The shocking truth about charging an EV in the UK
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
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Before the EV fanatics jump in on the comments, please take a moment to realise this utterly dreadful situation where people are trying to get on with their jobs and lives but with unbearable circumstances when trying to charge an electric car in the UK.
Charging an electric car should be easy. Reality is, it's soul destroying bad. Something needs to be done.
We're still in it's relative infancy but surely it's unacceptable that only a handful of chargers actually works! It's so difficult to plan any journey in an EV and it seems too common an occurrence that leaves you anxious and frustrated.
We're being told by the UK Government that we can only buy EVs from 2030, which is only 9 years away!! If people are going to buy EVs in large numbers charging infrastructure needs to be improved significantly.
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Before the hate starts in the comments, please take a moment to realise this utterly dreadful situation where people are trying to go about with their lives (and jobs) but with unbearable circumstances. We may still be in relative EV infancy, but this is not an isolated event, it happens every single time we test an EV. Instead of directing anger at us, please let us know what you would do to improve this fiasco.
Apparently we are now on the same level with electric cars as people in the early 20th century. It was easier and faster for them to feed the horse than to look for a place to fill the gas tank.
With all due respect you don’t seem to understand about rapids, fast etc. Or maybe you’re just using the terminology incorrectly. But yes things do need to improve in many respects. Contactless is the way forward. Grant Shapps is aware of the issues and hopefully will take more action. Do join UK EV Drivers on Facebook. Ignore EV zealots that bury their head in the sand. Constructive EV drivers will work with you to drive change. Ending the Ecotricity monopoly would be a start.
@@Bricktop101 thank you for the kind words of wisdom
Internal combustion engined cars using synthetic fuel or e fuel that are just as green as electric would be better as they have less particulates and less NOx produced. Synthetic fuel is much cleaner as there is no bio product.
@@tiepup Well let’s see how Porsche manage their synthetic fuel project, that’s relatively small scale and if that small plant can produce 500,000 litres every year, it’s a promising start.
After watching this video I will never complain about waiting 4 minutes for a person infront of me to pull out of the petrol station so I can use it
@@marktheron596 I wear the plastic gloves they provide at the pumps and pay using card at the pump no need to hand cash. Takes a couple mins for 60litres giving me a range of 400miles no problem
@@marktheron596Smth ?
@@johnjackson2349 yes but not sustainable
Exactly!
@Peter Hicks you miss read. I have a petrol car and sometimes have to wait a few minutes to wait for someone to fill up. I am not convinced by electric power
Why can't government legislate that all public EV chargers are paid for with chip and pin or contactless.
Would save so much hassle.
Free market.
People will just only use ones that you only need chip and pin.
We'll need x1000 more charges if people need to sit at them for hours though else you'll have tailbacks for 50 miles waiting for them!
They don't care, they just say it is because of competition.
As of July 2019, they did, starting by setting that as standard for any new sites.
have you guys not read or seen the film series, Atlas Shrugged? With the policies you guys are after, it will eventually lead to the world's collective of innovators to help stop the motor of the world; this is because of unworkable government regulation that has crippled every single industry.
The market is a much better solution to getting your EV charged up; if I've seen anything it's that Tesla is stealing the car market under the established player's noses by providing a better service and range of products than what the existing market is providing. Expect the EV market to change in the coming years when Tesla finally opens their Berlin car factory
The infrastructure is what is going to kill the EV in this country not the quality of the product (car)
The charging network is there you just have to do a little research. InstaVolt network is 100% reliable along with a few others. My house charger is also reliable so I leave with 100% battery.
@@gavinderbyshire5535 I have researched over the last 6 months and the only way an electric vehicle will work for us effectively as a business is to go with Tesla who have the infrastructure in place. If it was only short journeys there are certainly other options but until there are guarantees on journeys over 200 miles this is the only reliable option currently.
@@jjames1950 I understand your decision on a Tesla based on your own ability as a driver but to promote FUD to the public is very poor. If you researched for 6 months surely you realised that planning ahead was part of the driving experience. I have owned an EV for 12 months and covered 15k miles with only a couple of issues charging. Thankfully there are some respected fair car reviews on RUclips and you should maybe stick to the what you know about the most polluting cars on the planet.
@@gavinderbyshire5535 I am a little unsure on where this has gone. We need vehicles that works for what we need. There are clearly issues with the EV charging network. We will have chargers at all of our premises across the UK and a home charging network. However as it stands we would need the resources of the superchargers mid route regularly if not most journeys. Therefore unless I can have concrete guarantees that we can utilise superchargers as and when we need without compromise then it won't work for us as a business. I think that's a fairly honest and accurate position as to where the network is at this moment in time.
@@jjames1950 you are incorrect, you don’t have a concrete guarantee of anything motor related. EV’s are far superior in reliability and off the road time. Charging on route using ABRP or zap map guarantees you charging at a rapid charging unit, You just have to want to. Leave the EV reviews to the likes of Johnny smith or Tesla Bjorn they do real reviews for real drivers.
Politicians experiencing real life troubles? What planet are you living on?! Never going to happen, you think they give a toss about the general public? Fat chance!
the Transport Secretary in England drives an EV
@@enyaq_gorm and I'll bet he never goes out of range of his own personal charge point.
@@enyaq_gorm Yeah but he likely has a spare car ready for him, and on big trips he takes the gov provided car.
@@enyaq_gorm I'm shocked that the Transport Secretary even has a driving license.
This video needs to go to the transport secretary and every media outlet in the country as well as every motoring organisation and others who can influence a delay until common sense infrastructure is in place... well done sir... frustrating but valuable insight!
