Rapid charging in the UK: as bad as the media say? Looking back at 22 rapid chargers in '22.

We’re always being told just how bad the charging infrastructure is, and to be honest my last video didn’t help, but how bad is it overall?
I look back at the 22 rapid chargers I used in ’22 to see how it was. Did I have many problems? Was charging easy? Did I have any arguments with my wife? All three statements may be true.
This is UK-specific (well, just England actually) but how bad is it where you are? Let me know!
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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:45 - Charger 1: Shell Fulham Road
03:00 - Charger 2: Geniepoint Canterbury
03:12 - Charger 3: Instavolt McDonald’s Rochester
03:19 - Charger 4: IONITY Peterborough Services
04:32 - Charger 5: Instavolt Doncaster
05:48 - Charger 6: IONITY Cambridge Services
06:08 - Welcome to York!
06:38 - Charger 7: Gridserve South Mimms Services
07:37 - Charger 8: Shell Waltham Cross
07:56 - Charger 9: Osprey Whitstable
08:17 - Charger 10: Geniepoint Canterbury
08:30 - Charger 11: IONITY Folkestone Services
08:55 - Charger 12: Geniepoint Canterbury
09:09 - Charger 13: Tesla Supercharger Eurotunnel Folkestone
10:08 - Charger 14: Instavolt Folkestone
10:22 - Charger 15: BP Pulse Chelmsford (and a look at Gridserve Braintree)
11:37 - Charger 16: IONITY Cobham
12:05 - Charger 17: Instavolt McDonald’s Baynard’s Green
12:42 - Charger 18: Gridserve Thurrock Services
13:10 - Charger 19: IONITY Cobham
13:29 - Charger 20: BP Pulse QE School Wimborne
13:57 - Charger 21: Shell Chandler’s Ford
14:04 - Charger 22: IONITY Cobham
14:18 - So how bad is it really?
17:15 - What are the charging networks doing?
19:00 - Conclusion

[@devonfuse]

Chargers, like Ionity, that don't take contactless payment should be consigned to history. .. "You have electricity, my car needs charging - take my money." "No, you have to sign up and tell us your home address, shoe size and sexual preference so that we can send you a RFID card." "Sorry, I need the charge now, so I will go to another charger."

[@CastleKnight7]

Just make it as easy, fast and simple as filling up with petrol. How hard can it be for these charging station manufacturers?!

[@sooty8992]

This was the main bugbear I had. When almost all the chargers needed a different rfid card. Or app but it is getting better.

[@Joe-lb8qn]

I didnt realise this about Ionity. Crazy. Have done some digging and found out my Octopus card should work so if i ever need to use an Ionity ill be OK but thats just luck I have one, this could easily catch people out.

[@decimal1815]

We need UK govt to regulate the market and push ease of use and reliability across the country. Number of rapid charge points should at least match the number of petrol filling stations; minimum of one per site.

[@gazza595]

@@decimal1815 This is the fact of the matter, a side hustle in data mining is not acceptable the government need to regulate this market and ensure parity of access with fossil fuels. Until there's regulation we will continue to see this type of behaviour because these companies will not be able to resist monetising their customers to the maximum.

[@just4therecord]

"Plasticky and rubbish". Okay I'll take one 😂

[@CastleKnight7]

When I was a kid, those rubbish plasticky Kinders surprise toys gave me hours of enjoyment.

[@madm4tty]

@@CastleKnight7 trust me, as someone who also played with those as a kid, they are a lot worse these days.

[@CockmageLVL99]

2:21 😂😂 I can’t believe you caught that hilarious scene on camera! “I‘ll get this.” Exactly like my son 👍😆

[@andcharge]

Thanks for your personal take on the "state of charge" Andrew. It will be interesting to see how the different operators will improve their offering over time.

[@antoniopalmero4063]

Thanks for all the work and editing involved in this video , I know Wimborne very well and my brother still lives nearby in Corfe Mullen . I live near Minehead in Somerset and the McDonald’s have just installed a instavolt charger 👍. Although the 3 supermarkets in Minehead have none between them , Tesco, Morrisons & lidl .

[@MrEV]

Thank you! Congrats getting the Instavolt. I'm still waiting for them to put one in McDonald's Canterbury! Strange none of the supermarkets have chargers yet. I thought GeniePoint in particular had colonised all the Morrison's!

[@RWBHere]

Thanks for the heads-up, Andrew. We've had our EV for over 2 years and only ever used one company's chargers, when they were free to use. So this insight is useful. Glad to see that several suppliers are being sensible and simply using credit/debit cards. Those chargers which depend upon using single company apps, dongles and cards are an annoyingly stupid inconvenience.

[@edenviews]

I went down to Swindon from the Hadrian's Wall in the snowy days. The cold weather reduced the range and required more charging stops, which added to the discomfort. Gridserve motorway charging worked well. Some of them were not working but the adjacent ones became available. Try not to get to such a low percentage. I find sticking around 50 to 60 % makes optimal use of the charging curve in my CCS enabled Zoe. I find it easy to chat with all the other EV drivers and "we" tend to be quite open and friendly. This also means moving on and letting others charge (since some /a lot need to travel as far as you do), in the horrible weather outside in these exposed places where they are sited. Charging around Swindon has not changed much for the better in 2 years. There seemed to be a correlation between sudden downpours and the BP pulse charger not working!!! Un-tethered Supermarket chargers 7kW or 11kW are not worth bothering about in the rain, when you want to go 250 miles and more. App uploading is a pain when contactless is more weather friendly.

[@jonwetherell5214]

Just about sums it up. Struggling with the charging point out in the driving sleet just about kills the EV enthusiasm

[@roderickmain9697]

Agree about Supermarket chargers. I tried a PodPoint in Tesco Barroiw-in-Furness. Slower than a slow thing Got enough charge to reach Tebay and then charged to 80% in much less than half the time..

[@Sidewinder1009oli]

@@roderickmain9697 It bugs me that there is such a range of charging speeds, and to the lay person they will have no idea. Tesco have these huge units, way bigger than Tesla super-chargers and a big screen, a lot of them are 7kw and have to be activated by an app, it would take my car 7 hours+ to charge on them but I'd have to leave after 2 due to car park restrictions. The whole things is far too complex for most people to just pick up and go, easy when you know how [and stuff works], hard when you don't, sadly.

[@roderickmain9697]

@@Sidewinder1009oli I agree. It was great to get some public chargers out there 10 years ago but these days a 7kw charge point doesnt cut it. ( I've heard about the new Tesco chargers but I've yet to spot one) Butas you say, its unnecessarily complex. I mean, it should be simple just to swipe a contactless credit card but instead we have to carry around umpteen RFID cards and pay for the privilege for each one.

[@ObiePaddles]

Great video. Really enjoyed this summary. It’s also amazing hoe much you dont public charge!

[@PaulrB1968]

Great video, informative and real life which is good, I am due to get a Tesla Model Y as my next company car so interested in seeing these. The highlight though was the daughter interaction! "something plastic and rubbish" "ok I will get this then" 😀

[@MrEV]

You should find things very simple in the Tesla. You may get an occasional queue at Superchargers on busy days but generally it's an absolute dream.

