Having driven EVs for the last 12 years, I now know from experience that EV range need not be farther than your bladder range, and that the charging speed need not be faster than your rest room speed.
For your use case maybe. We regularly tow a caravan so any layby has a full (clean) kitchen, stocked fridge and bathroom. So EV range for us has to be car plus 1800Kg caravan around 700 miles in 16 ish hours. Pretty easy with a diesel, no EV comes close yet.
If you plugged in at your layby's you wouldn't need 700 miles of range. And using someone else's bathroom means you have to empty your septic less often.
Agreed. But, for me that tends to be 400-450 miles. I've driven every model Tesla on long road trips. 320mile range isn't ideal for my needs. Which is why I was looking forward to the advertised 500 mile range of the CyberTruck. I was quite disappointed when they unveiled the ranges as being around 320 and you need an additional external battery pack taking up space in an already tiny truck bed just to get 450mile range. As a result I wont be buying the CyberTruck after all. I'll probably rent one just to experience it but I'm eagerly waiting for longer range EV's with roof mounted fold out solar panels so I can travel long distances and get 50 or more miles of solar charge per day when parked.
Something else that's unfortunately pushing electric car ownership to only businesses. It would cost me £63 to charge my electric car here which would get me around 200 miles. My highly uneconomical Ford Focus ST is much more economical than this. Sad things are going this way after we started brightly.
The "it just works" ethic is always thrilling to see enacted. It really shouldn't be a rarity, life doesn't need to be so difficult. More of this approach to everything we do, please!
I am surprised that no. one has built something similar here in California. It's very surprising that some coffee chain like Starbucks has not partnered with a charging operaator.
It is often due to private company restrictions or local regulations preventing this. In UK we have problems of some existing service stations have single EV supplier agreement.
In America we are so behind EV charging infrastructure (not counting Tesla). Way too many regulations and rules. The greedy oil companies have very strong influence over it.
We are far behind how far ahead we should be - Southern California resident. A surprising amount of disinfo & EV ignorance from people much younger than me.
Used this when I got back from Copenhagen over the holidays. Charging was straightforward. Unfortunately got back later than the upstairs was open so had to brave the road to walk to McDonald's... which was a dismal experience. Charging was great though.
But if you're on a trip you will need some infrastructure... I personally don't need that much but "Bäcker Schüren" in Hilden was quite nice to visit on my trip to Netherlands
Cost? How could you not mention what it costs. It's VERY EASY to provide these type of services at high price. This needs to be available and it also needs to be cheap.
High quality service is not cheap , there is a huge amount of investment to be paid for and keeping things smart is also expensive. If you fill up with petrol at a motorway services and it is anything resembling a pleasant experience - it will cost you !
@@rinninno, their entire infrastructure is cheaper and everyone with a Tesla uses their chargers so high usage, and Tesla cars charge very fast so quick turn over, and they use batteries in some places to buy and sell electric. Ie the tels business model is sensible.
Neither do most charging stations in the UK. In fact, Shell and BP make money on their petrol/diesel stations shops. The chargers at service stops on main roads (motorways) have nothing to do with the service facilities, just like the petrol stations. Service stations are run as a franchise based on some foreign investment money, nothing to do with EV charging on petrol stations.
Been driving an ev for just over two years now. My biggest gripe is not the state of the charging network, but rather how we’ve allowed them all to be so secretive about the cost. I can spot the price of petrol from 400 yards away from a petrol station, but why don’t we display ev charging prices similarly. Sorry Robert, but yet another video where you extol the virtues of a site without mentioning cost. Not everyone can afford top dollar and without displayed prices we find it hard to shop around. Please focus on this in the future.
Ridiculously high prices "charged" by Gridserve, around a year ago ot was 65p for a kWh, and as the cost of energy has fallen, Gridserve has managed to increase their prices to 79pkWh, way higher than petrol on a per mile comparison and without the taxes.
Just brilliant and a clear demonstration that with the right approach it can be done. Very sincere congratulations to Gridserve for setting the new standard for EV charging! 👏👏👏👏👏👏
Hopefully one day in the future We can convert all our filling stations/ Petrol stations into electric forecourts With solar on the roofs. With an old pump In the corner for the old cars.
Gridserve are great I've used the Norwich one and it was amazing. The issue is that (this isn't exclusive for Gridserve) immensely expensive. I charge at home for 9p 70p cheaper than this often it's 80p cheaper. It needs to be around the 40p mark to make any kind of sense if you use it regularly. It's fantastic for those times you use it for long trips any other time it's just to expensive.
This kind of charging hub is for occasional use for most people. And it's a multi charger hub with very high speed units. You can't seriously expect it to cost the same as your daytime home tariff after an energy crisis (however false that crisis may be when every energy company in the UK has made all time record profits) . As Johnathan Porterfield of EcoCars says, I don't care about the occasional expense of the costlier chargers if they are convenient and reliable. I always balance cost and convenience. I do about half of my charging for free when I'm at the local supermarket. I've topped up tonight for free and I'll be visiting family near Gatwick tomorrow. I might get my first chance to use the Gatwick hub.
I absolutely understand that this is for occasional use in the current system, however we need to get to the point where it's for everyday use so that people who don't have off street parking for easy charging can just use this as a petrol station. Until we get to that point it's going to be a very hard sell for those that cannot charge at home. Why shouldn't it cost the same or similar to the base rate of power for a residential house. Large providers have significantly more buying power than I do and can bulk purchase power at guaranteed rates. I'd expect them to make ten to fifteen % profit on every KW sold. @@trevorberridge6079
@berridge6079 1 litre of diesel contains 10kwh of energy and costs £1.5. 10 kwh of energy at gridserve costs £9. EVs are 3 times more efficient than diesel cars (in summer when you don't need to heat up the cabin), so the cost per mile charging at gridserve is only twice that of a diesel car. Don't get me wrong, I love my EV and I charge at home off peak, but it's way more expensive to run an EV than a diesel if you can't charge at home.
1:13 - gotta LOVE that motto!! 😄😉 OMG, the cafes on the charger site, the shopping.... tap-to-go!! Wow, we SO need this for main highway charging stations in Australia. PLEASE send some over 🙏
In Florida a lot of Tesla chargers are in Wawa’s. If you’re not familiar they have all that stuff, coffee, sandwiches, snacks, soda, breakfast and lunches made to order. And generally clean restrooms. Oh they also sell gas to fossil cars owners. 😂 I love stopping for a charge at Wawa on a road trip, by the time I use the rest rooms, grab a coffee or snack I’m most of the way charged.
Spoke to Toddington at FCL silverstone back in 2019. Came across as a 'man with a plan' , open and genuine as to the challenges ahead. As a North and borders EV owner I'm a bit envious of the 3 sites now open and look forward to more ' appearing higher up the map.
When it comes to airports I would much rather have a trickle charger where I park so I can jump out of the car and catch the flight than an SuperCharger where after I spend 20 minutes topping up and then have to find a place to park before going to the gate.
And so expensive. 79p kW running cost is more expensive than petrol which I don't have to spend 30 mins filling up and feel like I have to buy a £5 coffee to pass the time. I see these places as useful on major routes (if they lower the prices) where you need a break but I prefer destination charging where I leave my car to charge and go off and do something useful in my day.
Partly, ask yourself who owns the power stations in France, Germany, etc. and who owns them in the UK. We subsidise the Europeans as a result of privatisation.
