J1mbo are you serious!!!! That is not a reasonable comparison at all you can allways buy coffee from ususally at least 3 companies at each major services. If your at all interested in tesla you will be aware that ecotricity blocked tesla from installing charging points at any services they have installed equipment even though it would have no effect on them other than tesla owners would not have to use these chargers leaving them free to all other electric car companies cars. I believe ecotricity had plenty of financial help installing these from vehicle manufacturers and gov grants. Irrespective of this at most services I have noticed this usually if they have for example McDonalds on one side there is usually someone else on the other like Burger King. As a consumer I want choice, why should tesla not be able to take a few spaces out of the way at any services to install supercharger if they are willing to pay for it. Any blocking of this in my view is anti competitive and should be reviewed. As a tax payer we pay for the uk roads and we need to encourage a fossil free future. I am totally against any action which potentially delays the mass roll out of electric vehicles. Our countries main arteries are the motorways they should never be allowed to be controlled by one party even the petrol is sold by different companies
Yes, I am serious. I use motorway services several times a week. You clearly do not. You can buy Starbucks at 3 cafes on one site, but you cannot choose between Starbucks, Costa and Nero on one site. You cannot choose between McDonalds and Burger King on one site.
There are two places on the whole network where Burger King are on one side of the road and McDonalds is on the other side. Two. Usually you have no choice except to drive off the motorway into the nearest town, or continue on and
hope that the next MSA is run by a different company who have a different single vendor agreement.
Being a UK tax payer means nothing when it comes to private businesses operating at Motorway Services.
The fact that Tesla have installed chargers at Motorway Services kills your arguement of anti-competitiveness. As a Tesla owner, you get to choose whether to use a Supercharger OR an Ecotricity charger. This helps boths sides, as some may consider Superchargers as a monopoly with a one-off £60,000+ access fee.
Personally I think Tesla will be better putting chargers just-off the motorway - e.g. adjacent to a junction, particularly where there are other services at that junction.
Tesla did this before their agreement with Ecotricity. That is why some Superchargers are installed in Farm Shops and Sainsburys and Hotel car parks. They are less convenient, especially if you arrive when the shops are shut. But they provide an alternative to motorway services. Just like the regional monopolies do, such as those operated by Chargemaster, CYC, Source London, PodPoint, etc.
That's what competition is. If there are no alternative electric chargers in a reachable distance that's a monopoly. For Coffee & Fuel in an ICE I can easily go another few miles to a different vendor - there are loads to choose from, but not so with Electric charging.
Not true. There are alternatives for electric fuel, and with a little planning there is no reason why you shouldn't use them instead of an MSA. Plugshare can help you out with that.
What happens if you arrive at Motorway services with no petrol left in the tank? You pay BP £1.30 per litre, even though you could get £1.10 / litre from Esso in the local town. Is it anti-competitive because you failed to plan your trip and arrived with no fuel?
In some ways, I wish Ecotricity had charged from day one. It would have prevented this sense of entitlement from those people who seem to think they can rock up and use a high-availability £60,000 machine in a premium location for less than the cost of a medium latte.
