[Malcolm Hedges]

Morning All

I've just bought an ID.3 to replace the i3 and in the course of schlepping round a few dealers noticed that all 4 of them had chargers, normally 1 CCS funny old grey box and a few type 2, some with and some without cables. Invariably ICE'd but thats a well worn topic ... None of this appear on any charging maps it seems and all were behind security bollards and hence not available outside office hours.

Then just before Christmas I noticed this ....

Volkswagen significantly expands charging infrastructure

The Volkswagen brand is significantly expanding the charging infrastructure at its German sites. Some 750 new charging points are planned for next year, including the first High Power Charging stations with up to 300 kW power. Some 2,000 charging points in total are expected to be in operation...

www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

So I wrote to one of the contacts who kindly replied, here's the gist of it:

" We fully agree that charging is a key success factor for E-Mobility. That is why Volkswagen is engaged in various activities to improve the charging infrastructure in Europe.

· We are building up public charging points at our site locations in Germany (as stated in the press release).

· Our dealers will offer charging points, too. Every Volkswagen dealer in Europe including the UK will offer at least two charging points, many of them even more. We encourage our dealers to make the charging experience as positive as possible and support them by offering state-of-the art charging hardware and software. However, our dealers are independent companies and – at the end of the day - make their own decisions. So it might be helpful to give your dealer a direct feedback.

· Finally, Volkswagen is part of the expanding IONITY network that offers more and more High Power Charging sites all over Europe.

Please note that we are dedicated to establish a truly public, non-proprietary network. There is still a lot of work ahead, but we (and many other companies) are working hard to improve.

I will share your useful information/feedback with my colleagues at Volkswagen UK. "

Very nicely put I thought, obviously there is the frustration with the dealerships but it seems madness to have a resource that could be used that is not advertised and not always available. It could be a revenue generator if done properly, even mu local BMW dealer had their Polar in an accessible part o their site.

So I thought I would pursue his suggestion (I have) and encourage others to do the same but how to. Most dealerships are part of a group such as Inchcape, do we write to them ? Do we write to VW UK ? We drivers would argue their are advantages for the dealer in doing this but they still seem less than inclined to embrace the whole EV thing, maybe if people have experience with progressive dealers we go that route and chip away at it.

Any thoughts ? Waste of time ?

Malcolm

 

[Kansalis]

My dealer (Citygate High Wycombe) are in the process of having some chargers installed. They already have a couple of AC chargers, I believe the new ones are fast DC chargers but haven't asked. They are just nondescript grey boxes from a distance. I'll check tomorrow & ask about them as my car is going back to have some issues fixed.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

I know that Inchape VW Chester had a couple of 7kW posts since it was built.
They always had e-Golfs (from their stock I think) topping up whenever I went in.

 

[Big277wave]

My dealer, Citygate, South Ruislip appears to have had a type 2 charger installed together with CCS unit. As best as I can tell the CCS unit is 22kW. They are not behind a gate but are RFID activated. I've no idea what cards work.

 

[Kiltox]

Not exactly related but one of the only Tesco sites near me that has a rapid charger as well as the usual destination chargers is right next door to a VW dealer - I did wonder if it was coincidence or not given the VW involvement in the Tesco/PodPoint rollout.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

My dealer, Citygate, South Ruislip appears to have had a type 2 charger installed together with CCS unit. As best as I can tell the CCS unit is 22kW. They are not behind a gate but are RFID activated. I've no idea what cards work.

In some cases, the chargers are classed as "private" & only the RFID cards the dealership holds will work.
As in you'd have to ask their reception desk to start the charge for you.

 

[TVEV]

I'm not sure how useful public chargers are at car dealerships. Chargers for the dealership's own use are probably a good thing. to charge service vehicles and demonstrators etc..

Public charging stations are more about location, location, location. Same goes for petrol stations. Not many car dealerships have petrol stations joined to them.

I'm not making any judgement on the merits of having public chargers at dealerships, just musing.

 

[Kansalis]

I would have thought it would be a potential business generator for dealers to have public chargers at their locations. Extra footfall of people who have 30-60 minutes of waiting for their car to charge, with little else to do? Can't be a bad thing to have them looking at cars on the forecourt...

Obviously it has never been practical to simply install a traditional petrol garage, but considerably easier to install a few DC chargers in the car park. They will already have suitable electricity infrastructure as a business location.