@@Draigthedragon You clearly don't know that EDF are French and are in charge of building Hinckley Point C and it's two sister reactors. Nor do you understand the connection between vested interests in government and the energy suppliers. Neither have you grasped that the French chose to cap electricity prices just as our government could have done if they chose to. It's got nothing to do with subsidising Europeans. WE were being subsidised by the EU until we left. WE were being supplied with electricity by the EU when we were in energy defecit (and some was also coming from German excess renewable energy). And that's not even counting the fact that WE were being given back more than half our contribution to the EU as an automatic discount. The people who benefit from privatisation are those who directly deal with members of our government and donate funds to their party. That's why energy companies in the UK are allowed to quadruple the base cost of energy while making all time record profits.
@@trevorberridge6079 wow. What a rant. And you clearly didn't grasp the point I was making. Which was very much the generalisation of the example you gave of Hinckley Point C. Have fun with those essays, I suspect no one on RUclips has ever bothered to read more than two sentences of one of them.
A lot of mugs in this country that is why. Quite happy to get ripped off with rip off charging costs and overpriced cars, and think it,s absolutely wonderful
Last weekend we drove upto Saltburn beach about 110 miles and 2 hours away for a neices birthday party. There are 2 chargers they were both in use. We were there 4 hours and went back to the car to collect some beach toys, finding one of the charging bays empty. So we parked up, plugged in, downloaded the app with really bad reception, signed in as a guest, with credit card details etc (took about 20 mins due to bad reception). The 22kwh charger started. We were getting 6kw, when we should have been getting 17kw. We needed 30kw to get home. Oh well I signed (hoping it sped up) and went back to the beach to join in the games. I got back to the car and found out it had charged for a total of 5 mins! Needless to say we stopped at an mgf petrol station for 25 mins on our way home. Totally unneeded stop on a day trip.
Once upon a time, there was a trustworthy and proud new EV owner named Jake and a friendly property manager named Susan. Jake wanted to trickle-charge his EV using the common area electrical outlet next to his parking stall. However, Susan didn't have the budget to pay for the cost of installing a metered charging station. Wanting to help Jake, Susan suggested they install EVnSteven. Thanks to this one simple app, they both lived happily ever after 💚💚
Having been an EVist for 6 months now I would say these places need to be everywhere. However, public chargers are far too expensive. If it wasn’t for the fact I can charge at work for free I would seriously be reconsidering being an EVist.
Hi Rob, I get why you are so excited about this facility, it's something you talked about at 100 times and I'm sure 10 years ago when you got that leaf.
The only thing I will say is if you don't have home charging, going for a coffee while charging gets old pretty fast. When I am using ICE on longer trips I have the Shell/BP (others available) apps on my phone, I just fill up and go, I am literally done in under 3 minutes. Public charging is not a showstopper but going for a bite, a coffee or a bit of shopping becomes irritating pretty rapidly, especially if you have kids in the car.
That's why you bring books and games along. Hopefully many rest stops will invest in kids play areas or activity spots. A fenced in Basketball or soccer court would get them running around and burning off some of that pent up energy.
Where do you and your children eat and to quote Robert “ take bio breaks” ? I would have thought hunting down public toilets and food outside of highway service would be a massive inconvenience especially with children. Is there an ICE car culture of not stopping for anything, eating while driving and McIvering Biobreaks ? Because if there is that seems dangerous and if there isn’t your story seems to be missing some details.
This. I don't know about everyone else, but if I'm getting in my car, I'm getting in it to go somewhere. I'm not getting in it so I can stop for coffee, or read a book, or whatever. I'm not driving for a wee day out in a carpark.
@@francesconicoletti2547 It is a good question. If we take the ICE then we will stop at a highway gas station where there are bio break receptacles. And while that is going on I will fill the car, so maybe in and out in ten minutes. The problem with the EV on a long journey is the lack of reliable very fast charging. But maybe if it gets to a point where we can *reliably* add 100 miles in ten minutes it is doable. So start with 300, do 150 miles, stop and charge for ten mins and be at 250 left, drive another 150, stop for ten minutes and be at 200. In fact, now I come to think about this. If they fix public very fast charging, an EV is totally doable even on long journeys with kids.
New EV owner in the UK here. Did a 250 mile round trip with family in our EV. My brother was in his diesel and it was far cheaper for him and quicker. The cost of charging alone could kill this initiative. The charging infrastructure is still not great.
What I am seeing in horse traileria is 7kw to 22kw chargers appearing at regional wineries, tourist attractions, sports clubs and beer gardens. This makes sense
This is fabulous. These need to be at every airport around the world and at every major truck stop. However, in Australia, it's more about quantity than quality when you have such vast distances to travel.
Thing that’s going to kill ev’s is the cost of public charging. We run an I3 as a second car and love it - it’s done 30k miles in the last 18 months. We would not replace our other diesel car with an electric car though because the public charging on long journeys would make it as expensive to run as the diesel and the nuisance of a terrible charging network makes it so inconvenient.
I'm privileged to live in Norwich and finally have an EV to be able to use the GridServe here. It's what I can only imagine the first class lounge is like. Really lovely experience.
I think we miss the point. I do not want to go to the restroom, or eat while charging. I want to charge to full in 3 minutes, and then drive away again.
So nice to see these things. In the south of France things are coming along nicely too. You find charging stations at many of the "aire's" (motorway service stations), including a new one just built along the A64 at the Aire d'Hastingues. Ionity has installed a dozen charging stations in each direction, including 2 stations on each side for vehicles towing, with all the plugs (CCS/Chademo/AC Type 2) and they have tap-to-pay as well as the app/QR code. Of course, being an aire, they have all the services (loo, resto, etc) ... not quite as nice as the Forecourt in this video but pretty good. It's about time.
I couldn't wait to use the Gridserve Hub at Braintree and it was fantastic. Beat any petrol service station I'd ever been to hands down. Over thirty chargers covering every type of car and all the Rapids were running at high speeds. Even the Chademo I needed for my Leaf was running twice as fast as I'd ever seen before. The whole place was good looking, clean and functional. And the eagerly awaited Gatwick hub is now even better. Gridserve had ambitions to open up 100 hubs across the UK. By the time they get even half that number the general infrastructure will have expanded exponentially and the final well worn myths about charging will have drawn their last breath. And Gridserve will be setting the standard for others to follow just as the Electric Highway did before them.
Given the British weather, why aren’t all the chargers under cover ? It’s not like there are going to be any petrol fumes accumulating ? The chargers not under the main building could be under a Perspex awning.
wonder if it would be a good idea to add just a few small hotel style rooms for anyone who wants somewhere to stay the night before they continue their journey. Perhaps even something like those Japanese sleeping pod hotels.
Gatwick already has a few large hotels on the site, a few more just off-site, dozens more that are close enough to run shuttle buses, and countless B&Bs within a couple of miles. Also, it's not really on the way to anywhere - it's only about half an hour to the sea.
I’ve just visited this facility before flying off on holiday. Very impressed by all facilities on what is a a small footprint. Watch out when you leave signage poor to prevent you turning left and driving through a long stay carpark !!! Also costs reflect the investment it was pricy !!!!
The future of the service station. Whether this is too early or not is the question but I think that in 20 years this will be the norm. I don't know how much this costs but I doubt that building a petrol station, with the burried tanks, is particularly cheap.