👍👍
No! Currently although government spend huge funds to help infrastructure builders is still economically pointless. They can payout more to anybody who wants build charger but government don’t have any own money. All EV business without huge subventions could be forgotten. We don’t ride on horse just because of cars was far better nobody force people to that. Now it looks like forcing people to swap horses to pig… we all know that is better to ride on horse but with free pigs food and huge government financial help for people who buy pigs The are expecting that people will ride on pigs shortly. The only one way how to make charging station quickly and don’t lose as a investor is using huge diesel generators.
Sounds like classic UK, All Show no Go!
@@tiepup ah thank goodness I was worried there for a bit.
Imagine the chaos on the roads if many more people suddenly got EV’s. People queuing for charge points, empty vehicles strewn all over unable to charge.
It is ridiculous, quite a few of the petrol stations are adding charging - but there is only 1!
So if someone else is just ahead of you no way you are going to wait 30-60 minutes for them to finish.
Or other situation is points out of order and you do the whole driving around looking for a working charger (which is what everyone else will be doing!)
There are business starting up that are rescue chargers - they come to aid of disabled motorists, charge the car from a mobile generator and get people on their way for a fee.
Most people charge at home most of the time, so not as big an issue as you think.
@@petecousins6364 that’s ok if you don’t go to far from your home 😀
@@petecousins6364 A lot of people live in flats and tower blocks, also terraced houses without driveways or garages, sometimes it's hard to find a parking space so finding a charge point is going to be difficult for the amount of drivers.
UK government “ Everyone buy electric cars please”
Everyone “We bought the electric cars, they’re great, where can we charge them?
UK Government “ Everyone buy electric cars please” 🙄
BoJo for you at the moment every question he gets asked he answers with "Vaccine Roll Out" and repeats in a parrot like fashion.
@Peter Hicks That won't really bother us Peter, because the UK is connected to Norway's grid.....
The time it takes to charge is like filling a fuel tank through the red straw that comes with a can of WD40. Bonkers.
And in few years battery capacity starts to drop, so your fuel tank is also getting punched over time with more and more holes from top down and in decade its pretty much useless requiring to be replaced and that battery is 90% of the cars value... yeah no thanks... Burning cash least gives you some warmth, EV gives you pile of E waste
There need to be a law for easy charging. Just swipe your card that's it.
For most Rapid chargers, including those on Pulse, Instavolt, Shell you can already use Contactless debit card / Apple Pay etc.
All the people agreeing with this have no idea. This is NOW law.
@@daydreamer8373 The government haven't made it law you are correct, but they have said all chargers SHOULD be contactless by April 2020, that will come thou as they have laid the ground work for it in the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018.
there is now
There already is. All new charging must have contactless payment facilities by law..... Even new build housing from this year, must have provision for EV charging.
You must have been imagining things. Repeat the mantra: "Free market capitalism always produce the most efficient public services"
The free market is working. It is very expensive to install and service chargers and you need high utilisation rates to make them viable. Without that use, no or poor chargers. The problem is electric cars are more expensive that IC cars, and until IC cars are banned, there is no incentive to buy electric ones.
The is no free market capitalism, have you heard of central banks, they use central planning, and politicians like to use inflation as a tax, that is very far from capitalism.
@@alanjenkins1508 that's why it needs to be done by government because they can install charging points without having to worry about them turning a profit and we could have a national standard everywhere
@@sergiosergio12345678 with out a central bank you'd have no official currency of a nation state
@@alanjenkins1508 The IC cars will not be banned. If they'll ban them, there will be a revolution (I mean, a rebellion!)
Reminds me of looking for a working phone box in 70’s London! A nightmare, more often than not.
This is precisely why no EV other than a Tesla is worth buying right now.
Charging outside London is an absolute joke, especially around the motorway network. Anything under 50 kilowatt charger useless for a true EV. I found Instavault to be the best by far. I had an i3S for a year and gave it back because the charging network is just too poor for what I need to do with a car
Cornwall has more than enough Rapid chargers...
8000 petrol stations 20000 EV charge stations of which 3000 are fast chargers, 29000000 home charge points. Ice car defence is becoming a joke.
@@mikewade777 I'll give a scenario i was testing out a kia eniro over a 2 day loan was driving back home late at night charge dipped below 15% set nearest charge point said I'd get there with 5% actually pulled up with 3% left. This was at 11pm. Was still about 100 miles from home. The point had 2 fast chargers 1 wasn't working the other was occupied after zapmap said it was empty. Waited 1 hour. Had no choice where am I going to drive with 3%. 1 hour wait and I talked to the guy he was planning to sit there for 1 hour 30 but he cut it short to q hour as he felt bad for me as it was already 12am and I still had 100 miles left to get home with only 3% in the car. charged for 1 hour then drove the 100 miles to get home just before 230am
@@cephasmakuzva Getting off the HW and crawl along at 40mph on back roads is sometimes the fastest option!
@@Tore_Lund that ignores everything I just said zapmap said a point was empty i got there it was occupied I had only 3% and had no choice but to wait 1 hour for the car to move and it would've been 1 and half hours but I talked to the guy and he had sympathy for me it was already 12am he was occupying the only charger and I had 100 miles still to get home and he lived just a few miles away with an apartment that doesn't have home charging
A electric car that is getting charged on it's bay should NOT be penalised for parking on the motorway station! It is charging not parking! As long as is still charging should not be put a fee on it for ..parking too long; is not parked , it is charging!
