Owning a Tesla in London without a home charger?

[mb4000]

Hi, I'm supposed to be picking up a Model Y in a few weeks, but having second thoughts about whether it will be a struggle in London without a home charger. The nearest supercharger is in Canary Wharf (quite far from where I live) and so I'd probably be reliant on street chargers nearby. There are a couple of 7kW Ubitricity chargers within walking distance of where I live. I don't plan on driving the car daily in the city, it will be mostly longer journeys at weekends, so may be able to get away with less frequent charging.

What do people think about this? Will it be a big problem without a home charger? Does anyone else rely on public street chargers like Ubitricity, and does it work well? Is it bad for the battery to charge infrequently?

Thanks!

 

[tickles99]

Interested to hear the responses, I'm in the same boat!

 

[Adopado]

Hi, I'm supposed to be picking up a Model Y in a few weeks, but having second thoughts about whether it will be a struggle in London without a home charger. The nearest supercharger is in Canary Wharf (quite far from where I live) and so I'd probably be reliant on street chargers nearby. There are a couple of 7kW Ubitricity chargers within walking distance of where I live. I don't plan on driving the car daily in the city, it will be mostly longer journeys at weekends, so may be able to get away with less frequent charging.

What do people think about this? Will it be a big problem without a home charger? Does anyone else rely on public street chargers like Ubitricity, and does it work well? Is it bad for the battery to charge infrequently?

Thanks!

If you were doing a fair amount of daily miles it could be a bit of a pain but if you're not using much anyway then you can let the car sit. I realise that being in a big city you may be considering taking advantage of Sentry Mode for security. This will use power to run and will not let the car sleep so non-driving consumption will need to be taken account of.

 

[Rirawin]

I'm in a similar position. I live in Bath and despite having a garage (including power) at the end of our garden getting the Tesla M3 in would be a struggle every time due to 6cm clearance front and back and 15cm clearance either side if it were parked in the garage (Wife has veto'ed knocking it down and building a bigger one). Plus the shared back lane that runs behind our property isn't the widest to manoeuvre a big car like the M3 into a tight space - we just about managed with a Hyundai Ioniq and a Honda E.

Eventually, we've settled on relying on public charging and parking on street outside our house. Nearby we have a Morrison's that has a 50kW Geniepoint and further out by an extra mile or two is Bailbrook Hotel with a BP Pulse 50kW public charger. Aside from that, we're hoping my Wife's work is going to install 7kW chargers as a few of the staff have a M3, MX and MS. Her office is in the city centre and a 20 minute walk from where we live so wouldn't be too much trouble leaving it overnight. Failing all of the above there is a public carpark that is 15 minute walk from us near Victoria Park, where it's free to park 8pm to 8am the following day, and have 7kW Podpoint chargers. I'm well aware these public chargers have a reputation of being flakey, so I've contacted the local council about whether they're trialing on street chargers but no response...

 

[tickles99]

I'm in a similar position. I live in Bath and despite having a garage (including power) at the end of our garden getting the Tesla M3 in would be a struggle every time due to 6cm clearance front and back and 15cm clearance either side if it were parked in the garage (wife has veto'ed knocking it down and building a bigger one). Plus the shared back lane that runs behind our property isn't the widest to manoeuvre a big car like the M3 into a tight space - we just about managed with a Hyundai Ioniq and a Honda E.

Eventually, we've settled on relying on public charging and parking on street outside our house. Nearby we have a Morrison's that has a 50kW Geniepoint and further out by an extra mile or two is Bailbrook Hotel with a BP Pulse 50kW public charger. Aside from that, we're hoping my Wife's work is going to install 7kW chargers as a few of the staff have a M3, MX and MS. Her office is in the city centre and a 20 minute walk from where we live so wouldn't be too much trouble leaving it overnight. Failing all of the above there is a public carpark that is 15 minute walk from us near Victoria Park, where it's free to park 8pm to 8am the following day, and have 7kW Podpoint chargers. I'm well aware these public chargers have a reputation of being flakey, so I've contacted the local council about whether they're trialing on street chargers but no response...

Thanks for this, gives me a bit more confidence. We're 1 mile from a 150kw BP pulse charger, and there's an on street 7kw charger outside my wife's work, so will probably end up with something similar to your arrangement.