Would be good to have some competition for Gridserve. Another company building similar dedicated ev service stations. Get more stations popping up. Possibly keep the prices down too
What GridServe and Toddington Harper are doing is great. When working a I would travel to Suffolk on a regularish basis, always used Braintree hub to recharge. Great facility. Since GridServe raised their cost per kWh from 69 to 79 pence per kWh they are not my go to chargers. Toddington Harper has had a few interviews of late, none of the interviewers that I have listened to have asked the question why a 10 pence increase? All the good stuff is discussed, solar farms, battery storage, charging hubs. Maybe we need Laura Kuenssberg to interview Toddington Harper?
You make my point so perfectly if we are serious about cutting global CO2 we need to reduce consumption of energy/electricity as it contributes 23% of man made CO2,interestingly passenger vechcles only 7% of the world's CO2. One medium sized EV on a fast charge, 20-80% ,uses the same energy as would be used by 35 average households in a day! As it is estimated that in the next 20 years it is unlikely the grid will be able to support more than 10 million EV's charging daily and there are currently 32 million cars in the UK how is that meant to work? Take mobility away from masses and how will our economy function. I am not anti green I've had solar panels on my garage for over a decade,converted everything in the house to low energy consumption and if the current generation of EV's worked I would have one. But they are inferior to the internal combustion engine in every way except for what comes out of the tail pipe. When 70% of the world's population does not have the means to purchase these expensive devices let alone have the energy to charge them what is their point as global warming effects the whole globe!. They are a political not a technological solution to an important problem and as consumer confidence continues to fall and the their practical failings become more apparent expect the polictians to start moving away from the timeliness for the ending of the production of internal combustion engine vechcles. The stupidity of his move is illustrated by the fact that the worldwide use of Netflix is responsible for more CO2 than all the passenger cars currently on the road in Europe. If we keep on finding more ways to consume energy then attempting to replace ordinary cars with EV's will basically be pointless and potentially more damaging to our planet. Your example of the energy use of an oil refinery is rather interesting as the largest component of a lithium ion battery is graphite which is obtained from crude oil and without oil you couldn't even build an EV and all it's components.
I absolutely love going to Gridserve Braintree. I don't have to join a queue waiting for a charger to become available. The charging is really fast. If I have a problem, the staff are constantly monitoring the forecourt and will come and help. The facilities are clean and modern, and the Costa, Waitrose and WH Smiths are brilliant. I actually look forward to my journey from Kent to Essex in my Fiat 500e knowing Gridserve Braintree is there for me...we just need more please 🙏 ❤xx
Was wondering when we'd get this episode after seeing a teaser for it in an earlier podcast. Almost makes me want to book a flight somewhere so I have an excuse to visit 😁
Me too! Certainly next time I book a flight where I need to drive then this will tip me towards flying from Gatwick... Good to see there are some CHADEMO for my old banger (what's 'electric' for "old banger"?).
Massive well done to Gridserve. 🎉 Not only upping the standards of charging stations but generally of rest stops/service stations (I mean it’s not Tebay services but that’s a real one of a kind gem). I’m looking forward to visiting one day, hopefully there will soon be many more of these types of facilities dotted around the country.
Yes there can't be many businesses that have a mark up of 200% on what they buy and do nothing with. Fair play to them, for now, until the bubble bursts
@@Draigthedragon thank you, I was aware of the site in Braintree, was not aware that one had been built in Norwich. Many more to come we hope, Toddington said he intends to open at 100 sites, can’t happen soon enough.
@@peterhetherington914 the 4th one will be Knebworth Estate, Stevenage - seems like they have a healthy pipeline of other electric forecourts... I really hope they do well, it is almost too good to be true!
It costs a lot of money to get these sites rolling. Ecotricity had to run the Electric Highway network at a loss to ensure that there was a network of motorway chargers to help kickstart the march towards EVs. This is always the way with every technology. You can't start from the point you wish you could end at. You've got to build the horse and cart before you make the horseless carriage. You've got to build the steam train before you build the tracks to run it on. You've got to build the Kitty Hawk if you're ever going to end up with Concorde.
Actually I'm not sure, I don't drink coffee after 5pm and I'm usually driving in the evening. I stop at the one in Coventry all the time which is opposite a Morrisons, though. I suppose I was speaking metaphorically, it is a cheap place for a bite to eat and a drink at least. The cost to charge is about 12p/unit cheaper than this place as well. You can always go to a Tesco superstore instead, Coventry also has one 5 mins from Lidl. I just like lidl's bakery and it's opposite Morrisons which have a salad bar that is included in the meal deal. £3.50 for that and a drink and a choccy bar! Yum. Supermarkets are always better than these overpriced charging places, just pick one that has fallback options nearby in case it's full. I found a few dotted around England that are nearby alternative chargers but I very rarely find them to be in use, and if they are I either wait 5 mins or go elsewhere. Coventry is my fave though, lidl, tesco, and if you're desperate, geniepoint in morrisons, all close together. And their lidl is literally 30 seconds off the motorway, so it's no detour for my journeys.
100% agree. I rented a Fiat 500e for a couple of days in Auckland, NZ when I was there last, and looking for a career was easy, but they're all out in the open, no cover. We picked a BP charger in Ellerslie just because it had a cafe there, and we were lucky it was unoccupied when we arrived, because there was only one charger that could do CCS or Chademo. But we got 50KW rate and up from 60-95% in 20 min for about $7 while having a coffee at the WildBean. (Id note that only my motorcycle offers cheaper $ per kilometre than this for a public fuel up point). This charging station here though would be a game changer in any city.
Massive respect to your drone pilot, those were some nice shots. Initially I thought they were sped up but looking again, you can see things/people moving at normal speed. Impressive.
I used to be a fan of Gridserve but with their current pricing, I'd rather find a tesla charger open to all, much cheaper and much more reliable. That said, more options is good, but there needs to be a push from influencers like yourself to get the price to a more reasonable level. We're talking more than 10 times the off price some have at their homes. This isn't even cheaper than running an efficient ICE car, so why would a typical ICE driver want to move to EVs? Money talks, now more than ever.
I wonder if Gridserve would entertain the idea of franchising or having national business units so the forecourt idea could be "exported" to other locales. Would love to see these implemented right across Canada.
We travelled to Mexico in October from Gatwick, but had to leave our EV at home and use our diesel car, because charging was going to be too much hassle on the way back, after an 11 hour overnight flight 😬 This charging hub is perfect and means next time we fly from Gatwick, we can use our EV and charge here ⚡️👍🏻
There have been rapid chargers immediately around Gatwick for some time. Not many I grant you, but just a short distance away is Pease Pottage Services on the M23 and they have eight Rapid Chargers six of which are brand new high speed chargers. Gridserve make it easier being right there at Gatwick. But, as someone who visits family nearby travellling from London in my mere 24kwh Leaf, I've had no real issues finding convenient charging. Some are even located in very nice pubs with lovely food on the menu.
This is all well and good - but before Gridserve get too smug about what they've done at Gatwick, could they explain why their block of rapid chargers off Tritton Road in Lincoln have been out of action for more than 2 months? People out in the stix drive evs and need convenient access to rapid chargers too...
Fair point. When Gridserve built their first hub at Braintree about 3 years ago their plan was to build 100 similar hubs across the country in short order ... but since then they decided to take over all the knackered old Ecotricity charging sites and upgrade them, which seems to have greatly slowed the roll out of these flagship hubs. Their pressures are completely different now and the logistics of supporting a widely distributed network clearly takes its toll.
