The PSA cars have an app so you should be able to check it on that...

Cable situation looks a bit of a mess though. The instavolts with the arm thingies are far more flexible.

 

Downside of not being able to operate via the app - you cannot see how the charge is advancing, while sitting having a coffee in the services.

Advertised charging speed up to 120Kw. On both occasions, even when the only vehicle drawing power, my Peugeot e2008 would not charge faster than around 1kw/min (I understand it should be able to achieve 100Kw).

You can check the state of charge using your My.Peugeot app. There are other apps out there that can monitor your SoC such as Tronity and Juice Pilot.

Your car will only charge at the maximum advertised rate of 100kW from 0% to 20%. From 20% to ~80% it will be able to charge up to 75kW. Around 30kW up to 85% and then rapidly drops away. Your cars BMS will determine the maximum charge it can take which may be below the advertised figure.

 

Thanks for charging speed information. I use the rather clunky MyPeugeot app to monitor charging at home, forgot about using it on the road!

 

Looks like you can get 3 cars in there if you ignore the markings entirely.
And I've heard that some kind of cable management device, like an arm, will be retrofitted.

But for the speed, evidence is growing that the best is of the order of 65-70kW, and possibly limited by the capacity of the electrical feed.

 

Looks like you can get 3 cars in there if you ignore the markings entirely.

Yes, from that photo, if the Ipace had shifted close to to the left kerb, would they have still had enough cable? Is the socket on the Ipace at the front? Gridserve prob just need to remove all the hatching and in the left position have a sign that says park as far to the left as possible. It would be quite annoying to be mid charge then have someone ask you to move the car. Then add in the mix of a new generation of entitled drivers, and with now working chargers, there may be a few heated conversations! At least there won't be a 3kW PHEV having a go on these ones.

That said, the spacing looks very generous when compared to a dual Instavolt -then you can be easily bumping doors with the car next to you.

 

Had an experience of these and worked well for i3 a few weeks ago. The one thing I did not like was where the units were- just by the main exit route leaving the services car park. For the i3 we have to reverse in and in busy times it will temporarily mean me blocking the road to reverse in. Not a biggie and would only be an issue if busy. When we went it was very quiet.

 

Wait they're spacing out dual units to only accommodate 1 car at a time? I'm going to give that a "bruh"

Tell me it's just that one site

 

They're currently replacing ancient, existing chargers with new, working ones that just happen to be dual-head, but they're not moving them to a more logical position because they're not ready to alter the wiring yet.

 

Advertised charging speed up to 120Kw. On both occasions, even when the only vehicle drawing power, my Peugeot e2008 would not charge faster than around 1kw/min (I understand it should be able to achieve 100Kw).

Could you explain what you mean by 1Kw/min? Makes no sense .

 

Taken literally I think it equates to 60 kWh in one hour, or more conventionally, a charge rate of 60 kW, which seems to be reasonable.

 

Yes I think he means 60kW - 1kWh per minute.

Looks like a bit of a mess of a parking situation there - only ever able to accommodate 2 cars for a pair of chargers that are supposed to be able to take 4. I don't think you can expect people to guess that they need to ignore the markings to enable a third car! Hopefully will be rectified.

 

Yes, as @mad_rich said, I mean approx 60kw charge speed. The display on the units shows, in real time, a visual of %charged, and beneath that how many Kwhs delivered to the vehicle, and beneath that how long vehicle has been charging in minutes - hence my registering the Kwh vs minutes being almost exactly 1 to 1.

 

I used Cherwell services this morning, both the old DBT machines have been replaced, the one nearest to Greg’s is CHAdeMO, 100Kw and CCS, 120kw. The second chargers is a twin CCS, both capable of doing a 50kw charge, the parking bays, really there is only 2, if you park on the hatched area, then possibly 3 can squeeze in, so also needs a revamp.

Couple of points worth raising, firstly, there is no A/C, so no facilities for ZOE drivers, so as all these chargers are changed, then A/C will become more extinct.

Secondly the CHAdeMO charged at 60kws, so these chargers will offer faster charging time for LEAF 62 owners, which is good news for turn around times.

Thirdly the old APP won’t work with these news chargers (there is no 4 digit number or QR code to scan), the only way to initiate a charge is with a contactless bank card (there is an RFID card facility if you have one).

There is also a QR code code that you can scan and use APPLE Pay or similar, it is worth noting that a contactless card won’t work if your bank asks for a PIN Number, (they do this after a certain number of contactless payments) then having APPLE Pay or similar could be a good back up.

 

Couple of points worth raising, firstly, there is no A/C, so no facilities for ZOE drivers, so as all these chargers are changed, then A/C will become more extinct.

Just to note that there is an intention to put AC capability back. Either by a swap to a triple head charger when supplies are available, or by adding a standalone post.

There has been no indication as to whether they'll be 22 or 44 kW.

