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New Charging network launching with Q Park UK

29584 Views 219 Replies 53 Participants Last post by  Simon Wardle, 
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I am pleased to announce that we have recently come to an agreement with Q Park to supply, install and operate fast (22KW) charging points across their 60 car parks. The new network will launch in February 2016, starting in Liverpool ONE and Manchester First st car parks. The network will be payable and users can access the network through our customer web portal, telephone and RFID cards (subscription only). The network will be the first in the UK to offer a one off payment at point service and this will be available through our web portal.

I look forward to receiving drivers comments and advice on the network. We anticipate initially installing 2 charging points per location.

Many thanks.
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Hi Jack,

Thanks for your email. Very valid point you are making.

This will be phased roll-out. Existing charging points will eventually be replaced with new hardware. Underground car parks with poor connectivity will have a VPN installed (free wifi). Users can then access the points via our customer web portal. More frequent users could register for a free RFID card. Guidance will be intuitive at the post. Q Park have said they want to keep the network uniform. We are hoping to be in all 60 car parks by 2019.

We are planning to incentivize drivers through giving them discounted car parking or 1 in 10 chargers for free.
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Eugene Lambert said:
I think one key to a successful EV charging infrastructure is a PAYG option for occasional users. That could charge a reasonable premium over the subscription model.

Also, comm failure modes should be considered, i.e. ideally, if communications fail the post should not prevent a charge. That way, the provider (Q Park) is incentivised to keep the post comms working, and a desperate EV driver who needs a charge doesn't end up on a low-loader. o_O
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Hi Eugene,,

Thanks for your email.

In response to your request for one off charging, this is exactly what we are planning to offer. A one off payment at the point via Paypal, visa, google wallet etc.A small premium will be applicable for 'one off' charging.

Comm failure is something we will consider. However, we have a robust back office and payment system in place. We don't see comm failure being an problem as drivers have several lines of communication to access our technical support team.
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Thank for the input guys.

The reason why we will initially be offering a separate payment service is that the assets will be owned and managed by Franklin. Q Park want to completely outsource EV charging and have no responsibility for the network.

The process from logging on to the web portal and initiating the charging process will take approximately 90 seconds. We also plan to offer interoperability with other existing networks via plug surf and New Motion.


I definitely agree with the contactless payment, our suppliers are working on this. ABB currently provide this in their Terra 53's and we will definitely be using ABB when we get some Rapids up and running.
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Thanks for the additional comments, we are taking everything you are saying on board.

We are planning to offer transparent pricing and charge by kWh across the network. We are also considering 30KW DC charging in certain Q Parks. This will be slightly more expensive than AC charging but will allow users to top up their batteries in a quicker timeframe as they park for 1-2 hours, as oppose to parking there for 4-8 hours. Anticipated charging tariffs are 25p kWh for AC and 30p kWh for DC with a £1.50 minimum charge.

Interested to hear your thoughts on this pricing strategy.
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tictak said:
How would this affect Q-Park in London, if I'm not mistaken that's under Source London right so will you eventually roll out this to London car parks?

And if so will that mean another card/subscription?
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Thanks for the question. The London network is still in the process of being renegotiated with Bluepoint. This deal is by no means done, however at the moment our network will be for the 60 Q parks across the rest of the UK (outside London).

There maybe an opportunity for us to have presence in the 12 Q Parks within Greater London in the near future depending on our performance.
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Hello everyone,

Just to keep you all in the loop, things are progressing well and we are due to commence installations in the second week of February with charging stations anticipated to go live in March 2016.

We will be using the 22kw Ensto EVC 200 units. They are a robust unit and Q Park selected this to keep the aesthetics similar to their current branding. Access will be via our customer portal and payment can be made on the spot (PAYG) or post pay where we invoice you the total charging usage at the end of each month. Our customer portal is fully PCI compliant and payment can be made through PayPal, Google wallet, world pay etc.

We are excitied to get this project off the ground and build our own network with key private sector organisations.

Look forward to receiving any questions on the above.
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Hello,

The tariff will be a minimum of £1.50 and Includes your first 5-6KW of charging. We are awaiting Q Park to confirm electricity prices at the 2 different sites. From this we can then determine whether its economically viable to charge £0.25 or if we need to increase to £0.30 per KWh. Price will be fixed at both sites!

With regards to the customer portal, this is separate and you will need Internet access to initiate a charging session. There are 3 payment options, pre pay, post pay and PAYG. Users can also request an RFID when they subscribe. PAYG does not require subscription however as this one off service is provided by a third party this will typically add an additional 15% onto your invoice.

For the purpose of this trial, we are encouraging users to use the pre and post pay option as there are NO additional charges. We will then send out an invoice at the end of each month summarising the charging history and with the total amount payable. Payment is secure through PayPal, Google wallet and Word Pay.

The Liverpool ONE car park will allow WiFi access as we have been given a dedicated SSID. Users can then connect to the custome portal.

Q Park are looking to completely outsource EV charging and therefore require a separate payment solution. There may also be incentives in place to park and charge, such as discounted parking when you charge for
>4 hours etc. Other incentives includes a point scheme where you redeem points through charging, and allows discount on future charging.