[@robburrows2737]

Great video Andrew.I do like watching your presentations.

[@Popdog76]

Great video very informative and entertaining with the clips of the family 😂 that York video would be good to see... Shell recharge network (including osprey, fastned etc) and instavault are my go-to chargers. My only issue charging this year has been having to wait at an instavault 125kw charger for 40 minutes while 2 cars charged to 100%. 1 was a range rover hybrid charging at

[@MrEV]

Oh, that is ridiculous. Range Rover drivers, eh?

[@williammillard687]

Moral: on journeys limit yourself to 80-85% .....almost all EVs charge dog-slow above 80 or 85% SOC......also, most lithium based batteries dislike full or empty states of charge......if you’re home/slow/DC charging before a big-range journey, then a full battery can be very good....if the car isn’t doing a big trip, then nearer to 50% is preferable.

[@williammillard687]

The new LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery from Tesla isn’t as finicky and won’t slow-down as much, also it is less likely to spontaneously combust if left 100% charged for longer periods of time.....(no dendrites)

[@CockmageLVL99]

​@@williammillard687while its true that 100% SoC for a LiPo battery isn't healthy, it is a long duration letting a LiPo battery pack stay at 100% -if you charge to 100% and drive the car a couple of hours later it should be fine. (Also depends on gross capacity vs net capacity plus quality of the battery management)

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

Thanks Andrew for this interesting and detailed report on UK charging. We find similar problems here in France, lots of shiny new chargers on the autoroutes but teething problems after they are first installed. On our trip to the UK last year we did about 650 miles there and had one or two 'challenges' but no show stoppers...had to make a phone call at one charger to get 'registered'...really!?...but never in 4 years of EV ownership driving all over France plus trips to Germany, Switzerland and 3 times in UK have I had to queue for a charger. The EV 'quality of charging' life is improving all the time. 😊

[@MrEV]

That's great to hear!

[@cjpampling]

I appreciate this video and am pleased to see its not as bad as the press say. My Ioniq 5 is on order and due in June. I live in a flat and will be solely using public chargers so your research is invaluable to me. Thanks Mr EV

[@MrEV]

Great to hear! Get yourself the Electroverse RFID card as, provided you are on Octopus Go tariff, you can get a bit of a discount with some networks. £5 credit for us both if you use this link: electroverse.octopus.energy/network/sign-up?referralCode=free-sage-191

[@10Toes.]

I've been getting targeted negative articles about EVs everyday since getting a leaf last year. In my experience public charging is hit or miss by your location. Home charging has made it really easy, but longer trips do give me range anxiety especially unfamiliar locations.

[@stevezodiac491]

Yes reality for me also, in 7 years EV driving shows that rapid charging is a nightmare, so I don't do it anymore, I get the diesel out. Not only that, it is getting worse not better as the EV / charger ratio reduces over time, it is not improving. In my diesel i have 650 miles range to play with, so more direct journeys and much shorter ones as well, without the hours of charging on route, which Mr EV failed to mention and a 100% reliable refuelling network.

[@jonwetherell5214]

@@stevezodiac491 agree. At the moment you need to be a two car household with one ICE for the long trips

[@christianmarler21]

@@jonwetherell5214 I used to have a 60 miles range Ev and ICE car for longer journeys but I replaced them for a BMW I3 REX. now I have a Ioniq 5 that can go longer then my bladder!

[@stevezodiac491]

​@@christianmarler21 bladder range has nothing to do with it. Urinating takes 5 minutes, charging 30 kwhrs takes about 40 minutes and 60 kwhrs takes about 1 hr 20 minutes on the usual 50 kwhr charger. Also if you have a driving passenger, you can swap, so therefore each eat, drink and sleep if you want in the passenger seat, if you are in a hurry, making a long EV journey ultra slow in comparison. The term 'bladder range' is just EV propaganda spouted by Llewelyn and is just plain wrong.

[@christianmarler21]

@@stevezodiac491 not likely to take less then five minutes to use the toilets in most motorway station! And if you been at the wheel for +4 hrs surely you need a coffee or some food? The is plenty of cars that can charge in under 20 minutes but even if it is 40 minutes is ok if you going to have a little break! Unless you are mainly motorway driver and not like most off us who occasionally do tomorrow at journeys is a small sacrifice to make to reduce 28000-36000 premature deaths in the UK due to air pollution and if that doesn’t bother you maybe you be happy to safe money in fuel! I thought I invented bladder range! Not Robert Llewellyn!

[@Masq09]

Biggest thing for me these days is destination chargers. I could get away with not charging on most journeys if I knew the hotel/B&B/cottage I was staying at had a charger I could use. Case in point we just rented a cottage (Sandy Barn in St Brewards) for 5 days. Didn’t need to worry about charging on the way there. Spent 5 days driving around Cornwall, topped up the night before driving home. No problem, no fuss, no anxiety. If all places did this most people wouldn’t need to use fast chargers.

[@judebrown4103]

Have you found any cottage holiday sites that promote the fact that a place has a car charger? We always go on cottage holidays but our next will be the first by EV. I can find dog friendly, for couples etc etc but not yet discovered ev chargers mentioned....

[@richardcorns8553]

I agree with this. We live in the Midlands and can easily get to most holiday destinations in the UK without a charge stop. We just top up using the granny charger as required at our destination. Some site ask for a payment for this some don't. Its so convenient and cheap. We can do 600 miles plus over the course of the holiday for under a tenner.

[@bellshooter]

Great to see a balanced , non clickbait video on this. I have to charge on public infrastructure for 'reasons' , my local go-to was Morrisons Geniepoint using Bonnet until it failed and nobody repaired it, 2 months since! Now using Pod-Point but they (Lidl) have increased price to 65p from 50p. So I am going to re-instate my home point to reduce costs and Lidl/Morrisons will lose custom. Their decision.

[@Chalto]

I'm so glad I finally got my home charger last November after ordering it in January'22 (had to wait for UKPN to unloop my neighbours supply from ours, and upgrade the old incoming to 100 amps). I was mostly using a charger at Lidl that initially started at 26p/kWh, then increased to 28p, 40p, 50p & now 65p/kWh. I'm 'currently' (😜) paying just 12p/kWh at home during the night (economy 7), which is obviously considerably cheaper than public charging. My OHME charging unit supplies my Kona (64kW) at a decent 7.7kWh rate, which has always got the job done so far, having setup a charging profile to work with the awkward Economy 7 times set by Scottish Power which are 10:30pm-12:30am & 02:30am-07:30am.