 

Two problems here. First the cars. Both the iPace and Audi have their charge ports just in front of the A pillar so great for parallel parking with a charger but not for much else. If they had charge ports either in the front or rear they could have done as YoWombat suggested and parked on the hatched areas. Second problem is the legacy chargers were generally installed in out of the way corners when EVs were as rare as rocking horse poo. Its great that Gridserve are upgrading them but now EV use is taking off and we need more purpose built hubs or forecourts where EVs are properly catered for.

 

Second problem is the legacy chargers were generally installed in out of the way corners when EVs were as rare as rocking horse poo. Its great that Gridserve are upgrading them but now EV use is taking off and we need more purpose built hubs or forecourts where EVs are properly catered for.

Yes, that's part of Gridserve's "phase 2" - Adding hubs of at least 6x 350kW rapids to all the MSAs where they're currently replacing the EH units.

 

Gridserve are presumably somewhat limited by the positions of the existing chargers and the need to do quick swaps. Hopefully they will visit each site once this first essential phase is done and:
a) Check parking bays are marked logically
b) Ask if they can take over an additional bay and move one of the chargers (they appear to be adding AC posts in bays not previously used for EV charging, so maybe they have already agreed this and will move them when they change one of the rapids to a triple head?)

 

As others have said, this first phase is literally a case of swapping the unit and no other changes.

This explains why some units are still problematic, because the issue stems from the grid connection wiring and not (or at least not exclusively) the old DBT unit.

There has also been some Comms issues reported by users, again because these ABB units are having to use similar mobile/WiFi coverage as the old DBT units, so some of the Comms issues are also carrying over to the new units.

 

There has also been some Comms issues reported by users, again because these ABB units are having to use similar mobile/WiFi coverage as the old DBT units,

Starlink should be coming online soon. Would be ironic if they used that for comms

 

Starlink is online in a lot of the UK, but in practice it’s easier to use 5G (with a fallback to 4G).

 

Is that Elon Musk's "Let's pollute the night skies with thousands of satellites" Starlink?

 

I used the new chargers at M4 Chieveley twice yesterday, on my Cardiff-Windsor-Cardiff trip.

I arrived expecting to use the app (having checked it worked fine for me 48hrs previously) to find the app's been updated, and now tells you the only way to pay is via contactless with a card - no problem. So 30p/kwh on the card - plug in, tap, start charging; press stop, unplug and go.

Downside of not being able to operate via the app - you cannot see how the charge is advancing, while sitting having a coffee in the services.

New machines easy to use. Two units, one has chademo/CCS, the other has two CCS cables.

Advertised charging speed up to 120Kw. On both occasions, even when the only vehicle drawing power, my Peugeot e2008 would not charge faster than around 1kw/min (I understand it should be able to achieve 100Kw).

Biggest issue is the layout. Two parking spaces, for the two machines, which are quite close together. Not a problem for my first visit, there was a Leaf on one unit, I took the other free one.

Second visit, an iPace on one machine, i3 on the other, but no physical way I could access another spare charging cable, unless I went off road and drove up the kerb and on the pavement behind the units. As the BMW was at 89%, I waited a couple of minutes until they set off, and took their spot.

While still charging, an eTron turned up. The iPace stopped charging, but had malfunctioned mid charge and its driver could not move it, so called recovery. Then a Merc EQC turned up. I vacated my spot for the eTron - for whom the cables were not long enough if he parked straight - and suggested to the EQC driver he might have to try the "on the pavement" route, if he wanted a charge anytime soon.

So great to have new units, but a quick fix would be longer charging cables and a revision to parking layout....... View attachment 145806

If you park crookedly (let alone sideways?), you get very little sympathy here from anyone;-

When chargers are on the wrong side of a bay .....

Here is an everyday view of my Soul charging at Cherwell Valley Services. As you may know, the ChaDEMo is on the far left of a Soul, so when the chargers are to the right of the bay, as at Cherwell Valley, with the ChaDEMo lead also on the right of that, one can either 'do a washing line' with...

www.speakev.com

 

Interesting thread.

I think honestly you have a reasonable point from the outset that the parking attendant is a jobsworth handing a ticket to someone for a situation that doesn't really do anyone any harm (unless you count looking untidy) and people obsess a bit too much about other people's imperfect parking. See also a facebook group I follow which is meant for highlighting dangerous driving but just ends up used by people putting up shame photos tutting at someone who's not parked dead centre in their parking bay at Tesco on a quiet Sunday evening surrounded by empty spaces and harming literally no one.

But you probably don't help yourself with the posting history, the tendency to always be looking for an argument, obsessing over semantics etc. I think there was probably a degree of schadenfreude involved here. Right or wrong people appear to have seen a classic "Donald vs. the world" thread (of which there are many long examples on this site) and reacted accordingly.

