[Ambassador Spock]

Hey everyone, I recently used public charging for the first time and that got me looking at options. The place I was charging at had one Ecotricity station with a 43 kW Type-2 plug (from which my R110 pulled 22 kW just fine), but I did have to wait about half an hour for a Jaguar I-Pace to finish up. There was a bank of six empty "Ionity" chargers at the same service area, but I knew nothing about them and they looked like fancier Tesla-ish charge points. Could I have used them to charge, or would they not have had the right plug for my Zoe? Similar question about Instavolt stations - I keep hearing/reading good things about them. Do they tend to have Type-2 plugs, or do they only have DC supercharging?

 

[80698]

Ionity (CCS Only) and Instavolt (Chademo and CCS) are both DC only. Your Zoe can only use AC.

 

[cah197]

New Zoe has a CCS option.

 

[Ambassador Spock]

Ionity (CCS Only) and Instavolt (Chademo and CCS) are both DC only. Your Zoe can only use AC.

That's what I was thinking, but it is good to have confirmation. Thanks!

 

[cDy]

I assume the Jaguar was charging using the CCS connector on the EH charger. (It would only take 7kW from the AC connection.) If you are ever really desperate for a charge and the owner looks approachable you can always ask politely if they would be willing to move to Ionity or Instavolt to free up the AC for you. I might do it, for example, if I didn't have charge to get anywhere and they had just started charging from 0%.

 

[Ambassador Spock]

I assume the Jaguar was charging using the CCS connector on the EH charger. (It would only take 7kW from the AC connection.) If you are ever really desperate for a charge and the owner looks approachable you can always ask politely if they would be willing to move to Ionity or Instavolt to free up the AC for you. I might do it, for example, if I didn't have charge to get anywhere and they had just started charging from 0%.

No, he was using the same Type-2 connector I plugged in after he left. Maybe that was why he was complaining about low charging speeds?

 

[80698]

I assume the Jaguar was charging using the CCS connector on the EH charger. (It would only take 7kW from the AC connection.) If you are ever really desperate for a charge and the owner looks approachable you can always ask politely if they would be willing to move to Ionity or Instavolt to free up the AC for you. I might do it, for example, if I didn't have charge to get anywhere and they had just started charging from 0%.

It's rare for Jaguars to charge successfully on Ecotricity CCS (Jag being the one manufacturer that still doesn't play nice with DBT units) Chances are they were on type 2 getting the range they need to move on to the likes of Instavolt.

 

[cah197]

No, he was using the same Type-2 connector I plugged in after he left. Maybe that was why he was complaining about low charging speeds?

You really do have to wonder about some people.

 

[Rooster-x]

Yeah its happened to me as well, couldn't understand why an I-pace would be tying up an AC rapid but I guessed it must not like Ecotricity CCS, fortunatley he went after 10 min and I could plug my hungry R110 Zoe in.

 

[G.a.r.y]

He probably didnt realise he should be on CCS.... I was queueing behind an i-pace once at South Mimms when the only working Ecotricity charger was AC/Chademo (there was a Leaf on Chademo) and asked why they were waiting as the working machine didnt have CCS.... basically they didnt know about the extra connectors under the type2 port on their car, hadn't realised they were there and that they should use them...

The dealer hadn't shown them or told them about DC charging.... their next comment was "oh thats why I didnt get many miles earlier from 45 minutes of charging"... Doh.

 

[cah197]

I wonder how many will get rid of their iPace after a year because of the slow charging?

 

[dk6780]

I wonder how many will get rid of their iPace after a year because of the slow charging?

and go back to ICE ....

I wonder whether it is time to start employing wardens at bigger establishments to support the conversion from ICE to EV?

As an aside, have you ever seen any "equality" support offered at charge points like there is at ICE fuel points? My guess is that most cashiers wouldn't know how to use one.

 

[555djx]

Here’s a link to an earlier topic about Mr. Negative Numpty who ended up exchanging his iPace for an ICE!

 

[E7EV]

and go back to ICE ....

I wonder whether it is time to start employing wardens at bigger establishments to support the conversion from ICE to EV?

As an aside, have you ever seen any "equality" support offered at charge points like there is at ICE fuel points? My guess is that most cashiers wouldn't know how to use one.

I think this will happen at Electric Forecourts, where there will be staff on hand and an EV information centre in the building.