If Scourie CCS is down, will Type 2 suffice? Considering hiring a Model 3 for Fort-William - Lock Assynt trip

[thewishy]

There are at 2 independent 50kw chargers in Ullapool, not a bad stop.
Laige also has a more DC modern unit and some AC charges if you want a bit of a top-up (Nice lunch at "the pier" restaurant a 5 min walk away). Most are highlands council, and the rapids are rather expensive these days. They also have a 45 min overstay policy, you shouldn't be overly surprised if you get 35kw out of a 50kw rapid, and that means a stop isn't going to fill the car.
The CPS app doesn't work to start charging at all units. You can call the CPS helpline, ask and they'll turn it on for you.

The Scourie charger an ancient, it's not overly surprising people are having issues with it. Think it was offline the last time I passed.

The inverness supercharger is a city centre carpark, you can let it charge to 100% while you're going round the town, grab a icecream, etc. It was a pretty pleasant stop, other than traffic getting into inverness itself

For the US drivers, might come as a small shock that the AC chargers don't have a cable attached, but there should be a type 2 cable included with the rental. Rapid chargers and tesla destination chargers will generally have an attached AC cable.

In general, you probably won't be going to fast on those roads, which generally helps efficiency. You can't be sure if a hire car might get subbed with a model Y, or an LR for an SR. So it's best to plan for the idea you'll need to charge at one of the CPS chargers, and hope that you make it back to the supercharger.
The range estimates also assume you won't do any side roads, but there are definitely side roads which are worth doing if you have time.

Don't be offended if the Tesla destination charger asks you for payment.

 

[Adopado]

Just checking out the old ChargeplaceScotland DC "rapids" (50kW max) across the Highlands it's a very sorry picture. Looking at the "chat" part of ZapMap, and the availability indicators, it is changing from a network to be proud of into a national disgrace. Cash strapped Councils are being expected to pay for the repair of this ageing infrastructure and it's just not happening.

 

[init6]

Cash strapped Councils are being expected to pay for the repair of this ageing infrastructure and it's just not happening.

At the risk of veering into politics, cash strapped councils chose to give out free electricity for the best part of 3 years. My local council spent £156k a year to subsidise people with expensive cars

Hopefully the changes to pricing will allow them to repair more quickly. Although I fear some have priced too high and will see a drop in use and income.

 

[thewishy]

Problem is primarily that initial funding was provided, but the chargers are now old, out of warranty and unreliable. It'll be exceedingly interesting to see how they deal with (draft) The Public Charge Point Regulations 2023, and the requirement for 99% availability. I'd guess closer to 50% for the first generation rapids. And I suspect that if the old units can't be operated by app, the odds of them supporting retrofit credit card payments within a year of publication are low...
Suspect someone is going to need to find some money for replacement modern units.

Unfortunately years of free/cheap charging has left very little room for competition. While there are awful charging companies in England (BP Pulse, Geniepoint,...), there is typically a competent network close enough for it not to be a problem for a Tesla owner. CPS is all you have in the highlands, short of the Inverness SuC and a 50kw rapid in John O'Groats which was put there as a publicity stunt. You've got no choice when a council covering an area the size of the highlands decides to put in bonkers 45 min limits and triple the cost per kWh

Anyway, for the OP, it's unlikely you'll actually run into trouble, but there will be dead chargers, and I would be getting itchy around 30% charge unless your nav tells you that's all you need for Inverness.

 

[Wybrook]

Wondering the same thing, and where we can find either locally.

If you’re picking the car up in Fort William there will probably be local chemists in the town who stock either. Alternatively go to the Glen Nevis campsite or visitor centre (RW3G+V9G Achintee, Fort William) a few miles to the south east. I’m pretty sure they’ll have a plethora of midge stuff and you’ll get a view of Ben Nevis too (though it looks better from the Commando memorial near Spean Bridge (V3X4+84W Kilmonivaig, Spean Bridge)).

 

[Adopado]

If you’re picking the car up in Fort William there will probably be local chemists in the town who stock either. Alternatively go to the Glen Nevis campsite or visitor centre (RW3G+V9G Achintee, Fort William) a few miles to the south east. I’m pretty sure they’ll have a plethora of midge stuff and you’ll get a view of Ben Nevis too (though it looks better from the Commando memorial near Spean Bridge (V3X4+84W Kilmonivaig, Spean Bridge)).

Even the local supermarkets in Fort William are piled high with midge repellent ... no need to go searching!

 

[Adopado]

Hopefully the changes to pricing will allow them to repair more quickly.

You would like to think so ... but little evidence so far ... ! Here's an article that I just found that says the SWARCO deal runs out this summer "with an option to extend" .... hmm ... it looks like ChargPlaceScotland operators are expecting it to be disbanded/sold off soon and my guess is that hosts are therefore spending as little as possible in the run up.

 

[thewishy]

You would like to think so ... but little evidence so far ... ! Here's an article that I just found that says the SWARCO deal runs out this summer "with an option to extend" .... hmm ... it looks like ChargPlaceScotland operators are expecting it to be disbanded/sold off soon and my guess is that hosts are therefore spending as little as possible in the run up.

I had read that they're planning to introduce commercial supply arrangements to replace CPS.

 

[init6]

Here's an article that I just found that says the SWARCO deal runs out this summer "with an option to extend"

I had read that they're planning to introduce commercial supply arrangements to replace CPS.

Links or it didn't happen

Always the worry that they change supplier/operator. There was a big difference when SWARCO took over, so hopefully not a backward step.

 

[Adopado]

Links or it didn't happen

Always the worry that they change supplier/operator. There was a big difference when SWARCO took over, so hopefully not a backward step.

Ah yes! Here's the link that was supposed to be in my post:

https://www.nationalworld.com/lifestyle/cars/is-chargeplace-scotland-being-scrapped-charging-network-set-to-be-broken-up-in-hunt-for-private-funding-4154476

 

[thewishy]

Links or it didn't happen

Always the worry that they change supplier/operator. There was a big difference when SWARCO took over, so hopefully not a backward step.

Chargeplace Scotland to be brought under private ownership | Autocar

"Unsustainable" for government to operate firm as EV demand rises; network size will double under private ownership

www.autocar.co.uk

I think the problem with the move is that each council will handover their chargers to one organisation. If you hand over all of the highlands council chargers to $company, that doesn't make competition, it makes a local private monopoly. If you need to charge in the highlands, you can't go to west lothian to charge, even if the company they hand over to does a better job.
Also if there is a fine of 10k per charger which isn't 99% available, it does raise the question of who would take on a set of unreliable, rusty 10 year old chargers

 

[init6]

Disappointing, but perhaps I'm reading this differently from you. It looks to me that rather than all councils partnering with CPS, each will be able to partner with a private company of their own. So potentially 32 different operators each with their own variable performance. Will we need 32 different cards?

Anyway, I don't think the OP need worry about this. Hopefully they'll be back across the pond before any of this comes to pass.

 

[thewishy]

I think my wording might have been confusing. When I say hand over their charges to one organisation, I mean each council will hand over to a single commercial partner, with the potential (and presumably hope?) for each council to pick different partners.
My argument is that CPS should actually be split like standard oil, not into regional franchises

The draft The Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 covers scotland, and mandates third party charging networks, so likely that someone like electroverse or shell would offer "roaming" across the many different operators which will be created.

 

[Overworked]

I think this could be a case of "... be careful what you wish for".

If a firm takes over the network (or a significant part of it) and there is a penalty for a charger being "down", then you just remove from service the charger if it old or unreliable and uneconomic to repair and your unreliability penalty rating then immediately ceases with no penalty for the operator.