These are excellent, and I'm glad to see them, but I really want to see chargers like these integrated with your average Woolworth's, Sainsbury's, etc. Norway are already mixing charging areas with regular shopping (which benefits the retailer with the chargers) and it should be a standard thing across the world.
I like that public chargers exist. What I think requires legislation is the ridiculous cost differences in charging at them, unrelated to charging speed. It feels like they're taking the piss. Some special tax for people that give a s***
While having 50 charging stations but only 10 occupied is very handy for the consumer, it is costly for the investor who would rather see a queue of cars than empty expensive chargers. To maximise charger usage chargers must be installed spread out everywhere, according to the crowd density of each area.
Did he mention the fact it has a sign "Private Land - Maximum Stay 1 Hour"? By the time you've parked, started your charge, nipped to the loo, strolled around the shop, had a coffee & a muffin, back to the loo again.... it could be easy to go over the 1 hour. 90 minutes would be more accommodating if they are trying to create a welcoming experience.
@@zapfanzapfan It is NOT an absolute requirement to fill your battery to 100%. You charge when it's convenient. 22kw can put over 100 miles in your car in an hour. That should keep you going to your next stop. Funny how no-one who makes these arguments demands that petrol cars should fill up completely every time they stop at a petrol station. Never mind that cars with larger batteries tend to have a rapid charging option. Even my 24kwh car has Rapid charging capability.
@@trevorberridge6079 I see the 22kW option as something for people who park and then go do some shopping and eat lunch nearby. My local supermarket/shopping center has 10 or so installed in the parking lot.
So my questions are: What is the percentage of fully wheelchair accessible charging points? 2. Those metal posts appear to be an obstacle; please prove me wrong and how heavy are the charging cables to carry to the car please?..(Many thanks - Phil - Lancashire)
The posts are very much meant to be obstacles, so that some yobo doesn't drive into the chargers. He did say there were staff there to help with charging if needed.
That convenience store check out thing reminds me of an IBM commercial from forever ago. A guy goes into a supermarket stuff's a bunch of crap into his jacket and while he's walking out, the security guard stops him and hands him his receipt...
They've been supposed to build one of these places at Markham ValeVale for about 3 years. They've been stalling the work thoughh because they know nobody will use it at the prices they charge. They've just put the steelwork up, I guess because planning consent was running out, but work has now stopped again and the steel is going rusty! I've got an electric car and a diesel van. I can tell you the electric car is definitely more expensive to run and Robert is very welcome to come and spend a day with me to see what it's like using an electric vehicle in the real world.
Hi I’m a 7 year EV only owner driver living in the north of the country and I’m pleased to see the south of the country have an other state of the art charging hub. 😪
Hard to believe Gatwick and other airports don't have banks and banks of slow chargers in their long-stay car parks. Airports in the UK generally have a small number of them that are hard to find or hard to get a space - and they're missing out. Coming back from holiday with a full charge is preferable to stopping somewhere on the way.
Here in Canada we have Tim Horton's shops littering the country and I have always wondered why don't they put in a bunch of chargers. I am not a fan, by the way, but I do use them when I am on a road trip.
No one talking about how £0.79 per kwh is absolutely insane.
They almost think they are stealing - and they are, LoL.
True.
yes, i used them in the early days when they were 49p but won't touch them now
that is normal fee for a public charger here. They have turned up the taxes a lot for electricity last years. (edit : In sweden)
I give them 12 months before you see them closing these places!
Having driven EVs for the last 12 years, I now know from experience that EV range need not be farther than your bladder range, and that the charging speed need not be faster than your rest room speed.
For your use case maybe. We regularly tow a caravan so any layby has a full (clean) kitchen, stocked fridge and bathroom. So EV range for us has to be car plus 1800Kg caravan around 700 miles in 16 ish hours. Pretty easy with a diesel, no EV comes close yet.
If you plugged in at your layby's you wouldn't need 700 miles of range. And using someone else's bathroom means you have to empty your septic less often.
350 miles range is all I ask for
Agreed. But, for me that tends to be 400-450 miles. I've driven every model Tesla on long road trips. 320mile range isn't ideal for my needs. Which is why I was looking forward to the advertised 500 mile range of the CyberTruck. I was quite disappointed when they unveiled the ranges as being around 320 and you need an additional external battery pack taking up space in an already tiny truck bed just to get 450mile range. As a result I wont be buying the CyberTruck after all. I'll probably rent one just to experience it but I'm eagerly waiting for longer range EV's with roof mounted fold out solar panels so I can travel long distances and get 50 or more miles of solar charge per day when parked.
@@bryanlarsen7562 Plugged in to what? I have never yet seen a layby with a charging point in it.
Something else that's unfortunately pushing electric car ownership to only businesses. It would cost me £63 to charge my electric car here which would get me around 200 miles. My highly uneconomical Ford Focus ST is much more economical than this. Sad things are going this way after we started brightly.
Why not just use the cheaper tesla chargers?
The "it just works" ethic is always thrilling to see enacted. It really shouldn't be a rarity, life doesn't need to be so difficult. More of this approach to everything we do, please!
I am surprised that no. one has built something similar here in California. It's very surprising that some coffee chain like Starbucks has not partnered with a charging operaator.
It is often due to private company restrictions or local regulations preventing this.
In UK we have problems of some existing service stations have single EV supplier agreement.
In America we are so behind EV charging infrastructure (not counting Tesla). Way too many regulations and rules. The greedy oil companies have very strong influence over it.
This is my sentiment every time I see a new video from Fully Charged. It's upsetting. @@georgesvak5332
We are far behind how far ahead we should be - Southern California resident. A surprising amount of disinfo & EV ignorance from people much younger than me.
Actually Starbucks has partnered with Volvo and ChargePoint for a Seattle to Denver route. Cheaper for Volvos but open to all.
Used this when I got back from Copenhagen over the holidays. Charging was straightforward. Unfortunately got back later than the upstairs was open so had to brave the road to walk to McDonald's... which was a dismal experience. Charging was great though.
The man is called Toddington!!! Destined to be a services manager! Very impressive place though
It’s no coincidence; his brother is called Heston and their father owned many UK motorway service stations .
Toddington is the preppiest name I've ever heard.
He is called funkopops enjoyer.
He had a face of "aren't you supposed to be interviewing me, as opposed to telling me all my own information"
Now this is exactly what is required country wide 👍👍
Not just the country wide world wide. I soooo want this in Canada and am really jealous that the UK has it.
They’re distracting you from the time you’re losing by making you spend money and get fat.
Have you seen the cost to charge? No wonder it was empty.
@@glynn36 best way to charge is at home with solar panels if you have them
But if you're on a trip you will need some infrastructure... I personally don't need that much but "Bäcker Schüren" in Hilden was quite nice to visit on my trip to Netherlands
£0.79 per kwh was expensive even during the height of the energy crisis.
Cost? How could you not mention what it costs. It's VERY EASY to provide these type of services at high price. This needs to be available and it also needs to be cheap.
Prices are on their website.
@@gribbler1695 Yes, they're extortionate.
High quality service is not cheap , there is a huge amount of investment to be paid for and keeping things smart is also expensive. If you fill up with petrol at a motorway services and it is anything resembling a pleasant experience - it will cost you !
