Supercharger Locations UK

[gbjk]

I live in Peterborough, and I've been checking from time to time to see if they've started construction on superchargers at the A1 services.
No sign yet, but I'll say if they do.

Also: I hear they've had some issue in Gatwick/Crawley, and the supercharger at the showroom is delayed for some reason.
That surprised me, because they started some sort of construction months ago.

G

 

[gbjk]

I believe they've started construction at Peterborough A1 services.

Obviously it could be something else, but it's the right shape, size, and location.
They've extended as well out to the right, but I couldn't get a good picture of that.

Fingers crossed, I'll check on it again in a few weeks.

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Sorry, photo: Photo by Gareth Kirwan - Google Photos

 

[Belly Buster]

I believe they've started construction at Peterborough A1 services.

Obviously it could be something else, but it's the right shape, size, and location.
They've extended as well out to the right, but I couldn't get a good picture of that.

Fingers crossed, I'll check on it again in a few weeks.

- - - Updated - - -

Sorry, photo: Photo by Gareth Kirwan - Google Photos

Would be good if it is indeed the case. The A1 is notably lacking - no superchargers between the M25 and Edinburgh is a big hole in the network.

 

[aarontayto]

Do you already have your Tesla? I haven't seen any other Tesla's in Peterborough yet other than mine & business partners. Would be great to have a supercharger at the A1 services, used their chademo a few times now.

I live in Peterborough, and I've been checking from time to time to see if they've started construction on superchargers at the A1 services.
No sign yet, but I'll say if they do.

Also: I hear they've had some issue in Gatwick/Crawley, and the supercharger at the showroom is delayed for some reason.
That surprised me, because they started some sort of construction months ago.

G

 

[jontracey]

I was there yesterday lots of ground works but looks like they are widening the entrance, could not see anything that resembled a supercharger

 

[gbjk]

Do you already have your Tesla? I haven't seen any other Tesla's in Peterborough yet other than mine & business partners. Would be great to have a supercharger at the A1 services, used their chademo a few times now.

No, red 90D arrives in ~4 weeks.

I've heard there's two tesla MS in Peterborough, red and white, but never seen either of them. On that basis, I guess it's possibly you'd never see mine either

I haven't yet groked the point of chademo, but that's probably because my mileage is very low, so home charging is fine.

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I was there yesterday lots of ground works but looks like they are widening the entrance, could not see anything that resembled a supercharger

I think the big work by the entrance to the car park is *probably* widening, but could actually be stalls.
The part along to the left, though, isn't an extension of that, and I think it's possibly where they might put stalls.
Photo by Gareth Kirwan - Google Photos

The first signs of a supercharger should be the cabling.

All speculative, but I've often heard from tesla staff that they expect it at peterborough services, without any commitment.
To me it still seems inevitable that it'll be peterborough.

Was going to see if they needed planning permission, but haven't had time.

 

[arg]

I haven't yet groked the point of chademo, but that's probably because my mileage is very low, so home charging is fine.

It enables many routes not covered by supercharging, and can be as good as supercharging on days when you only need a bit of top-up rather than a full charge. In particular, CHAdeMO is the only option other than Supercharging where you can get a useful amount of charge on a 'pit stop' basis where you are having a coffee while waiting for the charge to complete.

In the UK context, CHAdeMO is particularly useful for days when you make an out-and-back trip of say 150 miles each way - say Peterborogh to Bath. The direct route doesn't pass any superchargers, and is too far for a single charge. You could divert to pass a Supercharger, but on a short route like this the diversion makes a disproportionate amount of difference, while the direct route already passes several CHAdeMO points (Ecotricity). You only need about 80 miles of extra charge, about 40 minutes on a CHAdeMO - a lunch stop, or a coffee stop in each direction. On a longer route, you are more likely to pass a Supercharger in the first place and the faster charging at the Supercharger makes more difference.

 

[gbjk]

It enables many routes not covered by supercharging, and can be as good as supercharging on days when you only need a bit of top-up rather than a full charge. In particular, CHAdeMO is the only option other than Supercharging where you can get a useful amount of charge on a 'pit stop' basis where you are having a coffee while waiting for the charge to complete.

In the UK context, CHAdeMO is particularly useful for days when you make an out-and-back trip of say 150 miles each way - say Peterborogh to Bath. The direct route doesn't pass any superchargers, and is too far for a single charge. You could divert to pass a Supercharger, but on a short route like this the diversion makes a disproportionate amount of difference, while the direct route already passes several CHAdeMO points (Ecotricity). You only need about 80 miles of extra charge, about 40 minutes on a CHAdeMO - a lunch stop, or a coffee stop in each direction. On a longer route, you are more likely to pass a Supercharger in the first place and the faster charging at the Supercharger makes more difference.

Thanks! That actually does a lot more context to it.
I've probably been underestimating the charge rate from CHAdeMO, so I'll go double check it on zapmap/etc shortly.

I'm perhaps also being naive about the 90D range. I'm hoping to get about 270 from it, but we'll see.

 

[arg]

Was going to see if they needed planning permission, but haven't had time.

Just had a quick look. Confusingly, planning for this site appears to be Huntingdonshire rather than Peterborough council:

http://publicaccess.huntsdc.gov.uk/online-applications/propertyDetails.do?activeTab=relatedCases&keyVal=001HNE00LI000

They've had recent (May) planning permission for a small extension to the food building, but nothing in respect of charging. Installing charging equipment to existing parking spaces can be "permitted development" and not need planning (there's no application for the Ecotricity chargers), but creating new parking spaces would normally need permission. There was a 2011 application to add parking spaces that doesn't appear to have been built (based on Google's satellite view which matches my memory of the site), but that was just for another row of spaces parallel with the existing ones, on the side opposite where the building is, which isn't where your photo shows.