Crap roads, poor charging infrastructure, snow, ice, stuck in dead car overnight, freeze to death.. no thanks, ill stick to diesel until they are completely banned.
The whole point is to stop people owning cars completely. They don't want you to be able to drive where you would like.
I own 2 electric cars, Nissan Leaf (6 years) and Tesla Model 3 (1.5 years). Taking the Leaf on a long journey is a stress fest, for all the reasons in the video (you can imagine what it was like 6 years ago!) The Tesla on the other hand is absolutely no stress at all, the Supercharger network is just awesome, the car organises everything for you, looks after you completely, and you just plug in and it works! I normally get around 100-120kw charging speed as well, it’s so, so easy. This is one of the major advantages of a Tesla, the charging infrastructure, and it’s a huge advantage.
I was going to buy an EV car this year, but now I definitely won’t. I shall wait for another three years thanks for a fantastic video
I've watched many videos like this and decided not to buy an EV. I'll stick with my V6 gas guzzler for another 2 or 3 years. I simply cannot spend so much time trying to charge a vehicle. And why oh why do so many companies insist on "membership". I don't need membership to fill up at present. No, after much deliberation, it's clear to me that EV's are not the way to go for several years yet.
Scotland has amazing infrastructure. Almost every car park has chargplace Scotland network charger and lots of them are free
Funny that, Scotland leading the way. England makes different political choices and this video is one of the results of those choices
Why is the Govt pushing Ev's when not only the Grid couldn't support mass use, so there would need to be many more power stations built at vast expense, or face rolling power cuts. The environmental impact of manufacturing a battery with Sulphur and Lithium extraction in particular not to mention the amount of energy needed to refine these minerals being so high, it's no wonder that the Govt isn't talking about this. Commercial vehicles and Farm Vehicles? NO solution being offered yet they produce huge amounts of carbon. Surely that would be a priority over personal use vehicles. Also why is no one blaming Iceland. There Volcanic eruptions as they produce vast amounts of CO2 yet the planet has been able to cope with this for several billion years no problem at all. What a massive nonsense.
I’m afraid many incorrect myths here. Too many 😆 ok so first Grid will be fine and can give you many reasons, www.nationalgrid.com/5-myths-about-electric-vehicles-busted , Here the National grid themselves busts myths themselves. There is plenty Lithium, yes needs to be extracted ethically and with minimal environmental impact, this pales into insignificance compared to the potential environmental damage of climate change being caused by the far higher CO2 of ICE cars (overall fossil fuel extraction mining, refinery, transport and distribution for petrol well to wheel uses MUCH more CO2 than EV production/ electricity). Volcanoes are not the current cause for the high CO2 in the atmosphere this is simply climate denial. Humans are producing 100x the CO2 of all the worlds volcanoes combined skepticalscience.com/volcanoes-and-global-warming.htm , There is overwhelming scientific concencus of this fact. Carbon dioxide it is higher levels and has been for millions of years and this is purely due to man’s influence. Yes you CO2 has been higher in the past but the current ecosystem / plants /animal did not involved in that time, the earth wasn’t populated by 8 billion people, and sea levels were about 20 m higher🤦♂️). I do not expect you to believe or accept any of these facts, but for those reading this they need to have some polite reality checks for your comments.
@@ThePlugSeeker Well the National Grid would toe the Government line though and say they can mange but words are just that air.
One solution is to use an app called A Better Route Planner and be picky with the chargers you prioritise. Instavolt are one brand who have never let me down. Not paid to say this, just like the app 👍🏻👍🏻
No EV owners I know would risk Ecotricity. Feel for your cameraman tho 😕
Thanks for helping spread the word that there are good and bad chargers. We want more reliable chargers for sure.
@@tiepup Sorry I should have said CCS. Yep they're fine for Chademo weirdly. Cheers
@@tiepup sorry was on my other older account. Yep, makes sense that Nissan would have made Chademo work! Chademo is a more consistent interface in that the requirements are very strict with it (Japanese do things properly). CCS isn't so strict so can have issues with some cars and not others. Sigh.
For anyone having to travel round the UK for work this is the reality of electric car's in the UK today, absolutely useless if you have to cover any distance daily.
Of course it’s worth pointing out the average U.K. commute is less than 30 miles, and most modern EVs have ranges 150-300 miles before needing first recharge, and 60% U.K. will simply charge at home.
Drove 200miles on a single charge t'other day! 👍
I used to travel round the UK with work. It would be happy impossible to do the same thing with an electric car. It would have meant lots of additional overnight stays.
"any distance" no. just no.
You haven't owned one or researched properly
@@Lewis_Standing i drove 500 the other day with one stop taking 10min, just saying.
It is utterly dreadful. Petrol companies have NO- Zero intrerest in helping this transition. The BP chargers in their petrol stations are broken and if you complain at the till they invariably say, oh yes we know, they've been broken for months.
It should be mandatory for chargers to be available in Petrol stations. AND it should be mandatory for the charge to be intiated from the shop and payable for over the counter, should the app or friggin' membership card not work.
As for Morrisons, forget it. Their chargers are by the bins with broken glass all around. FFS. Why can Tesla do it so well and everyone else f=ck it up?
The same in Sweden my friend... Just the same... I want an ev but no please. I like how quiet they are. Yes, just awfull. The infrastructure is what is going to kill the EV in any country...
Just buy a Tesla. All problems solved.
@@Vxvx22 Visited parents last weeked. 110km drive used 9.5 kWh. My cousin got a Tesla and took the HW, he used 25 kWh! So yes get a Tesla and drive faster, but be willing to pay twice as much for charging, which is not cheap in Europe.
