[Bill N]

If any of you think aspects of the public charging network are less than brilliant, please consider completing this survey from the EVA (Electric Vehicle Association) England.

For those that may not be aware of it (it’s relatively young) EVA England is a membership organisation supporting existing, new and prospective EV drivers.

They intend to feed the findings into their response to the recent Government consultation.

One of the key points which I will be making, and which hopefully others agree with me on, is that the situation at motorways services needs fixing immediately. We cannot afford to wait for improved grid connections which are likely 2-3+ years away in many cases, and we cannot afford to keep waiting for Ecotricity to fail to deliver on their promisies.

I gather that the EVA have good connections with OZEV, so my hope would be if enough EV drivers voice their opinion about the state of motorway charging to the EVA, that the EVA will then be in a position to convey a strong message to OZEV, who may in turn then realise that immediate action is needed to address the existing motorway charging offer — in advance of the improved grid connections coming along in several years.

Some of the larger networks, I firmly believe, would be more than willing to fund the installation of new (probably 50kW) units to replace the old Ecotricity units — but it needs Government intervention, which in turn probably needs the EVA to lean on OZEV, which in turn probably needs us lot to make our opinions known to EVA so they can present a strong case.

Over to you!

(it runs until 15 March 2021 so if you would like to contribute you don’t have too long to complete it)

EVA England launches drivers’ survey to improve confidence in the EV public charging experience - EVA England

EVA England launches survey to hear the views of electric vehicle drivers about their experiences of using public chargepoints.

www.evaengland.org.uk

 

[Bill N]

Note - there is one question in the survey where you have the opportunity to enter text and provide feedback to the EVA. (It is also of course possible to email them outside of / in addition to the survey).

This is what I entered - feel free to copy&paste or adapt as you like:

Motorway charging is the elephant in the room. It needs fixing NOW. We CANNOT afford to wait for upgraded grid connections. The atrocious situation with motorway charging is hugely holding back EV adoption, and will soon turn into a major problem when more and more new EV drivers discover the situation. What needs to happen is for the EVA to lobby OZEV and then for OZEV to get the MSA operators, Ecotricity and Instavolt/Osprey etc around a table and agree an immediate, short-term solution whereby Instavolt/Osprey etc fund the installation of new units to replace the old, faulty Ecotricity units. I firmly believe that the other large networks are willing to fund the new units. This could result in the quick replacement of the failing Ecotricity units with new 50kW units that are reliable. There is also possibly the potential for the installation of 'Freewire Technology' units which have integrated batteries and so can be installed on the existing 50kW supplies but which are able to charge cars at 120kW. The motorway situation is the most critical charging issue in the near term. Other issues are already largely being addressed by the industry. In the longer term, the upgraded grid connections to MSAs will likely make the problems a thing of the past, BUT that could be 2-3 or more years down the line which is simply too long. We need an interim fix. Other successful networks like Instavolt and Osprey are ready to assist. It just needs intervention by Government, which in turn most likely needs the EVA to present a strong case to OZEV as to what the solution is and why it's needed now.

 

[Hitstirrer]

.............................. the upgraded grid connections to MSAs will likely make the problems a thing of the past, BUT that could be 2-3 or more years down the line which is simply too long. We need an interim fix.

I wrote a similar criticism of the fiasco that is motorway charging. Clearly, there is some protection for EcoT at some level because it wasn't long ago that their monopoly licence was renewed despite wall to wall evidence of the way that its inaction was hindering EV growth.

However, I suggested that a sensible way forward would be to offer adequate grant funds to the DNOs to immediately upgrade all power supplies to MSA's as a matter of priority. If such funding was offered on a 'use it or lose it' basis within a short time period that would incentivise them to take on staff on a one year contract and prioritise those civil works as a separate project without disturbing existing infrastructure plans elsewhere.

I think that prioritising power supplies rather than trying to persuade other charge suppliers to take over the existing ludicrous arrangement would cause things to improve quicker. If the big players could see power being installed that could bring them to the table in picoseconds as a big drawback to offering the latest generation Rapids is the huge cost of supplying power for them. If that aspect is taken from their budget plans it looks far more attractive to move in.

 

[srichards]

When did BP put in the chargers at Stafford MSA physically? I don't think they're connected even yet. Sandbach South still isn't live. Those ecotricity ones have been there for several years now. There is some serious foot dragging going on with getting these connections and whatever it is wants pushing out of the way.

 

[Hitstirrer]

There is some serious foot dragging going on with getting these connections and whatever it is wants pushing out of the way.

I agree. See my post above for a potential solution to this logjam.

 

[Bill N]

I wrote a similar criticism of the fiasco that is motorway charging. Clearly, there is some protection for EcoT at some level because it wasn't long ago that their monopoly licence was renewed despite wall to wall evidence of the way that its inaction was hindering EV growth.

