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midlands rapid charge network out of action 6/12/14?

2K views 21 replies 12 participants last post by  Number64 
#1 ·
This morning there is not one rapid charger in operation on M5, M6, M42 M56 in the midlands apart from Ikea at |junction 9. Ecotricity - What's up?
 
#2 ·
That is a worry. Bad luck, or a revealed design flaw? Cold temperatures will lead to metal contracting but would hope that has been designed in....though the manufacturers had previously overlooked sucking in rain laden air may be an issue....

For those in the area you can also try the m6 toll services. And Waitrose at Lichfield has a rapid charger on the polar network - free once your app or card topped up.

There are also a sprinking of dealer rapids at Wolverhampton, Cannock and elsewhere open office hours. Check the thread on here for details / status. Best
to phone ahead.

Or go park at the level 2 chargers in Birmingham city centre, say at Margaret Street on the Charge your Car network., mooch round the German market for 3 to 4 hours and, if you have
a 6 kw charger leave fully charged.
 
#3 ·
Which resource are you using for the information that all bar Ikea Walsall are out of action?
Not saying there aren't a lot down, and it seems more problematic if you need CCS, but I took a quick look at the Ecotricity map and I wouldn't call it "all" - unless the definition of midlands is quite selective.
Oh and M56 in the midlands?
 
#6 ·
I'm doing southampton area-manchester next week. The A34 is "broken" so instead of oxford I'm going via reading. Around birmingham there's issues on the west so I'm sticking to the east & M6 toll. One down on M6 but hopefully I can skip that. fingers crossed doable but the number down is quite appalling.
 
#7 ·
Keep clear of Membury, we had a mare last night. Arrived at Membury east knowing from Ecotricity that it was probably down, it was, so used the service road to Membury west (showing live) but was also dead :(
Checked the sat nav which showed Leigh Dellamere being 58 miles away (found out later it was actually 25 miles!) so
Cable charged for three hours to get 45 miles GOM (needed 40) and set off sans heat and turtled with 2 miles to go so called AA for flatbed at 1am.
 
#9 ·
My other half is just about to set off from Carlisle, going all the way to Northampton .. 250 miles in a Zoe. Don't laugh !! She got up there with three charge stops, and found only one charger on the blink at Charnock services (delivering a about 1/3rd power rather than 43 kw).

At 11am this morning, ie, just now, I called Ecotricity to see if there were any problems anywhere back down the M6 and *ALL* are working at this time, except the M6 J10/J11 Moto Hilton Park.

The bloke on the phone said they have a real time App being launched "very soon" which should be a godsend if it works as implied .. He also said that their stats are showing quite a few of the 43kw chargers don't see any use for 2 or 3 days at a time.
 
#12 · (Edited)
She did the journey back in 4 legs, using 3 charges. EG :-

Set off with a full charge.
  • Carlisle to Lancaster = 75miles (did a full charge 30-40mins)
  • Lancaster to Keele = 78 miles (did a full charge)
  • Keel to Corley = 58 miles (did a 1/2 charge to get home)
  • Corley to home = 48 miles.
Easy. (well, kinda). It was motorway virtually door to door cruising at 60mph'ish. 10mph wind was from WNW, so helped 'blow' the car along on the last half !!

As for the restricted power at Charnock on the way up .. I don't know the full story as I wasn't with her. But she did spend an hour on the phone to Ecotricity at midnight and the M6 was shut at the services so she had to get there cross country from the junction before. I don't know the full details of that.

But all in all I think she undertook a fairly amazing journey without really thinking of all the potential problems. But looking at the map there's literally a dozen Ecotricity 43kw chargers on the journey. And it doesn't matter if she did 6 stops for half charges, or 3 stops for full charges.


Basically 500 miles in 48 hrs. Total cost £3 from domestic electricity, the rest free courtesy Ecotricity! In her old ICE that would have been about £125 in petrol.

I wish all the naysayers / petrolheads / EV deniers could understand that mindset . . . !
 
#13 ·
Re the low-power Ecotricity unit. A third power from a 43kW 3-phase charger suggests that for some reason power was only taken from one phase. This seems an odd situation, and I am a little surprised that it is possible (if it is then the Zoe charger is doing a great job).
 
#15 ·
Since I started this thread I've made my journey. Oswestry to Alvechurch which we do regularly. Before going I checked Ecotricity site which gave me the information I quoted, dated 5 December but with the warning that it was not live information. I checked Zap-Map which gave a rosier picture, but I have once been nearly marooned relying on a site which was shown live on Zap-Map. The journey I was making cannot be completed without a charge stop, and before I started I was under pressure from the one who knows all to use the ICE car we have. To divert to a fast charger for 3 hours would be a sure fire way to divorce. And being marooned would be no fun at all. I chanced it, against the risk analysis, and used IKEA. On the way back it cost me £35 for things I'm told we really needed from said store. So, whilst I applaud EcoTricity, good quality live information would raise the level of praise enormously. On Wednesday I'm giving a talk on the advantages and disadvantages of my EV - and I really could do without having to sound too many warnings.
 
#22 ·
?

We were talking about the AC side: it's a supply with power on management similar to an EVSE brick AFAIK. All the regulation (power electronics) are in the vehicle. I would imagine the control electronics for the charging station are fed from before any power protection devices.
 
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