@@Tore_Lund which car did you use then
@@sinetwo 2002 Fiat Seicento Elettra
China’s number of EV charging station jumps 47.3% YoY to 2 million.
There were around 30,400 public charging station popping up every month.
blame the auto makers for bad charging infrastructure. It seems that Tesla may be one of the only auto makers building out an EV charging network while all the other automakers still think it's a fad like LPG powered car.
Also blame the owners of filling/petrol stations for not building EV chargers at their filling stations but I do understand that the electricity infrastructure may not be at the places where filling stations are.
But this is a perfect reason as to why Tesla is taking over the car market.
Also, the image you showed of the 2 vans taking up the EV charging space are actually Nissan eNV200 which is the EV version of the Nissan NV200 which is why they were parked there and currently, the Nissan eNV200 is one of the only Battery Electric vans currently on the market in the UK.
This is such a typical situation. Yesterday on the M4 half way between London and Bristol at a motorway services only 2 ecotricity chargers. One out of service and 5 cars waiting and haggling over the only working charger. Eventually had to limp into Swindon. While at the services I looked across at the Tesla chargers. 8 chargers and only 1 Tesla plugged in. If we are being encouraged and eventually forced to drive electric cars the government needs to do something. Maybe Elon Musk should make the rules.
I'm not asked for my address details etc when filling up with fuel, so having to provide GDPR-violating details just to charge a car is a nonsense. It's still in its infancy, clearly, and partly as a consequence I have zero interets in EVs.
2017 we rented a BMW 330e in the UK. We couldnt charge it. The only possibility would have been to sign up for a 6 month charging contract.
I take my car to the petrol station, fill it in like 5 minutes and pay with cash or card then drive hundreds of miles without a single worry.
I plug-in my electric car when I get to work or my driveway, takes 10 seconds and I can drive with full “tank” , no need to drive to petrol station. I have driven 70,000 miles without a single worry 😁
@@ThePlugSeeker now imagine same usage without charging at home or work.
@@WestfieldFreshAir ^^^this
@@ThePlugSeeker which electric car do you have that is fully charged in 10 seconds?
@@tiepup The cleanest electricity is actually during the day when solar contributes to generation.
The government and green lobbies don't give a jot whether you get your EV charged or not. They'd prefer it if you just didn't drive at all. And one day soon, EVs will be taxed just like any car is. And if you have an EV don't complain. If you can afford one of these heavyweight chariots, then taxing them should be no hardship whatsoever!
There were supposed to be 1000 chargers installed in Ireland last year. Money was set aside to find it. Not one was built. Not one.
As a regular long distant EV driver reliant upon CCS charging I only plan stops at InstaVolt, Osprey and Shell chargers. Pod Point usually also ok at Lidl sites but BP Pulse (Polar) very variable and you have to be wary about getting caught by CCTV cameras which pick up non residents or non customers at hotel and pub sites.
I would be very interested of any feedback regarding the best charging points between Preston and Folkestone as this is a regular return journey for us through work. If we can make the charging network work for us then there are other options for us other than Tesla. Thanks
Getting caught on CCTV! In 1995 I was 16 miles short of home in my lead acid 3 wheel EV. However as it became urgent, I passed a local police station during off hours. Luckily someone had rammed their "Police "sign at the curb and the junctionbox innards were exposed. So I charged for free at night with my emergency croccodille clips. No CCTV everywhere back then.
Only home overnight charging will work but not all of us have a parking space with a charger point..
This is precisely the reason why I won't be going EV any time soon. One day things will catch up, I supply and work with manufacturers of EV chargers and there are a number of different (new) manufacturers coming to market with new charge points and charging systems - things will get better (obviously) but I agree, the current infrastructure (unless you have a Tesla) is nothing short of appalling.
Charging at home is zero problem.
@@alliejr that's not the wider infrastructure though (which is the whole point of this video) so is largely irrelevant for people who's use demands frequent long distances.
@@alliejr and what if you park on a busy main road? How are you supposed to charge your car?
@@robertolombardi3698 Then an EV is not (yet) for you.
@@aston-martin-internationalist If you frequently drive long distances, then an EV is (today) a poor choice.
I have had this nightmare myself, I own a Gen 1 Zoe which only uses AC charging although on Rapids it does charge at 43kw. But it needs to be sorted.
Cool car though!
@@lovecarsTV Aw come off it... It's tiny - and I mean ULTRA tiny like most EV's - and looks like a rabbit with a squint. The guy above was having nightmares with it and all you can say is "Cool car though"
If electric cars are brilliant, why are there tens of thousands being recalled over all brands for fire problems? I will stick to diesel.
Fire problems? Where?
I'd love my next car to be electric, and this is exactly why it won't - nay, cannot, be.
I agree with every word you utter about the diabolical uk ev infrastructure situation. It's beyond frustrating and utterly unacceptable. The government has taken its eye off the ball and the fact needs to be begun to be reversed pluck, root and branch immediately. It's presently indescribably disgraceful. Are you listening Mr Transport Secretary? He needs to view your report - can you not send it to him...?
Absolutely shambolic. It will be 20 years until we have anything like the infrastructure for EVs
I do find it shocking how consistently the chargers aren't working and need remotely resetting. The membership card thing is ridiculous, but seems now a chip and pin option is a legal requirement. The number of chargers around isn't too big a problem as yet, but the unreliability and lack of consistent user experience is just unacceptable
Only on new chargers, and the requirement is actually for "pay as you go" by credit or debit card, so lots of companies are getting around it by making you add card details to an app
electric cars;
- I can't afford one
- I can't charge one (don't live in a house and there's only one local charger)
- Fortunately I don't like them anyway
Willing to bet you’ve never driven one
@@BHBeckenbauer For the reasons I don't like them, I don't need to have driven one.
