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Hi All, on a long trip earlier this week I needed to charge, so stopped at Burtonwood services (M56 near Warrington). When I arrived there were 2 bays free. Plugged in, blue light but no green. Tried a few more times, same deal. Then the car next to me left (told me he was getting slow charge rate). As he unplugged mine went green, but I was only getting a varying charge rate from 0-30kw.
A model X pulled in next to me but his wouldn’t charge. Soon a few more cars turned up waiting. The cars plugged in presumably couldn’t leave because they hadn’t received enough charge to reach their destinations, despite being there for over 30 minutes by now.

Question is, is this reasonably normal for a busy site? Or was there something wrong? Is this a Burtonwood thing or could this happen at other sites?

I’ve been to Burtonwood before and got 50-65 easily enough even with 5 others on charge. And also been to sites with “limited to 80% due to busy times and had good charge rates.

In the end I only received a few percent charge and headed off for Stretton which was risky as they only have two charging bays there. Turns out one was free and I was soon receiving 100kw of electron loveliness. Bonus was a proper burger whilst I waited rather than the usual services dross. So it worked out in the end, but could have been a disaster. Especially so if T open charge points for all.
 
While its normal for stalls to share overall power and it tends to be good practice to try and go for an unoccupied "batch" - i've never known one to be this extreme. Sounds like a fault there.

I will agree though I truly hope they don't open the network fully. I think it will be a huge mistake for a company that is already losing ground on the competition.
 
While its normal for stalls to share overall power and it tends to be good practice to try and go for an unoccupied "batch" - i've never known one to be this extreme. Sounds like a fault there.

I will agree though I truly hope they don't open the network fully. I think it will be a huge mistake for a company that is already losing ground on the competition.

I just got free kws here in the People's Republic of Catalunya. Delivered 5x faster than the free electricity from my solar collectors via UMC, independent of time of day or cloud cover.

The charger even emails me when it's not being used. Two Type 2 connectors, 3 hour time limit that seems to be ignored by some. Electromap.com app needed to activate. Simples.

PXL_20211231_135501033.jpg
 
While its normal for stalls to share overall power and it tends to be good practice to try and go for an unoccupied "batch" - i've never known one to be this extreme. Sounds like a fault there.

I will agree though I truly hope they don't open the network fully. I think it will be a huge mistake for a company that is already losing ground on the competition.
Losing ground? I think not. The December sales figures should confirm that and the total 2021 car (not just EV) sales, the Model 3 should be in the top 10.
Driving around at Christmas I was so grateful I was driving a Tesla and not queing up for an hour or so at the only working non-Tesla charger for miles.
 
Losing ground? I think not. The December sales figures should confirm that and the total 2021 car (not just EV) sales, the Model 3 should be in the top 10.
Driving around at Christmas I was so grateful I was driving a Tesla and not queing up for an hour or so at the only working non-Tesla charger for miles.

Don't get me wrong. They are still a fantastic car and I still would not even remotely consider any of the "competition"

BUT, more and more cars are coming out, with better tech, improved batteries, different features, better build quality.

I don't think any of us can deny that Tesla is losing the advantage they had of being the only real option if you wanted an EV that could do more than 30 miles.

Plus you literally just said, you were grateful to be able to use a Tesla charger, which is just another reason why I hope they don't open the network up.
 
OP, no not common at all, sounds like a significant power issue, not heard of that before. V2 SuoerChargers (with the two leads) do share power between every pair, but it sounds like there wasn't enough power to give 30KW to both.

Don't get me wrong. They are still a fantastic car and I still would not even remotely consider any of the "competition"

BUT, more and more cars are coming out, with better tech, improved batteries, different features, better build quality.

I don't think any of us can deny that Tesla is losing the advantage they had of being the only real option if you wanted an EV that could do more than 30 miles.

Plus you literally just said, you were grateful to be able to use a Tesla charger, which is just another reason why I hope they don't open the network up.
I was speaking to a friend with a polestar, he was explaining how he's hoping to be able to configure a bluetooth obd adapter, hotspot and web service to send him notifications to his phone when his car completes charging. I think we overlook that the competition are so far behind in so many ways we take for granted.
 
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I was speaking to a friend with a polestar, he was explaining how he's hoping to be able to configure a bluetooth obd adapter, hotspot and web service to send him notifications to his phone when his car completes charging. I think we overlook that the competition are so far behind in so many ways we take for granted.

That is poor indeed. However, BMW I must say have impressive connectivity and the app is pretty much on par with teslas, if not a bit better (more feature rich).

Also we are blessed with Owners and tech enthusiasts that build very decent aftermarket apps and a testament to the API which tesla for the moment at least kindly provide.
 
I‘ve used Burtonwood (on the M62, Stretton is the one just off the M56) on a number of occasions when I had referral miles and never seen what you saw. It looks like there was a fault. Mind you, the Ecotricity chargers there don’t look like they’ve been working for years.

