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Wiki UK and Ireland Supercharger Site News
- Thread starter WannabeOwner
- Start date
In addition to a significant monthly subscription of course ...
cezdoc
Member
The 250 kW quoted on Tesla's website must be a mistake: as @AnthonyLR points out the chargers at Inverness are 6 V2 dual Type 2/CCS relocated from Aviemore along with 3 x V2 charger cabinets which can't produce more than 150 kW per stall.
Initially four were commissioned and two were covered but there was a post earlier this week on one of the FB groups saying that the remaining two are now live. I'm close enough to see the status in my car but it hasn't yet been updated to show 6 available*:
*Note that I don't have CCS so I don't see V3 charger status. But I'm sure the Inverness chargers are all V2.
@MarcoRP based on the above and @CMc1 's spot of the website update I think it's likely that there are now 6 V2/150kW stalls live at Inverness and hopefully it will be reflected by the in-car information in the coming days.
On a separate note I saw another post saying that the 2-bay supercharger at Royal Victoria Docks, London, is going to be switched off on 1st December and decommissioned, so that may need updating on supercharge.info soon.
This guy (who really needs to do more research) claimed they were V3. They're dual cable though so believe they can't be:
cezdoc
Member
It’s assumed to be related to the planned relocation of City Hall to The Crystal:
Sadiq Khan confirms London’s City Hall to move to Royal Docks
I gather this was the first Supercharger to open in the UK, so we’re losing a bit of history
Some locals were grumbling but as far as I can tell there are several other options nearby. Personally I’d be a bit nervous to be relying on a 2-bay site with the ever increasing number of Tesla’s on the road.
That must be the least informed Youtube video maker I have ever come across. A spectacular level of ignorance on the very subject that he is supposed to be informing others about!
Edit: No, it's worse than that ... we have a cat that I am convinced has a better understanding of Tesla Supercharging ...
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On a side note I noticed a few diggers and a skip at Woodall Northbound services - located on the grass opposite the fuel station where the 32-stall site is supposed to be (behind the pop-up Brexit information centre for lorry drivers).
They look a bit lower level type diggers to be considered for the site build, but couldn’t rule it out. I’d imagine the first thing to go would be the mahoosive trees.
Could be something to keep an eye on
They look a bit lower level type diggers to be considered for the site build, but couldn’t rule it out. I’d imagine the first thing to go would be the mahoosive trees.
Could be something to keep an eye on
cezdoc
Member
If you mean in terms of “which site next?” then it’s not in the imaginary race as it’s already open, the extra 2 stalls are really just final commissioning.
My list of runners is: Aberdeen SC, Adderstone (Purdey), Banbury, Braintree (Gridserve), Chelmsford SC, Crawley SC, Edinburgh SC, Nottingham SC, Rugby (Moto M6 J1).
Activity reported at a few of them in the last week on here, the race is hotting up! Also apparently there’s a road closure next to the Edinburgh SC this weekend, assumed to be to allow the grid connection cabling to be run under the road.
It’s assumed to be related to the planned relocation of City Hall to The Crystal:
Sadiq Khan confirms London’s City Hall to move to Royal Docks
I gather this was the first Supercharger to open in the UK, so we’re losing a bit of history
Some locals were grumbling but as far as I can tell there are several other options nearby. Personally I’d be a bit nervous to be relying on a 2-bay site with the ever increasing number of Tesla’s on the road.
I often walk my dog past the Crystal. Had no idea it was the first one... It’s always been busy there, but then we do have 4 bays just down the road at Canary Wharf, a couple more bays at Tower Hill 4 miles away, and when it finally re-opens from being a COVID test centre the 02 has 12 bays too, so it’s an area quite well served with SC’s. The whole installation has an air of ‘temporary’ about it, with the power cubicle and chargers mounted on a crane liftable skid so it could easily be picked up as a unit and dropped somewhere more in need of supercharger services.
The UK Model S launch event was held at the Crystal, with delivery of cars to the first few owners (and all on-order owners invited). Elon Musk gave a speech where it was announced that Urban superchargers (for the use of people without off-street parking) were to be trialled in London. This was supposedly a reaction to the more dense living conditions in Europe, superchargers to date having been promoted as for use on long-distance use only with the expectation people would charge at home. However, the timing of the announcement at least must have been a reaction to the fact that the planned roll-out of superchargers at Welcome Break motorway services was on hold due to the legal dispute with Ecotricity - they had the embarrassment of the UK Model S launch with no UK superchargers nor any plan for them so this scheme was either invented or rapidly moved forward from the back burner to give something positive to say.
So at the launch event there was one of the portable supercharger rigs set up in a convenient place to show it off; it was subsequently dragged round the corner to its present location for permanent installation, and became the first publicly usable supercharger in the UK in June 2014. Several others (Canary Wharf, Tower, and the short-lived one at Portman Place that got disabled by an unrelated gas explosion) appeared over the summer, before the replacement national roll-out (at hotel and supermarket locations) occurred around the turn of the year, and eventually the Ecotricity settlement came in summer 2016 so South Mimms/
It's not quite clear that you can call The Crystal the first public supercharger in the UK - the original pair at South Mimms had been installed some time before that (I took a photo of it part-installed on 19th April), and eventually did get commissioned, so you could say that was the first UK public supercharger installed. However, it has since been removed when the larger installation was made on a different part of the site at South Mimms, so The Crystal is probably the oldest currently operating Supercharger in the UK. There's also Hopwood Park which, like South Mimms, was installed before launch but not commissioned; though I think there the original pair got replaced by a larger installation before opening rather than just commissioning the pair that had been sitting there for over a year.
I guess its a good look at what an uninformed person might be thinking. Enthusiasts like us know what's going on, but many people just want a car to go and stop. Many people don't know most of the functions even on their ICE cars.
cezdoc
Member
Thanks @arg , your account of the early days makes an interesting read. It's not that long ago, but a world away in terms of EV availability and infrastructure today.
Another factoid about The Royal Victoria Docks supercharger: it could well be the lowest elevation UK Supercharger: only 7 ft above mean sea level according to supercharge.info. The Devil's in the detail though as there are a few London Superchargers in basements, presumably at or below street level, and supercharge.info's elevation database has thrown up a few anomalies, notably Adderstone/Berwick which is apparently at -230 ft (down a mineshaft?) and even more anomalously Canary Wharf at a giddy 961 ft, which appears to be something of a flightpath menace, a few hundred feet above the top of One Canada Square.
So it's possible London Tower, Canary Wharf or North Greenwich are in fact lower than RVD but in any case users should be watchful if charging at high tide
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Electric Jim
Member
That’s a shame as they’re my closest local super chargers. As others have stated though there are plenty of alternatives around here but they are all car parks you need to pay (or arrange a ticket validation) so a bit of a faff
Unless you don’t have access to charging at home though, it’s less of an issue than closing down Superchargers further afield. The ones at Canary Wharf and Royal Victoria are closest to me too, but I haven’t used them since I got my own charger. If they were to shut down the ones at Oxford it would be more of a problem!
Electric Jim
Member
I will get a home charging point but I have the joy of living in a listed building with a residence association and management company so it’s not going to happen quickly. It will happen tho, there is a desire even if there’s bureaucracy.
I guess I’m going to be shopping at Canary Wharf Waitrose or grabbing a coffee at st cathrerines dock every week or so!
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