Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by mickthemaverick »

Seems odd that it was plugged into the AC charger when it is clearly badged as a DC machine! :-D
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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by Mandrake »

NewcastleFalcon wrote: 22 Jul 2020, 18:48 A first today pulled up by the side of some KIA PLug in vehicle whuch was using the AC plug, and fully expecting the Chademo DC rapid Charger not to be able to be used, just plugged in to give it a try, and hey presto it worked and worked pretty much as per usual.

Not sure what state of play the KIA charging session was in but it was pugged in when we arrived and still plugged in when we left. It looked like the session was ongoing but no display on the touch screen just a little icon whirling around.

Image

REgards Neil
That's a Kia e-Niro BEV. 64kWh and 250-300 miles of range. :)

Looks like the driver is a newbie if they used the AC plug - the e-Niro is CCS, so while it will take the AC plug as well it will only charge at 7kW using it - same speed as they would get at home. If they'd used the CCS connector on the charger they would be charging at 50kW!

Good news for you though as many chargers allow the use of the AC connector and one of either CCS or Chademo at the same time. If they had been using the CCS plug as they should have been you would not have been able to use Chademo.
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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Another Newbie Driver I think in this...
Audi E-Tron plugged in to the charging point but it is out of action....not even a screen display.
Audi E-Tron plugged in to the charging point but it is out of action....not even a screen display.

Had to have a bit of a change of plans on our day out because our destination charger was out of action. Didn't stop the Audi E-tron driver from plugging in and possible thinking that this was all that was necessary to charge the car.
The machine didnt have the display lit up and definitely was not dispensing any electricity. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe it went Kaput while he was charging.

Morrisons down at Blaydon was the nearest alternative (5 miles). As mentioned before they partner with Genie Point, and I got my Polar Plus RFID card linked to Geniepoint so we can use Geniepoint chargers. Yes it is a paid for one, connection charge £1.00 and 30p/kWh.
Morrisons to the rescue
Morrisons to the rescue
I would like to link into LIDL chargers too, but their partner is POd Point for which you need a smartphone and an app.

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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

so Normal Charging....at one of Northumberland CC's rapid chargers.... No cards needed plug in charge up currently free.
NCC ARB Charger
NCC ARB Charger
Within 100 yards This LIdl Rapid Charger run by Pod Point
Pod Point Charger Lidl
Pod Point Charger Lidl
Instructions for use
No pay with bank card option no RFID card option.
No pay with bank card option no RFID card option.
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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

....and who is now the majority shareholder in Pod-Point......not other than Electricite De France otherwise known as EDF.

(Owned ultimately 85% by the French State at the last count)

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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

NewcastleFalcon wrote: 11 Mar 2020, 19:44 Despite similar names Engie, and Geniepoint (they are one and the same..and a large French energy company part owned by the State of France) are different from the UK company Engenie responsible for the Alnwick Installation. I suspect Engenie will build up a bit of a network of rapid chargers and be swallowed up by one of the bigger players, with their investors hoping to cash in on any takeover.

Even the names are confusing!
Image
SImon mentioned using an Engenie charger, and there are 2 next to M&S at the new Reatil Park just off the A1 at Alnwick. As mentioned above they are at the moment a British Company building up a network of chargers.

Bit of business for Spain in the Alnwick Installation....
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It come from Barcelona!
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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

With the shenanigans today of chargers in two locations being unavailable, one switched off and the other occupied by an Audi E-tron, I noted down this new GeniePoint Charger at A BP filling station.

Bit odd really.

BP own BP Chargemaster and hence the Polar Network of Chargers and former Charge your Car network, yet at a BP filling station BP install GeniePoint owned by French Energy company Engie nearly one quarter owned by our old friends "The State of France".
Nf Own Work
Nf Own Work
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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

Where is that charger? The reason I ask is because of the Amazon locker in the background, as they are one of our clients. I can tell it is a Gen 3.0 unit.
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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Hell Razor5543 wrote: 09 Aug 2020, 21:46 Where is that charger? The reason I ask is because of the Amazon locker in the background, as they are one of our clients. I can tell it is a Gen 3.0 unit.
Long trip up for you James, Gosforth, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Strayed out of Northumberland and this charging point at the "bright meadow" (Birtley) was selected to take us a bit further on. Two chargers from INstavolt, no waiting and pay as you go with contactless bank card. Also checked out a couple more for future reference at the former Salutation Pub at Framwellgate Moor Durham (now a Co-op). Again Instavolt, two chargers, both vacant.
not a bad crop of blackberries either!
not a bad crop of blackberries either!
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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Two days in a row I have actually paid for a little bit of fuel. £2.94 today at another Instavolt. More a time thing than anything else, I expected out of action free chargers or occupied free chargers, and just dipped into the instavolt's highly likely availability to save the hassle, of possible diversions off route just to find a vacant or working charger.

Good job there were 2 instavolt chargers, one of the chargers contactless wasn't working and if its not you cant start a charging session without phoning them up, luckily the other one was.

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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by myglaren »

While it is far more widely applicable than just to BEVs, this looks an interesting development

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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by Mandrake »

NewcastleFalcon wrote: 15 Aug 2020, 19:31 Two days in a row I have actually paid for a little bit of fuel. £2.94 today at another Instavolt. More a time thing than anything else, I expected out of action free chargers or occupied free chargers, and just dipped into the instavolt's highly likely availability to save the hassle, of possible diversions off route just to find a vacant or working charger.

Good job there were 2 instavolt chargers, one of the chargers contactless wasn't working and if its not you cant start a charging session without phoning them up, luckily the other one was.

Regards Neil
Instavolt are the units I used the most with the Ion. In fact over the last two winters I relied on a pair of Instavolts at a Gulf service station on my way home from work to be able to make the journey home. In the perhaps hundreds of times I used them I only saw one unit out of action twice. Both times I phoned them and they had it repaired in a day or two, and I was able to get a charge on the other unit, showing the benefits of redundancy at a site.

And only once have I ever had to queue to get onto one - most of the freeloaders go to free CPS units and only "resort" to paying to use an Instavolt when they have to I presume. Suits me fine when I want two empty chargers which are very likely working that I can get onto without delay! This is likely to change a bit when free CPS chargers stop being free.

Did you phone them to let them know one was out of order ? I think the 0800 number is on the charger itself. I have also seen a maintenance van proactively arriving at Instavolt chargers to check them over on more than one occasion - I know because I had just used one and both were in service when a van arrived, when I asked the guy he said he was doing a regular clean/check of the units to make sure they are in good working order. Some networks sit back and wait until users phone up to complain they're broken before ever sending anyone out...
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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Mandrake wrote: 18 Aug 2020, 11:08
Did you phone them to let them know one was out of order ?
Short answer to that question is no. Been going through a bad boy phase, charger hogged the other night too when I had forgotten I had l put the car on the charger at Tea time, and News at Ten came on before I was reminded!

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Re: Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

Post by Mandrake »

NewcastleFalcon wrote: 18 Aug 2020, 11:33
Mandrake wrote: 18 Aug 2020, 11:08
Did you phone them to let them know one was out of order ?
Short answer to that question is no. Been going through a bad boy phase, charger hogged the other night too when I had forgotten I had l put the car on the charger at Tea time, and News at Ten came on before I was reminded!

REgards Neil
Ah... one of the perks of having Nissan Connect EV working - it sends me a notification to my phone when the car finishes charging. :)
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