 

[mb4000]

> I realise that being in a big city you may be considering taking advantage of Sentry Mode for security. This will use power to run and will not let the car sleep so non-driving consumption will need to be taken account of.

Ah that's a great point. any idea how much drain to expect from having Sentry Mode on? For example if Sentry Mode is turned on for a week without charging, would I expect to see a significant drain on battery?

 

[Jason71]

Don't want to put you off with the title but here is a thread from an owner with no charger who collected in cold weather:

LR picked up on Thursday and shocking mileage per charge

I picked the car up on The last week and I've covered about 98 miles. There were 6 miles on the clock when I picked it up and 41% battery. I brought the car home, went for lunch and charged it from 30% to 80%. Over Friday and Saturday (Saturday was a bit colder, probably below 6degC but rest of...

teslamotorsclub.com

its an interesting read. maybe you could ping him to see how he is getting on now he has had more time with the car.

my feeling is if you want to do a lot of short journeys you will use a lot of wh/m in winter, could average 400wh/m + and will find you need to charge it a lot which may be a pain. If you do less longer journeys it should be fine. It will undoubtedly me more effort than an ICE though no question about that.

 

[Jason71]

> I realise that being in a big city you may be considering taking advantage of Sentry Mode for security. This will use power to run and will not let the car sleep so non-driving consumption will need to be taken account of.

Ah that's a great point. any idea how much drain to expect from having Sentry Mode on? For example if Sentry Mode is turned on for a week without charging, would I expect to see a significant drain on battery?

Sentry is a total no starter for all day security it you don't have a charger. It uses 200-300 wh/hour so between 5-7kwh/day. i.e. nearly 10% of the battery per day. so a week would use upto 70% of your battery.
On both a cost and practicality basis it is suitable only for short periods of use

 

[Tonytheteslà]

I've had a Model 3 SR+ in Walthamstow since Aug 2019. No home charger unfortunately but I do have a couple of Ubricity chargers on my road, (one currently broken with no repair in sight annoyingly). Nearby there are some EvDot and BP pulse chargers that I use sometimes. The free BP ones are almost always taken, the EvDots are expensive so can be a reliable fallback. I've just noticed there are a load of Liberty Energy chargers being installed nearby as well.

When people ask me about the car, and if I recommend going electric. If you can charge at home its a no brainer, if not and you have a 9-5 that requires commuting then I'd be hesitant. I drive to work and back 3 or 4 times a month so I have plenty of time to drive around looking for chargers, or waiting for the Ubricity on my street to free up. It just requires a bit of background awareness of your % and when you'll next need to do a trip.

I knew when I bought the car with no home charger it would require some logistics with the charging, with that in mind it really hasn't caused me any issues. I always have sentry on, always charge to 90% and (touch wood) have never been caught out with lack of charge.

P.S. A long type 2 cable and a waterproof extender for the 3 pin charger have been helpful.

 

[GRiLLA]

Just to mention, Sentry mode will never leave your battery flat, it disables itself at 20% so you can always then move to a charger. It's also not the same as the alarm, that's always on and will send you messages to the Tesla app if it triggers, Sentry is the more proactive camera-on monitoring of the street.

 

[Wol747]

I concur with the sentry mode: it's great for leaving the car while shopping but it does use a hell of a lot of battery. My S was measured at 30 miles/day when I left it at an intown venue for three days. If you don't have "inhouse" charging and have to rely on 3rd party charging frankly you can't use sentry mode.

 

[Rooster6655]

I personally wouldn't bother getting an EV without home charging however if you already park on the street and there are chargers then I don't see a problem, long journeys should be fine with the rapid chargers. Sentry mode is a nice feature but not really suitable to be used when parked at its home location for long periods especially without being charged as 0.5%-1% per hour used to be the normal power usage for it, I presume its become more efficient now

 

[prabhu]

Hi, I'm supposed to be picking up a Model Y in a few weeks, but having second thoughts about whether it will be a struggle in London without a home charger. The nearest supercharger is in Canary Wharf (quite far from where I live) and so I'd probably be reliant on street chargers nearby. There are a couple of 7kW Ubitricity chargers within walking distance of where I live. I don't plan on driving the car daily in the city, it will be mostly longer journeys at weekends, so may be able to get away with less frequent charging.

