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New Charging network launching with Q Park UK

32K views 219 replies 53 participants last post by  Simon Wardle 
#1 ·
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.
 
#152 ·
As an outside observer (and one far away from Liverpool) - I wouldn't be reassured by that site.
  • No https.
  • Registration form asks for "zip" - lack of localisation usually indicates poor testing.
  • Asks for gender - why? Unnecessary collection of personal information.
  • Gender pre-filled as male!
  • Support page has test content - Support – AA090 – Franklin Energy Ltd
  • Poor grammar on the front page.
  • Contact details on some pages point to a Gmail address.
  • WordPress admin page isn't behind https - could be trivial to sniff an admin password.
  • Running an older version of WordPress, PHP, and IIS - not critical, but would prefer newer secure versions.
Overall, I wouldn't be rushing to give it my bank details. While I'm sure that it is run by a legitimate business, the site has the same sort of quality that I would expect from a phishing scam.

I don't think anyone here thinks you are running a scam - but your website needs a bit more spit-and-polish before I would consider it trustworthy.
 
#153 ·
Hi Terence.

Thanks for your comments.

The site will be re-skinned by our digital agency based in London. We are currently waiting on the developers based on the continent to complete the functionality in terms of registration and payment. This is by no means the end product and I understand there is a lot of work to be done to bring it up to the standard we are after.
 
#165 ·
I took a look at the website and it's kind of scary - all of the data that is collected on a non-HTTPS web site is sent to a company in Germany that appears to be part of mobilityhouse.com.
Apart from the fact it is asking for a lot of information that it should NOT be asking for as it's irrelevant to charging/billing, the relationship between the company that I would be signing up for, and the recipient of all my personal information should be clear.

It might be a good charging system but the IT/Web Site/UI management does not inspire confidence.
 
#166 ·
I took a look at the website and it's kind of scary - all of the data that is collected on a non-HTTPS web site is sent to a company in Germany that appears to be part of mobilityhouse.com.
Apart from the fact it is asking for a lot of information that it should NOT be asking for as it's irrelevant to charging/billing, the relationship between the company that I would be signing up for, and the recipient of all my personal information should be clear.

It might be a good charging system but the IT/Web Site/UI management does not inspire confidence.
Disappointing to see that none of the issues raised on this forum have been addressed yet.
 
#168 ·
Charging at L1 was a huge timesaver. -- Even more so with Singing Kettle still off line.

We were able to Charge at Kinmel Park on the way out, Liverpool ONE and then get all the way back to Kinmel Park without ever worrying about charge remaining.
 
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#169 ·
Charging at L1 was a huge timesaver. -- Even more so with Singing Kettle still off line.

We were able to Charge at Kinmel Park on the way out, Liverpool ONE and then get all the way back to Kinmel Park without ever worrying about charge remaining.
Good when there are destination chargers that are where you actually will use them.

I was at a new pod point yesterday in the retail park next to Cheshire Oaks Ellesmere Port which was again ICED in both bays, one ICER was just leaving so managed to use and the new app is the easiest I've used, got back to 95% charge with a different ICER in the other bay!
 
#173 ·
dissapointing to read through all of this. I don't know enough about the technicalities of charge points but I still don't see why we need to pre register, use an app or website etc to charge.

Can't a screen allow you to select an amount of time/ energy and Bill you. Or even better, state the cost per kWh/minute and just plug in and pay to release using contactless card? Whoever initially designs these things surely could do better to make it user friendly.

After 4 years of driving EVs daily, I really expected the systems I work more smoothly by now. It seems nothing gets learnt and we go through the whole process again and again.
 
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#179 ·
What do they charge for charging? It's not on the Q park website at all. They've got the parking charges listed which are noticeably more than the Albert Dock ones.
The charger at Q Park L1 free to use at the moment until we switch over to our new operating software in September 2016.

We will then apply a tariff of £0.30 kWh.

Many thanks.
 
