds if your car was already quite high.

[@srbs73]

If the car battery was above 50%, it’s more likely down to the cars charge curve and not the chargers ability to hit its claimed rate. I’ve only used Zapmap once and found the zap-pay unreliable.

[@RJordanT]

If the charging point is out of commission you can just call the number on the charging point. Normally it’s just an over the air restart.

[@marktyers69]

The public chargers are overpriced. No prices are displayed until you plug in. It’s should be a legal requirement to display the current cost in a prominent place just like is done at petrol stations.

[@geralddavison]

I thought this was a great well balanced report. I've been an EV driver for four and a half years. The charging network is improving and using Zapmap you can dodge the offline ones. My current VW ID.3 gives me about 180 miles range in winter. Combined with my journey profile over a year, means that I'm only Rapid charging maybe 20 times in a whole year. The rest is all done at home. I haven't queued for a charger in the last 3 years. I use Zapmap and avoid out of order or in use chargers. Never got close to running out of charge.... except when doing it on purpose to get home very low (5%), so I can charge cheaply at home (7.5p a kWh overnight). It requires a different mindset. I am not trying to force people to change. If it suits you that's great. If not stay with your ICE/Hybrid. The EV landscape will change dramatically over the next few years.

[@borinvlogs]

When people asked me how is my life when living with an EV as a main daily car. I always tell them, it is not great, just don't buy it, knowing in my mind how brilliant it is and how cheap it is to run and i don't want everyone to find out all these cost saving and benefits, and to overload the public chargers when more people buy lol....

[@geralddavison]

@@borinvlogs Ha ha ha ha - I have thought that at times too......

[@johnmull59]

Just a thought, if the charger cannot charge at the advertised rate, should there be a discount on the cost per unit?

[@rtfazeberdee3519]

Thats a good idea but i think the car actually determines how much power to accept providing that charger is capable of putting out the maximum rate advertised. They should update the car software to tell us how much charge the car has requested so we can see if the charger is telling the truth about its max speed

[@johnmull59]

@@rtfazeberdee3519 Thank you. I had a nagging feeling it might not be that simple.

[@stevehayward1854]

Your charge would have gone a lot faster if you arrived with 20% Battery Also my local service station in Exeter has just upgraded from 3 rapids to 18 Gridserve and 16 + Tesla chargers So why does the #1 service station in the UK, at Cobham, only have only 6 ?

[@ingatestone100]

It doesn’t now there are 20 IONITY chargers now.

[@dougfrith5001]

That Exeter service station has realized that they’re selling electricity and that there really is a market. Wish more locations would see the light!

[@stevehayward1854]

@@ingatestone100Excellent, you cant stop progress

[@Joeb4iley]

Exeter is the biggest fast charging hub in the UK, closely followed by Rugby services.

[@stevehayward1854]

@@Joeb4iley Thats good to know, I think the busier services need to pull their fingers out

[@prsimons]

Nice video. Exactly the question I wanted answered. It’s really poor at the moment. I think I stay with Tesla for the moment.

[@lykaiosgamingtv7886]

It’s a poor video from using a EV with 80% SoC completely misreporting the charging speeds!

[@JoshuaStringfellow1]

This appears to have been filmed in the summer, the Cobham Ionity now has 18x 350kW chargers! Also, as plenty of other comments have already noted, doing this with a 70/80% full battery and looking at the peak rate is a bit of a no-no, What Car? should understand this, it's 101!

[@Peoplestariff]

Why has it only just been aired that’s crazy !

[@WillBecker]

I don't understand how you made this video without talking about state of charge (and also temperature) - you blamed chargers for charging that is probably limited by the car. Surely you know about charging curves?

[@humphreychiu]

I thought it is common knowledge amongst EV owners that you don’t get max charging speed when your battery is 80% full. I’m amazed the reviewer never mentioned battery condition let alone state of charge at the beginning of each charging attempt! It is as if the reviewer expects the charging will hit max and it is all the fault of the charging station if it doesn’t! I would suggest you redo your experiment after watching some videos of people documenting the charging curve and drain your battery so it is at least below 50% before plugging it in.

[@trickydicky91]

The main issue i have with public chargers is the price. If you're only using public owning an EV is going to be very expensive. There needs to be a regulation on price. If I wasn't able to have a charger at home then I wouldn't have bought an EV.

[@Peoplestariff]

100%

[@michaelridley2864]

Why the exclusive focus on rapid chargers? It's the availability of on street fast chargers near your home or work that is probably most important if you don't have a driveway. Also better for the battery, and less expensive than rapids.