I really feel your pain, can feel the anxiety welling up just watching this video! 😄 As you say something has to be done!
Carry a spare petrol generator in the boot?
It's a shame the hotels don't have overnight charging even 7 kwh
The problem will solve itself. You won't have your own car in 20 years time - you will have nothing and be happy - you'll be able to book a driverless electric cab to a preapproved destination - assuming you have enough social credit (haven't said anything naughty about the government) and you have sufficient carbon credit available.
5 hours 😂
You could have driven to half the chargers in the country in that time!
Perhaps when booking accommodation in the future, tick the EV charging option?
Plug it in and charge while you sleep! That’s what it’s there for!
In answer to the question, what can the government do to improve things, drop the ridiculous legislation, and forget what the WEF are planning.
Not viable as reliable transportation at all, stress related heart attacks in the making, also millions of people live in flats as well so not able charge at home.
And this is precisely why I drive a Tesla. Tesla and Instavolt really understand both where chargers are needed and how best to set them up for ease of use.
😎👍
I had to cancel my order for an electric car because I don't have permission from council to install charging point on a bungalow so I'll take a diesel car. I am so disappointed.
Electric cars are okay for local driving ,not for long distance because there are no rapid chargers on motorways service . Same problems always
You've just highlighted all the reasons why the only EV I will have is a Tesla. It's the most expensive car I've ever bought but it's also the best and worth every penny. None of these charging hassles exist with a tesla.
Just wait until you have to have to replace things like the brake rotors and pads, you'll love the cost, unless you have a warranty plan for consumables.
Don't like the idea of telsa asking you all those details and such for a box on wheels.
If you’re an EV driver you should know Ecotricity are very unreliable, you should also know Zap-Map is slow to update and PlugShare is better map and also you can actually visit the Instavolt, Shell, Polar websites to see if the chargers are working. If you were in Bournemouth then you would also know Instavolt have a charger there.
I didn’t realise you had to pay to charge these on the road. Any longish journey involves loads of stopping, buying coffees and food in expensive service stations will be as dear as economical petrol cars surely?
I think people are expecting just a tad too much of the charging infrastructure. Probably because we’re all petrolheads and with the world trying to push us into this new era of motoring that some of us may not like, these people heavily bash every single little fault with EVs to justify having their beloved combustion engine instead. Let’s not forget that this technology is so young, only 10 years since the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S put the motoring world on volts. I know ten years is a long time, but combustion engine shave been around for a hundred years, so the technology and infrastructure are well developed. Here in Singapore, we have about 1500 charging points as of today, by 2030 the government wants to roll out 60000 charging points. I hope governments worldwide have a numerical goal like this, so EVs become useable and emissions levels drop.
Thats the thing. We are expecting so much because the government is demanding so much. By 2030 all new cars have to be electric by law. That's only 9 years away. The infrastructure just isn't ready.
@@nathant8951 It's lunacy, most low income won't be able to afford it for a start. secondly not enough effort made into the preparing the infrastructure. Sounds more like political posturing to me and fancy headlines than any real plan.
I've been using on street charging for my e-NV200 for the last six months without any problems what so ever
Chademo generally more reliable.
I’m a massive supporter of EV’s but this is my general experience of using the gen pop charging network.
Interesting review of EV charging. For the majority of people home charging will be the method of charging their car. Plug in at night and every morning my car is ready to use. The woeful infrastructure is the reason I bought a Tesla, superchargers are plentiful at each site and they work.
The thing is it actually won't be the method of charging for most people. A lot of people don't have driveways and park their cars on the street, where charging isn't an option. The only place they CAN charge is at charging stations like these, which are clearly unreliable and hugely inconvenient. And even if the infrastructure was better, thats still hugely inconvenient, like driving to a petrol station to fill up but having to wait there for an hour or more.
@@nathant8951 workplace and car park charging will work for a lot of those who cant charge at home and they will only need to be equivalent charging speed to a home charger since people tend to work for around 8 hours, enough to recharge a 60kWh EV from 0% to 100% on a basic single phase 32A socket.
@@RWoody1995 Thats a very valid point, although that does require every workplace to have enough chargers. How soon this can be achieved only time will tell.
@@nathant8951 probably not too fast without governments and/or car makers getting involved in rolling them out but i think similarly hard to see happening things have happened before once enough people were involved ...like computers going from a small number per city to multiple per home between the start of microsoft and 2007 when the smartphone boom went into full action.
@@RWoody1995 and therein lies the problem. Car companies aren't likely to want to get involved (as far as they are concerned the infrastructure is not their responsibility, they just make the cars) and the government hasn't yet realised they need to intervene and standardise and regulate the infrastructure, and stop this silly membership nonsense. When that happens I think we'll start to see a major improvement.
I live on the Isle of Wight.I have an i3 rex.When I travel to the mainland,I will take my wife's petrol car because of the dreadful experiences I've had with charging stations.They either don't work(for numerous reasons) and the ridiculous cost per charge at some of them renders the trip pointless.
I live in Northumberland. There are four rapid chargers withing 15 miles of my house and four fast chargers within 1 mile. The local council want to encourage people here. They all seem to work too all of the time. GREAT for me, but the infastructure in the south is terrible. I daren't visit my mother in law. She lives in Kent. Absolutely rubish. It makes you weep. I wrote to her local council and MP to complain.
