I was parked at a local Tesco for 30 minutes (all chargers were full and I was waiting for my partner to finish up) - I watched one Mercedes owner get out and plug in her EQC400 twice. Presumably for the 15 minutes of free charging at the 7kW post, even though it's currently free. The mind boggles.

 

..and therein lies the essence of the doom of the human race.

 

There must be several other ways some people will get free juice.

Watch out for adjacent people waiting for you to charge and plugging in at the same time. Chances are they have swapped labels so you'll be authenticating them.




Gaz

 

I went shopping and charged up, an Asian friend was lamenting the end of free charging for him, still he said its only 18 pence at home! why would you sit in a car charging for free for hours beats me

 

I think I would have used them more if they were tethered chargers but too much effort to get the cable in/out of the car for the sake of a 20 minute charge (how long do you need to spend in Tesco).

 

I think the first ten minutes or so are to allow the user to get the app sorted and the charge confirmed.

We visited our local.tesco.ladt night and kept seeing drivers turn up for the free charge and then drive off again as they couldn't conform their charge.

I had the same issue until I put £5 onto the account and it was then authorised.

Monday's are still a free charge up to midnight but you need credit on your account for it to work.

 

Monday's are still a free charge up to midnight but you need credit on your account for it to work.

That was yesterday, it was only set that way so they didn't charge before the charges came into effect, if you check now, they will be 24/7 rates.

 

If you plug into a 22KW post but are only able to charge at 3.6KW will you be charged 40p instead of 28p?

 

Indeed, many CPS operators have different pricing 7kW vs 22kW. Where I park once a week there are two long banks of posts. One lot 7kW and the other 22kW and they look identical bar a tiny sticker. One to watch out for.

 

That's going to be painful for the Uber drivers

 

In regard to the different pricing between 7KW and 22KW, I understand why PodPoint would want to charge more. To encourage owners that can't utilize the full speed of the 22KW post to use the slower one plus as an extra revenue source. It is well within their right to do so.

But in a world where public chargers are kind of scarce compared to the demand, it will be quite frustrating if you are a Leaf 24 / 30 owner like myself or any of the other lower range cars, to turn up at a PodPoint charger to find all of the 7KW chargers in use and the only free ones are 22KW. If you really must charge then you have to pay a premium for a service you can't fully utilize.

First world problems, but I had hoped that Podpoint charging a fee would mean less frustration when getting a charge. It now just means there is something else to be frustrated about.

 

It is Tesco who set the fees, not Pod Point.

Some networks charge a flat rate regardless of the "speed" of delivery, so being able to pay a lower amount for 7kW or 22kW than DC is the way to think of this.

My local Tesco only has 4 x 7kW chargers anyway - no 22kW or rapids.

 

But on the flip side of that, I very much doubt there will be anywhere near the 'usual' congestion around the units now, so you'll have a good chance of getting on a 7kW unit.

It's also worth noting that not every Tesco has 22kW units, only the ones with a 50kW rapid charger.

 

But on the flip side of that, I very much doubt there will be anywhere near the 'usual' congestion around the units now, so you'll have a good chance of getting on a 7kW unit.

It's also worth noting that not every Tesco has 22kW units, only the ones with a 50kW rapid charger.

Yes I hope you are right.

 

I think this will reduce the congestion. A few months ago I went to Tesco in Thurrock near the Lakeside Shopping Centre. I drove by the PodPoint bays and all 4 were being utilised with 3 cars and their drivers waiting in the bays opposite them.

What will be interesting is if they still throttle the speed. A few times when I used their 7kW chargers, the car charged at around 3kW so it was a pretty pointless task. If I were to plug into a 22kW charger and PodPoint throttled the charging speed to 3kW and I paid the higher rate per kWh that would be pretty annoying.

 

I've been going to Tesco less and less as I noticed their prices for groceries didn't track inflation they far exceeded them and increased far more than other supermarkets I used.

I always went to Tesco though mostly because of the chargers, 90% of the time I'd be able to charge and I probably spend thousands every year at Tesco because I get a little bit of charge most times I shop.

No more, Tesco missing out big time if there are many others like me. I'll shop elsewhere as the only perk Tesco used to have has now gone.

 

I've been going to Tesco less and less as I noticed their prices for groceries didn't track inflation they far exceeded them and increased far more than other supermarkets I used.

I always went to Tesco though mostly because of the chargers, 90% of the time I'd be able to charge and I probably spend thousands every year at Tesco because I get a little bit of charge most times I shop.

No more, Tesco missing out big time if there are many others like me. I'll shop elsewhere as the only perk Tesco used to have has now gone.