[@80y3r9]

Ha I would have added at the start ramble the cost of charging if they're all 80+p it will make you ride your bike

[@nr5494]

I usually charge at home, but recently visited Skipton, a large ish town on the edge of the Yorkshire dales, and needed a charge to get home. Hundreds of car parking spaces, but only 5 chargers in the entire town. The council need a good kick up the ar***!! Entered my credit card info 12 times before the Osprey charger would start up. Ditto Osprey.

[@Hibbsy316]

Owned my e-Golf for over 12 months and there have only been 2 occasions where I have used public chargers, the rest is at home. The times I did use them they worked and were available. But agree with other comments that companies should be forced to ensure these chargers are working and have a time to repair if become faulty.

[@jcflippen1552]

Not read all comments but there are now loads more chargers at Cobham as of xmas 2023. Latest BP Pulse radio adverts paint a different picture to reality!

[@trustinflames1022]

There two issues with this test one it’s as usual London centric and the 2nd why go testing all these chargers with such a high state of charge already?

[@davidedwards5920]

Apart the fact that public charging is way behind demand just look the the expense averaging 77p per kw and average miles per kw being about 3, that’s 25p per mile and I compare my petrol car that delivers 40 mpg @ £1.40 per litre which is approximately 6.5p per mile. I think I’ll hang on to my current car for as long as possible thanks.

[@djtaylorutube]

16 pence per mile. £6.37 per gallon to cover 40 miles.

[@davidedwards5920]

Sorry my mistake but still cheaper than an ev and I think I’m in no rush to change my car. 👍

[@djtaylorutube]

@@davidedwards5920 Many "it depends" but leaving aside purchase cost and everything else because I simply can't be arsed to get into that, I did 1,860 miles on a European road trip using public charging for £156. 9p per mile. That's why I leave our diesel and petrol cars at home for long trips. Not suggesting anyone should change car or get an EV. Whatever works, I simply don't care but it's far more nuanced than it might seem. A friend of mine did a 7000 km European road trip for €50, which he could have avoided but chose convenience over cost.

[@joejones3434]

The real benefit to EV ownership is home charging. I rent a flat but I have a home charger and I pay literally 10 times less per kWh for my electricity to charge the car (7.5 pkWh). In the winter that's 2.5 pence per mile, in the summer it's about 2 pence per mile. The high cost of rapid charging is offset because I don't need to do it very often.

[@apricotfifty993]

What wasn't mentioned is the fee many hotels (and car parks in general) make for entrance to their car park in order to access their chargers!

[@jonathantaylor1998]

... though, in my experience, a quick conversation with Reception to explain often means no parking charges are applied.

[@gavjlewis]

If you could do it again then starting in the later afternoon and into the early evening would likely be more representative of many real world uses. Normal people are at work at 10am on a Thursday morning. The only people using them at that time are likely retired people, people out and about on business or mobility users.

[@Peoplestariff]

lol mobility scooters ! You’d actually be surprised how many uk workers aren’t chained to a desk mon to fri 9-5 we’ve moved on a lot since 1950! Many of us actually travel as part of our work !

[@gavjlewis]

@@Peoplestariff "Users" not "scooters"! This is probably why you don't work in an office. Yes I realise there are many business users out and about in the world driving around but the burden of time and cost is on the business. So it's less of a concern in the context of the video. The majority of people still work around peak hours which is why the morning and evening rush hours still exist. So it's also likely when many would need to charge.

[@Peoplestariff]

@@gavjlewis oops dyslexic! I read scooters lol

[@AJandH_Wanderings]

I have had my BMW i3 REX for several years now and have frankly seen little improvement in the charging infrastructure. Exorbitant pricing, ICE cars still parking in charging spaces, charging rage from frustrated drivers BUT the most annoying are plug in hybrids who take up spaces when they charge at a much slower rate than fully electric vehicles. Thank goodness I had the range extender version which has got me out of trouble on many occasions. Changing the car this year and going back to petrol!

[@Peoplestariff]

You’re right about hybrids being as useful as a chocolate teapot with an onboard speed of 3kw !

[@siraff4461]

Just a thought on the one where you took the plug out of the other Enyaq - what happens if you do that and damage it? That may be a scratch or if you slip and break something or whatever? What about if you do that and the car already had damage which was then blamed on you? Can't even blame the guy leaving it after it finished because its a destination charger and there are plenty of reasons they may not be back in time - and indeed why they shouldn't need to be.

[@colinnich]

Since when were 50kW rapids "destination" chargers?? The other driver absolutely should have been back, at the very least within a few minutes of it finishing.

[@siraff4461]

@@colinnich Since they're at an Aldi. If people are charging while doing their weekly shop there are obviously going to be quite a few who take more than an hour. Oh and these days 50kW (which usually actually deliver 35-45kW) isn't really a rapid anymore. That was ten years ago.