[@cbromley562]

You do decent videos when you finally get around to them. We’re in 4th year now with electric (both cars), and I do feel that, as long as the issue of “will they work or won’t they?”, “hope there’s not a queue”, “will the card/app work?”, “will I get a decent charge speed?”, etc, remain, then there’s a problem. As we see with politics, and the Gov’ts refusal to invest properly in health and welfare, living wage and standards, energy, water etc, we as a Country just sit back and take it. I feel it’s the same with EV infrastructure. It’s not fit for purpose…especially in light of the quite rapid adoption of EVs. We should be up in arms…the French are still out burning stuff over moving retirement age 2 yrs to 64…the politicians even roared the French National anthem over attempts to invoke a regulation bypassing the democratic process (forgotten the details). We do nothing, except be polite and look for any positives. Enough is enough. The charging network is nowhere near enough to replace ICE, nor cope with growing demand. Many EV owners charge at home most of the time, and drive daily well within the car’s range and capabilities. It’s the occasions when times are busy that count, on longer journeys…bank holidays, Christmas etc, or just busy times at services etc. It causes stress, and can be a bit anarchic. Saying “Yeeeh” when we had a good charge on a particular day doesn’t cut it. How about kicking off with a Gov’t petition to demand robust infrastructure and regulation. DNOs to upgrade their services and capacity, fit for an electric future (I’ve written…no good on its own, but several 100 or 1,000, a different matter…same to MPs). Get the petition out on all the ‘sustainable future sites’ such as yours, Fully Charged, EVM etc. Start kicking ass.

[@sargfowler9603]

Couldn't resist having a dig at the government even though this is an EV channel...

[@wendyhopkins2902]

Great informative video , well done 😊

[@johnpickard9953]

I live in north Nottinghamshire and have had my e-niro for 2 and half years. I mainly do short journeys and charge at home, but my long journeys mainly to Norwich to visit my cousin I use Instavolt. There's a great station at Necton on the A47, just right distance for a break, a Co-op and Costa coffee on site. One tip I have is plan the journey using zap-map and write down (yes with a pen!!) the route with the charging places. One slight moan is signage. Petrol stations have always had large signs with prices etc. Charging hubs seem to be invisible by comparison, tucked away, in corners of car parks. One hint is to make a list of firms that have EV charges e.g. McDonalds and Costa Coffee usually have Instavolts. The worst charges usually are owned, leased etc by local authorities. Thanks for another great video and perhaps your throat needs re-charging!!

[@chrispenn715]

Interesting ta. Just done my first long trip (500+ miles) in my MG4. Outward trip was. Great with 300kw chargers near my destination. (My car was pulling 140kw) Return journey was ok but we had some delay as the charger we stopped at was busy. Overall happy with the journey

[@MrEV]

That's good to hear. Hopefully next time you do a long journey like that, it'll be even better.

[@stephgray]

By way of an update, I was at South Mimms services today and the five or six charging points were busy (one out of order), but there was work underway to convert what looks like at least 10, maybe 15 parking spaces into new Applegreen charging points. So, maybe that’s going to improve soon.

[@michaelgoode9555]

We got our first EV 3 weeks ago. In Rugby where we live there are 3 groups of BP Pulse 7kW kerbside chargers. In every group there is at least one charge port out of service. Also, we tried to use one but it would not connect using the app and it does not take contactless. Utter crap. In contrast our local McDonalds drive thru has 2 Instavolt rapids. They work using contactless bank card which is how it should be and the chargers just work. This is how it should be. Only today on the way back from Coventry we stopped at a BP Pulse rapid. It apparently works with contactless BUT the unit was not working at all. Hmmm ... In 2023 all chargers should just work from contactless and they need maintaining. Imagine how much of a shitshow it would be if petrol and diesel drivers had to have a dozen different apps and rfid cards just to fill up. The network is totally crap imo. Needs massive investment.

[@johndoyle4723]

Thanks, a very fair review. I always head to Instavolt as my first choice but Ionity is usually fine, BP usually unreliable but to be fair I only use them as a last resort but even then a bad experience very often. My best/fastest charge was at a Fastned near Glasgow, I have an 800V car,barely enough time to get a 99p coffee from Maccys before the car was full enough to continue. Yes people who charge to 100% when not required is a habit that needs to change.

[@steve45678]

Would luv to see your footage of York, I'm sure it would make a great vlog.

[@TheRoughton]

I’ve had some real nightmares in Wales and Norfolk, the network still needs huge improvement.

[@judebrown4103]

As you know we're down the road from you in Boughton and can't charge at home. Our nearest rapid is a BP Pulse charger and we use it about once a week without any issue. I take the RFID card which on one occasion wouldn't work. All good though, I rang my wife who was at home and she started the charger using the app, magic!😄 Occasionally one of the two chargers is offline but there's always been one working. I noticed on Tuesday that the MFG station on the Thanet Way is finally open so that's about equidistant from us if ever the BP Pulse is down....though the price will come as a shock.😅 Sorry to hear you managed to get Covid, hope you shift the cough soon. This was a great idea for a video and it does redress the balance after your quite understandable gripes about Cobham services...I do think it must be something about the place itself though, I can remember my dad used to hate having to stop there for some reason back in the seventies, always came home moaning about it!😅 Look after yourself and feel better soon.👍

[@grosh2064]

I live in Kettering, north Northamptonshireand we had only 3 50kW chargers until few weeks ago when BP finally opened dedicated EV service station with 20 150kW connections, we need more of those but at 79p per kW it's equivalent of 30mpg in diesel... it's in NN14 1FJ, junction of A14 and A43

[@glynwilliams13266231]

8 months in with my Kia EV6 and only minor issues. Waited for 10 mins once and had 2 chargers not working so a change of venue required. I have had as many issues with traditional garages with my petrol car with pumps out of order or a delivery taking place and no access so I cant see any major differences. My daughter now has an MG4 and we are both heading down to Limoges in France which is 500 miles or so and that will be interesting. Desperately trying to work out the best route planning options but there are loads so pretty sure it will be fine

[@gavinj7616]

Interesting video Andrew. I only use public chargers when travelling a longer journey or when staying away from home. I rarely use Ionity (because I drive an MG5EV and don't need the speed) but when I have, more often than not, the chargers have been on free vend. InstaVolt has been great. Gridserve has been getting better, but for a while there was a charging issue with MG5EVs after they upgraded chargers to be capable of charging 2 vehicles at once. They took the issue seriously and worked on a solution meaning recent experience has been pretty good. BP pulse has been variable; often chargers don't work. Chargeplace Scotland is fantastic in rural areas (Orkney and Shetland in particular) but atrocious in places like Edinburgh (it would make owning an electric car in the Newtown were there is no off-street parking impossible). The worst place for public charging is Northern Ireland. North Down (where my father in law lives) is really poor leaving the granny charger as the only option.

[@MrEV]

That’s a great roundup of your experience with the networks, thanks!

[@michaelgoode9555]

The BP Pulse just off the A14 at Kettering is a decent site. Used it twice now. First gime was flawless, second time there was at least one unit not working. Got straight onto a charger though no problems. The kerbside BP Pulse chargers in Rugby remain flaky though and only seem able to deliver at 4kWh to our ID.3. An odd one as only a couple of months ago they did deluver at 7kWh

[@JimmySelgenNielsen]

Pretty much the same situation in Denmark, though IIRC they (various operators)plan on installing 18000+ new charge points in 2023 alone, which in a country with ~6 million people is bound to make a difference. On a side note, will we ever see the Italy trip in the Tesla ? Though not directly comparable, it would be fun to compare it to the Ioniq 5 trip.