To misquote WC Feilds, What this country needs is an enima!
Instead of rockets to Mars we need sufficient accessible charge points on all our principle trunk routes.
Write to your MPs people.
The government should roll put a network of charging points directly. A nationalised effort like the old British rail
How can you have so much bad luck? Does need improving though and contactless payment no app/RFID should be law.
Another gripe about the EV experience is repairs. Charging companies thinks its "OK" for a charger to be out of use for weeks on end sometimes while they wait for parts from another country! Just imagine if your local garage was closed for 2 weeks because they were waiting for parts - there would be upraw.
It’s even worse if you live in an apartment with only outside parking and no power in the car park to even think about charging from home. The infrastructure and government grants needed outside of the “travel network” to enable home charging also needs to be invested in as the more people charging from home the less clogged the travel network will be....
Just sent this to my MP.... Good morning Sir!
For the past few months, we have been unable to get the company to fix the electric car chargers (photo) that are located behind our building here at the Oxford Business Park, Yarnton....
I have come up with a suggestion....
I propose that the default mode for these chargers it that the current is on when the electronics fail, so that it just behaves like any other socket, with the protective circuit breaker under a clear cover so it can be user reset, such as is the typical arrangement at caravan site or canal mooring hook up points, this means two things....
One - people can always get a charge - too many people are being left stranded by broken chargers.
Two - it will incentivise charge station operators to maintain their chargers, to stop them losing the income on the electricity that they are inadvertently giving away!
A broken charger is worse than no charger at all, they are an absolute menace, and there are far too many of them destroying confidence in electric cars use, and it would be nice to be seen doing something positive, given the fuss over last year's Christmas parties! (not at all embarrassing!) 😉 😄
As a side issue, I'd like to see a standardised design of charging plug, that is compatible with caravan hook up points (a standard 16 amp industrial outdoor socket) with extra pins to transfer the extra power when used with higher power fast chargers - this just makes sense....
Incidentally, some electric cars will not charge unless they can 'talk' to the charger - it stands to reason that this needs to be reversed so the car can still charge even when the electronics in the charger are non responsive, also too many charging schemes are based around 'phone app member ship schemes that are nothing more than strong arm driver held to ransom data harvesting schemes - this has to stop.
See here... ruclips.net/video/T0HaSGhfM3w/видео.html [This Video]..
This RUclips video tells a ghastly tale of a cameraman who spent hours looking for a charge and all sorts of other woe - appalling!
All we want is reliable charging, paid for by normal means such as a credit cards...
Kind Regards,
Clive 🙂
And this is why journalists handing a press car to an inexperienced camera man often doesn’t reflect a true experience. No one else gets the keys to a free test car jingled in front of them at a hotel and only THEN work out how to charge it...
This is why electric vehicles are a total waste of time, the government are not forcing us to have electric cars, we never will, cannot do 200 miles a day in an electric car, we tried and failed.
I think a good solution would be to make the majority of car spaces in supermarkets, public parking have at least type 2 socket from the ground, the trick is to top of frequently when ever you can. Then they need to install not 50kW but 100kW in stations and services. Convert lampposts with charger points etc.
Just before they force us to go electric and shut down petrol stations we should all hoard up petrol/diesel.
I watched a Petrol Ped video last night on his EV experiences and they weren't great either. Much shorter range in cold weather, inaccurate location of charging points on an Audi sat nav, a charger limited to 45 minutes, too many apps/charging companies and a big problem if someone pulls into the only available charger just as you get there. The other problem is we don't have the electricity generating capacity for widespread use of EVs. Battery technology has to change too.
That's good to hear 👍
@@PetrolPed This guy's experience of Tesla 3 ownership in cold weather is even worse ruclips.net/video/6ZCafV30Gls/видео.html
I love this video... I will stick with my V8 petrol car. Thanks for the "heads up" I travelled 210 miles on Saturday. My fuel tank holds 17.5 gallons and I got an average 0f 34 mpg on this trip, That is almost 600 miles of range for one 3 minute fill up.
You don't get an EV because it is better for you, but because it is better for all of us. Yes I got one, and they are inconvinient, for spontaneous rides. It takes planning and calculations, to plan a route with minimal stops. But it is kind of charming, like being a pilot making a flight plan and it makes me drive less, especially doing small errands. So yes, less "freedom" but it cost me half as much to own and drive as my former car, so I'm getting something for my trials.
And how much was the fill up?
@@Brian-om2hh and how much more than an ICE car did you pay? Double?
@@anthonymccluskey7245 No, about the same. Nissan Leaf £25k. Mid spec petrol Astra, Focus or Golf £25k......
The morale of the story is don't buy an Electric car until the infrastructure is there. It's not for the government to use tax payers money to build the infrastructure because it a commercial enterprise that at the moment only benefits those on high incomes who can afford an EV. Until such times as it's as quick to charge an EV as it is to fill a tank of petrol there will always be a problem. Look at any supermarket forecourt and imagine all those cars being EV's you'd need an area the size of a small town with hundred of charging stations just to cope.
problem of no charging stations. UK govt needs determination to invest them.
8 years left for this government to drastically improve the EV infrastructure, whilst we at the same time recover from the economic effects of the pandemic. Will they tax us more and invest in the infrastructure or will they push back the ban? Tough decision. its an easy move for higher earners with home charging but it will be difficult for people on modest incomes to afford the transition. There needs to be a big tax break for private buyers and not just company car owners who typically are higher earners too.