I suppose the digging could just be to create a temporary builder's compound for the work on the building, though it doesn't look much like that either. Mysterious.

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Thanks! That actually does a lot more context to it.
I've probably been underestimating the charge rate from CHAdeMO, so I'll go double check it on zapmap/etc shortly.

I'm perhaps also being naive about the 90D range. I'm hoping to get about 270 from it, but we'll see.

Ah sorry, I'd missed the '90' in your original post and was thinking of my '85. Maybe you will get 270 on cross-country A roads, probably not on the motorway unless deliberately driving slowly.

However, on the one hand that means more trips where you don't need to charge at all, but on the other hand makes CHAdeMO more attractive for ones like my example - now only needing 40 miles top-up, 20 mins on the CHAdeMO, so definitely not worth a diversion to Supercharge.

 

[gbjk]

Just had a quick look. Confusingly, planning for this site appears to be Huntingdonshire rather than Peterborough council:

http://publicaccess.huntsdc.gov.uk/...o?activeTab=relatedCases&keyVal=001HNE00LI000
[...]
I suppose the digging could just be to create a temporary builder's compound for the work on the building, though it doesn't look much like that either. Mysterious.

Yep, not a single one of those proposed site plans in last few years have included the current works I'm talking about, and they've sought no new permission for them.
Even if they were superchargers, they'd be new parking spaces, and so they'd need permission.
Wonder WTF is going on. Will be interesting to watch it develop over the next month and see if the hunch is right.

 

[aarontayto]

Gbjk- chademo is very useful, I don't do many miles either but it really has been invaluable.

A few Peterborough tips (you may already know) - 3 hours free city centre parking at St Peters Road, Haven car park and on-street near the market as long as you are plugged into the source east charging post (free). Rarely ICE'd and rarely in use. Also if you ever get stuck for a charge we have 2x 22kw charging points at our premises in Fengate which your more than welcome to use

 

[gbjk]

Swung past Peterborough A1 services yesterday. Didn't get photos, unfortunately.

The large work at the entrance is definitely a new road coming in.

They've now moved what I presume to be the power distribution box out of the way and up onto the hill, and made a large new cut in with curbing already there for about 8 new spaces,
which tails off towards the smaller spaces I photoed a few weeks ago.

Still seems strongly likely this is the location for tesla chargers. Will report back in another 2-3 weeks.

Seems impossible they'll be online before my MS arrives in a few weeks.

 

[Brunel]

Apparently 4 bays Keele southbound half complete. Possibly then sticking 4 northbound at Keele.

 

[arg]

You might imagine there's a 3rd November deadline for any pending installs at Welcome Break (eg, Keele): they (WB) seem to be doing a Tesla-based charity stunt:

Follow Rod's 24HR Challenge

 

[Rajendra]

Whats up people, I am thinking of buying tesla model s but I live in Nottingham, why aren't there any supercharger locations in Nottingham? it's making me think twice before buying it,

 

[paso904]

Tesla assume that most of the charging is done at home and that you will only need a supercharger some distance from your home.

 

[Rajendra]

Still would be nice to have at leat 1 or 2 superchargers in Nottingham, even better tesla show room

 

[NullException]

Hi @Rajendra , welcome to TMC.

If you do buy a Tesla, I'm sure you'll love it, but getting a home charger if you can is the best option.

Looks like the nearest Supercharger to you will be the one purportedly under construction near Grantham. I would be good to have another on the M1 somewhere close to Nottingham, though. I haven't heard anything about their plans for more showrooms.

 

[arg]

Still would be nice to have at leat 1 or 2 superchargers in Nottingham, even better tesla show room

Assuming you are able to have a chargepoint installed at home, then in my opinion:

• Superchargers in your home town are of almost no interest, even if you order before the end of the year and get grandfathered into free charging. Do you value your time so little that you will go out of your way for a free charge when you can start every day at home with a full charge? Once you are paying to charge (which is bound to be more expensive than economy 7 overnight at home) then it makes even less sense. Finally, if concern for the environment is part of your reason for going EV, charging ar night uses much cleaner electricity than daytime. All this month, extra coal has been burned on weekday afternoons to cover the evening peak - on Monday when there wasn't much wind, coal was at full blast most of the day (~20% of total generation) and things got so desperate in the peak that they had to start up some open-cycle gas turbines. All in all, Superchargers are for long journeys.
• While a local showroom would be nice, buying a new car is not normally under pressure- it's no great hardship to take a day out in London/Manchester/etc or fit it in to a trip you are making for another reason, or attend pne of the test-drive days that Tesla organises at hotels etc around the country.
• What you really do want locally is a service centre. Even with a loan car, fitting a distant service appointment into your schedule is a royal pain, and if you need urgent service it's worse. Unfortunately it looks like Tesla are going for a small number of huge service centres rather than lots of small ones, so this will continue to be an issue for many of us.

 

[thegruf]

...

• What you really do want locally is a service centre. Even with a loan car, fitting a distant service appointment into your schedule is a royal pain, and if you need urgent service it's worse. Unfortunately it looks like Tesla are going for a small number of huge service centres rather than lots of small ones, so this will continue to be an issue for many of us.

Absolutely agreed, though it must be said that Tesla are pretty decent about collect/return your vehicle if you ask nicely, which tbh negates the distance of the SC and is even better than the SC is in the next town only 20 minutes away.
Perhaps they accept the cost of this service as a balancer to the additional cost of more SCs.
Not sure how long they can afford it though as numbers climb.

Model 3 will surely see more Tesla sites in due course which will mitigate the issue.

Of course by then the cars will probably just up and drive themselves off to service and back anyway!