Please answer this. Why are Gridserve chargers 79p/kWh and Tesla chargers are 44p/kWh
Don’t Tesla subsidise charging for their users worldwide?
Tesla is able to build theirs at a fraction of the cost. The other players have to recover higher costs.
@@rinninno, their entire infrastructure is cheaper and everyone with a Tesla uses their chargers so high usage, and Tesla cars charge very fast so quick turn over, and they use batteries in some places to buy and sell electric.
Ie the tels business model is sensible.
Because Tesla doesn't have restrooms, café and staff at the stations?
Neither do most charging stations in the UK. In fact, Shell and BP make money on their petrol/diesel stations shops.
The chargers at service stops on main roads (motorways) have nothing to do with the service facilities, just like the petrol stations. Service stations are run as a franchise based on some foreign investment money, nothing to do with EV charging on petrol stations.
Been driving an ev for just over two years now. My biggest gripe is not the state of the charging network, but rather how we’ve allowed them all to be so secretive about the cost. I can spot the price of petrol from 400 yards away from a petrol station, but why don’t we display ev charging prices similarly. Sorry Robert, but yet another video where you extol the virtues of a site without mentioning cost. Not everyone can afford top dollar and without displayed prices we find it hard to shop around. Please focus on this in the future.
Ridiculously high prices "charged" by Gridserve, around a year ago ot was 65p for a kWh, and as the cost of energy has fallen, Gridserve has managed to increase their prices to 79pkWh, way higher than petrol on a per mile comparison and without the taxes.
Dover would be a great place for one of these, the charging options there could be better.
2nd 3rd and 4th this!
The issue is so well known that I know you're right, and I have never even been to Dover! 😀
@@MrAdopado my family are down there, there's a Lidl that's not bad and a good charging spot near Folkestone but Dover itself has mostly 7kW chargers.
Where's the fundraiser to get more of these places installed across the country??? This is EXACTLY what the EV industry needs right now.
Totally awesome one stop for the future. I would love to see facilities like this come to and develop all across North America.
A drone flying at Gatwick Airport and not far off the line of the runway. That must have taken a bit of arranging.
They probably didn't mention it. It's a well known fact EV drivers are a superior race so don't need to consult anyone else about their BS
I worked for Toddington in the past. Great guy. Wish the company all the luck they deserve.
Loads more of these, all over the world, at off peak home Tarif rates...
Not going to happen. Gridserve does need to make money.
Just brilliant and a clear demonstration that with the right approach it can be done. Very sincere congratulations to Gridserve for setting the new standard for EV charging! 👏👏👏👏👏👏
Are you serious ?? Have you seen the prices they charge ???
no one said the right way would be the cheap way.@@glynn36
Stick with petrol , he’s on the take
Hopefully one day in the future We can convert all our filling stations/ Petrol stations into electric forecourts With solar on the roofs. With an old pump In the corner for the old cars.
Almost all filling stations in Denmark are installing chargers.
To everyone involved in the Gridserve, well done and thank you!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Yeah, thanks for the extortionate prices that make petrol and diesel cars look really competitive.
It all looks very lovely but at 79p per kwh its like saying a petrol station is lovely although it charges £3 per litre for its fuel.
Gridserve are great I've used the Norwich one and it was amazing. The issue is that (this isn't exclusive for Gridserve) immensely expensive. I charge at home for 9p 70p cheaper than this often it's 80p cheaper. It needs to be around the 40p mark to make any kind of sense if you use it regularly. It's fantastic for those times you use it for long trips any other time it's just to expensive.
Tesla charge non tesla drivers 60p kWh so why are most others charging 79-85p kWh
This kind of charging hub is for occasional use for most people. And it's a multi charger hub with very high speed units. You can't seriously expect it to cost the same as your daytime home tariff after an energy crisis (however false that crisis may be when every energy company in the UK has made all time record profits) . As Johnathan Porterfield of EcoCars says, I don't care about the occasional expense of the costlier chargers if they are convenient and reliable. I always balance cost and convenience. I do about half of my charging for free when I'm at the local supermarket. I've topped up tonight for free and I'll be visiting family near Gatwick tomorrow. I might get my first chance to use the Gatwick hub.
I absolutely understand that this is for occasional use in the current system, however we need to get to the point where it's for everyday use so that people who don't have off street parking for easy charging can just use this as a petrol station. Until we get to that point it's going to be a very hard sell for those that cannot charge at home.
Why shouldn't it cost the same or similar to the base rate of power for a residential house. Large providers have significantly more buying power than I do and can bulk purchase power at guaranteed rates. I'd expect them to make ten to fifteen % profit on every KW sold. @@trevorberridge6079
@@trevorberridge6079enjoy. While I continue to get 700 miles after 4 mins at a diesel pump giving me a cost of 9p a mile.
@berridge6079 1 litre of diesel contains 10kwh of energy and costs £1.5. 10 kwh of energy at gridserve costs £9. EVs are 3 times more efficient than diesel cars (in summer when you don't need to heat up the cabin), so the cost per mile charging at gridserve is only twice that of a diesel car.
Don't get me wrong, I love my EV and I charge at home off peak, but it's way more expensive to run an EV than a diesel if you can't charge at home.
Beautiful site, its just us electric car drivers are being ripped off for price on the road per kwh
1:13 - gotta LOVE that motto!! 😄😉
OMG, the cafes on the charger site, the shopping.... tap-to-go!! Wow, we SO need this for main highway charging stations in Australia. PLEASE send some over 🙏
We NEED this in the US.
In Florida a lot of Tesla chargers are in Wawa’s. If you’re not familiar they have all that stuff, coffee, sandwiches, snacks, soda, breakfast and lunches made to order. And generally clean restrooms. Oh they also sell gas to fossil cars owners. 😂
I love stopping for a charge at Wawa on a road trip, by the time I use the rest rooms, grab a coffee or snack I’m most of the way charged.
Spoke to Toddington at FCL silverstone back in 2019. Came across as a 'man with a plan' , open and genuine as to the challenges ahead. As a North and borders EV owner I'm a bit envious of the 3 sites now open and look forward to more ' appearing higher up the map.
Yep, a man with a plan to make a fortune out of EV owners.
When it comes to airports I would much rather have a trickle charger where I park so I can jump out of the car and catch the flight than an SuperCharger where after I spend 20 minutes topping up and then have to find a place to park before going to the gate.
Some long term parking is now offered as a "We'll charge your car at some point while you're away" which works even better.
@@Yesterzine Sounds like a good arrangement if the price is reasonable
I've been to the Gridserve in Norwich - so easy to use, clean and tidy.
And so expensive. 79p kW running cost is more expensive than petrol which I don't have to spend 30 mins filling up and feel like I have to buy a £5 coffee to pass the time. I see these places as useful on major routes (if they lower the prices) where you need a break but I prefer destination charging where I leave my car to charge and go off and do something useful in my day.
Same sort of building and setup?
Why is the charging cost in the UK so expensive compared to the ones on Euroland?
Partly, ask yourself who owns the power stations in France, Germany, etc. and who owns them in the UK. We subsidise the Europeans as a result of privatisation.