What do people think about this? Will it be a big problem without a home charger? Does anyone else rely on public street chargers like Ubitricity, and does it work well? Is it bad for the battery to charge infrequently?

Thanks!

Do you travel at all? Like weekly supermarket shopping (Aldi and others), shopping malls (Many). There is also ubitricity, bonnet subscription that might work. Or if you have 30 mins that you would like to spend reading a book or working, then find a quiet rapid charger which will give you more than enough range for a whole week in 30 mins. I had a leaf with a far limited range than Tesla and still could manage without a home charger for a few months. After a few days, I exactly knew the chargers and could work out a schedule that didn't waste any personal time for me. As an added bonus, I discovered new cafés and restaurants that I wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

 

[IbroSaunks]

I have an LR in Wandsworth. I have Ubitricity and Source London chargers nearby. I use the Source London ones because they're pretty much always free. I also use a PodPoint 50KW charger when I go shopping at my local Tesco.
Essentially there are a lot of options. I've only used a supercharger once since I collected the car (on collection day). It's not been inconvenient because I also don't have to commute. It's just a bit sad missing out on the savings that people with home chargers take advantage of.

 

[Lleo]

Map of charging points for electric car drivers in UK: Zap-Map find chargers near you. If you are not using it to commute then public chargers are more than enough. 50KW chargers are popping up more and more, especially at bigger Tesco stores.

 

[Jev7]

I live in Maida Vale where there are a lot of chargers including in the lamposts. I also have a fast charger 50KW opposite.
But there are also a lot of EVs.
When the charger (Ubtriicty) right outside my flat worked, everything was a breeze. I just park there when I could and top up overnight.
It hasn't worked since the beginning of the year and that has made the EV ownership experience my more irksome as one has to 'curb crawl' the nearby streets to find a charger. Then its 5 mins walk - maybe not much but I've been spoiled by being able to park much closer!
The 50KW charger is a waste of time. Its mostly busy (taxis) and if not one has to manoeuvre precisely into the spot (the cables are too short) and then move the car an hour later. Much easier to leave 30 mins earlier and use a supercharger on the way.
Ubitricity are easy to use and relatively good value.
My use sounds similar to your intended. Hardly at all during the week and longer trips at the weekend.
So its doable but only if you have a few close street chargers for overnight is it easily doable.

 

[Slow_Lane]

I've had a model S for a few years now, live in London on street with no charging.

I have a supermarket very close by I plug in for 4 hours on a 7KW charger, luckily there are 10+ of them and it's pretty reliable. BP Pulse so like £8/month for as many charges as you want.

Also a new BP (I think) with a good number (10 maybe) of fast chargers has just opened for more rapid charging, although is often full with ubers.

It's a bit more of a pain but worth it. And the time I save walking to pick the car up is time saved filling up with petrol.

 

[yessuz]

Hi, I'm supposed to be picking up a Model Y in a few weeks, but having second thoughts about whether it will be a struggle in London without a home charger. The nearest supercharger is in Canary Wharf (quite far from where I live) and so I'd probably be reliant on street chargers nearby. There are a couple of 7kW Ubitricity chargers within walking distance of where I live. I don't plan on driving the car daily in the city, it will be mostly longer journeys at weekends, so may be able to get away with less frequent charging.

What do people think about this? Will it be a big problem without a home charger? Does anyone else rely on public street chargers like Ubitricity, and does it work well? Is it bad for the battery to charge infrequently?

Thanks!

this about it this way - 7 KW charger manages to get 30 miles an hours when charging. it would top up battery in full during the night.

 

[Reggiechacha]

I live in Fulham, have a model Y on order And will be street parking. We’re very lucky in my borough. There are plenty of 7kw street chargers, some 50kw on the street, a couple of BP stations with 50Kw chargers, plus the first UK Shell dedicated EV charger station on Fulham Road. Not to mention the superchargers at Westfield and ParkRoyal. I think It will only get better across the city with more and more dedicated EV stations like the Shell one popping up.

 

[Billbrown1982]

I have little to contribute, except be aware to use the supercharger at Canary Wharf you have to pay for parking. Which is very annoying.