To fix this we need to get a standard where you don't need a card or an app. When you buy your EV you give your details to the car's manufacturer, they then issue your chassis number or whatever unique identifier is supplied when you plug in a charger and link it to a universal EV Charge account. Basically the car talks to the charger and says I am this car owned by this person and this is their EV charging account number. The pump then fills your car and at the end sends a bill to your EV charging account. The charging account then immediately settles the bill with that charging company. You then pay the direct debit each month and all the charges you have made are paid from the DD to settle up. This way you never need a card or an account (other than the global EV charging account, which I would imagine would be handled by one of the Banks or credit card companies) or an app, it's just plug in and go. I would have thought the credit card companies would have been all over this years ago. Secondly the government needs some form of tax incentive or grant scheme to encourage charging stations to appear all over the UK where you can pull in, get your car charged, have a coffee or a snack and perhaps have some sort of limited shopping mall attached to it to give you something to do whilst you wait. I believe one of these places has just opened in the south and is already doing roaring trade.
Love that - very elegant. Possible concern: lots of your registered details will need to be shared with the charging company for 'marketing purposes'. Maybe GDPR prevents that, maybe not, not sure.
Would be nice if one could simply use their bank card as well - job done.
@@UTubeSL I agree strict data protection rules would have to be observed, but to me all these jumbled up systems are what you usually get when a new paradigm shift occurs. Eventually the better ideas bubble to the top and the rubbish ones get left by the wayside. To me the idea I proposed or something very similar has to be the way to go. Charging has to become a complete no brainer and we all need to shift to our daily drivers being EV until a better green technology comes along in order that our grandchildren will have a planet that they can live on. If the government really believes in hitting its target of no new petrol or diesel cars by 2030 then they have to start encouraging rapid expansion of charging stations all around the UK. I am sure it will come, as owning an EV is already becoming a much better option than owning fossil fuel vehicles from a financial perspective. Mainly because the complexity of an EV is so much simpler, you have no clutch, exhaust or complex cooling systems and that very complex piston engine that is constantly overheating or wearing out. All you have is a relatively simple electric motor and a battery. Even tyres wear out less thanks to the regenerative braking systems. I suspect if Tesla's battery technology comes to its full potential cars with 1,000 mile range that can get a full charge in 20 minutes are nearly here already. When that becomes the norm most people will switch, by then we need to have as many charging stations as we have petrol stations probably more and this range anxiety thing will just disappear.
For me I’m happy using my petrol/lpg car. We can fill up with petrol and lpg and get up to 900 miles before filling up. LPG can be hard to find sometimes but it costs £30 to fill up and that will get me 200 to 300 miles. If we can’t find lpg we simply fill up with petrol. I’m not saying electric cars aren’t worth it but until the infrastructure is there it’s just not plausible
Seems like UK Public Charging network is particular horrible. They seem to not care about reliability uptime at all. That's just weird.
Agree with all that was said, just come back from Lowestoft traveling up the A1(M) to Scotch Corner and across the A66 to M6 then M74 to my home in Stirling. will never do the journey again as it was very stressful getting motorway services charge points to work ! especially Ecotricity :-( that company is a joke and should never been allowed the motorway contract). I finally arrived home with 3 miles on the clock ..too stressful and as mentioned in VD the government has no interest in this issue except to tell the world its becoming a green nation. (Aware Ecotricity is being upgraded but to late for some).
Absolutely agree that there are issues that need to be resolved - better maintenance, more chargers in each spot, more sites, contactless payment. It does sound like you both did zero planning for this on purpose though. Zap Map IS generally up to date. I've not been caught out this bad in 5 years of EV ownership. It just needs a little planning at the moment.
I don't even drive ,and I've been saying this for years..Norway's got it sorted...
What if you don’t have a drive way or live in a flat?
There isn't a British Elon Musk to solve all this ?
Toddington Harper of Gridserve maybe
The government is investing in a new oil field so no money for ev chargers.A ev charger is a easy money earners for the government and they are missing it.
So the morale of the story is carry an extra long 3 pin extension cable in the car and make sure you park the car near your hotel window and not even think about the public chargers.
12:20 so the tax payer should foot the bill for the infrastructure that the rich city folk are going to be using? Yeah, doesn't seem fair or rational to me. If the whole electric car ecosystem is so superior, then it should establish itself organically.
Forcing it, top down, by a law that says every new car has to be electric really shows how detached policy makers are from everyday people's life.
they won't always be only for rich people... petrol cars used to only be for rich people until it became easy enough to use them that enough units sold for economy of scale to make them cheap enough for everyone, that's what enforcing the change to EV's does, it forces numbers to increase more quickly so that economy of scale kicks in.
@@RWoody1995 it's still the wrong concept. Nobody used that kind of enforcing with petrol cars and they still became the more viable option. Also, this is like the third or fourth attempt at making bev "work"... And it's not looking bright. Lithium batteries are a mess. They'd better use all that money for R&D to find better alternatives.
@@Kraven83 wdym by "third or fourth attempt"?
@@Kraven83 there weren't 400 million steam cars around for petrol cars to replace back in the early 20th century... of course they didn't need much help when all they had to compete with were horses xD
@@RWoody1995 the point still stands: cars were better and cheaper than a carriage and 1 or 2 horses. That's why all the infrastructure got built even if it was expensive. Now, though, BEV cars are not that much better than internal combustion engine cars (or even hybrids). They can't compete on their own in the form that the constructors are trying to push now. In my opinion BEVs should be small, light, with 2 or 4 seats and look like a Toyota Aygo, at around 10 or 12.000 euros max. Proper city cars. Not 2.5 tonnes sedans with overly powerful engines and steep prices.
