Chargeplace Scotland changing from Charge your Car to SWARCO eVolt

22614 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!

181 - 200 of 260 Posts

80698

· #181 · Jul 28, 2021

I've been talking to them on Twitter and it's been revealed that my account has not been migrated. This is despite having a CPS branded card and verifying that the account was enrolled in the CPS scheme on the online account prior to now.

They have told me my only option is to sign up again now, and I will get a new RFID Card for £10 one-off with no annual fees, and will get a card out to me by first class post.

A bit annoying that I am having to pay for another card, and tomorrows trip is going to be a little harder as I will have to avoid CPS Chargers for now. But at least I got a quick reply from them explaining the situation rather than the BP way of leaving me to guess for myself. I know where I stand for the time being, as frustrating as that may be it could be worse.

Reactions: 1

farmergiles

· #182 · Jul 28, 2021

80698 said:
I've been talking to them on Twitter and it's been revealed that my account has not been migrated. This is despite having a CPS branded card and verifying that the account was enrolled in the CPS scheme on the online account prior to now.

They have told me my only option is to sign up again now, and I will get a new RFID Card for £10 one-off with no annual fees, and will get a card out to me by first class post.

A bit annoying that I am having to pay for another card, and tomorrows trip is going to be a little harder as I will have to avoid CPS Chargers for now. But at least I got a quick reply from them explaining the situation rather than the BP way of leaving me to guess for myself. I know where I stand for the time being, as frustrating as that may be it could be worse.

Have you tried your existing card? It may still work as they only stated that CYC cards would no longer work.

Harry_Zoe

· #183 · Jul 28, 2021

farmergiles said:
Have you tried your existing card? It may still work as they only stated that CYC cards would no longer work.

The variation in people's experience is remarkable, isn't it? My card is actually a CYC card (it says that on it - I assume the CPS cards have CPS branding?) and it worked fine on a CPS post yesterday.

farmergiles

· #184 · Jul 28, 2021

Harry_Zoe said:
The variation in people's experience is remarkable, isn't it? My card is actually a CYC card (it says that on it - I assume the CPS cards have CPS branding?) and it worked fine on a CPS post yesterday.

Yes, CPS cards are branded as that and no mention of CYC on it. CPS card numbers start with a '6' I believe.

Electrohead

· #185 · Jul 28, 2021

Looking at Twitter just now the migration seems to be a complete sh!t show. I'm sure Chargemeaster haven't been any help/deliberately obstructive but its not like SWARCO couldn't have anticipated that and they've had months to prepare.

Reactions: 1

MDF

· #186 · Jul 28, 2021

Hi, I’ve been trying to follow the progress of this conversation over the past couple of weeks but, with a bit of dyslexia, have found to quite hard.

We are going to Scotland at the weekend for a week of holiday. I was planning to us the rapid charger at Kirkcudbright which is a Charge Place Scotland charger.

Could someone, briefly, summarise what’s happening and what I need to do to be able to charge at Kirkcudbright please?

Many thanks…

MrMajika

· #187 · Jul 28, 2021

MDF said:
Hi, I’ve been trying to follow the progress of this conversation over the past couple of weeks but, with a bit of dyslexia, have found to quite hard.

We are going to Scotland at the weekend for a week of holiday. I was planning to us the rapid charger at Kirkcudbright which is a Charge Place Scotland charger.

Could someone, briefly, summarise what’s happening and what I need to do to be able to charge at Kirkcudbright please?

Many thanks…

Assuming you don't already have a CPS account, you can sign up for free today.

From 2nd August a new app will allow you to start and stop charges via the app. You have the option of a one time £10 fee to order a RFID card for the chargers, which will start and stop charges for you without needing to use the app.

Delivery timescales for the card aren't clear yet but they do seem to be dispatching cards quickly, according to their Twitter feed.

A third option, and the only one available until the new app launches OR you have your RFID card, is to phone the helpline and have a customer service adviser start and stop the charges for you.

Hope that helps.

farmergiles

· #188 · Jul 28, 2021

Electrohead said:
Looking at Twitter just now the migration seems to be a complete sh!t show. I'm sure Chargemeaster haven't been any help/deliberately obstructive but its not like SWARCO couldn't have anticipated that and they've had months to prepare.

It was all going so well until a few minutes ago with most chargers migrated. At least CPS are giving us updates from Swarco.
As for having months to prepare - NOTHING could prepare them for the mess left by CYC.

According to an earlier tweet, the chargers are supposed to switch to free vend if they lose comms.

Reactions: 1

farmergiles

· #189 · Jul 28, 2021

MDF said:
Hi, I’ve been trying to follow the progress of this conversation over the past couple of weeks but, with a bit of dyslexia, have found to quite hard.

We are going to Scotland at the weekend for a week of holiday. I was planning to us the rapid charger at Kirkcudbright which is a Charge Place Scotland charger.

Could someone, briefly, summarise what’s happening and what I need to do to be able to charge at Kirkcudbright please?