[@Peoplestariff]

Agree important issue a Tesla on sentry duty would go manic !

[@macroman54]

A few points, I don't have an EV and nothing yet suggests to me that they are the way to go, my next car will still likely be a diesel especially considering the initial cost of buying a car which is what I always do and I would be looking for a large car such as my current Kia Optima estate which has bags of room in the boot and plenty of room for two 6 foot adults in the back without their knees touching the seat in front. This report would have been much better if it had given the cost per mile to compare with ICE cars as some chargers sound as if they are more expensive than diesel. Also the time it would take to fully charge the batteries let alone the waiting time to find a working free charger. Plus doing the survey around a built up area within the M25 is not going to be anything like in many parts of the country such as around the wilds of Lincolnshire where I live. For me EVs need to be much cheaper, have bigger ranges, much faster charging and there has to be a huge increase in the number of chargers available.

[@Antiguan_Dart]

All of which will come it is still early adopters territory for those with a windfall at their disposal ( buying gives you access to cheaper owner loyalty tariffs), amenable to the different paradigm required with current ranges and charge speeds. Remember the Leaf was only released in the UK 2011 and modern battery management vehicles (heat pump etc) with good range like the Model 3 2017. Number of public chargers has gone from 14,000 in 2017 to over 50,000 today. UK governments ambition is for 300,000 by 2030! We’ll get there and sooner than we might think! Think about how 48” panel TV’s went from £5000 in Dixons in 1996 to a few hundred in Argos in 2020. And technological advancements are taking place exponentially faster! It’s an exciting time with choice including a budding second hand market.

[@geralddavison]

It really depends on your personal circumstances. I've had two EVs over the last 4.5 years. My circumstances match with a lot of people. I have a drive and can charge at home. 95%+ of my journeys are within the range of the car (180 miles in winter) so all the charging for that is done at home. I have a smart meter and 6 hours of off-peak cheap charging with Octopus Intelligent at 7.5p a kWh. I use rapids about 20 times a year on long journeys. I've not queued for a charger in the last 3 years. I've not got close to running out, except deliberately arriving home on

[@jonathantaylor1998]

I'll admit EVs aren't for everyone, yet... Remember, combustion-engined vehicles have been around for over 120 years, where-as 'mainstream' EVs only a mere 12 years by comparison. So, not every car style is yet made as an EV - funnily enough, estate cars in particular have been thin on the ground - though a raft of new models due out over the next 2 years will soon rectify that. There will soon be sizeable estate cars from BMW, VW and Audi along with the Chinese Nio ET5 Touring to join the 'humble' but very well regarded MG5 Estate and the practical Astra Sports Tourer / 308SW estates currently on sale. They will all do in excess of 200+ miles (the equivalent of 3-4 hours non-stop driving) and re-charge in about 20-30 minutes, the time it takes for a well-needed comfort break, grab a snack and a drink. It just needs a change of mindset to what drivers have been used to over the last century. As for your perception of a lack of public charge points around Lincolnshire, a quick look on Zap Map shows around 30 different locations dotted along the main routes, most with at least 4 rapid chargers per site. In fact, just outside of Lincoln itself, there are 2 locations with a combined 20 rapid charge points...! Overall across the UK, there are now over 52,000 public charging points - from 7kW destination chargers right up to 350kW ultra-rapid ones - which technically means that EV chargers now outnumber individual petrol pumps. But, Society needs to do something to counter the worsening air pollution in our towns and cities and the subsequent huge rises in cases of recorded childhood respiratory diseases - and EVs are part of the answer.

[@firstnamelastname9631]

I am horrified at the prices. I charge at home and it costs me £ 0.149 per KW hour -yes, under 15p including taxes. I've had my EV for a while now and still have to try a street charger; one of this days I'll splash out and pay 5 times more for the pleasure. As for the charging speed; it is the car battery that decides the charging speed. I rarely charge to over 80%, when I do the charging speed slows to turtle mode.

[@grahamleiper1538]

I'm horrified by your price. I get 7.5p used to be 9p until I signed up to intelligent. Back in the day before prices went daft I was 5p overnight.

[@Peoplestariff]

You’re right the biggest issue we face is PRICE

[@mbak7801]

Actually on Octopus it is £0.075 per KWh for six hours. I had a sub 15p deal for a couple of years but it ran out a few months ago.

[@pixie706]

Most people have a busy day and in an ice car pass fuel stations regularly where it takes 5 minutes to refuel . going out of our way and waiting around is far from ideal

[@krob2327]

Will be even worse when everyone has an electric car