The M27 services at Rownhams does not have chargers compatible with the Mach e or any other car with a CCS plug.
Ecotricity are useless
Yes they are and they need their monopoly contracts tearing up.
I live in Glenrothes. Near me ie within a 10 minute walking distance are two fast public chargers. They regularly break down. The nearest other fast public charger is in Kirkcaldy which is 7 miles away. The issue? Not enough of them and the authorities realise this because the website implores you to not hog the EVSE and remember others may want to charge. Why isn’t their more EVSE’s? A government report stated 2000 needed added every year. This year we got 340 ish. Way too little. Also ChargePlace Scotland has loads of 7kw chargers. Takes too long to charge. Needs sorted and quick. Finally there is a council car park with around a dozen EVSE’s for council vehicles from which the public are not allowed to use. However the council vans are regularly seen using one of the two rapid chargers at the public charging point. Frustrating.
some councils want to charge £240 for a full charge
The whole point of electric cars is control, when every house has a smart meter linked to a charger, they can switch your charger off from the smart meter, that way controlling your movements. And let's face it, there's very few electric cars on the road at the moment, can you imagine when there's 18 million electric cars? The country will grind to a halt!! Which is the aim, nothing to do with the environment at all, it's all about control, if you say something they don't like, as in China, you won't get charged.
Welcome to our Dystopian future.
I have heard of people plugging into the AC when they should be using CCS before, was that the issue at the Ecotricity charger? I had a Zoe for three years, only had to charge away from home five times in that time and manages 370 miles in a day once. I never had any issues. The apps are a massive faff it is true but a bit of planning or a Tesla and things shouldn't be that hard. I am back to petrol, fancied a convertible. Buying petrol is a faff compared with home charging and I miss the ease of use of my Zoe if not the driving experience.
Most viewers of this channel are petrolheads, so you have to forgive some of them for their aggressive anti-EV attitude. But people don’t want the hassle of planning a long journey in an EV, even if it means it takes just 15mins, some are just too lazy.
@@magnustan841 i admit I've never owned an ev, I'm also a petrol head. The government will make us all go ev no matter what are opinions are, so I have to get on with it, but I'll wait until 2030 plus before I get one because they should have sorted all the problems out, well at least you'd think they would have.
I know fuel cell is way more costly but I think that would have been a better answer for the environment.
I'm going on holliday in 3 days. I detest public chargers like... First stop a camp ground where I can charge on a 16A fuse not free but reasonable. Next stop a friend. 3'rd 4'th a 5'th; free public chargers in Germany. 6'th and 7'th two other friends. Not going to spend more money on charging than I have to. Solw charging is a trend.
There's only one company that's really bad at the moment, Ecotricity. Unfortunately, they have the motorway franchise. The infrastructure is improving with fossil fuel companies putting rapid chargers on their forecourts, Gridserve starting to build 30 charger premises with facilities and more. I presume this presenter is unaware of what is going on.
and in Scotland we have a single Government coordinated network (poorly managed by BP but that may change very soon). His rant may be true in England, it certainly applies in Northern Ireland, never been to Wales but in Scotland it is a very different picture.
China’s number of EV charging station jumps 47.3% YoY to 2 million.
There were around 30,400 public charging station popping up every month.
I've made the leap to plug-in hybrid from a diesel, it'll charge the battery in 3hrs or so.. 30 miles range. Perfect for daily errands. Work commute. Any longer journeys, petrol engine is there :) A lot many people are buying electric cars atm and the infrastructure just isn't there. I will go fully E when charging isn't an issue.
It's a disgrace. Total mish-mash of hardware, firmware and software with no governance over the quality of service or customer experience. There would be an outcry if petrol stations operated in this completely random manner. We need a standard interface for every charger and guaranteed timescales for bringing offline chargers back into service. . By the way, your steering wheel is on the wrong side.
The only EV I’ll ever drive will be carrying my golf clubs.
@@tiepup I have, Tesla S, hated it, no gears, no smell, no sound and terrible ergonomics, as for torque, twin turbo diesels have plenty and win the 600 mile race, especially in the cold weather.
I'm watching this on my phone in my car.
I'm laughing so loudly I can barely hear my V8 petrol rumble..
*blip the throttle *...
mmmmmmm M5.
...not for long..... ;)
How much did you pay for the dodgem.?
Many EV owners may agree with the points you make in the video but the click bait nature of the cover photo does not help open a genuine conversation. Change that and perhaps you will get less hate and more conversation.
Electric cars that run on batteries are not the answer to our problems. There are many problems first is electricity has to be produced some where and in most cases that means shifting the pollution to other areas. The next big problem is that even with fast chargers we can not pull in fill up and be back on the road with a full charge in 10 minutes. Nor are manufacturers telling us the fact that batteries are only good for x number of recharges and that miles reduces with every charge. So be careful buying second hand cars as many will be sold because the battery life is nearing its end. Yes you can replace the batteries but they are very expensive, up to half the cost of a new car. Nor are manufacturers and governments telling us how far any model of car can travel per 10Kw of power used to charge them. This is the figure we need to see which are truly economical against each other. After all we are told MPG for petrol cars before we buy them. Why not for Electric. But the main reason we all can not use electric cars is this we would need many more nuclear power stations and face the added risk from them as our National grid is unable to supply enough power to replace the petrol and diesel used today. A lot more needs done before we ban cars of today from our roads.
Best comment on here, batteries are *not * answer