Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

[white exec]

Perhaps someone more intelligent than Musk could put their mind to that!!
Or maybe he should just stick to the day-job.

[Mandrake]

Looks like a bit of a problem in California

All the more reason to adopt home charging. Then the only person you have to fight to get a turn on a charger is your spouse...

[mickthemaverick]

Looks like a bit of a problem in California

All the more reason to adopt home charging. Then the only person you have to fight to get a turn on a charger is your spouse...

And your teenage lodgers!!!

[NewcastleFalcon]

So far its been a good time to join the world of electric vehicles in Northumberland....free rapid chargers at usable locations throughout the county, and so far no problems with access or queueing up.

NF more out of focus nightime photography

Regards Neil

[myglaren]

Time for a tripod Neil?

[NewcastleFalcon]

Just popped the theme up on the PE Jukebox just in case anyone bought the 7" single

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Just looked up the Border towns on Zap-map, and they seem well served with usable rapid chargers for a venture into the borders. Jedburgh/Hawick/Selkirk/Melrose/Kelso/Duns/Galashiels all covered and further north Dunbar/North Berwick/Haddington all covered before you hit Edinburgh and its surrounds.

Most are "Chargepoint Scotland" and most free, will have find out first hand whether the POLAR Plus card I have from BP Chargemaster will give access to those chargers, and have some alternatives in place if it doesn't

screenshot

REgards Neil

[andy5]

Reading some of fhe posts above, I started humming the Robyn Hitchcock song Raymond and the wires.

Those who don't know it, and even anyone that does, might think this is a bit of an obtuse way to start a post.

It's purportedly inspired by nostalgia for trolley bus trips with his dad. Or about a character who is.

If there is going to be electricity passing along roadways, and some way of picking it up, maybe inductive, how new is this idea really, and if transfer can be made efficient enough why bother carrying the weight of the battery?

[Mandrake]

Most are "Chargepoint Scotland" and most free, will have find out first hand whether the POLAR Plus card I have from BP Chargemaster will give access to those chargers, and have some alternatives in place if it doesn't

Unfortunately a Polar Plus card will not work on the Chargeplace Scotland chargers as far as I am aware. The only cards that will work are a Chargeplace Scotland card (which I have) or a Charge your Car card, which is basically the same thing.

For a little background info, Charge Your Car is a company in England who run the Charge Your Car network in England and Wales and currently have the contract with the Scottish government to run the Chargeplace Scotland network of chargers in Scotland.

Thus at the moment as far as access goes, Chargeplace Scotland and Charge your Car are synonymous so I can use my Chargeplace Scotland card in England on Charge your Car chargers, and you could use a Charge your Car card up at Chargeplace Scotland chargers. So long as they keep the contract that is...who knows what happens if they lose it to someone else.

Unlike most other networks, charge your car don't actually own any chargers, they provide backend authentication and payment services only - the actual chargers are installed and maintained typically by local councils and some individual businesses and then added to the Charge your Car network for centralised payment and authentication.

Same in Scotland - most Chargeplace scotland chargers were actually installed by the local councils with Transport Scotland seed money and are now maintained by the councils with Chargeplace Scotland just providing authentication and billing and providing a point of contact to pass on any charger problem reports to the actual owner.

An interesting wrinkle is that Chargemaster bought out both Polar and Charge your car, so theoretically the three are "one big family", and as a result I think you can use a Polar card on Charge your Car points in England or Wales, but NOT on Chargeplace Scotland points in Scotland!

In any case, if you want to use Chargeplace Scotland chargers you have two choices - pay £20 a year to maintain a Chargeplace Scotland or Charge Your Car RFID card, or use the Charge your Car smartphone app where you can sign up for free and only pay anything if you use chargers that aren't free. (You do still have to enter payment details though) As you said you don't have a smart phone the second option seems to be unsuitable for you!

I have the RFID card because it's quicker and more reliable than the phone app, I really can't be arsed faffing around with the phone app, and in some remote highland locations it isn't very reliable because either the phone or the charger may lose contact with the network...

So for me a £20 a year renewal for a card that will let me use 90% of the chargers in Scotland with 3/4 of them still being free is a good deal. The only non CPS chargers I use are Instavolt, and they take ordinary contactless.

[bobins]

Reading some of fhe posts above, I started humming the Robyn Hitchcock song Raymond and the wires.

It's purportedly inspired by nostalgia for trolley bus trips with his dad. Or about a character who is.

Never imagined I'd see Robyn Hitchcock being quoted on the FCF
Trams Of Old London is one of my favourites......
....and Brenda's Iron Sledge......
........and Point It At Gran

[NewcastleFalcon]

Most are "Chargepoint Scotland" and most free, will have find out first hand whether the POLAR Plus card I have from BP Chargemaster will give access to those chargers, and have some alternatives in place if it doesn't

Unfortunately a Polar Plus card will not work on the Chargeplace Scotland chargers as far as I am aware. The only cards that will work are a Chargeplace Scotland card (which I have) or a Charge your Car card, which is basically the same thing.

An interesting wrinkle is that Chargemaster bought out both Polar and Charge your car, so theoretically the three are "one big family", and as a result I think you can use a Polar card on Charge your Car points in England or Wales, but NOT on Chargeplace Scotland points in Scotland!

Thanks Simon. The Polar Plus guff on the website does state "Access to the Charge Your Car (CYC) network included in your membership" but as you say may not cover the chargepoint Scotland sites. Just a quick pop over the Border up to Eyemouth or Kelso with range in hand to get back to Berwick or Wooler should tell us for sure, and if not we would easily get good value out of £20 a year on a Chargepoint Scotland card.

Regards Neil

[Mandrake]

If you're just nipping over the border give it a try and let us know what happens... as long as you have plan B though. Pity you don't have a smartphone as it is free to use the Charge Your Car app on free Chargeplace Scotland chargers without any up front costs or recurring charges. (However you do have to register a debit/credit card with the app to use the app, as well as provide a UK street address - much to the chagrin of foreign visitors coming to Scotland! )

Just another example of how fragmented and confusing the public Charging situation is in the UK at the moment...

I have faith that it will all sort itself out eventually through mergers, acquisitions and government legislation but I think us early adopters are in for a bumpy ride in the meantime!

[NewcastleFalcon]

If you're just nipping over the border give it a try and let us know what happens... as long as you have plan B though.

There was this report on Plugshare on the Eyemouth Charger on August 7th

screenshot

Phoned chargeyourcar, and was told "phone us when you are at the charger and we will start the charge for you". Wouldn't want to do this every time we used a CYC managed charger in Scotland so hopefully they will be able to link in my existing Polar Plus RFID card to access their network in Scotland.

Maybe BP Chargemaster are taking a little bit of time to join up their acquired parts

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Reading some of fhe posts above, I started humming the Robyn Hitchcock song Raymond and the wires.

Dont know if you ever pop down to the Pickled Egg Andy, but I've put that track on the jukebox here

viewtopic.php?p=628503#p628503

Never imagined I'd see Robyn Hitchcock being quoted on the FCF
Trams Of Old London is one of my favourites......

Trams of Old London is also on the PE Jukebox now
viewtopic.php?p=628514#p628514

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Looks like autocar journalists are avid readers of the French Car Forum

Analysis: Who will charge our electric vehicles?
Our report looks at who will expand UK’s EV charging network

and this is the rather wishy washy conclusion they have come to

"Growth in the UK’s public electric car charger network will come from dedicated charger companies, utilities and the government, rather than car makers, an Autocar investigation has concluded."

Regards Neil