Wiki UK and Ireland Supercharger Site News

[Buckminster]

C

I probably know the answer, but I'll ask anyway....why no likey?

Can’t see which are Tesla and haven’t bothered trying any other brands since finding out they didn’t work whenever I needed them. Probably all much better now.

 

[Roy B]

I probably know the answer, but I'll ask anyway....why no likey?

It's usually not an issue, but on occasion you can be in a situation where there are a lot of third party chargers nearby that make the grade for inclusion, which can make it hard to find the Superchargers (which you might favour for reasons of speed, cost, reliability and/or convenience).

Overall, I like the inclusion of third party chargers (particularly since it means I can precondition) but I'm much less likely to use an unknown third party charging site on spec. Would be nice to have an extra tab that showed only superchargers.

 

[Sean.]

My preference is to have more information rather than less, and to be able to discern what is what. So if Tesla don't make it clear which charging options are Superchargers, then perhaps they need to look at it again in a future update.

Otherwise I wouldn't be afraid to try an alternative - there are plenty of good ones available these days (MFG, Fastned, Osprey/Kempower sites, even Sainsbury's are well in on the act) even if the price isn't necessarily alway appealing.

 

[qwickshot]

That change happened at least a year ago now.

 

[Sean.]

That change happened at least a year ago now.

I might be a bit out the loop. I haven't driven a Tesla for over six months. But I do remember when they brought in the 'third-party' chargers into the nav. Didn't seem too bad to me at the time.

 

[Stuart1714]

I might be a bit out the loop. I haven't driven a Tesla for over six months. But I do remember when they brought in the 'third-party' chargers into the nav. Didn't seem too bad to me at the time.

When it first came in there weren’t too many companies in the lists so you didn’t notice them too much, it’s the slower speeds that were more noticeable at first. Tesla keep adding further companies and those companies are expanding their offerings so there is a lot more to choose from now especially in the Supercharger type speeds. As previously mentioned, a Tesla only option would be nice although they do show you availability with red markers so they are more noticeable.

Another change that has been made which increased the numbers in the Supercharger list is that they moved from 3 categories to 2, so the 75KwH chargers have moved from the medium speed list to the Supercharger category. The 50KwH chargers moved to the slow charging list.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the new charger laws start appearing later in the year because Tesla should get access to more live information about third party chargers,

 

[Roy B]

One other problem with inclusion of non Tesla chargers is that in some areas I believe a lot of the eg Instavolt sites displayed can be 2 charger sites, whereas Superchargers are, of course, almost always larger hubs (Brent Cross being the only 2 charger Supercharger site I'm aware of).

Thinking about it, what I probably want even more than a Supercharger-only view, is a view that only shows sites with, say, 6+ chargers (whether Tesla or third party).

 

[zexpe]

One other problem with inclusion of non Tesla chargers is that in some areas I believe a lot of the eg Instavolt sites displayed can be 2 charger sites, whereas Superchargers are, of course, almost always larger hubs (Brent Cross being the only 2 charger Supercharger site I'm aware of).

Thinking about it, what I probably want even more than a Supercharger-only view, is a view that only shows sites with, say, 6+ chargers (whether Tesla or third party).

There are 6 2-stall SuC sites in the UK - all early 130kW ones, and in total there are 20 SuC sites with fewer than 6 chargers (from: supercharge.info)

There's a trend for adding on a few Tesla superchargers on Gridserve Electric Forecourt sites, which are usually less than 6.

 

[WilberDaForce]

Apologies if this update has already been posted. What looks to be 24 V3 stalls and 6 cabinets have been installed at South Mimms (existing site expansion) but they are still fenced off. Hopefully not long now until these go live.

View attachment 1027173

These are definitely needed - a real regular queue point when I’ve gone past (I’ve only used them once myself as quite close to home).

 

[squerble]

Looks like Hopwood Park has gone live with 20 x 250kw stalls added to the exiting 16 x 150kw.

View attachment 1028237

This looks to be very handy for my trips between Liverpool and Oxford.

 

[Sean.]

One other problem with inclusion of non Tesla chargers is that in some areas I believe a lot of the eg Instavolt sites displayed can be 2 charger sites, whereas Superchargers are, of course, almost always larger hubs (Brent Cross being the only 2 charger Supercharger site I'm aware of).

Thinking about it, what I probably want even more than a Supercharger-only view, is a view that only shows sites with, say, 6+ chargers (whether Tesla or third party).

Personally I avoid Instavolt. Very expensive and poor BYD chargers that are severely current limited at 400v for you Tesla folks. Usually shoe horned into a McD’s where a white van is taking in lunch and again dropping the available electrons on the next door unit.

There are far better options at MFG, Osprey/Kempower, Fastned and even Sainsbury’s has close to 50 hubs nationally now. Not sure whether they’ll show up on the Tesla nav though.

 

[Roy B]

Personally I avoid Instavolt. Very expensive and poor BYD chargers that are severely current limited at 400v for you Tesla folks. Usually shoe horned into a McD’s where a white van is taking in lunch and again dropping the available electrons on the next door unit.

