[donald]

I just completed a bit of a west-to-east sort of trip across the Midlands, did a top up at Cheltenham Race course (working again, at least ONE polar in the country is!?) and decided to go by the InstaVolt at Shell, Frilford, with a view to a splash-and-dash to see how that worked out and whether it was a good stop or not.

There are two 125kW chargers there. I thought Plugshare might have meant they were this shell-charge thing rather than InstaVolt but very evidently nice shiny new Instavolts. Is Shell not trying to do this any more, giving in to Instavolt?

First ever time for me on a >50kW charger. I thought the Soul '18 was kitted for 70kW charging, mine nudged over 50kW and no further. Maybe if I was at a lower SOC? Or maybe just programmed for 50kW in UK?

Anyway, very nicely laid out stop and this would be a mere 10 min diversion off the A34 if you were travelling North/South by coming off at A420 and back on via A415 (or vice versa if you were South-to-North), which, TBH, is no more than the time it realistically takes to come off A34 and weave into the services for the [currently knackered] Didcot polar.

This is also a shorter-in-time diversion than if you were to cut the M40 short by heading for the Bannatyne InstaVolts near Banbury, not that I have yet tried that route but more slow-roads to try to negotiate than the Frilford diversion.

One odd thing .. it cancelled on the button, 'stop charging', no re-entry of the card or anything. That could be a trouble-maker's opportunity if you didn't stay with the car.

I expect to be using this location again, but will be of no use in the more distant future for my 22kW Zoe, if I get one.

 

[srichards]

Not all shell branded forecourts are owned by shell. Geniepoint are on a lot of them. So maybe one of the other groups is using instavolt.

 

[Duncan]

One odd thing .. it cancelled on the button, 'stop charging', no re-entry of the card or anything. That could be a trouble-maker's opportunity if you didn't stay with the car.
.

All of the Instavolt chargers that I've used do that. So far not had any problem with anyone hitting stop unexpectedly.


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[donald]

All of the Instavolt chargers that I've used do that. So far not had any problem with anyone hitting stop unexpectedly.


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Hmm, really?

Odd, all the 'first gen' Instavolts I tried required a card rescan to confirm. Yes, there was a button to stop but I was still asked to rescan, IIRC.

 

[Duncan]

Hmm, really?

Odd, all the 'first gen' Instavolts I tried required a card rescan to confirm. Yes, there was a button to stop but I was still asked to rescan, IIRC.

There's a block of 4 in a car park in Stroud which I think are first-gen (scrolling matrix display rather than a screen). The matrix display says to scan card to stop but I ignore that and press the stop button and it just works.

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[PaulD]

There's a block of 4 in a car park in Stroud which I think are first-gen (scrolling matrix display rather than a screen). The matrix display says to scan card to stop but I ignore that and press the stop button and it just works.

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I just press the stop charge button in the car and it does as said. No need to do anything with the charger other than just replace the cable. So alternatives available.

 

[EricM]

Surely the best alternative to Didcot would be the Lidl at Wallingford. I used in October when coming up the A34 and had no trouble getting on the charger (well away from store entrance so no ICEing). It was of course free then but the current 23ppu charge is about as cheap as you can find other than free and it would probably make it less likely to be in use.

 

[Duncan]

Hmm, really?

Odd, all the 'first gen' Instavolts I tried required a card rescan to confirm. Yes, there was a button to stop but I was still asked to rescan, IIRC.

I wonder what happens if I press stop before unlocking the car? I haven't tried that but perhaps it requires card confirmation if the vehicle is locked but accepts unlocking the car as equivalent.

Or maybe it works differently with different cars.

 

[Maui]

There’s also some rapids (2x IIRC) going into the BP at Didcot Milton opposite the Harvester - so more choice soon!

 

[Aragorn]

One shell near us has a pair of Instavolt units, and another has a CYC/CPS unit.