The App still says Ecotricity Electric Highway.
Have Ecotricity given up?
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Not disagreeing, but only ones who "need" AC are the Zoe's -> which is what 5-8% max of market. Purely on financial grounds putting AC cables in place just isn't financially likely to pay off the investment in even long-term timeframes. Given even Nissan moving to CCS, AC type-2 is purely for home charging. That said, I doubt any of us would mind if they put a few 22kwh AC posts in main carparks (similar to what gridserve have done at their site on the outskirts, I note none of their HPC have AC). (22kwh AC socketed posts being a lot cheaper due to lack of cabling),
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Please don't go there. This argument was made 5 years ago and Zoes still sell in large numbers. As long as there is a need for AC charging (and please note that the current EH ones run at 43 kW) there should be provision for it even if it doesn't make a profit.
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Yeah, shouldn't be too hard to put some type 2 posts in alongside the HPCs at some point. As well as Zoes, some electric motorcycles need AC as well which admittedly isn't a huge market, but worth sticking in a couple of posts for nevertheless I'd say.
The other problem is that this still won't work for every MSA. Some MSAs do still involve a bit of a trek from the Ecotricity chargers to the services building. They do need to think about how they're going to manage this though. I suppose you could argue that there's nothing to say charging providers have to make it easy for you to be able to do other things like eating and toilet breaks while you charge. So disabled EV drivers could charge their car, then move it to a disabled bay afterwards in order to use the facilities. But you'd be potentially making someone with limited mobility get in and out of their car twice that way - when, if there were disabled chargers next to the building, they'd only have to get in and out once - which doesn't seem very accessibility minded to me.
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This thread has raised a lot of old issues and conflicts with Dale from hero to zero over the years. Amazing how a few short years can do that. It's not that long ago that the freebie era ended that caused a lot of consternation in here. At the time I made this 'Hitler rant' parody about that event which might remind you, and amuse you, of that time.
I screwed up over editing the sub-titles in so you will have to activate those in the settings first.
I screwed up over editing the sub-titles in so you will have to activate those in the settings first.
That happened a while back when they got their new 'improved' website, I believe.
I think the talk of EH setting back EV adoption is a bit overblown to be honest. I did lots of research when buying my EV, and I wasn't even aware of EHs notoriety. All I knew was that there was a couple of Lidl podpoint rapids and BP ones near me (and an EH one but I didn't even realise it was there was about 6 months!) and looking at zap map I could find rapid chargers for all the journeys i was likely to make. I don't think the new generation of EV drivers (who will mostly charge at home) will research it as much as I did, so it will only be a problem when they realise how bad EH are, ie it won't stop most people getting an EV.
I've used EH quite a few times at MSAs and never once paid for them as they've always happened to be on free vend. Apart from one which disconnected a couple times (and stayed connected after the 3rd go) I've never not had a successful first time charge from one.
I've always had a backup plan for an instavolt or Lidl on my routes, but they are always about 15-20 minutes out of my way, so I always "chance" the EH for plan A.
I've used EH quite a few times at MSAs and never once paid for them as they've always happened to be on free vend. Apart from one which disconnected a couple times (and stayed connected after the 3rd go) I've never not had a successful first time charge from one.
I've always had a backup plan for an instavolt or Lidl on my routes, but they are always about 15-20 minutes out of my way, so I always "chance" the EH for plan A.
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I think it probably depends on when someone did their research. Maybe 3 or 4 years ago, a generally poor perception of the EH was mainly restricted to the EV community.
However, as time has gone on and the discussion on electric vehicles has become more mainstream, the national media started to take a more detailed look at all of the aspects of EV ownership. That led to many major media outlets picking up on the poor state of the UK national charging networks, and in particular, coverage on the main motorway routes.
After that, the media very much focused in on the main provider on those motorway routes, largely ignoring charging outside of the motorway networks, like the excellent supercharger network, and also some of the other operators who have installed reliable charging facilities.
Because other operators were unable to gain any significant access to the motorway services network, due to exclusivity agreements, the state of the chargers on the motorway network was mainly down to one company, Then national media headlines followed, which must have confirmed any reservations they may have had on EV ownership in the minds of those readers.
For instance, from the FT, "UK pioneer of electric car charging points faces barrage of criticism". And from the motoring press..."Unreliable charging infrastructure preventing EV rollout | Autocar". Then there was the survey that was widely reported, "Eco****ity ranked UK's worst EV charging network ... - Online EV". All of which mention the company by name.
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And there are plenty like me and others who used to be on here that just went back to ICE. From my point of view I have been using diesel for two years that I did not need to. Even today years after CCS became the norm many MSA's do not have CCS chargers and a lot of those that do have only one. This is before unreliability and poor phone support, and waiting if the units are ICE'ed or being usedt. EV's are great if you do not have to use the MSA's or travel beyond range. Gridserve will boost interest and sales in EV's and I will be one of the first.
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Every cloud has a silver lining. But it will be with great sadness that Gridserve will be responsible for the demise of the much maligned and loved cucumber dance. This was the shinanegans EH phone support (during office hours) made EV drivers go through in attempts to get chargers working. Note I no longer need to carry a cucumber in my car.
Hi Toby,
It was a sarcastic post when I had canbus errors on an Ecotricity charger :-
"It must be some secret society. When I had can errors at Leicester on the M1. I had Ecotricity on the phone. Everything form backing up the car, switching it on and off. Giving the charge time to settle down. Doing things in a different order. I must admit I would have rolled up my trouser leg held a cucumber and danced 5 times round the charger at full moon if it would have helped.
"
www.speakev.com
Hi Toby,
It was a sarcastic post when I had canbus errors on an Ecotricity charger :-
"It must be some secret society. When I had can errors at Leicester on the M1. I had Ecotricity on the phone. Everything form backing up the car, switching it on and off. Giving the charge time to settle down. Doing things in a different order. I must admit I would have rolled up my trouser leg held a cucumber and danced 5 times round the charger at full moon if it would have helped.
"
Ecotricity to start charging to charge in 2 months time
The thread is getting on for 2 months old and nothing from Ecotricity about charging or charges. People have been saying they would be charging 'soon' for years now.
www.speakev.com
It was also interesting how they intended to raise prices to 39p a kWh, announced it, then it didn't happen. I assume they found out they coudn't afford to implement it or it involved actually going round to all their chargers to do and they couldn't be bothered in the end.
Can't see it. It says 'This video is private'.
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Sorry, I must have changed it to private a while ago in error. Or there was a copyright claim? Try again please. Don't forget to enable captions/subtitles.
'19 i3 120Ah / '20 Kona 64kWh / '21 e208
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Very nice. Apart from the lack of an overhead shelter, that is.
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Yeah! In the government's recent consultation there was a question that went something like "how do you rate charging locations for lighting and rain shelters?" to which I answered "I have never found a charger in the UK that has a rain shelter, ever."
Are they really needed? I takes like 30 seconds to plug-in max. You can do the app stuff in your car. Sure, it'd be nice and I'm sure it's better for the machines but not of huge importance IMO.
But looking forward to the new services, as a Rugby resident I'll probably never really need them unless my home charger stops working. Though I'm still looking for that first faster than 50kWh charge on the ID.3, so maybe next time I get home in single digits I'll pop over there and give them a shot.
But looking forward to the new services, as a Rugby resident I'll probably never really need them unless my home charger stops working. Though I'm still looking for that first faster than 50kWh charge on the ID.3, so maybe next time I get home in single digits I'll pop over there and give them a shot.
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Yes.
Having used chargers with and without shelters in the rain, imho they are most definitely worth it.
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