 

[93410]

My local dealer (Martins in Camberley town centre) have 2 charge points I think, they told me I could park up and use them whenever I was in town - not sure what spec they are but it would mean free parking even if they're only 7kW

 

[roadhawk]

My dealer (Martins, Kidlington) has said I can use their chargers. They have at least 1 CCS (and looks like another being added), and a couple of type 2 chargers (not sure whether they are 7kw or less). I have not needed to take them up on the offer.

 

[Padrino]

I would have thought it would be a potential business generator for dealers to have public chargers at their locations. Extra footfall of people who have 30-60 minutes of waiting for their car to charge, with little else to do? Can't be a bad thing to have them looking at cars on the forecourt...

I am strongly against this 😂

Few years back I went for a service to my local Audi dealer with my ICE car, while walking around waiting for my courtesy car I've spotted an S6 in the forecourt....went inside to ask just to have a look....long story short, never collected my car from service but 2 days later I drove away in the S6 that I was supposed just to look at 🤣
As you can imagine the conversation at home was a bit tense. Good thing is that my girl is not Italian, otherwise I would have been dead on arrival 😂 😂 😂
That was THE most expensive service I've ever paid for in my life 😎

 

[Malcolm Hedges]

Whereas my girl is Italian (sort of) and just let's me get on with it !

Meanwhile a couple of months after opening my local Tesla dealer has 8 v3 superchargers outside the front door a couple of minutes off the A12.

One thing seems clear, coordinated it is not (on VW's behalf). You sort of wonder where's the breaking point for this business model, how long before they get bought out/go out of business, I saw a report a while back that GM are telling Cadillac dealers to accept they are going full EV to get bought out.

I'll try and do some research into who owns these dealerships and go from there

 

[ChrisCross123]

I am strongly against this 😂

Few years back I went for a service to my local Audi dealer with my ICE car, while walking around waiting for my courtesy car I've spotted an S6 in the forecourt....went inside to ask just to have a look....long story short, never collected my car from service but 2 days later I drove away in the S6 that I was supposed just to look at 🤣
As you can imagine the conversation at home was a bit tense. Good thing is that my girl is not Italian, otherwise I would have been dead on arrival 😂 😂 😂
That was THE most expensive service I've ever paid for in my life 😎

Which is why I am hoping my local dealer doesn't have an ID3 in the showroom when I take my GTE to be serviced next week

 

[Woodulike]

Vindis at Huntingdon have two older tetheted type 2 charger points that you can just plug into. They also have a rapid and a fast charger with a socket that need a card to start them.

Last time I looked my local dealer didn't have any chargers. I'll check again when I go in for the update next week

 

[Orrery]

I'm not sure how useful public chargers are at car dealerships...

Not really that much use, judging by Nissan dealers. Some dealers are good, and I have used them, but to most of them it is just a pain in the neck. Dealerships are always rammed and have a shortage of parking, which will mean that the spaces will either be ICEd or have dealer cars charging on them. My local Nissan dealer puts cars just out of the workshop onto the charger as part of their service, in addition to the valet. Add to that the sales guys who will quickly cotton on to having an EV where they can always charge for free at work.

So, don't get too excited about it, just I'd recommend not getting too excited about any free charging scheme - it will always end in tears. Ecotricity chargers were free when they started, and I remember meeting one young lady on the charger at Baldock on the A1 who had 'popped in on the way back from the school run for a free charge'. It transpired that she could charge at home but had justified the cost of the car on the basis that charging was free - her jaw almost hit the floor when I told her that they were planning to start charging for charging.

 

[Malcolm Hedges]

Not much use if not done properly, but the 8 v3 superchargers at my dealer in Chelmsford, they're pretty useful

 

[RangeAngst]

My dealership does have a number of chargers. However my ID3 was with them for over a week getting the software update done. On collection they couldn't even be bothered to charge the car up to their recommended 80%. So allowing drivers coming into dealerships may prove problematic.

 

[Malcolm Hedges]

The "technical" solution is to build them outside of the dealer forecourt in dedicated spots like Tesla do. The problem VW have is as they stated, they don't own the dealerships like Tesla do, so the dealers can do what they want.

The potential is if the dealers are lobbied to adopt a more customer friendly model, this could change. Or to put it another way, what's the point of VW rolling these out to dealers if they going to be ICE'd by the dealers and not available out of office hours ?