@@Draigthedragon You clearly don't know that EDF are French and are in charge of building Hinckley Point C and it's two sister reactors. Nor do you understand the connection between vested interests in government and the energy suppliers. Neither have you grasped that the French chose to cap electricity prices just as our government could have done if they chose to. It's got nothing to do with subsidising Europeans. WE were being subsidised by the EU until we left. WE were being supplied with electricity by the EU when we were in energy defecit (and some was also coming from German excess renewable energy). And that's not even counting the fact that WE were being given back more than half our contribution to the EU as an automatic discount. The people who benefit from privatisation are those who directly deal with members of our government and donate funds to their party. That's why energy companies in the UK are allowed to quadruple the base cost of energy while making all time record profits.
@@trevorberridge6079 wow. What a rant. And you clearly didn't grasp the point I was making. Which was very much the generalisation of the example you gave of Hinckley Point C. Have fun with those essays, I suspect no one on RUclips has ever bothered to read more than two sentences of one of them.
@@Draigthedragon Who cares?
A lot of mugs in this country that is why. Quite happy to get ripped off with rip off charging costs and overpriced cars, and think it,s absolutely wonderful
Last weekend we drove upto Saltburn beach about 110 miles and 2 hours away for a neices birthday party. There are 2 chargers they were both in use. We were there 4 hours and went back to the car to collect some beach toys, finding one of the charging bays empty. So we parked up, plugged in, downloaded the app with really bad reception, signed in as a guest, with credit card details etc (took about 20 mins due to bad reception). The 22kwh charger started. We were getting 6kw, when we should have been getting 17kw. We needed 30kw to get home. Oh well I signed (hoping it sped up) and went back to the beach to join in the games. I got back to the car and found out it had charged for a total of 5 mins! Needless to say we stopped at an mgf petrol station for 25 mins on our way home. Totally unneeded stop on a day trip.
Yes!!...
.... unfortunately....this the current REALITY of public charging for the majority........!!!
... doesn't get better than this? At 2 minutes into the video I'd be done in a petrol car, and paid less for the privilege too.
Yes. Only a mug thinks this is a clever idea.
Once upon a time, there was a trustworthy and proud new EV owner named Jake and a friendly property manager named Susan. Jake wanted to trickle-charge his EV using the common area electrical outlet next to his parking stall. However, Susan didn't have the budget to pay for the cost of installing a metered charging station. Wanting to help Jake, Susan suggested they install EVnSteven. Thanks to this one simple app, they both lived happily ever after 💚💚
Having been an EVist for 6 months now I would say these places need to be everywhere. However, public chargers are far too expensive. If it wasn’t for the fact I can charge at work for free I would seriously be reconsidering being an EVist.
Hi Rob, I get why you are so excited about this facility, it's something you talked about at 100 times and I'm sure 10 years ago when you got that leaf.
I remember when their first electric forecourt was 24p… nowadays they don’t advertise the price
The only thing I will say is if you don't have home charging, going for a coffee while charging gets old pretty fast. When I am using ICE on longer trips I have the Shell/BP (others available) apps on my phone, I just fill up and go, I am literally done in under 3 minutes.
Public charging is not a showstopper but going for a bite, a coffee or a bit of shopping becomes irritating pretty rapidly, especially if you have kids in the car.
That's why you bring books and games along. Hopefully many rest stops will invest in kids play areas or activity spots. A fenced in Basketball or soccer court would get them running around and burning off some of that pent up energy.
Where do you and your children eat and to quote Robert “ take bio breaks” ? I would have thought hunting down public toilets and food outside of highway service would be a massive inconvenience especially with children. Is there an ICE car culture of not stopping for anything, eating while driving and McIvering Biobreaks ? Because if there is that seems dangerous and if there isn’t your story seems to be missing some details.
This. I don't know about everyone else, but if I'm getting in my car, I'm getting in it to go somewhere. I'm not getting in it so I can stop for coffee, or read a book, or whatever. I'm not driving for a wee day out in a carpark.
@@francesconicoletti2547 It is a good question. If we take the ICE then we will stop at a highway gas station where there are bio break receptacles. And while that is going on I will fill the car, so maybe in and out in ten minutes.
The problem with the EV on a long journey is the lack of reliable very fast charging. But maybe if it gets to a point where we can *reliably* add 100 miles in ten minutes it is doable. So start with 300, do 150 miles, stop and charge for ten mins and be at 250 left, drive another 150, stop for ten minutes and be at 200.
In fact, now I come to think about this. If they fix public very fast charging, an EV is totally doable even on long journeys with kids.
New EV owner in the UK here. Did a 250 mile round trip with family in our EV. My brother was in his diesel and it was far cheaper for him and quicker. The cost of charging alone could kill this initiative. The charging infrastructure is still not great.
What I am seeing in horse traileria is 7kw to 22kw chargers appearing at regional wineries, tourist attractions, sports clubs and beer gardens. This makes sense
This is fabulous. These need to be at every airport around the world and at every major truck stop. However, in Australia, it's more about quantity than quality when you have such vast distances to travel.
Thing that’s going to kill ev’s is the cost of public charging. We run an I3 as a second car and love it - it’s done 30k miles in the last 18 months. We would not replace our other diesel car with an electric car though because the public charging on long journeys would make it as expensive to run as the diesel and the nuisance of a terrible charging network makes it so inconvenient.
And, of course... the EV will be significantly more expensive to buy.... adding to the financial unfeasibility... !
Visited yesterday the place is brilliant thank you to Derek , Leroy & all the team . Toddington must be so proud
I'm privileged to live in Norwich and finally have an EV to be able to use the GridServe here. It's what I can only imagine the first class lounge is like. Really lovely experience.
I think we miss the point. I do not want to go to the restroom, or eat while charging. I want to charge to full in 3 minutes, and then drive away again.
Yes but 79p/kwh.
They increased it from 69p/kwh as the whole sale price reduced.
And no discount for airport workers...
Up until now my dream rest stop was a Pilot Flying J truck stop. They had gas, clean restrooms and good coffee. This place just blew PFJ away.
Love Gridserve, have charged my MG4 at Gridserve Braintree several times. Helpful staff and chargers always work! Way to go Toddington! Malcolm
So nice to see these things. In the south of France things are coming along nicely too. You find charging stations at many of the "aire's" (motorway service stations), including a new one just built along the A64 at the Aire d'Hastingues. Ionity has installed a dozen charging stations in each direction, including 2 stations on each side for vehicles towing, with all the plugs (CCS/Chademo/AC Type 2) and they have tap-to-pay as well as the app/QR code. Of course, being an aire, they have all the services (loo, resto, etc) ... not quite as nice as the Forecourt in this video but pretty good. It's about time.
I couldn't wait to use the Gridserve Hub at Braintree and it was fantastic. Beat any petrol service station I'd ever been to hands down. Over thirty chargers covering every type of car and all the Rapids were running at high speeds. Even the Chademo I needed for my Leaf was running twice as fast as I'd ever seen before. The whole place was good looking, clean and functional. And the eagerly awaited Gatwick hub is now even better. Gridserve had ambitions to open up 100 hubs across the UK. By the time they get even half that number the general infrastructure will have expanded exponentially and the final well worn myths about charging will have drawn their last breath. And Gridserve will be setting the standard for others to follow just as the Electric Highway did before them.
Given the British weather, why aren’t all the chargers under cover ? It’s not like there are going to be any petrol fumes accumulating ? The chargers not under the main building could be under a Perspex awning.
wonder if it would be a good idea to add just a few small hotel style rooms for anyone who wants somewhere to stay the night before they continue their journey. Perhaps even something like those Japanese sleeping pod hotels.