 

Used the Cheiveley chargers here twice last Sunday, ironically while on my way & back to the Hyundai Ioniq P45 test drive day. There mid morning. Cheiveley was heaving! However, Both bays empty as I drove up but big Audi e-tron followed me in to the adjacent bay (he was right behind me). In wife’s e-208. Simple charge. There for 30 mins exactly to get to 80%. Audi left after 25 mins but as soon as he left, an i3 pulled in to his bay to charge (in fact they arrived just a few minutes earlier and were waiting for one of the bays to become vacant).
On my return journey later in the day, both bays were full on my arrival. Zoe & Golf GTE. Damn! Was then planning to use the BP Pulse chargers (2 available?) which are apparently a few minutes drive further along the A34. While entering the postcode for these, Zoe driver turned up and I was lucky to pull in to the now vacant bay and start my charge without too much time wasted. Phew!
But this just re-iterates to me that the growth of EVs seems incredibly rapid now and the charge network especially at MSA’s is going to lag massively behind for the next few months or years? All thanks to Dale primarily!
We really need massive charging hubs. Now. Tesla have done it right but I hear even these are prone to queues at weekends & holidays.
Range anxiety is a thing of the past. But Charge Anxiety will remain for the foreseeable future.

 

We really need massive charging hubs. Now.

Maybe not massive, but 10 hubs with at least 6x 350kW by the end of this year. At least that’s the target.

GRIDSERVE | GRIDSERVE launches the ‘GRIDSERVE Electric Highway’ to revolutionise EV charging across the UK, and eliminate charging anxiety

GRIDSERVE launches ‘GRIDSERVE Electric Highway’ – a recognisable brand covering all of GRIDSERVE’s UK-wide chargers, including coverage for 85% of the motorway network, plus towns and cities across the country. GRIDSERVE today announces plans to revolutionise EV charging infrastructure in the UK ...

gridserve.com

 

Boss of Renault was saying yesterday that money spent by Governments on car subsidies would now be better spent on infrastructure investment.

 

Totally agree with that. Charging infrastructure still needs massive investment by all the main players. Range anxiety no longer exists but Charge Anxiety is very much a thing now and for the foreseeable future.
Really pleased there will be a major GridServe charge hub with 350kW chargers at Reading and both East & Westbound. I am sure many of them will be occupied constantly. This is almost the mid point between London & Wales on one of the busiest motorways in the UK.
Now the fact that the Hyundai P45 not having a brilliant WLTP will not matter as much. But the fact that it can take full advantage of those high charge speeds becomes the main thing.

 

Just commented on another thread that I’d rather see 24x 150kW chargers at these hubs instead of 6x or even 12x 350kW. There just aren’t enough cars now or in the foreseeable future to take advantage of 350kW charging, and it’s arguably faster than most people actually need it to be.

All very well having an Ioniq 5 or similar, but if you rock up to a motorway hub with 6x 350kW chargers to find them all occupied by cars charging on average at 50-80kW, and a queue of similar cars, then you’d probably wish it had 24x 150kW units instead.

 

Maybe they'll be double headers so effectively can work like 12-24 150kw if they're busy?

 

I think the moral of the story is don't travel at weekends if you can avoid it.

 

I think these mega multi point charging hubs will come. In effect these will replace the MSA fuel stations eventually, and I am not entirely convinced they (MSA petrol stations) are that busy nowadays as they are so expensive compared to supermarkets which are invariably near by. Most people use them for toilet/rest stops and a bite to eat and rarely for fuel I believe as most ICE cars have a huge range compared to EVs. But converting all those petrol pumps to EV chargers will be relatively easy in terms of having the land/space already. Would be done gradually I feel. eg- a bank of 8 fuel pumps out of the 20-24 converted to EV use and so on and so forth.
I agree 24 x 150/175W chargers would be Better but takes a lot more of land/space to do so which is why the Rugby/M6 ones are quite far relatively speaking from the actual services and not right near the entrance. Or so I have read.
And I do believe that small EVs with 50-60kWh battery capacities will come with 200kW+ charging capability sooner rather than later.
The fuse has been lit. Change is coming fast. And manufacturers have to do things to give them an edge in a now very competitive market.
If Renault was to announce their next Zoe will have 60 kWh and be fast charge capable. That is all the car most people would ever need. Kona & Niro almost there already. It won’t be a long wait.
I always remain a fan of smaller &lighter cars. More efficient/less torture on tyres, brakes & suspension and tarmac! Fast charging widespread infrastructure makes that (dream) possible.

 

I stopped by on Saturday around 5pm and both chargers were in use. I was staying in a Premier Inn a few miles down the road, near an Osprey charger so didn't bother to wait.

Is there a date when dual charging will begin?

 

Gridserve are waiting for a firmware update from the charger manufacturer. They've said maybe a month or so.

 

FYI - Hilton Park M6 (NB) has been done. I was there around 2 hours ago. Sadly, the free vend period seems to have ended.