[b789pilot]

Once again, we have a review, this time of the id3, by someone who hasn't done his homework and ended up trying to charge the car on a 43kW AC charger and wondering why it was so slow. Duh!

My week with an electric car - the new Volkswagen ID.3 – Which? News

Electric cars are great, right? No-emission driving, no tax, and no new diesel and petrol ban to worry about. So why did an electric car cause our most stressful drive ever?

www.which.co.uk

 

[dk6780]

Clearly another effective handover then.

 

[Duncan]

Once again, we have a review, this time of the id3, by someone who hasn't done his homework and ended up trying to charge the car on a 43kW AC charger and wondering why it was so slow. Duh!

My week with an electric car - the new Volkswagen ID.3 – Which? News

Electric cars are great, right? No-emission driving, no tax, and no new diesel and petrol ban to worry about. So why did an electric car cause our most stressful drive ever?

www.which.co.uk

They used the AC connector on a rapid charger. Aaaaaargh! Another one!

 

[TJEV]

Blame the dealers!

edit: to be fair, the other issues he mentioned are perfectly valid.

 

[Xinix]

They used the AC connector on a rapid charger. Aaaaaargh! Another one!

There's a word for that: sabotage.

 

[Duncan]

There's a word for that: sabotage.

No, I don't think it is deliberate but it is truly frustrating how often this happens.

 

[cah197]

Probably one of those people that put petrol in a diesel car.

Don't follow instructions well.

 

[srichards]

If they stopped at an MSA was there even a CCS point for them to plug in to?

 

[mikeselectricstuff]

"Car expert" doesn't know the difference between kW and kWh.

 

[Blurb]

To give him his due, he did say that at his second stop the 50kW CCS connector was "thankfully working", so there must have been a reason he didn't use it at the first stop and resorted to the AC plug.

 

[mikegs]

I'm actually quite pleased to see these issues highlighted publicly.
If everyone just says "EVs are wonderful" we'll end up with hundreds of them all queuing for the only suitable, working charger in the county. If the rubbish way UK charging is currently set up is repeatedly dragged into the spotlight, there is a slight chance that people with the power to get it fixed may take notice.

 

[WithEthyl]

Having read the article, I can't see why people are criticizing it, the driver clearly tried several rapid chargers (either occupied or faulty) before finally arriving at one and using the 43kW Type 2, now they evidently knew that Type 2 isn't great because at the next one they found they opted for CCS, so you'd have to assume they used the 43kW type 2 as it was the only one suitable, perhaps that charger didn't have CCS connector, or it wasn't available or working.

But overall it doesn't give a great impression of EV driving because that wasn't a good experience, most people won't tolerate having to drive round to multiple charging points, they quite reasonably expect to pull up and change.

 

[HandyAndy]

It's clear he expected to get 260 miles or near-as-dammit before he started out. Someone ?the dealer? should have explained what's what.

 

[cyclingaviator]

It seemed a fairly valid assessment of the problems a lot of people new to the EV world are going to be hit with.

The problem with the less than expected range is the number is already a perceived low number to begin with. Would there be as much fuss if the bumph stated 500 and the reality was 400? probably not.

My 'on order' ID3 will be my first EV and I have to sat I'm not filled with much confidence of easy and reliable charging on the road when time is a factor. However, I don't expect to have an angst attack at seeing 178mile range at the get go. My current car only has less than 50mile range in diesel and I don't see me fretting over it tomorrow morning. At least an EV could be adding to that while it's doing nothing on my drive right now.

 

[Tooks]

It's clear he expected to get 260 miles or near-as-dammit before he started out. Someone ?the dealer? should have explained what's what.

Surely it was a VW Press Car?

They probably assumed Which would have done their homework.

 

[Tooks]

The mystery is why they chose Ecotricity as one of the three charging networks to sign up to.

They probably expected to stay on the motorway network, perhaps not unreasonably.

 

[b789pilot]

Having read the article, I can't see why people are criticizing it, the driver clearly tried several rapid chargers (either occupied or faulty) before finally arriving at one and using the 43kW Type 2, now they evidently knew that Type 2 isn't great because at the next one they found they opted for CCS, so you'd have to assume they used the 43kW type 2 as it was the only one suitable, perhaps that charger didn't have CCS connector, or it wasn't available or working.

But overall it doesn't give a great impression of EV driving because that wasn't a good experience, most people won't tolerate having to drive round to multiple charging points, they quite reasonably expect to pull up and change.

He wrote: "Though upon plugging in the supposed 43kWh charger, the ID.3 informed me it would take over three hours to charge the battery to 80% capacity. Its ‘Type 2’ connection (the same used on domestic fast chargers) meant the ID.3 couldn’t charge as quickly as is possible, meaning I would only get 20 miles of range in the 45-minute charging period allowed at this particular charging point."

What that says to me is that he was expecting to be able to charge at 43kW but the type-2 connection meant he couldn't charge "as quickly as possible". This guy is supposed to "review" and I'd expect anyone worth their salt to at least have done a little bit of homework first.