Thanks.
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nicky jones said:
Will this be installed in the Q park at the QE hospital birmingham. As I am a staff memebrrship for hospital and have been requesting EV chargeing for staff, Patients and visitor to the hospital.
There a staff, visitor car park (car park 2) right next to power generators which would reduce installtion cost
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Hi Nicky,

Thanks for your email.

Yes the plan is to roll this out at every Q Park in the UK outside of London, meaning Birmingham QE hospital Q Park would qualify. Is it just yourself who drives a plug in vehicle or are there additional work colleagues?
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Jazzist said:
Are bays going to be marked properly to stop them getting iced?
May be going into central Manc April 22nd so Q Park or GMEX.
GMEX is free to charge but the parking is more expensive.
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The bays will be clearly marked and signposted as EV charging bays only. Good news about your visit to Manchester, the new charging points will be fully up and running by then. We are planning a launch date for w/c 7th March 2016.
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Hi Nicky,

Thanks for the email.

We will only be installing EV charging points in Liverpool One and Manchester First St car parks are part of a 16 week trial. Following the trial, we will be deploying a wider network of charging points across 45 sites in England, Scotland and Ireland.

The Liverpool ONE charging points are due to go live on Friday 11th March. Manchester First St will go live the following week on Friday 18th March.

People can access the charging points through our customer web portal (PAYG) and pre paid through RFID.

We are in advanced talks with other location partners too. I will keep you all posted on any further news.
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Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your email.

Unfortunately not i'm afraid. The charging points will be installed on Tuesday 8th February but won't go live until Friday 11th March.

The first 50 customers will receive the first 20KW of charging for free when subscribing to the network. Q Park have said that all drivers charging for the first time will be entitled to 50% discount on parking. Drivers returning to charge for the second time will receive discounts of 20% on parking for the entire of 2016 and 2017.
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Magnamundian said:
Nope, sorry, engenie beat you. More importantly their 'payment at point service' is actually at the point of service, i.e. you can pay with a debit card. No sign-ups, no trying to get a mobile signal.

Engenie
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*The first to offer PAYG with no connection charge?
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Magnamundian said:
Nope, sorry, engenie beat you. More importantly their 'payment at point service' is actually at the point of service, i.e. you can pay with a debit card. No sign-ups, no trying to get a mobile signal.

Engenie
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Also are these East Cheshire Points live yet?
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UKTechie said:
So what floor are they on? Can you update your website as news is from 2014 and did any of it get far?
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The charging points will be on level 2, adjacent to John Lewis Exit in LONE. In Manchester the point will be on level one. Both sites will have overhead signage to direct you to the points from the entrance.

We have a lot of new content and news to add to the website. There is a lot happening behind the scenes should we say, partnerships, electric taxis etc. Our back office is now live and we are hoping to gain a lot of traction here and become the UK's most advanced and reliable back office/ CPNO. We have a comprehensive SLA package that includes everything from remote diagnostics to on site presence within 24 hours.

Thanks.
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Magnamundian said:
Who said anything about connection charges, moving goalposts? Will Franklin be offering pay by contactless without use of a website (requires internet connection) or RFID?



Looked up to speed when I checked out the Congleton one a week ago, although I didn't need a charge myself.
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Payment will be via customer portal or pre-pay via RFID. Customer can also pay over the phone or via text. As their is no fast charging station that currently supports contactless we cannot offer this service. However, we want to be able to offer this going forward.
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andrew*debbie said:
Is that the John Lewis car Q-park? That one is at L1 8LJ and has a bridge across to John Lewis.

Or is it the main Liverpool ONE Q-Park with the underground entrance off of Strand Street? L1 8LT

Either way we are missing your opening by just a couple of days. We will probably miss out on the free 20kWh. Oh well.

However we have another trip a few weeks later. How do we sign up to use the charge points?

This location will save us at least an hour on the return trip to North Wales. Can't wait to try it out.
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Hello Andrew,

It's the main Liverpool ONE Q Park.

You can sign up to use the charging points through our customer portal where you can request and RFID or PAYG. Payment is securely handled by Wirecard.

Access will be made through my.franklinenergy.co.uk This will go live in one week time.

Many thanks.
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Simon Hewison said:
Good luck, but you may have some resourcing issues if it requires that much manpower to install each site once you get the first few sites up and running. Q Park have lots of sites.
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The Ensto guys flew over from Finland. They wanted to attend on the day as these point are connecting to our back end through our dedicated VPN 'WiFi' network and although the points are WiFi compatible, we are the first company to establish comms through WiFi. Get it right the first time and the rest should run smoothly.

Our portal will be live very shortly and the first 50 subscribers will receive a free charge on the network. There will be no subscription cost! We want you guys to test the network and give us some feedback too.

Thanks.
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Chrisduk said:
Page 4 says Liverpool one is the car park at John Lewis.
Page 5 says it's the main car park (on the strand)

Confused.. Which one is it ??
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Hi Chris,

The charging points are located on level 2 of the Liverpool ONE main car park adjacent to the exit by John Lewis. The charging points are live on the back end and will be available for the public to access next week. The first 50 customers signing up to the network will receive a free charge up to 20KW. Q Park are offering customers the first charge at a 50% discount. I will share the promotional code later this week. Thereafter they will be offering a discount of 10% at each site.

Thanks.
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