[@MrEV]

That's an amazing number of charge points! Yes, I will get that Tesla trip edited. Hopefully before the year anniversary of it!

[@peterthomson8453]

I can honestly say I have had no issues with charging thus far. Good objective content. The only charger I have seen out of order so far was a gridserve unit at Newport Pagnel.

[@MrEV]

That’s fantastic to hear.

[@SloaneEsq]

This is entirely my experience in three years. Similar routes and similarly avoid Cobham, but I very rarely have a problem.

[@geralddavison]

Recent trip from North Wales to Oban and return in a 58kWh Id.3. Absolutely no hassle, all the charge sites I used worked fine and never queued. I had a 40kWh Leaf for three years before that and think I can count on one hand the issues I had on longer journeys. It's a mindset thing.

[@lknight5579]

York is beautiful isn't it? It took me by surprise too. Always very watchable, good stuff.

[@olbi4157]

I am looking forward to my first short break with EV in Tunbridge Wells on Easter. I am really curious about my first charging experience in UK. As I can see in the Chargemap App, too there are less HPC 300KW chargers than in Germany and Netherlands 🙃 Good to know there is a ionity charger close to dover. Thank you for the video, very interesting indeed.

[@MrEV]

Have a great journey. Those IONITY chargers at Folkestone are a great location (and reliable based on my experiences). There is a good MFG in Dover if you need it as well.

[@richardh6756]

Loving all your videos. still Loving my new kia Niro EV have not used public chargers at all at the moment.still charging at home with my granny charger, taking a long time. what make of wall box do you have.

[@MrEV]

Thanks Richard. I have a Zappi which is brilliant, especially if you have (or will get) solar panels.

[@TheRamblyChannel]

So interesting. That’s not too bad at all. Hopefully one day I’ll get to one of those mega charging hubs! They look fantastic!

[@MrEV]

They are! Fingers crossed they build one in Dorset one of these days. They should have built 100 by 2025 so they’d better get a move on!

[@guitarbackingtracks4386]

Totally agree about Ionity, when they work they are great, but so often their stalls are faulty.

[@wintersun398]

8:05 Always enjoy seeing your wife on the channel. 👌her no-nonsense approach, and the fact she’s curious about your ex-es 😂 (thinking back to a previous video!)

[@evdabbler]

Very good and realistic summary. It matches my experience of charging on DC a total of 70 times in last 15 months in UK and France. I charged the vehicle every time bar one. We queued no more than 3 times. But I noted that the charge worked right first time only 70% of the case. In other words 3 out of 10 times there is a minor but possibly avoidable glitch. Mostly app or card fiddling, or having to change connectors.or restart the charge or not getting full speed. So good enough but plenty of room to improve. Also France infra improving faster than UK in my experience. I have covered this in quite some details on my page if interested.

[@MrEV]

That's interesting. France is doing brilliantly at the moment (after a quite horrible period). I'm looking forward to our annual trip to Italy in July as I'll see how much it's improved then.

[@rodden1953]

Ive had aa Kona for four years and its been fine , Funny that i kept away from Ecotricity until i was in Cornwall and it was new and worked fine , i plan my trios on the make of chargers like Instavolt i dont mind the extra cost as i charge from home most of the time , i wass surprised and very disapointed that the Rownhams M27 wasnt working and i called them and he couldnt do anything and on Zap map they had been out of servive for 4 weeks . so yes plan your route and things are fine always allow for a back up plan .

[@gerbre1]

The reliability of HPC charger models is important for EV owners in Germany. The worst model with many issues I and many other have experienced is the Efacec HV350, the one with the big hole (12:43). Allego is replacing these charges with alpitronic models. The alpitronics can be seen everywhere in Germany. They are the dominating models, very reliable and easy to use. The chargers in Kettering (18:21) are alpitronics. Last weekend I could have a look into this model from the front and the rear. Such a clean modular design with swappable parts, very impressive.

[@MrEV]

That's a good point. Alpitronic are amazing: I've never had an issue. Hence why charging networks here are starting to use them more often. BP Pulse are abandoning the Efacec one you mention, for instance, and MFG are using Alpis now as well.

[@SteveMorton]

I've only had my Renault Megane E-Tech EV about 3 weeks. Charging at first and having to do some longer than normal journeys here in France was a bit of a stress. Yes there are chargers, but they all require an RFID card! None in my travels would work with a bank card. Only one worked with an app. I've applied for 4 different RFID cards, so far only 2 have arrived. But I've used both and they worked a treat. One on a fast charge which was a dream even if it was 'only' a 50kW charger!! Having got the cards and having tried them out I'm much happier driving an EV (my first) I note your points about Cobham, when we travel back to UK that services has been one of our stopping points from the port to our destination in Bedfordshire. I need to study the maps for alternatives! Thank you for sharing your UK experience.

[@MrEV]

I've just got a Megane myself from Onto. I'm looking forward to trying it. It's a ridiculous situation across Europe and I consider us in the UK quite lucky that we have so many that can accept debit/credit cards. I hope the RFIDs arrive soon for you and you can enjoy some long journeys in the lovely Megane.

[@blobstrom]

I rarely public charge, but just before Christmas we had to go to Gloucester for a funeral from East Sussex. I knew I could get there easily on a full charge so had an InstaVolt planned already near the funeral home, but on our way my bladder had other ideas so we stopped in Membury, which have had the Gridserve upgrades, as one was free we plugged in and popped in for a coffee too. I wasn’t sure how much charge we got but when we got to Gloucester we plugged into the InstaVolt just long enough so I had enough to get home +20 miles. All in all no drama, no waiting, no fuss..

[@MrEV]

There needs to be a route planner that takes into account more frequent stops due to toilet breaks. “A Bladder Route Planner” perhaps. 😀

[@Jaw0lf]

I agree in general my charging sessions have been fine, one or two with no space but went to another around the corner and that worked. Majority of the time, I charge at home and can do over 200 miles, so most trips covered. We do need a lot more chargers in each location, 40 - 50 in shopping centres, cinemas etc of the slower 7kWH charge but Rapid chargers should have around minimum of 6 for quiter and 30 for busier areas. I want to see more petrol stations converted to be EV charging, there must be an impact already with people not buying liquid fuel so I see it heading in the direction of them having to convert as we will not need so many petrol stations. Other thing to note, is that if a charger is not working, call the number on the charger and they will try and fix it. This has been successful several times for me.

[@bshah4831]

At M40 J11 Banbury now have 32 (yes 32) rapid chargers (125 and 150 Kw). This is just one example of expansion across the UK. However, Ionity have not done s much as Gridserve (e.g. Reading M4 j12 Services and M40 J10 services) and Instavolt (M40 J11).

