[John Weatherley]

I pay a subscription of about £7.00 a month for access to the BP Polar Charger network at a discounted rate of £0.15 per kWh.

This would be worth it, but the charger I tried at Crick in Northampton isn't working on the CCS connection. They may as well discount it down to £0.01 per kWh as its pointless if they dont work.

The other problem is finding the damn things. They hide them away in the back of hotel carparks where you have to go into the hotel and register your car or get a £100 parking fine. This is a system run by BP. They need to ensure ALL the chargers they have work. More than that, they need to install them in more accessible locations on their forecourts in the same way that Shell are doing. I ended up using the Shell charger 15 miles further on.

Rant over - for now.

 

[ScottC]

Ok so you found a faulty charger! Did you report it?

The locations in hotel car parks are installed with ICERS in mind, far from the entrance reduces the chance of this.

 

[John Weatherley]

Ok so you found a faulty charger! Did you report it?

The locations in hotel car parks are installed with ICERS in mind, far from the entrance reduces the chance of this.

Of course I reported it. It took 10 minutes of waiting for them to answer the phone. So in all, around 20 minutes of wasted time on the trip. The guy I spoke to at Polar said they were aware it was faulty and had been on and off for a while. They had no idea when it would be fixed.

Their App still says it is available and working !!!

 

[Spike]

@John Weatherley, they have an online reporting system so you don’t have to hang on the phone for ages Polar Fault Reporting If you use the PlugShare app, the entries often have additional details on how to find the charger and many have what3words entries too to help locate chargers.

 

[Neilew]

many have what3words entries too to help locate chargers.

That prompted me to look up our house on 'what3words'. The result was quite amusing.

 

[John Weatherley]

I have had an email conversation going with Polar concerning the chargers at hotels. This is one of the statements they have come back with that might explain why they have problems.....

"The chargers in hotels are private units where the host allows Polar customers access. They, as advised, tell us where they are to be installed. This is not a matter we have control over and is decided by the hotel and the local planning department."

I have asked for a list of chargers available at BP filling stations - not heard anything back on the yet.

 

[Neilew]

"The chargers in hotels are private units where the host allows Polar customers access.

The Sacred Orchard restaurant at Nantwich included a Polar post when it was built, which was accessible free with the Polar card. Local EV owners made so much use of it that the owners switched to having a card behind the bar that patrons could use. I was told that it was because 'these people were not even coming in for a drink'!