However, I suggested that a sensible way forward would be to offer adequate grant funds to the DNOs to immediately upgrade all power supplies to MSA's as a matter of priority. If such funding was offered on a 'use it or lose it' basis within a short time period that would incentivise them to take on staff on a one year contract and prioritise those civil works as a separate project without disturbing existing infrastructure plans elsewhere.

I think that prioritising power supplies rather than trying to persuade other charge suppliers to take over the existing ludicrous arrangement would cause things to improve quicker. If the big players could see power being installed that could bring them to the table in picoseconds as a big drawback to offering the latest generation Rapids is the huge cost of supplying power for them. If that aspect is taken from their budget plans it looks far more attractive to move in.

I fully admit to not knowing the ins and outs of the details about grid connections and power supplies to MSAs....but, my strong suspicion is that anything along those lines is going to take a year at the absolute minimum, and probably longer. What I want to see is new, proven chargers being installed in place of the existing EcoT ones — in theory at least that should be able to happen much more quickly. It doesn’t require any power upgrades, any permissions etc - 'just' will.

No reason also why both can’t be happening simultaneously — work on striking some sort of deal / order whereby new units are installed without EcoT having to find the cash themselves, and at the same time do the work on getting all the connections upgraded so they are ready for what we’re going to need before too long.

 

[MDave]

Did the survey, I think putting it out there on every electric car Facebook group will help get numbers in massively too.

 

[Rooster-x]

Done, vented my anger over the Ecotricity network which is not improving over time, even gave the example of Charnock Richard Services Northbound still not fixed after I reported it April 2019, quickly checks to see if it now fixed before some smart Alec corrects me Type 2 44 Kwh AC still broke!!

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

Done, vented my anger over the Ecotricity network which is not improving over time, even gave the example of Charnock Richard Services Northbound still not fixed after I reported it April 2019, quickly checks to see if it now fixed before some smart Alec corrects me Type 2 44 Kwh AC still broke!!

Similar. I said EH need to have their near-monopoly on MSAs removed, due to their awful reliability.
They'd have a chance if Dale dropped a few of his "Sky Diamonds" on some of those new Freewire Boost chargers BP have started fitting.

Reading the datasheet on those, 2 could share a single 50kW supply and still output 120kW each thanks to the 160kWh onboard battery!
The only downside is no AC output for Zoe & PHEV owners.

 

[Neilew]

When did BP put in the chargers at Stafford MSA physically? I don't think they're connected even yet. Sandbach South still isn't live. Those ecotricity ones have been there for several years now. There is some serious foot dragging going on with getting these connections and whatever it is wants pushing out of the way.

IIRC It was sometime around May/August last year. I'm local so I don't go there for a charge. I think they were mentioned on one of the threads on here.

 

[Neilew]

please consider completing this survey from the EVA.

Done and joined.

 

[jgwozdzicki]

Done and also complained about the MSA situation. Hoping to do some testing in the next month or so with public charging as we’re finally allowed to move about a bit more. The Niro’s range even at 80% gets me everywhere and back home these days in the age of COVID so it will be nice to strech the cars legs as it were.

 

[Bill N]

This is worth a read and reinforces my view that something in the way of a sticking plaster needs applying now because, on the current trajectory, it’s going to be late 2023 (probably at best) until all MSAs have decent rapid chargers.

https://policyexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Charging-Up.pdf

 

[AdamLC]

Also gave feedback on EH and their unfit for purpose network.. Hope it makes a difference!

 

[DSLRed]

I did the survey 3 times, ranting with different wording each time but essentially saying the same thing. Ecotricity suck.

 

[steveharvey2001]

 

[Bill N]

Very good video — thanks for posting that. Strongly agree with the sentiment that it’s really not much use EV drivers moaning to each other.

Ideally, people may like to complete the EVA survey to feed into their collective response, and also do an individual response to the Government consultation directly.

Government consultation on public chargepoints

Consultation on "The consumer experience at public chargepoints" Topics: Making it easy to pay Opening up chargepoint data Using a single payment metric Ensuring a reliable charging network If you have any views on the public charging network, the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles would like...

www.speakev.com

Going further, EV drivers may also like to write to their MP to highlight the issue.

WriteToThem

WriteToThem is a website which provides an easy way to contact MPs, councillors and other elected representatives.

www.writetothem.com

 

[Neilew]

I don't normally watch this guy as I find his videos to depressing and contrived, so wouldn't have seen this. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[Cloud]

Answered it and made the point about MSAs but you won't like it as I also said too many networks are abandoning the many, many Zoe ZE20 and ZE40 (and base model ZE50) EVs on the road and all rapid chargers should be mandated to have a 22kW AC socket...

 

[Bill N]

if you haven’t already, please do consider competing the survey (& the Government consultation directly too).

bump