[@UK-Cycling]

Great video Andrew. Overall it’s not a great advert for the independent charge network. Best regards Martin

[@slartybartfarst9737]

Appreciate your real world experience videos and good to hear the positives of the public network. 130,000 uk miles on Tesla network never a problem.

[@MrEV]

Yes, but 130k miles on Superchargers is cheating. That's far too easy!

[@slartybartfarst9737]

@@MrEV Ah but it was back in 2015 at that point they were building Canary Warf chargers and there was only 2 stalls under the Tower Hotel in London and 2 out the front of the Hyat in Birmingham and as I did London to Cheshire a lot I figured sorted! Id tried the only other option Ecotricity as I had the Chademo to type 2 Tesla adaptor which if the charger was working then most times they were free! It was charging wild West. I used to go London to Enidborough and then chargers popped up at the Airport so I figured Tesla were tracking me and putting chargers where I went!!

[@AlanTov]

@@garysmith5025I guess you’ve never been to Fort William. Dire charging. Infact west coast is pretty dire. So I think you are way too postive re Scotland

[@CampGareth]

At the end of February I went from Manchester to Exeter and back in a 24kwh Leaf. I stopped 15 times and had 13 uneventful stops. Two times there was nearly a queue but dual head chargers or someone moving off as I arrived meant no waiting. One of those two times the charger wouldn't communicate with my car but a call to tech support sorted it within minutes. I feel pretty good about UK charging infrastructure now but if I did trips like that regularly I'd get a car with a bigger battery and reduce the number of stops.

[@MrEV]

That’s amazing going!

[@goldfever4570]

It really depends on where you are and how often you are doing long distances. Turning up at a motorway services with 2 50KW gridserve charges is a right pain, and as you say the infrastructure growth must be ambitious to keep up with EV take-up

[@harley883ap]

Another great video watched it with Gilly as soon as she got in great stuff😀

[@MrEV]

Lovely to hear! ☺️

[@FFVoyager]

Generally fine. I don't think I've had to wait for more than 10 minutes ever. The rapid network (for me) has improved greatly since I've been driving an EV. What learnt early on was to try to avoid is charging at meal times and on public holidays. Nearly got caught out with that. Given we live in the south west - the road most used is the A303/M3 to London and M5 to go north. The A303 used to be a rapid charging nightmare, Solstice Park has resolved going to and from London with my 28kWh Ioniq.

[@thalesofmiletus2966]

I’m an EV owner of two years. Charging an EV is akin to owning an ICE vehicle with a 4 gallon tank and filling up using a large syringe. That’s assuming the syringe works and if it does work you may have to wait hours to use it.

[@juliandclarke]

Very fair vid, as ever, Mr EV. I agree. No real issues for me. You only hear about the bad experiences.

[@TheEVside]

Great video mate, I see your daughter like mine is compelled by the plastic crap lol, not too many issues over the last year on only public charging for me and now made the upgrade to Tesla so far even easier :)

[@MrEV]

You Tesla owners don’t know you’re born! 😀

[@TheEVside]

Lol

[@AlanTov]

If you think buying a car from a gross far right extremist is a a positive thing I think you’ve lost your moral compass…

[@halfmanhalftenor]

I *love* Gridserve Braintree, we use it whenever we travel from home (mid-Kent) to the Suffolk coast 👍

[@MrEV]

It’s amazing there. A shame they’ve not built very many. They said there’d be 100 by 2025!

[@arekfpv3631]

I wish to see so many raid chargers in Northern Ireland. We have only single stations rapid chargers in just a few places. Most of them are usually always broken. (Antrim, Ballymena, Belfast...) It is really hard to plan your longer journey with a smaller battery car. There is just one rapid charger at the north coast Portrush (always occupied). So if you are planning to go from Belfast to the coast and back in the Nissan Leaf you must be very brave or just lucky.😅

[@stephendavies3356]

Brilliant video of charging your car not like some video I've seen ,so my car is on its way first ev after watching video feel more at easy of charging on the move thanks

[@MrEV]

Great to hear!

[@TassieEV]

Only saw one argument with Flaviana in the entire video, not bad else you just cut the others out. :) I agree though you didn't need to charge to 100% at the SoC you were at in that Model 3 you had. Nice to see all the working chargers unlike many which makes it sound like not a single public charger works outside of Gridserve EV forecourts or Tesla Superchargers.

[@PocketPaulUK]

I do a lot of long trips in my Peugeot e208, which has a relatively low range compared to cars coming out these days (such as the MGs). I do my research before taking a trip, but I have been lucky that I have only had to queue twice in the last 3 years of EV driving at busy motorway stations. Recently drove from Essex -> Newcastle -> Glasgow and the same route back, and I only had to queue once at Gretna Green services, which will be better once the Applegreen chargers there allow dual charging. I find that I am now avoiding the larger motorway stations and going off the main road to smaller places, like a McDonalds or Starbucks, who have reliable Instavolt chargers and aren't as busy. I think that is the way forward - loads of 4-6 units at smaller locations, which are nicer to visit, than a crazy motorway services where you have to queue to charge, queue for the toilet, queue to get a coffee etc. Great video as always!

[@Jock55]

Andrew, your experience pretty much morrors mine. I would like to add that I live in the north of Scotland and that the charging infrastructure here has improved greatly since Swarco took over O & M of Charge Place Scotland chargers. Not perfect yet, but getting there!

[@MrEV]

That’s encouraging!

[@iansanderson4664]

Watch thus with some envy, as I have driven a 2015 Zoe for the last 5 years, so I need to charge more frequently - at least every 100 km - and want a reliable 22kW 3 phase AC. Ecotricity were fine but Gridserve not so good - less 22 kW chargers and often giving much less than 22 kW. So I tend to use older Shell and BP 3 headed chargers. I agree with you about Cobham,. AC Gridserve charger only one - was 2 - crowded overall.

[@janhenkins]

Thanks for a nice update, Andrew! It's also valuable to get James' feedback, and it does correlate with the picture I get from watching the videos made by Richard Symons and his team down in Hampshire. It's good to have something positive, even though there are still plenty to moan about. My apologies for being the "Moaning Myrtle" commenter for this video, but I have to highlight two things - first one being cars with short ranges like your 24kWh Leaf (I have a 2014 model myself). It is really risky to plan any 100+ mile journeys with such a car, simply because you just don't have enough range to give you a safe buffer in case you need to divert from your planned stops. It also doesn't really help that ZapMap updates rarely seem to be accurate these days, well - at least not for me. So, even if you drive about in a place like London (where you can almost not see the map due to the masses of charger icons), driving with a 24kWh Leaf can be a stressy thing to do on journeys you cannot complete on your home-charge. The second item I want to highlight is that there is a general situation where we are losing CHAdeMO chargers as networks are updating the technologies in their chargers (BP Pulse being the big sinner in my books). This will eventually confine us ol' Leaf-munchers to home charging only, unless somebody (e.g. little outfits like Dala's EV Repairs channel in Finland) can Macgyver a viable CCS "transplant". This is not a nice position to be in, since there are loads of cars on the road (even the latest 62kWh Leaf models) depending on CHAdeMO charging points. Anyway - it's not all doom and gloom, if you have a CCS-equipped car you're definitely future-proofed. I would definitely like to see charging networks becoming more pro-active in growing (and also maintaining existing infrastructure) like the Tesla network, or Tesla just might kick their backsides when they open all their super-chargers to non-Tesla CCS cars. Either way, things can only get better.

