I'm glad this is finally in the public domain... "Later this year we expect to install the first of a new breed of very fast chargers – from flat to full in 20 minutes" http://zerocarbonista.com/2012/01/31/2012-the-year-of-the-electric-car/
Ecotricity are installing both 43kW 3 Phase AC and 50kW CHAdeMO DC this year... anyone at Tesla listening to what's happening in Europe?
There will be a battle going on between free & not free charging! Membercard or not A battle for customers is going on, and ev-users will benefit!
As a business owner I am all for allowing my clients and employees to charge for free. Those that are not clients or employees should pay a nominal amount for the parking, use of the EVSE, and electrons used.
I agree. But for a restaurant or hotel offering free charging can be a way of marketing and getting clients.
Absolutely... the UK is really waking up to this and I have no doubt that we will have massive Charging Station deployment at Hotels within a few years.
I'm sure that everyone would be happy with that... the issue for me is how we pay... in the UK today we have 22 different RFID cards and numerous monthly subscription services and that's just lunacy :crying:
Now that Dale at Ecotricity is a Leaf owner I suspect we will see more action on fast chargers :wink: "Actually we have super fast chargers coming soon – empty to full in just 20 minutes, more on that later" Fuel Crisis, What Fuel Crisis? | Transport | Zerocarbonista
We have charging posts in Norway that open only after you send an SMS. If it's post #22 I send "Start 22" to a special number and the post open and activates. It is free for now, but the system can be used to charge via the phone bill if they want to later. I send "stop 22" to stop charging and open the post again to free my EVSE cable. That SMS can be charged to the phone bill for the amount of time used to charge. Very simple, everybody has a cellphone.
First impression: clever solution! But is there a prevention for other phones to send "stop 22"? e.g. phone number serving as authorization? or a code number in a message sent in return for "start 22" that is required to authorize the stop command? Otherwise, anybody can abort your charging process and remove your charging cable. If it is not locked at the vehicle side, it can be stolen.
Clipper Creek uses this solution for POS now, and is workable. The only problem, it is time consuming for the user to enter all the payment information ie credit card. I have not seen the ability to have it added to your phone bill here yet. Additionally as a merchant you are then billed for a non-swiped transaction (3%) versus an non-swiped transaction (1%) as a merchant fee.
Not a great day for Ecotricty :-( I did manage to charge at 32A at Oxford M40 South despite 12" water in the parking bay and an ICE... But Membury M4 West was 'dead' once again...
That one at Oxford, I've used that before.... Have they moved the post? I could have sworn it was in front of the two green bays with the big puddle in your first picture and next to the main walkway.