Gatwick already has a few large hotels on the site, a few more just off-site, dozens more that are close enough to run shuttle buses, and countless B&Bs within a couple of miles.
Also, it's not really on the way to anywhere - it's only about half an hour to the sea.
Yeah let's start planning overnight stays just so you can drive a bit further. Insanity rules.
@@angleseyandy9110I’ve got some bad news for you, hotels already exist, they’ve been around for quite a while
I’ve just visited this facility before flying off on holiday. Very impressed by all facilities on what is a a small footprint. Watch out when you leave signage poor to prevent you turning left and driving through a long stay carpark !!! Also costs reflect the investment it was pricy !!!!
I am SOOOO jealous. The US needs to catch up on this stuff!
Hey, not just the US ... the rest of the UK is jealous too!
The future of the service station. Whether this is too early or not is the question but I think that in 20 years this will be the norm. I don't know how much this costs but I doubt that building a petrol station, with the burried tanks, is particularly cheap.
Would be good to have some competition for Gridserve. Another company building similar dedicated ev service stations. Get more stations popping up. Possibly keep the prices down too
What GridServe and Toddington Harper are doing is great. When working a I would travel to Suffolk on a regularish basis, always used Braintree hub to recharge. Great facility.
Since GridServe raised their cost per kWh from 69 to 79 pence per kWh they are not my go to chargers.
Toddington Harper has had a few interviews of late, none of the interviewers that I have listened to have asked the question why a 10 pence increase?
All the good stuff is discussed, solar farms, battery storage, charging hubs. Maybe we need Laura Kuenssberg to interview Toddington Harper?
for 79p I will not be coming there. That's almost double the price that a 50 MPG ICE Cars would have to pay for petrol.
You make my point so perfectly if we are serious about cutting global CO2 we need to reduce consumption of energy/electricity as it contributes 23% of man made CO2,interestingly passenger vechcles only 7% of the world's CO2. One medium sized EV on a fast charge, 20-80% ,uses the same energy as would be used by 35 average households in a day! As it is estimated that in the next 20 years it is unlikely the grid will be able to support more than 10 million EV's charging daily and there are currently 32 million cars in the UK how is that meant to work? Take mobility away from masses and how will our economy function.
I am not anti green I've had solar panels on my garage for over a decade,converted everything in the house to low energy consumption and if the current generation of EV's worked I would have one. But they are inferior to the internal combustion engine in every way except for what comes out of the tail pipe. When 70% of the world's population does not have the means to purchase these expensive devices let alone have the energy to charge them what is their point as global warming effects the whole globe!. They are a political not a technological solution to an important problem and as consumer confidence continues to fall and the their practical failings become more apparent expect the polictians to start moving away from the timeliness for the ending of the production of internal combustion engine vechcles.
The stupidity of his move is illustrated by the fact that the worldwide use of Netflix is responsible for more CO2 than all the passenger cars currently on the road in Europe. If we keep on finding more ways to consume energy then attempting to replace ordinary cars with EV's will basically be pointless and potentially more damaging to our planet. Your example of the energy use of an oil refinery is rather interesting as the largest component of a lithium ion battery is graphite which is obtained from crude oil and without oil you couldn't even build an EV and all it's components.
Hahahaha 😂😂😂
I absolutely love going to Gridserve Braintree. I don't have to join a queue waiting for a charger to become available. The charging is really fast. If I have a problem, the staff are constantly monitoring the forecourt and will come and help. The facilities are clean and modern, and the Costa, Waitrose and WH Smiths are brilliant. I actually look forward to my journey from Kent to Essex in my Fiat 500e knowing Gridserve Braintree is there for me...we just need more please 🙏 ❤xx
Was wondering when we'd get this episode after seeing a teaser for it in an earlier podcast. Almost makes me want to book a flight somewhere so I have an excuse to visit 😁
Me too! Certainly next time I book a flight where I need to drive then this will tip me towards flying from Gatwick... Good to see there are some CHADEMO for my old banger (what's 'electric' for "old banger"?).
@@shonunezekiel zanger? zapper? 😉🤣
I would love to see things like this all over the world!
Massive well done to Gridserve. 🎉 Not only upping the standards of charging stations but generally of rest stops/service stations (I mean it’s not Tebay services but that’s a real one of a kind gem). I’m looking forward to visiting one day, hopefully there will soon be many more of these types of facilities dotted around the country.
Yes there can't be many businesses that have a mark up of 200% on what they buy and do nothing with. Fair play to them, for now, until the bubble bursts
Is this the second Gridserve site or are there more? We need more of these.
Third, behind Braintree, Essex and Norwich, Norfolk.
The third, the first is Braintree, Essex and the second Norwich.
@@Draigthedragon thank you, I was aware of the site in Braintree, was not aware that one had been built in Norwich. Many more to come we hope, Toddington said he intends to open at 100 sites, can’t happen soon enough.
@@peterhetherington914 the 4th one will be Knebworth Estate, Stevenage - seems like they have a healthy pipeline of other electric forecourts... I really hope they do well, it is almost too good to be true!
@@shonunezekiel looking forward to them coming to Kent.
Very impressive. Nothing like it in Oz
The only criticism would be the cash free buying thing - we need to keep cash real. This is what keeps small businesses alive locally.
Very nice. Maybe next time you meet Toddington you can ask him why his prices have more than tripled in the last 3 years?
It’s to take the consumer experience to the next level AKA bleed money out of you in exchange for overpriced junk food.
It costs a lot of money to get these sites rolling. Ecotricity had to run the Electric Highway network at a loss to ensure that there was a network of motorway chargers to help kickstart the march towards EVs. This is always the way with every technology. You can't start from the point you wish you could end at. You've got to build the horse and cart before you make the horseless carriage. You've got to build the steam train before you build the tracks to run it on. You've got to build the Kitty Hawk if you're ever going to end up with Concorde.
That'll be because he knows he has a customer base solely made out of suckers. They've bought an EV, they must be, right? 🤪
Thank you to fully charged and gridserve for making EVs and charging ‘normal’
How much more will you spend and how many more calories will you consume? Not for me.
lol
Absoultely superb station !! Hopefully more countries could make the same. Greetings from Barcelona !
As great as it is, lidl is cheaper, and a coffee + croissant there won't cost me 6 quid. And they're all over the place.
do lidl sell hot drinks? know they have bakery but wasn't aware of any hot drink provision
None of the Lidls anywhere near Gatwick have chargers, and they certainly don't have 22!
Actually I'm not sure, I don't drink coffee after 5pm and I'm usually driving in the evening. I stop at the one in Coventry all the time which is opposite a Morrisons, though. I suppose I was speaking metaphorically, it is a cheap place for a bite to eat and a drink at least. The cost to charge is about 12p/unit cheaper than this place as well. You can always go to a Tesco superstore instead, Coventry also has one 5 mins from Lidl. I just like lidl's bakery and it's opposite Morrisons which have a salad bar that is included in the meal deal. £3.50 for that and a drink and a choccy bar! Yum.
Supermarkets are always better than these overpriced charging places, just pick one that has fallback options nearby in case it's full. I found a few dotted around England that are nearby alternative chargers but I very rarely find them to be in use, and if they are I either wait 5 mins or go elsewhere. Coventry is my fave though, lidl, tesco, and if you're desperate, geniepoint in morrisons, all close together. And their lidl is literally 30 seconds off the motorway, so it's no detour for my journeys.