Yeah, we use Aldi where there is a bank of Osprey rapids which were free to use via Bonnet, sadly these days are go too. Still gonna shop at Aldi though, lol.

 

Noticed last night the the rapid at a local Lidl was up and running. Far more use than a post that doesn’t even give our 16A 👍

 

You missed out the "being told I'm only jealous because I didn't think to spend 3 hours a day for the last 10 years at a Tesco car park to save £1.65" (33kW @ 5p OctoGo)

Life is way too short for that!

 

The "outrage" has begun:-

Shoppers blast Tesco's 28p charge for certain customers as 'disgusting'

Drivers will have to pay to charge their electric vehicles

www.dailypost.co.uk

 

Disgusting 😂 Strong word for freeloading scroungers 🙈

 

Yesterday was the first time I've seen the Tesco near us with 2 out of the 4 chargers not occupied for a long time.

 

Yes same at our local Tesco. At 5PM it is usually the case that all 4 of the fast chargers are occupied. The other night only one was. This bodes well for making Tesco a reliable place to stop and charge when away from the local area.

 

I was topping up at a Tesco rapid in Notts earlier in the year, en route back home to the north east. I had a nice chat with an EV6 owner, the first EV6 I’d seen in the flesh at the time. He said he wouldn’t need a home charger because of the convenience of the local store. I couldn’t really be bothered to disagree but I thought he was a bit naive.

I don’t blame Tesco at all for the change, but I do think it will find quite a few out, like the EV6 guy, who have made themselves reliant.

 

Went for the weekly shop at Tesco today one car on the 50KW both the 22Kw were occupied and the two 7Kw weren't working, no idea if that's related to the fact that they are now charging for use.

 

I would think we will have to get used to more of them not working. Still, my fortnightly trip to see my mother in Caterham should be a lot simpler.

 

Shoppers blast Tesco for charging below cost for a service that didn't exist a year ago

Really, do people expect free petrol? It'd be one thing to get some kWh's free if you'd shopped there, same as x pence off per litre of fuel kind of deals, but they're just expecting unlimited free electricity.

 

Now Tesco are charging, I hope they sort out the old 7kW ones that only do 3.6kW when both sides are in use. They are valuable for when I have been away from home, but poor when both sides are being used. Happy to pay for a proper provision.

 

Probably each post only has a 7kW (32A, 240V) supply, so I suspect they'd need to dig up the car park to do that, unlikely to happen.

 

I’ve found the Tesco chargers useful for some of my medium length journeys on my 21kW AC charging Zoe.
However all Tesco chargers seemed to start off at their stated power but dropped power after a variable amount of time up to about 10 minutes. Reconnecting sometimes would get the charger back to full power, but I could never work out what the algorithm was.
I hope now Tesco are able to allow their chargers to run at the design speed.

 

Yep I've noticed this too. But I've noticed this issue was not just Tesco pod point 7kw chargers. I parked in Swanage public car park this summer where there are two 7kw pod point charge (not free can't remember the fee). After about 20 minutes in to the charge it slow down to about 3.6 kw rate. Unplug and plug in again, it would go back to the full rate and then drop back again. There were no other car charging only mine. Can't figure out why or reasons. What made me frustrated these chargers wasn't free.

 

I'd agree with others comments about people abusing them. I'm surprised the car parks themselves didn't have a 2 hour limit, let alone the chargers. A Tesco en route from my mum's to home used to provide me with enough juice enabling me to get my PHEV all the way without the ice cutting in and enabling me to buy a few groceries as a bonus. Sadly it was mostly blocked recently (I suspect for several hours) by the same cars obviously having more than a splash-and-dash.

 

I noticed tonight my local one was more empty than usual but I think it's going to still take another week for people to get tripped to the fact that they have to pay for it now as it doesn't immediately come up in the app unless your really paying attention that it is no longer free.

 

Am I missing something here? the app suggests that I can still get 15 minutes free charge if I don't confirm the charge: I can image that some freeloaders will keep unplugging and then plugging back in every 15 minutes

 

Sadly, there are reports of this happening.

 

And here’s someone not charging but using the space as ‘where I park my EV’ 🤦‍♂️

 

The rule should be a non charging vehicle gets its charge flap glued shut.
It could be extended to ICEing too.

I can't charge because of you = you can't charge.

Naughty but fair ???

Gaz

 

I just PrickSticker them as its easier and more obvious.

Was that Tesco Burnage at all?

 

@SMLMcKenzie what's up?!

 

Bit of hot glue in the charge port pins, a right bugger to get out but no permanent damage...