[@MrEV]

Good point about the Leaf. It's certainly much harder to plan a journey with it, and it's a shame because a lot of Leafs are still being sold.

[@Brokenbritain2024]

100% agree had my born for nearly a year. Only had one public charger issue. Tbh though as you said I do 95% of my charging at home. Only use the public infrastructure when on my way to the airport. The biggest issue I have is the price. 65p for a kWh is really expensive. I understand that it’s rapid but if I charge at home at the most expensive time it’s 34p. It’s hell of a markup. But I suppose they need money to build the network. Saying that on my octopus Tariff I’ve paid as little as 5p/kWh at night.

[@MrEV]

Energy prices will drop and charging should follow (I believe business electricity rates are much higher as there's no cap). It's unlikely they'll ever be as low as they used to be. Remember the old days of 35p/kWh on Instavolt? Good times.

[@bluedeva]

Just 2 wks ago I had to go from manchester to Cardiff 😳 unfortunately just before my first charging stop the sat Nav diverted me due to a accident on the m6 and sent me on a crazy adventure trying to find a charging point…I went to 10 different charging points and only 3 worked. Also 3 of those that didn’t work were in random areas and ended up being offline due to needing upgrading (BeEv, InstaVolt, grid serve) 🙄 I was down to the 11miles on my GOM and about to call the rac when I randomly found a InstaVolt charging point at McDonald’s that had just been installed. On my way back to Manchester thankfully I did some more research and was able to make it back a lot easier all 3 charging point were working ….BUT only the motorway service EV charging points were accessible for people with disabilities 😩(Grid serve, IONITY, podpoint) and there was no toilet facilities at the non motorway services. Some of the InstaVolt charging bays were in very sketchy locations especially driving at night and were not accessible for people with disabilities. I do hate how much more time I have to add to plan my journeys and make sure to use 4 apps to verify the best route including reliable charging points. I really do hope that there are more charging points laid out like that shell one you showed in this post and that they are more accessible for people with disabilities.

[@MisterAndrewBuckley]

Sounds like a spin of the roulette wheel followed by anxiety if the wheel says no, then on to the next one

[@MichaelSmith-fn5no]

Great video. Just shows it's not that bad, but people still won't believe us. I've had my Ioniq 5 for nearly a year no real charging issues Peterborough is always busy, so have found the McDonalds further up A1 works fine. But generally all good, what we do really need are more slower chargers where you can leave the car for x hours, go shopping etc and return, those we've found are more valuable to us. Probably how we plan our journeys. We're also really good at moaning when things don't work but when they do we just get on with it and nothing said. Which is why we probably hear more the negative side in the media as that's all that really gets reported and also good news doesn't sell papers etc!

[@MrEV]

That's so true. I tend to fly the flag for rapid chargers but actually, slower chargers are arguably more important.

[@keithburtt]

Great video find geniepoint really bad we have 2 Morrisons both with geniepoint one of which has been out of order for over a year now it's really bad ...

[@MrEV]

They're struggling to source spare parts apparently. A miserable situation, and likely the reason they're now starting to use Alpitronic chargers.

[@troyconroy2916]

Went to Banbury last week, all good and a costa nearby.

[@buixote]

We travel from the SF Bay Area to the Foothills occasionally, but mostly drive the EV around town. Our impression from this is that the Tesla Network is better for those travelling >100 mi. There are more of them, the car tells you where to go, the Teslas have more range than many (we're not high-rollers, so Rivian and other >50K vehicles are not our scene), and the charging network is more reliable.

[@John-my8dk]

So. I have a four year old Renault Zoe, limited to AC charging at 22kW. I have had nothing but trouble. None of the Gridserve chargers (the grey dedicated posts) will charge at more than 7kW (supposed to be 22) - I've tried 5 at different locations. AC charging availability is awful, and often out of service. My experience has been about 50% of chargers are out of service on arrival - personal worst case was 6 chargers at different locations before I found one that worked / wasn't blocked. So, AC is effectively deprecated now as none of the big hubs you show (except Braintree?) provide AC charging; new capability is almost exclusively DC. Currently I'm waiting for my new Nitro EV to arrive and I'm hoping everything will significantly improve. Chargers I've used to date have been one or two at the back of an isolated car park, really great to see we're finally catching up with the likes of Norway and getting large charging hubs. Also great to see charging speeds increasing as this means both quicker journeys for individual drivers and, crucially, increased throughput at the charging stations. In conclusion, if you have to use AC charging still then the public charging network really isn't as you present it - my experiences recently have been awful and getting worse. For DC charging, it's getting quite good. Coupled with tools such as 'A better routeplanner' and networks that publish live availability information so that you can be routed automatically to an available, speedy charger then it looks excellent. Looking forward to trying it and hoping it will take away the 'debates' that occur with my wife on every journey. Your video gives me hope!

[@stewardjames]

If you're only getting 7kw when you should be getting 22kw double check the cable you're using is a 3 phase not single phase one

[@John-my8dk]

@@stewardjames Thanks James. But it is the same cable I always use that works fine at other chargers (e.g. MER are my latest favourite!). Definitely something to do with the compatibility between the charger and my Zoë.

[@RWBHere]

I had Covid, too; tested positive on 1st of January 2023. The coughing went on for about a month.

[@hometechUK]

Unfortunately where I live in a small city NR wales there are just 2 charging locations with jus 2 spaces each with 50kwh, that's the fastest speed available for 10s of miles, the charging infrastructure is terrible in North Wales.

[@AliWade1971]

Definitely want to see a York video. Like most EV drivers, we mostly charge at home (from solar), but for our longer journeys we haven’t had any real problems. There seems to be more chargers going live every week. We haven’t had to use a Tesla charger, but would like to - just for a photo for social media! BTW - our long distance EV is a Jaguar IPace - not the longest range or the quickest charging, but an incredible car. My EV is a Smart EQ, so strictly for local journeys (80-100 mile range and AC charging only).

[@MrEV]

I-Pace and Smart is a great two car combo! The I-Pace was my dream car for a long time but I've still not driven one. I'm tempted to try and get a used one actually. I'll see what my wife thinks!