On Monday we were planning a 330 mile round trip to Newcastle in the NE. My friend with an ID.4 was going to drive. When we started to plan the trip, I told him that I’m taking the M3 instead due to a poor choice of chargers on the way up and it being a bank holiday. Scotch Corner was showing queues most of the day, so we went to Washington. Very busy, but not much queuing. It’s a similar V2 setup to Burtonwood. With all the stalls in use, it was charging at 66 kWh and when the car left next to me, it went to 120+.

It’s so much easier to plan trips using the SC network. I‘ve also planned other trips other for his ID.4, apart from Rugby services, we tend to use clusters of high speed chargers just off the motorways, not usually at service areas. The motorway service areas really do need to up their game for non-Tesla’s. There are plans to improve quite a number of them in 2022 though. My friend will be giving up his ID.4 in June, but if the expected improvements are made, it will be much easier to do the same trip in a years time in an ID.4, unless the demand from new EVs outstrips what they are putting in.
 
OP, no not common at all, sounds like a significant power issue, not heard of that before. V2 SuoerChargers (with the two leads) do share power between every pair, but it sounds like there wasn't enough power to give 30KW to both.


I was speaking to a friend with a polestar, he was explaining how he's hoping to be able to configure a bluetooth obd adapter, hotspot and web service to send him notifications to his phone when his car completes charging. I think we overlook that the competition are so far behind in so many ways we take for granted.

Something doesn't sound quite right there. Is he having app problems as you can check charge from it, climate etc.
 
I‘ve used Burtonwood (on the M62, Stretton is the one just off the M56) on a number of occasions when I had referral miles and never seen what you saw. It looks like there was a fault. Mind you, the Ecotricity chargers there don’t look like they’ve been working for years.

On Monday we were planning a 330 mile round trip to Newcastle in the NE. My friend with an ID.4 was going to drive. When we started to plan the trip, I told him that I’m taking the M3 instead due to a poor choice of chargers on the way up and it being a bank holiday. Scotch Corner was showing queues most of the day, so we went to Washington. Very busy, but not much queuing. It’s a similar V2 setup to Burtonwood. With all the stalls in use, it was charging at 66 kWh and when the car left next to me, it went to 120+.

It’s so much easier to plan trips using the SC network. I‘ve also planned other trips other for his ID.4, apart from Rugby services, we tend to use clusters of high speed chargers just off the motorways, not usually at service areas. The motorway service areas really do need to up their game for non-Tesla’s. There are plans to improve quite a number of them in 2022 though. My friend will be giving up his ID.4 in June, but if the expected improvements are made, it will be much easier to do the same trip in a years time in an ID.4, unless the demand from new EVs outstrips what they are putting in.
Tesla superchargers and model 3 efficiency are a big advantage still. Imagine running a less efficient EV and charging up on the likes of InstaVolt at 45p/kw. Together with the anxiety that wherever you’re heading the chargers are actually working. Costs more than ICE with much less convenience.
 
Don't get me wrong. They are still a fantastic car and I still would not even remotely consider any of the "competition"

BUT, more and more cars are coming out, with better tech, improved batteries, different features, better build quality.

I don't think any of us can deny that Tesla is losing the advantage they had of being the only real option if you wanted an EV that could do more than 30 miles.

Plus you literally just said, you were grateful to be able to use a Tesla charger, which is just another reason why I hope they don't open the network up.
To be fair there was only one way they could go. Its a bit like Apple vs Android. Android launched later and quickly hugely overhauled the iPhone in sales. But 10 years later Apple is still concidered the premium option and making more money than anyone else even if they only have a 20 market share. Its now 20% of a massive market they helped create.
P. S. Not an apple fan. Never owned one.
 
Tesla superchargers and model 3 efficiency are a big advantage still. Imagine running a less efficient EV and charging up on the likes of InstaVolt at 45p/kw. Together with the anxiety that wherever you’re heading the chargers are actually working. Costs more than ICE with much less convenience.
One of the places we regularly use with the ID.4 is an Instavolt site near Banbury just off the M40, which has 8 fast chargers and an upgrade planned to 20 or 24. Mind you, at 45p it’s relatively cheap compared to the 69p Ionity ones we’ve used at Milton Keynes bus station. At the moment, the ID.4 is a company car and the charging is all claimed back. At 69p, we saw a different type of EV charging there, a Porsche, Jag and an expensive Audi. With the ID.4, we tend to plan around new fast hubs which tend to be more reliable, but aren’t exactly plentiful and are often busy.

Having experienced charging whilst travelling with a Tesla and a VW EV, the SC network is currently a big advantage and at the moment I wouldn’t get an EV if it wasn’t a Tesla because of it.
 
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