Got a call back from them.

AC is still offline. This is making me question how sensible it was for me to switch my gad and electricity to them, I will need to check what I need to do to stop that, I fear.

 

I wouldn't switch to them on the strength of the electric highway alone (although it's a justifiable reason for sure) and I wouldn't leave them just because it's broken either.

Does seem the AC at IKEA MK has been down for a LONG time now though.

 

My reasoning wasn't quote that simple. I had been looking for a more green energy supplier. As I started to research EVs I came across Ecotricity. I liked what I read about them, with respect to their domestic energy supply, and that was the main reason I made the decision to move. Now, given that I was going to purchase an EV, the extra £40 off per year is a nice bonus, and the Electric Highway was also something positive that I felt was worth supporting. So whilst the electric highway certainly did feature in my reasons to switch, it was in no way the main factor.

This, of course, begs the question, if it was not the main factor in me switching to them, why is the problem with one of the chargers a reason for switching back? Good question. The problem I have now is this piece of equipment has been offline for at least 5 weeks. I discovered it offline 5 weeks ago, but I do not know how long prior to that there has been a problem. I have called them a couple of time per week asking if it is back online, asking for an update, asking for any kind of information around what is wrong with the unit, what steps are being taken to fix it or how long it might be before it is fixed or there might be some kind of an update. And each time, including today, the answer has been, and I am paraphrasing here, it is with the engineers/don't know what is wrong/don't know what needs to be done/don't know why it has not been fixed/don't know why we have no update/don't know when it will be fixed/don't know when we will know when it will be fixed.

So this is my issue. I don't think I want to do business with a company that has a piece of customer facing equipment, even when the equipment is not part of the core business and it is provided to the customers free of charge, and that equipment is broken for at least 5 weeks, and despite repeated requests for information they are unable or unwilling to tell customers what is wrong, why it is taking so long to fix and when it is likely to be fixed. How can you trust a company that can't provide any information on a piece of their equipment that has been broken for 5 weeks?

 

There's no indication on the charger that AC is faulty, which might explain why the map didn't show it (poor excuse though). Certainly I saw a Zoe driver there a couple of weeks ago that couldn't get it to work, and she'd phoned them too, so they certainly know about it.

... And the map is quite capable of showing the charger as partly offline.

 

No I agree, the charger is not showing an error, it simply does not work on the AC side. I know they know about it because I called them 5 weeks ago and they told me AC was offline and they were aware of it.

Apparently the map only reports on DC and their system will not allow them to report mixed availability.

 

Well the good news is there's two other, free to use, ecotricity operated AC Rapids about 5 miles away from Ikea on the M1!

There's also a whole bunch of pay per use chargemaster Rapids in MK, but I don't honestly know if they're AC.

 

Yeah, I have been using the chargers around MK when I am stuck. Was supposed to be having the home charger installed today, but got a call from the company telling me their installer can no longer do installs. Have been waiting 3 weeks, not will need to wait probably another week. The problem with the chargers at Newport Pagnell is that by the time I have gotten on and off the motorway I have wasted so much power that I might as well not have bothered... They are in a good spot is one is travelling along the M1, which is entirely the point, but for someone living in Buckingham they are a little out of the way. The charger at Cherwell is actually much handier for me, and I have used it quite a lot.

So, from a charging perspective, things have not been great, from an EV side I am loving it. Love the Zoe so far.

 

Home charging really is what it's all about, makes such a positive difference to driving/living. Easy life.

 

Yes. Can't wait until that has been set up. Very disappointed with my installer letting me down at short notice. I think I risk coming across as too whiney, possibly too late to worry about that, but in fact overall I am delighted with my move to EV and have been recommending it to others, even with my teething problems.

 

Can you speak to your dealer to get a loan of the "granny lead", you can use it to charge at home from a normal 13 amp socket!

 

I think I will limp on as I am. I bought the car second hand, so the charge point was my own responsibility anyway...

Care free home charging is almost here, I hope...