[@AliWade1971]

@@MrEV You will both love it, but make sure all passengers are warned to brace before you accelerate! Come to Wales and you can drive our’s (and a great video showing how good the M4 corridor is for charging now). Ps. We have a Renault Twizy too 😀

[@paulturner7988]

Just done my first major road trip in my EV, doing 800 miles (mostly motorway) with a 50kwh battery. I don't have any RFID cards, so was going in proper newbie mode with no apps other than Zap Map to help find points if I needed to stop before I'd planned to, and my own bank cards. Used 5 Gridserve chargers which worked perfectly first time, and there was plenty of spare charge points at each location. Only issue was at one of the services where they were all out of action, but someone was there fixing it at the time, so I had to drive to the next services (and my car was starting to get hangry at that point!). However - and this is my confession right here! - I did accidentally stop someone else's charge who was using the other CCS cable on the same unit. I didn't think that was possible, and as I wasn't paying attention, and hit stop on the screen before tapping my card to stop, whilst displaying the other vehicle's charge status... So if you were driving a black eC4 on the M5 on Tuesday - I'm sorry!! At one of the services, I got onto a Instavolt charger, which also worked perfectly first time at full speed, and had a complete bank of 8 units available (not bad for a lunchtime, I thought!) I had an issue with an Osprey charger in a pub car park that didn't start the first time, but did at the second attempt (Osprey did pre-auth my card twice, but the extra transaction disappeared the next day), but my worst experience was with a Geniepoint near my hotel, where it didn't work properly at all and I had to call their helpline. To be fair, they did help me get a successful charge, but in the rain, being on the phone, and dealing with their web portal all at the same time was quite stressful!! Overall though, the experience was a lot easier than I was expecting, and I'm a lot more relaxed about the summer family road trip, although I know it could be busier than it was this week!

[@oliverkentish9468]

Maybe one day you could tell us about public charging in major cities? Are there problems due to lack of space or overcrowding? I think that perhaps a major obstacle against owning an EV in a large city is that home-charging is much more limited. Is this a correct assumption? Anyway thanks for this one. Good to see you again!

[@MrEV]

That'd be a good topic. I'll try to cover that in the future.

[@andrewclayton4860]

Had my Corsa for a year and a half and am by no means a high mileage driver. So far 30 rapid charges, 3 x 10 minute waits and none broken. Yorkshire to Scotland, Wales, East and West Coasts. One Instavolt did disconnect for no reason but other than that no issues.

[@MrEV]

That's a good success rate!

[@mickinmerton8053]

Thanks Andrew for this video. I am about to make the leap to electric, driven by ULEZ, and my concern about charging is mitigated.

[@MrEV]

Wonderful to hear, Mick!

[@simondehaas8784]

I've been driving an EV (ID.3) for 14 months /14000 miles and have rapid charged about 30-ish times. I've only had a failure to get a charge once, ironically the first time I tried a Tesla Supercharger (in Flint). Once I found a small Osprey site full and moved on, a couple of times I've had to wait 5-10 minutes at a bigger (Ionity/Gridserve) hub, and a few times I've found a single charger was offline at a larger (Instavolt/Ionity) site but I could just move to the next one. Overall I find the infrastructure ok for the vast majority of my journeys and if there is a site with at least four chargers available I never get range/charger anxiety. I don't feel the need for a plan B unless it's an unusual journey with only small sites available. I don't understand most of the moaning I see online, and feel it's counterproductive to take up of EVs.

[@solentbum]

For me the greatest problem is the lack of 'destination' chargers at places such as Hotels, Seaside car parking, , etc. Last autumn I stayed at two hotels, chosen because I could charge my 40LEAF overnight. (Snowdonia and Lake District) I use Swanage regularly as it has Pod Point slow chargers in a couple of car parks, just right to make my return journey free from anxiety! I avoid rapid chargers that do not take contactless credit cards. Last year I ONLY managed 23000 miles

[@MrEV]

That’s a great point. We definitely need more destination chargers! Charging while parked is the EV’s superpower and we seem to get distracted too much by rapids.

[@anthonydevono8833]

I drive around Suffolk and into parts of Norfolk it’s pretty thin but I think when you commit to getting an EV you go all in the bigger issue is people who do not have a driveway so cannot charge at home I’ve changed my mind about getting an EV I won’t get until the infrastructure is ready so I’m going to have a long wait!

[@nigelhudson1948]

Ionity Cobham is a problem for everyone. The main issues are a) the services cover both east and westbound lanes b) the next services with decent charging are miles away in any direction c) the local grid connection does not have enough capacity. On this last point Highways England are spending about £10m on installing batteries at certain services. These will store electricity off-peak to improve peak charge speeds. I understand that Clackett Lane and Beaconsfield are on the list but I'm not sure about Cobham. Reference your comment about Shell greenwashing. Go into Zap Map and filter for chargepoints 50Kw and above in the southeast. Then filter by location petrol forecourt and check out the percentage of chargepoints off line. You will be horrified by the overall percentage and the fact that most of them are Shell.

[@adsheff]

Basically, if you do a lot of long distance driving, get a Tesla. If you don't, it doesn't matter. Gridserve opening sites with 6 new chargers is indicative of the problem - 6 is nowhere near enough for a motorway services. Tesla has them in 8/12/16 - that's how many you need to keep up with peak times.

[@kingwong5996]

Just done a 800 miles trip from Scotland to London in my Onto Zoe. First charge at instavolt McDonald Wigan no issue. Second charge again Instavolt Mcdonald Redditch no issues. Arriving in Central London use Ubiscity 5kw Charger using shell app no issue (free parking too). I changed at an MFG petrol station at Ilford again using shell app but only got to 75% as you can only stay for 60mins. On the way back I charged in Central London again had an event to attend. This time source London using shell app again. No issue. Got fully charged to go back to Redditch for an overnight stay with relatives. Next day charged 100% at Asda Genie point Bromsgrove no issue(visiting again). We did stop at Stafford service BP pulse station not planned but just a 2kw boost while using the toilet. 4 chargers but only 2 worked. That was the only downside of this trip. Our planned stop was Booth instavolt Lancaster charged enough to get home. This was the second long trip I have done in the Zoe. Just the BP pulse had issues. My wife and I love the zoe.

[@stevezodiac491]

If you had a diesel car you would have only needed to refuel once in 850 miles, probably at a Tesco, saving hours in total charging at zero miles per hour and all that stress and anxiety of finding places to charge.

[@kingwong5996]

@Steve Zodiac I do have a diesel car too, it runs well on 100% veg oil too and I get my oil for free, is a by product from my chippy. But having to drive into London I would be subjected to ulez and congestion charge and pay extortionate parking charges. I didn't have range anxiety as I had planned stops well before I needed change.

[@therealjetlag]

Instavolt is my favourite and I will go out of the way to get to one. However, I have found 2 alleged instavolts on the map that don't actually exist, one in Sutton, one in Guildford. Really annoying to waste miles looking for a charger that doesn't exist. The absolute biggest issue with the charging network is that you need a map to find them. My car's (Fiat 500e) satnav tells me where chargers are, but it's not always obvious, without a passenger to click on the icon and fiddle with the screen, what network they are, how many bays there are, whether they're available, how much they cost or if there's a queue. Nor are they signposted from motorways or large A roads. I can pass services with NO idea whether there's a charge point there.

[@MrEV]

That's so strange. Is that on the Instavolt app you're seeing those missing chargers?

[@Popdog76]

Assume this was not in the instavault app, but this is a good point you have to check multiple apps to ensure the charger is online. Zapmap seems to be the most reliable with the network app second.