Lidl has no ground breaking tech in it's car park last time I looked.
100% agree. I rented a Fiat 500e for a couple of days in Auckland, NZ when I was there last, and looking for a career was easy, but they're all out in the open, no cover. We picked a BP charger in Ellerslie just because it had a cafe there, and we were lucky it was unoccupied when we arrived, because there was only one charger that could do CCS or Chademo. But we got 50KW rate and up from 60-95% in 20 min for about $7 while having a coffee at the WildBean. (Id note that only my motorcycle offers cheaper $ per kilometre than this for a public fuel up point). This charging station here though would be a game changer in any city.
Massive respect to your drone pilot, those were some nice shots. Initially I thought they were sped up but looking again, you can see things/people moving at normal speed. Impressive.
It's so good of them to have built in so many other ways to spend more money while paying for a charge without even thinking about it !
I've been here 5 times now, genuinely a great facility!
I used to be a fan of Gridserve but with their current pricing, I'd rather find a tesla charger open to all, much cheaper and much more reliable.
That said, more options is good, but there needs to be a push from influencers like yourself to get the price to a more reasonable level. We're talking more than 10 times the off price some have at their homes. This isn't even cheaper than running an efficient ICE car, so why would a typical ICE driver want to move to EVs? Money talks, now more than ever.
Using the lift when the stairs are right there?
I wonder if Gridserve would entertain the idea of franchising or having national business units so the forecourt idea could be "exported" to other locales. Would love to see these implemented right across Canada.
You can only ask ...
We travelled to Mexico in October from Gatwick, but had to leave our EV at home and use our diesel car, because charging was going to be too much hassle on the way back, after an 11 hour overnight flight 😬
This charging hub is perfect and means next time we fly from Gatwick, we can use our EV and charge here ⚡️👍🏻
There have been rapid chargers immediately around Gatwick for some time. Not many I grant you, but just a short distance away is Pease Pottage Services on the M23 and they have eight Rapid Chargers six of which are brand new high speed chargers. Gridserve make it easier being right there at Gatwick. But, as someone who visits family nearby travellling from London in my mere 24kwh Leaf, I've had no real issues finding convenient charging. Some are even located in very nice pubs with lovely food on the menu.
Still doesn't beat the speed of a diesel refuel.
Gridserve's prices are so high that it means diesel is similarly priced.
@@bw1376 And a lot more convenient.
How much per KWh?
What’s the point of this documentary if this is not included? Or did I miss it?
This is all well and good - but before Gridserve get too smug about what they've done at Gatwick, could they explain why their block of rapid chargers off Tritton Road in Lincoln have been out of action for more than 2 months? People out in the stix drive evs and need convenient access to rapid chargers too...
Fair point. When Gridserve built their first hub at Braintree about 3 years ago their plan was to build 100 similar hubs across the country in short order ... but since then they decided to take over all the knackered old Ecotricity charging sites and upgrade them, which seems to have greatly slowed the roll out of these flagship hubs. Their pressures are completely different now and the logistics of supporting a widely distributed network clearly takes its toll.
These are excellent, and I'm glad to see them, but I really want to see chargers like these integrated with your average Woolworth's, Sainsbury's, etc. Norway are already mixing charging areas with regular shopping (which benefits the retailer with the chargers) and it should be a standard thing across the world.
I have used this facility in my E-Vito. Very easy to use and the facilities are amazing. You would easily get a high roof van in here no problem.
I like that public chargers exist. What I think requires legislation is the ridiculous cost differences in charging at them, unrelated to charging speed. It feels like they're taking the piss. Some special tax for people that give a s***
I'm hoping competition will gradually drive the prices down.
Especially where there are tesla superchargers that are open to all EVs.
Unwavering dedication and humility set you apart. Congrats!
Bot
While having 50 charging stations but only 10 occupied is very handy for the consumer, it is costly for the investor who would rather see a queue of cars than empty expensive chargers. To maximise charger usage chargers must be installed spread out everywhere, according to the crowd density of each area.
Did he mention the fact it has a sign "Private Land - Maximum Stay 1 Hour"? By the time you've parked, started your charge, nipped to the loo, strolled around the shop, had a coffee & a muffin, back to the loo again.... it could be easy to go over the 1 hour. 90 minutes would be more accommodating if they are trying to create a welcoming experience.
I assume that is for people who are not charging, at a 22kW charger a larger car could easily take 4h.
@@zapfanzapfan It is NOT an absolute requirement to fill your battery to 100%. You charge when it's convenient. 22kw can put over 100 miles in your car in an hour. That should keep you going to your next stop. Funny how no-one who makes these arguments demands that petrol cars should fill up completely every time they stop at a petrol station. Never mind that cars with larger batteries tend to have a rapid charging option. Even my 24kwh car has Rapid charging capability.
@@trevorberridge6079 I see the 22kW option as something for people who park and then go do some shopping and eat lunch nearby. My local supermarket/shopping center has 10 or so installed in the parking lot.
So my questions are: What is the percentage of fully wheelchair accessible charging points? 2. Those metal posts appear to be an obstacle; please prove me wrong and how heavy are the charging cables to carry to the car please?..(Many thanks - Phil - Lancashire)
The metal posts are to stop cars driving where they shouldn't, you can see the gaps are large enough for people (even in wheelchairs) to get by.
The posts are very much meant to be obstacles, so that some yobo doesn't drive into the chargers.
He did say there were staff there to help with charging if needed.
I entered this idea in a business competition back in 2015 - Happy that it finally shows up😂
That convenience store check out thing reminds me of an IBM commercial from forever ago. A guy goes into a supermarket stuff's a bunch of crap into his jacket and while he's walking out, the security guard stops him and hands him his receipt...
They've been supposed to build one of these places at Markham ValeVale for about 3 years. They've been stalling the work thoughh because they know nobody will use it at the prices they charge. They've just put the steelwork up, I guess because planning consent was running out, but work has now stopped again and the steel is going rusty! I've got an electric car and a diesel van. I can tell you the electric car is definitely more expensive to run and Robert is very welcome to come and spend a day with me to see what it's like using an electric vehicle in the real world.
Hi I’m a 7 year EV only owner driver living in the north of the country and I’m pleased to see the south of the country have an other state of the art charging hub. 😪
You are starting young
@@jsanders100yeah..... How does he even reach the pedals......!?!?
I have used the Gridserve in Norwich when I’ve visited a friend there for the last couple of years. Always such a lovely experience!
The future is here! Super to see this, we need more!!
Great video Rob! I hope Gridserve opens a forecourt in Ireland soon.
You wouldn't like their prices!
Hard to believe Gatwick and other airports don't have banks and banks of slow chargers in their long-stay car parks. Airports in the UK generally have a small number of them that are hard to find or hard to get a space - and they're missing out. Coming back from holiday with a full charge is preferable to stopping somewhere on the way.
We need places like this in Australia.
I dread to think of the prices.... im sure it will be ripping us off and thats why its kept quiet???
Here in Canada we have Tim Horton's shops littering the country and I have always wondered why don't they put in a bunch of chargers. I am not a fan, by the way, but I do use them when I am on a road trip.
Considering it costs about £800,000 - £1m for a new Petrol forecourt, It'd be interesting to know how much this cost to build.