There are far better options at MFG, Osprey/Kempower, Fastned and even Sainsbury’s has close to 50 hubs nationally now. Not sure whether they’ll show up on the Tesla nav though.

Yeah, the seemingly industry standard 79p/kWh is bad enough - I'm not sure what Instavolt's justification is for charging 85p. I confess I hadn't really realised until recently just how huge the price gap is between Superchargers and the third party charging networks (which I relatively rarely use.)

But sometimes when stopping at a service station for a break it can be convenient to make a quick top-up with whatever provider happens to be available to reduce the need to charge later.

Which, actually, makes me realise what I really want from the satnav: show me the charging options at the next few service stations that are on my route. I can select one, it's added to the nav route , and the car preconditions for it.

We're way past the point, at least on much of the motorway network in England, where we need to plan our routes around chargers. We're also way past the point where it's easy to remember what the options are (ironically it was easy when there were so few!). I'd much prefer to just say, "I fancy a break soon, show me the charging options at the next few service areas".

 

[looseend]

Show chargers on route would be very useful. It's not useful to show you the nearest charger is 5 miles behind you on the motorway.

 

[CMc1]

Applegreen have submitted planning in Holystone, North Tyneside/Newcastle just off the A19 (a few miles from Newcastle Service Centre) for 37 EV chargers at a new Charging Hub and coffee shop. From quick search, only reference / datasheet for charger equipment included in planning is Tesla V3 Superchargers. 37 seems an odd number for number of stalls, but let me know if any evidence suggesting otherwise...

Also, surprised not V4 for other EVs etc. Have recorded as 12 SuCs for now (looks to be 3 Tesla cabinets)

evchargingatholystone.co.uk

24/00291/FUL 24/00291/FUL | An electric vehicle roadside services scheme comprising 37 EV spaces, facilities hub building including a coffee/cafe drive-thru with internal and external seating area and small local convenience retail provision, add idoxpublicaccess.northtyneside.gov.uk

 

[qwickshot]

Apple green don’t fit Tesla chargers but they may be working in partnership with Tesla as they do at welcome break sites (also owned by Apple green) which are also V3 installations so they are not competing with each other.

Edit: I’d take a punt at 11 V3 chargers on the bottom side and the rest being Apple Green. That would tie in with the 3 proposed charging cabinets.

The V3 thing is not unfounded in that Tesla also fit them at Gridserve electric forecourts.

 

[Adopado]

Also, surprised not V4 for other EVs etc.

I wouldn't think that the designation is anything other than a "place marker" title for a high output Tesla charger and wouldn't necessarily determine the final specification.

 

[Sean.]

1 month apparently

https://twitter.com/x/status/1770024515919077654

 

[zexpe]

Applegreen have submitted planning in Holystone, North Tyneside/Newcastle just off the A19 (a few miles from Newcastle Service Centre) for 37 EV chargers at a new Charging Hub and coffee shop. From quick search, only reference / datasheet for charger equipment included in planning is Tesla V3 Superchargers. 37 seems an odd number for number of stalls, but let me know if any evidence suggesting otherwise...

Also, surprised not V4 for other EVs etc. Have recorded as 12 SuCs for now (looks to be 3 Tesla cabinets)

evchargingatholystone.co.uk

24/00291/FUL 24/00291/FUL | An electric vehicle roadside services scheme comprising 37 EV spaces, facilities hub building including a coffee/cafe drive-thru with internal and external seating area and small local convenience retail provision, add idoxpublicaccess.northtyneside.gov.uk View attachment 1029586

View attachment 1029585

I see this is now shown on supercharge.info, but not all the Gridserve Electric Forecourt plans are - e.g. Glasgow Rutherglen - is that because they aren't certain whether they will be Tesla SuCs?

 

[qwickshot]

I wouldn't think that the designation is anything other than a "place marker" title for a high output Tesla charger and wouldn't necessarily determine the final specification.

I’d put money on them being V3 if they are built.

Ask yourself why Apple Green who operate their own charging network and are developing the site would allow Tesla to undercut them on their own site.

The only reason this makes commercial sense is closed V3 chargers. And that only works because Tesla owners seldom use non-Tesla chargers and the site probably wouldn’t be commercially viable without the regular income from a 3rd party.

Tesla would be the ideal partner because their customers are unlikely to go to the site of their own accord so they aren’t really competing.

 

[JIBYC]

I’d put money on them being V3 if they are built.

Ask yourself why Apple Green who operate their own charging network and are developing the site would allow Tesla to undercut them on their own site.

The only reason this makes commercial sense is closed V3 chargers. And that only works because Tesla owners seldom use non-Tesla chargers and the site probably wouldn’t be commercially viable without the regular income from a 3rd party.

Tesla would be the ideal partner because their customers are unlikely to go to the site of their own accord so they aren’t really competing.

I'd bet they'll include a few Tesla units just so the station appears in the car's navigation. Gridserve do the same likely banking on the money made by footfall in that shops and because they'll invoice Tesla for the energy used.