#180 ·
The charger at Q Park L1 free to use at the moment until we switch over to our new operating software in September 2016.
Does this mean I don't need an RFID card at present? Can I just turn up and use the charger? I'm visiting Liverpool on Wednesday in my Leaf and it would be extremely useful facility given the lack of charging in the city centre.
 
#203 ·
The Chargemaster London deal has come about due to the existing hardware found in Q Parks Westminster sites originally funded by Source London. The additional 40+ sites outside of London will fall under Franklin Energy LiFe charging network.

We will soon be adding new charging points to Q Park Belfast and Q Park Glasgow.
 
#184 ·
My experience this evening has not been a success unfortunately as the only free space was partially ICEd. The other one is occupied by an Ampera. The signage in the car park to the point was excellent, but there urgently need to be painted marks in the space clearly demarking its boundary, and the fact it's reserved for EV charging.

If the Audi has moved when I get back to the carpark at 11pm, I'll now have to wait at an hour to get enough charge to make it home, assuming it delivers 6.6kw.

I also wonder if 2 points are adequate for the only Liverpool City Centre car parking with charging facilities. At least when the fees are introduced in September, demand may drop from PHEVs.
 

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#185 ·
My experience this evening has not been a success unfortunately as the only free space was partially ICEd.
To follow up on my own post, I did eventually manage to get some charge later in the evening when the Ampera moved on, thankfully at 6.6kw from the 22Kw capable post. If my Leaf had been the 3.3kw model, I would have been in real difficulty.

Reading back in this thread, I see that Q Park have stated that Franklin is not allowed to paint the spaces with EV markings and instead have to rely on movable bollards. I'm afraid that this means that the charging facility is too much of a gamble to rely upon for BEV drivers like me with a round trip distance of over 100 miles, exceeding the car's range. The spaces are in a prime location directly next to the John Lewis entrance and without proper signage are an invitation to be ICEd.

To make matters worse, the right hand space is extremely narrow and therefore even more liable to be blocked. There was already a Zoe waiting for the one usable space when I arrived at 6:30pm on a Thursday, not exactly peak time. Given the lack of space, perhaps a rapid would have been more suitable, as at least it lends itself more to queuing. Also, some instructions by the chargers on the correct procedure to start the charging process would have been useful.

I regularly use destination charging in Manchester, and there the extensive CYC network gives plenty of Plan B and C options, but currently Liverpool One is too much of a single point of failure for comfort.
 
#189 ·
In general, City Centres are better suited for destination chargers. I'd like to see a roll out of 7kW or 22kW 3-phase AC chargers at all the car parks in the centre of Liverpool.

A real demand for 3-phase AC is coming. BMW has added 11kW 3-phase charging to the i3. As batteries get bigger, I expect to see more cars with 11kW or 22kW on-board chargers.

We don't have the specs yet, but I would be very surprised if the Tesla Model 3 doesn't have at least 11kW.


Long-term demand will move from rapid chargers to destination chargers. The next generation of BEVs will have a range approaching 200 miles. That puts nearly all destinations within single charge range.

Even today's 94Ah i3 has enough range to put most destinations within single charge range.
 
#190 ·
I am a novice or rookie when it comes to my PHEV, so when I visited Liverpool I prepaid and booked a space at the Liverpool One parking facility so that I could use the charging facilities onsite run by Franklin Energy there I had full expectation to use it. However as a newbie I was not aware that I had to provide a charging cable as well as all the other chargers I have used previously were the rapid chargers (with attached cables). It cost me £48.00 for the period of parking and I was unable to use the charging station, so a waste of money as I could have I was not told by either Franklin Energy or Q Park that a cable was required. There are posters around Liverpool One advertising the charging stations, but no mention of a required cable ( for novices like me). Emails complaining were sent on my return but not the responses I would have expected......
 
#192 ·
On looking at it, Yep it would...........If I had known that I would not have been able to use the charging facility at Liverpool One, then I would have found a car park closer to the hotel we were staying in at the time instead of walking for 15mins to and from the car with luggage.
 
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