I challenged the dragon (Wales).. and I lost!

[J0hn.r]

Yesterday I faced the dragon and lost.... a few hours of my life

I planned to go to west Wales (Aberystwyth) from Bristol (276 miles total). 3 rapids in the vicinity (no SuC, are you kiddin'?? heh heh), all with successful charges a day before, no problem!
Set off at 6AM bright and early, In a playful hoon mode all the way there, the roads are just brilliant (especially on a Sunday early morning with no traffic).


Got to Aberystwyth University (Polar) at 8:08 AM (after 124 miles). With 16% battery instead of the predicted 50% but that’s not a problem, fun driving at 450-480 Wh/mile.
The plan was to leave the car there for 1hr charge and visit the seafront. On screen: charger out of use. On the call with support they confirm there’s nothing they can do.

Next stop: Morrisons (Geniepoint). App won’t connect. A number of retries and a reset, still will not take the command to start charging.
I try the only other option in town, a 21kw Type 2 (Dragon Charging, actually Polar) but.. these don’t have cables and I don’t have mine. Who thought 3 rapids will not work?? (My bad.. it won’t happen again).

I abandon the plan to visit the city and drive about 15mins to Tre’r-ddol (Polar). Got there at 9:30 AM. Initially this charger does not take “orders” either. I call, they reset it. Then it appears to work. For 2 mins! After 2% charge it stops. Have to call support again as the app was frozen at “charging” and I can’t try again. Another attempt, another 2% before stopping with error. Another call at support..this time they initiate the charge and it seems working... for 7%! I drank a coffee and during that it stopped again. Meanwhile an I-Pace shows up with 6 miles left in the “tank”. I drop the news and leave, as they were even more desperate for a charge. I hope those guys managed to charge somewhere!

I drive to Llandrindod Wells, 50 miles in 1h22 (35mph average), no AC no lights no music, foggy windows, I barely reach with 3%. 255 Wh/Mile as it's quite hilly (+666.7 ft elevation). Finally, a charger that works!

I get home 2 hours later than planned (3PM), with nothing visited and very little time for relaxing things to do. The drive was very nice and scenic but sadly I am afraid to do it again. At least, not venture that far.

Luckily I wasn’t with my wife and 2 kids, or I would have spent even more time as I would have had to choose the 7kw Tesla destination chargers, as there’s nothing in between.

Lessons?
1. Bring your AC cable. Always
2. Even your most considerate plans may fail. Set some time off for the unplanned events. Especially in remote places where you’re relying on 1 or 2 chargers
3. Dress warmly/appropriately - even if the weather seems nice. I had a proper jacket so I could drive with no AC. Not always possible
4. Pick a destination with a supercharger around. Not always easy
5. Always call support (they can either fix things, or at least are aware and issues get fixed afterwards). With my luck, even 11 calls and 1h30 on the phone did not help much
6. Always leave “checkin” reviews on your favourite app (I use ZapMap). Really useful to know a charger just worked fine, or isn’t working and I don’t drive there for nothing.

Come on, mr. dragon (Wales), you’re lagging behind!!!

 

[Gatsojon]

255 Wh/Mile. Urgh - I feel your pain! Anything under 300 means you weren't really enjoying the drive

 

[c7carl]

I’m due to pick my M3LR up on 1st September.

I have family in Wales and am therefore visiting them this week to eliminate the problem for at least one last time.

 

[Icenomore]

Just come back from a week near New Quay, decided to take the ICE (first time it’s been used since March so it probably needed a run), despite really wanting to take the Tesla but was worried about lack of charging (and looks like I made the right decision!). Saw a number of Teslas around so there is a market for chargers but they really need to up their game in that part of Wales. Hopefully the promised Aberystwyth supercharger will eventually materialise.

As an aside I’d forgotten how noisy petrol cars are!

 

[Derek25]

You should write to the Welsh government outlining your experience. They are so far behind.

 

[c7carl]

There is a Welsh handbook for EV owners, it’s written by Dai Laughing.

 

[SteveLR3]

Noticed last week that Morrisons in Brecon now has a 50kw listed on zap map

 

[tsh2]

Type 2 cable does open up a lot of 2nd choice options, even if you really need to find a 3 phase charger to get very far.

 

[LongRanger]

There is a small network of 50kw chargers (Dragon Charging) in partnership with Genie/Polar that is council-run, so towns like Newport, Narberth, Tenby and others more to the South do at least have something - plus a couple of Instavolt options springing up.

