Chargeplace Scotland changing from Charge your Car to SWARCO eVolt

22613 Views 259 Replies 32 Participants Last post by Duncan, Sep 2, 2021

DBMandrake

Discussion Starter · Mar 5, 2021 (Edited)

News has just hit that Chargeplace Scotland (CPS) who have used Charge your Car for their authentication and billing for the last several years will be switching to SWARCO eVolt starting in July:

SWARCO eVolt to operate ChargePlace Scotland | Transport Scotland

www.transport.gov.scot

This is an interesting albeit not unexpected change. What does it mean for end users?

Will existing RFID cards continue to work or do we need new ones? Will CPS accounts (which are basically just CYC accounts and use the same CYC app) be migrated across or will we be needing to create new accounts?

Will CPS cards stop working on CYC sites in England and will CYC cards stop working on CPS sites in Scotland?

Will CPS finally get their own mobile app instead of just using the CYC branded app and a fairly useless web browser based lookup?

While I of course recognise eVolt and a lot of rapids on the CPS network are already eVolt units, I have no knowledge of their ability to run a back end authentication and billing system, although they're unlikely to be worse than CYC.

So, good news? Bad news? Ambivalent ?

To be honest it's quite a while since I've used a CPS charger!

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Hedley Wright

· #62 · Jul 11, 2021

Not too chuffed at receiving this by email from Chargeplace Scotland this morning…

“The annual renewal of your ChargePlace Scotland access card is due on 7/30/21 12:00 AM.

As your access card is set to renew automatically each year, a payment of £20 is due to be taken 5 days before the renewal date via your direct debit.”

There’s no annual fee after the SWARCO change on 27/7/21 so I’ve emailed CPS support to request that they cancel the planned direct debit.

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Hedley Wright

· #66 · Jul 11, 2021

freddym said:
Pretty sure you can delete auto renewal via your account.

I’ve been unable to log into my account for the last week - get an HTTP Status 403 error message. Anyone else?

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Hedley Wright

· #68 · Jul 11, 2021

farmergiles said:
Since Swarco take over on the 26/27th, it may not be taken but I'd just bite the bullet and do nothing rather than have the hassle of the card being cancelled by mistake and then you possibly having to pay £10 to rejoin and receive a new card. (Swarco do say they cannot refund renwal charges happening before they take over, which implies they will have cancelled the CYC DDs when they have).
The charging payments are being switched from GoCardless to E-Volt by the time of the switch over without you having to do anything.

The critical thing here is that they take payments five days in advance of the renewal date, so 25/7/21 in my case.

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Hedley Wright

· #69 · Jul 11, 2021

farmergiles said:
Use this url:

Charge Your Car - UK's open recharging network

secure.chargeplacescotland.org

Thank you - that linked worked. I’ve cancelled auto-renewal.

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Hedley Wright

· #70 · Jul 11, 2021

freddym said:
Pretty sure you can delete auto renewal via your account.

Thank you, done.

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Hedley Wright

· #139 · Jul 26, 2021

Duncan said:
The new swarco app is live although it doesn't actually list any charging points yet.
View attachment 147652

ChargePlace Scotland - Apps on Google Play

Find stations and Charge your EV with the ChargePlace Scotland

play.google.com

I don’t see anything on the iOS App Store yet.

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Hedley Wright

· #175 · Jul 28, 2021 (Edited)

Harry_Zoe said:
Just chipping in to say the local CPS 22kW post I use most often worked fine with my old CYC card last night. (I think I decided to join CYC rather than CPS so as to be able to use their chargers if ever in England). Just waiting on my new RFID card now, which is hopefully in the post.

However, no charging session showing yet in my new Swarco e.connect account and I can't access the CPS website with my old userid and password. CPS is giving me a passive aggressive "forgotten your password?" message, but the Swarco website was doing the same yesterday until it fixed itself, so hopefully I'll be able to access the CPS site today at some point.

You should be able to login via Charge Your Car - UK's open recharging network

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Hedley Wright

· #209 · Jul 29, 2021

Carsick Steve said:
I got a charge from a CPS machine today with my CYC card.

So I asked CPS via Twitter if that would still be the case on Friday ahead of a trip. Their response: only a CPS card will work, or a call to theirservice centre on 0141 648 0750.

Interesting, but not what I had been led to believe by them. Had you asked for your details to be transferred to the CPS scheme and had an email confirmation that you have been transferred to the CPS scheme?

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Hedley Wright

· #211 · Jul 29, 2021

Carsick Steve said:
Yes, although I’ve used my CYC card on both sides of the border for years so wasn’t a CPS member till now. I got an email on Friday saying i was now a CPS member. But they’ve (hopefully) sent my new CPS card to my home address in Manchester and I’m in Aberdeen this week!

I’m in the same position. They’ve just confirmed to me (very quickly) via twitter that CYC cards will not work and are sending me a CPS card. Won’t get that until I’m back home in 10 day‘s time so just hoping there’s a phone signal when I need to charge. They say they would have adopted CYC rfid cards onto the system but BP wouldn’t permit it.

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Hedley Wright

· #215 · Jul 29, 2021

Harry_Zoe said:
(Just joshing @farmergiles - I'm in the Lochgilphead area this weekend and do appreciate your regular updates on the local charger status)

Me too, near Tarbert for a week from Sunday.

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Hedley Wright

· #216 · Jul 29, 2021

Apparently (from the horse‘s mouth) currently at some chargers ANY rfid card (e.g. bank card) is starting a charge. A bit hit and miss but worth a try if you’re stuck without a phone signal so can’t call them to start a charge.

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Hedley Wright

· #221 · Jul 29, 2021

farmergiles said:
Now can access my account after clicking the reset password link, at:-

https://account.swarcoeconnect.org/

Many thanks to JC on the CPS twitter page for a fantastically fast response.

Yes, their support via Twitter has been exemplary. Long may it continue.

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