Many thanks…

There are some Instavolts at Dumfries & Creebridge, as well as 7kw chargers at the Dumfries Tesco.
Always check with Zapmap for none CPS chargers if you have a problem.
I'm sure they will have it all sorted by the weekend.

Reactions: 1

farmergiles

· #190 · Jul 28, 2021

The live map is now showing more and more chargers with comms (blue) (15:30)

MDF

· #191 · Jul 28, 2021

MrMajika said:
Assuming you don't already have a CPS account, you can sign up for free today.

From 2nd August a new app will allow you to start and stop charges via the app. You have the option of a one time £10 fee to order a RFID card for the chargers, which will start and stop charges for you without needing to use the app.

Delivery timescales for the card aren't clear yet but they do seem to be dispatching cards quickly, according to their Twitter feed.

A third option, and the only one available until the new app launches OR you have your RFID card, is to phone the helpline and have a customer service adviser start and stop the charges for you.

Hope that helps.

Thank you so much for that clear explanation.

Does anyone know the name of the new app that is going to be available from 2nd August?

MDF

· #192 · Jul 28, 2021

farmergiles said:
There are some Instavolts at Dumfries & Creebridge, as well as 7kw chargers at the Dumfries Tesco.
Always check with Zapmap for none CPS chargers if you have a problem.
I'm sure they will have it all sorted by the weekend.

Thanks for the tip about the Instavolts and the Tesco chargers. I've used Instavolt before and always found them to work really well.

80698

· #193 · Jul 28, 2021

MDF said:
Does anyone know the name of the new app that is going to be available from 2nd August?

The ChargePlace Scotland App is Now Live - Charge Place Scotland

The ChargePlace Scotland app is now live and will allow you to: Start a charging session View your charging history Locate nearby charge points Make payments The ChargePlace Scotland app

chargeplacescotland.org

You should be able to access them via other cards and apps in the future via a roaming agreement too. But this will be confirmed closer to the time when it happens.

freddym

· #194 · Jul 28, 2021

Harry_Zoe said:
Yes thanks, I got the email and acted on it. I have a working Swarco e.connect account and a new direct debit, although the charge I did yesterday on a CPS isn't showing up, not entirely unexpectedly based on others comments.

Hedley's link is working for me now, but it just takes me to my old CYC account page.

I'll give it another day or two before I complain, because I couldn't even access my Swarco account yesterday until late on in the day, so they're making progress even if they're not the best at communicating it.

MDF said:
Thank you so much for that clear explanation.

Does anyone know the name of the new app that is going to be available from 2nd August?

On Google Play store, the App is ( was) ChargePlaceScotland Swarco UK Ltd.

SCA1972

· #195 · Jul 28, 2021

freddym said:
Not paying a charge is not really a sustainable position. Vast majority of CPS chargers are not free.

CPS seem to disagree with you about the vast majority not being free:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1420343101319782402

Reactions: 1

freddym

· #196 · Jul 28, 2021

SCA1972 said:
CPS seem to disagree with you about the vast majority not being free:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1420343101319782402

Good for you. Hopefully your routes don't take you into areas where there are 0 per cent free chargers since it is seemingly a big deal for some.

Now let's see, are we talking about geographical area covered or number of outlets include slow / fast type 2s

Carsick Steve

· #197 · Jul 28, 2021

farmergiles said:
Yes, CPS cards are branded as that and no mention of CYC on it. CPS card numbers start with a '6' I believe.

Another bit of the puzzle - as I type I’m getting a charge from an Evolt Type 2 CPS charger in Aberdeen having used my CYC card (number starts with a 5) to access it. I’m hoping that means that card will still be working on Friday when I need to get to Glasgow…

farmergiles

· #198 · Jul 28, 2021

SCA1972 said:
CPS seem to disagree with you about the vast majority not being free:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1420343101319782402

I can't believe 80% are still free. Every week another council imposes a charging fee and time limits but maybe there are a greater number of free ones in the Central Belt councils.

Reactions: 1

farmergiles

· #199 · Jul 28, 2021

Carsick Steve said:
Another bit of the puzzle - as I type I’m getting a charge from an Evolt Type 2 CPS charger in Aberdeen having used my CYC card (number starts with a 5) to access it. I’m hoping that means that card will still be working on Friday when I need to get to Glasgow…

Probably on free vend due to this afternoons comms problems and any old rfid will work, especially if you have used the charger before.

Reactions: 3

farmergiles

· #200 · Jul 28, 2021

Carsick Steve said:
Another bit of the puzzle - as I type I’m getting a charge from an Evolt Type 2 CPS charger in Aberdeen having used my CYC card (number starts with a 5) to access it. I’m hoping that means that card will still be working on Friday when I need to get to Glasgow…

There are some BP Pulse chargers at Dunblane, Stirling and Cumbernauld if you have a problem. Just install the app add a debit/credit card then top up at least £5. Works well for me at the M8 MSA.

Reactions: 1

181 - 200 of 260 Posts

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