[@christianmarler21]

Great positive vido ! The biggest problem with charges since to be for people who don’t have EV’s! And read very informed misinforming papers!

[@rogerford30]

👍👍👍

[@davidspencer7254]

Only had one problem so far, Ionity charger wouldnt let go at 80%. Then used the app to terminate the charge and all was good. What I dont mention in that is that I was tired at the time, and that I went into instant panic and was trying to find the number for Ionity on my smartphone when my wife terminated the charge and went to get me a coffee 😅. So sometimes the problem is between keyboard and chair.

[@nettlesoup]

Hehe yeah probably quite a lot of those PEBCAKs but it doesn't help that some operators seem to invent their own order for plugging things in and button pressing and can't cope with any action being outside of the prescribed sequence.

[@roberttugwell4756]

Most people I talk to here in Australia that are not associated with the automotive trade don't believe EV will happen any time soon, they have there heads buried in the sand rapid expension will take place here especially 2025 onwards, we have nowhere near enough rapid charges on the main highways to accommodate the influx that is about to occur, you are so far ahead of us in that regard, we need Shell BP to speed up the expansion of the charging network then the public will see this and start planning to buy EV, We also have a problem in Australia of not having a set emission laws for motor vehicles so the rest of the world can just dump their none applying vehicles on our shores. Great Blog Andrew keep them coming

[@michaeld5888]

I suppose one big difference is that if a petrol pump goes down it is repaired very quickly but I have just seen one instance on you tube of a charging point 'temporarily' out of action for 9 months. I have a feeling the EV primarily attracts the the technology loving type that likes each trip to be a brand new adrenaline churning adventure. In addition there is the ample spare money needed to pay the premium on the vehicle to indulge the pastime.

[@timaustin2000]

It's imperfect and can be frustrating but, like you, I've found the infrastructure to be generally fit for purpose most of the time. Which is frustrating when all the press can do is spread FUD.

[@mmatthews5707]

I obviously need to travel with you, my experience with public chargers is completely the opposite, including 1 nightmare journey from Cambridge to Reading with 4 charge locations in a row with no working equipment!

[@MrEV]

What absolute hell! What networks were they?

[@mmatthews5707]

@@MrEV BP Pulse at the car park in Cambridge (just couldn’t get it to initialise and the help line couldn’t help), Gridserve at South Mimms services, Shell at a station forecourt just inside the M25 (it was just a hole in the ground! Apparently it was in the middle of being replaced with an upgraded unit) and finally another Shell forecourt one further down the road (powered up but showing a fault state that the help line couldn’t resolve remotely). I’ve commonly found that even though the Gridserve units at motorway services are all relatively new there is one or more out of those present that are not working, but at least they do have 4 or 5 units at most locations. I’ve pretty much given up even trying BP Pulse.

[@OVB_NL]

Hi Andrew - regarding the Instavolt BYD chargers charging slower for 400v cars, do you know what causes this and what 400v owners can expect? Thanks!

[@MrEV]

The BYD chargers have a potential maximum of 120kW at 800v but only 75kW at 400v. It's all to do with the current (amps). I've found some technical specs here if you want a look: planningregister.londonlegacy.co.uk/swift/MediaTemp/9219-169130.pdf (I believe Instavolt are now installing newer BYD chargers that are 120kW also at 400v by the way.)

[@OVB_NL]

@@MrEV Thanks - that's really helpful to know and the geek in my loves understanding these things in more detail. For some reason that link isn't working for me - if you happen to find a working one, that would be great. Thanks for taking the time to dig that out and reply ... much appreciated! 🙂

[@harry5mn]

My problem was in the summer at Exeter services loads of chargers but all used so where do you queue as the car park was very full . Had to keep walking along the chargers to see if anyone was leaving then run to car and hope I was there before anyone took the charger

[@MrEV]

That’s true. The queueing situation can be a nightmare at some locations. I was actually quite lucky with IONITY Cobham as there were plenty of spaces opposite for waiting.

[@decimal1815]

It's pretty bad, particularly if you live in the north, not close to a city or near a motorway (freeway). The oil giants need a UK government kick up the behind to add more charging points to petrol stations, which are already located in the right places. Most local public charge points near us are Geniepoint. Also, some locations are not getting checked and repaired often enough. Not done many long journeys though as my 'real' range is about 50 miles when driving at speed (2014 Leaf).

[@stevenbarrett7648]

We’ve been driving EV’s since 2014, the charging network started off fine then it dropped off rapidly as the old Ecotricity units started to fail but things soon picked up. we now have a MYLR and charge off our home solar, our usual long range is no more than 240 miles and this car just eats that up with plenty of additional range. We also visit Dover and Bristol and the Tesla charging network just works, no issues at all. I think we have only found one duff Tesla charger, that was at Trafford Centre, Manchester but there were another 16 or so to go at !. The worst thing is finding a BMW parked in one slot but using the charger from the adjacent bay ! . The trick seems to be have at least 300 miles of range and only buy a car with CCS, forget the old Nissans and 22Kw Renault Zoe’s its just not worth the effort….unless you can charge at home 100% of the time

[@petermc7098]

Hello There, a great Video and thank you for sharing your thoughts, it's much appreciated. Cheers Peter :)

[@MrEV]

Thanks, Peter!

[@petermc7098]

@@MrEV Hello There, you're welcome. Cheers Peter :)

[@CockmageLVL99]

My wife, a total EV newbie and hopeless optimist, is about to get on a trip with the kids to the Netherlands in our Ioniq 5 and I am really concerned how it will turn out. It's around Easter with lots of EVs on the road. Hopefully everything will be OK.

[@MrEV]

I understand your concern. I'd probably be more nervous than Flaviana if she was to undertake a similar trip. I'd be tracking her the whole way! I'm sure it'll be fine though. My IONIQ 5 trip to Italy was at Easter and didn't find it too busy. Unless things have got worse since then of course! Do you have the Octopus Electroverse or Charge myHyundai cards? Either should work well. Also, get set up with the Fastned app if you haven't already. I hope all goes well for her!

[@frankstocker5475]

if I had to carry so many cards to go shopping I would give up. What's the problem to give a visa payment option.

[@MrEV]

Thankfully the vast majority do work with debit/credit cards. IONITY is the big exception, although that’s changing this year. I just use the RFID card where I can because it’s sometimes cheaper.

[@michaelgoode9555]

I have already started planning for some of our longer journeys. I am looking at charging away from the motorway and trunk road network because after a couple of hours in the car we will want a good stop. Given this we can use cheaper local charging (if it is working and not ICE'd of course). Also, I am looking to minimalise the number of apps and RFID cards that I sign up to. It's worth noting that some networks give account holders a discount but often they then charge a minimum monthly fee. I have to look at the break even / actual financial gain point. There needs to be a social media network with local EV owners updating information about local charging units. I know that there is Zap Map for instance but the information is wrong for me locally so I can only assume that it is wrong on a national scale. In other words, no driver can trust it. Oh, and if I win the lottery I'll not be wasting money on a bigger, bling car. 😉