I haven’t explore the North too much recently but agree completely there are some very loose words from Welsh Gov but really no material action, pretty much the story of Wales politics for over 100 years to be fair.

Would really love to try and get some more momentum behind a genuine forward-looking charging infrastructure for Wales, the driver, jobs and economy benefits from EV ownership could really propel local economies forward but it needs several leaders who can “energise” (sorry dodgy pun) the situation. Currently folks appear to be reading reports on battery factories and reading what other governments are saying - then calling this their EV vision for Wales, not actually coming up with a viable plan.

If we could put it in the hands of business leaders however, that would be a different kettle of ball games.......

The OP story is one of the reasons I’ve put my “home charger install” money into the portable “Juice Booster” option as it has come with UK 3-pin, 32/16A commando Blue and Red for single/3 phase and then can use the Tesla cable if there’s a charge point type 2. Then at least for caravan/industrial type sites if there’s a real emergency need I have some options.

I wonder if a bunch of folks on here that are invested in Wales and EV potential could consider how to make some more useful representations into those who have the fate of Welsh infrastructure in their hands .... would need some time and effort commitment to have a chance of making a difference ..... I would be up for it.

 

[Jason71]

I'm heading to Zipworld at Bethesda at the end of the week. It's a 190mile round trip from the last chance Shifnal Supercharger. Ought to be doable despite the hills driving sensibly but if it goes wrong the topup options are very few and far between and mostly 1 off Ecotricity. It's pretty grim.

 

[LongRanger]

Those guys would be a prime spot for 50kw+ charging themselves, p.s. if you’ve not been before it’s awesome !

 

[NewbieT]

50kW Polar in Betws.... you’ll be alright.

 

[pgkevet]

..and a few months old new Morrison's in Oswestry has 50KW chargers too..if you need a splash of sparks on the way back.

 

[Rooster6655]

For Morrison’s GeniePoint I recommend registering a card to your account, so you don’t have to use the app/web which I’ve never got to work. Think you can link any card to use as a smart card

 

[Jeeves]

The lack of chargers in Wales is a national disgrace.

 

[Drew57]

...I have family in Wales and am therefore visiting them this week to eliminate the problem for at least one last time.

@c7carl - that's a radical solution (make sure the bodies are well hidden).

 

[J0hn.r]

This is one of the reasons why I wouldn't buy a Tesla EV competitor, even if the price is better and the specs are similar. Even with the poor level of service at Tesla. They still have a huge advantage with the Supercharger network. Which just works!
Just stick with areas that have one..

 

[davidmc]

Its not the fault of the welsh, or the charging companies fault.

Savnav asks - "Where to's it?"
Charger companys installer tells the satnav: "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch"
Satnav confirms and says "I'll be there now, in a minute"
Driver know this means in a bit
Satnav takes him to Milton Keynes

They arrive and the driver is Tamping, so finds a location and quickly installs it on the street - "Tidy"

The driver after then goes for dinner and asks for a chicken tikka with half and half. And a bottle of pop.

Not gonna lie to you, but It's where all the welsh chargers are!

 

[smeg9]

I saw your post about the Tre’r-ddol (Polar) charger on Zap-Map. I have a trip coming up with the family at the end of this week, that charger played a big part in my plan.

I joined Polar Plus on a trial specifically - and when tested my card on our nearest one which had the same behaviour - all seemed good for 2 minutes / 2% then it clicked out, and displayed an error on the screen? Makes me worried this is an issue with the Tesla firmware (I'm on 2020.28.6) as another post on Zap Map said successful charge on CCS the next day. What firmware are you on? Have others had issues with Polar CCS charging?

This charger is a 50 mile detour to my journey - so if it doesn't work then it's costing 50 miles. I might just turn sentry mode off, drive carefully and hope to make it back as far as Telford SuC on my way back?

That would be 203 miles, potentially in the rain, with a car full of people and an overnight stop off of about 24 - 30hrs.

M3LR, heavy foot!

Theoretically possible?

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

This is one of the reasons why I wouldn't buy a Tesla EV competitor, even if the price is better and the specs are similar. Even with the poor level of service at Tesla. They still have a huge advantage with the Supercharger network. Which just works!
Just stick with areas that have one..

If people don't push the limits, Tesla doesn't know where the Superchargers need to go, other than by guessing why people _aren't_ driving to places.