UK: Essential charging attachments?

[xbcxbc]

Ok genuine “noob” question here.

Waiting on my M3.

I’m assuming it comes with a granny charger (if not I’ll buy one).

I’m not sure I’m going to bother with a home charger hence the question.

I’ll have the granny charger. I’ll be buying a blue commando adapter.

I’m also assuming I should buy a type 2 and CCS adapter so I can use 3rd party chargers.

I don’t think I’ll be buying a CHAdeMo adapter.

Absolutely want to take advice on this.

Also what do you use to plan your journeys and what are the best providers to sign up with?

TIA

 

[Alan J]

The Car will come with a Granny Charger and Type 2 Cable, the Car is directly compatible with CCS so no Adaptor etc. needed here. If you don't do much mileage then you may survive happily on the Granny Charger but if you do quite a lot of miles then I strongly suggest you rethink the Home Charger.

 

[Jwdrums]

ABRP, Zap Map and Plug Share apps are useful.

 

[Mr H]

you can't use Chademo either, just Type 2 and CCS

 

[xbcxbc]

you can't use Chademo either, just Type 2 and CCS

Everyday is a learning day.

 

[xbcxbc]

ABRP, Zap Map and Plug Share apps are useful.

I had only looked at Zap Maps. Thanks for the other two - will check them out.

Do you have to subscribe to individual charge providers?

E.g Charge Scotland
Pod point
Bp pulse
Etc

Are there any aggregators? I.e pay 1 access many?

 

[Jwdrums]

Zap Map offers Zap pay which aggregates, as does octopus electroverse. I'm a noob as well, only had the car a week, so can't vouch for effectiveness I'm afraid

 

[xbcxbc]

The Car will come with a Granny Charger and Type 2 Cable, the Car is directly compatible with CCS so no Adaptor etc. needed here. If you don't do much mileage then you may survive happily on the Granny Charger but if you do quite a lot of miles then I strongly suggest you rethink the Home Charger.

I would have to get creative with a home charger.

Driveway isn’t big enough (I don’t think - although if it is I will do a home charger) and public pavement to deal with as will probably have to charge on the highway!!!

I do have some ideas (not sure if I will need planning permission or not)!!!

 

[yessuz]

in reality, you will use other networks just occasionally and most of your trips will be in line with super chargers and charging at home (I do 20k+ a year and 95% of time I charge at home or in office (free).

I would not subscribe to any memberships as not needed really.

 

[Peter Ferguson]

Was going to ask this question mysel, so thanks

 

[M1tch]

Podpoint seems to work, the rest (3rd party chargers this is) don’t. I’ve given up trying and using a home charger, work and super chargers haven’t had an issue in the 25k miles I’ve done in the last 18 months.

 

[Sean.]

I’m assuming it comes with a granny charger (if not I’ll buy one).

I’m not sure I’m going to bother with a home charger hence the question.

It will be become evident to you fairly quickly whether the granny charge rate will be sufficient for the trips you do and turnaround you need. It could take a couple of days to recharge an empty battery from a granny charger. The majority of people have installed or move to a dedicated EVSE pretty quickly.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

I had only looked at Zap Maps. Thanks for the other two - will check them out.

Do you have to subscribe to individual charge providers?

E.g Charge Scotland
Pod point
Bp pulse
Etc

Are there any aggregators? I.e pay 1 access many?

Charge point Scotland is effectively the aggregator in Scotland, you’ll certainly want that, not least because a few areas still have free charge points and the cost for those that do charge is pretty good. Last time I was up there I don’t recall seeing a different make other than Tesla superchargers.

If you travel into England regularity and think you’ll need to charge here, you may find superchargers are good enough.

Everyone is different but in the last few years I’ve only used superchargers, charge place Scotland or free, no app required, hotel/friends/etc charge points when away from home.

 

[WannabeOwner]

I’m not sure I’m going to bother with a home charger

UMC Granny Charger is 8-ish MPH, Wall charger is 27-ish MPH. Losses are a bit higher with UMC.

Worth doing a calc for how long your Overnight / Off Peak charging tariff is and how often you will come home needing more than that. If you return from a long journey, and aren't going anywhere "tomorrow", you can replenish over a couple of nights (i.e. only using Off Peak)

Using only the UMC you will be putting some wear-and-tear on it, so might find yourself without a backup ... and if you need to take it with you ("Just in case") then you have to coil it up and put in the car each time - even in the rain etc. etc. Or buy a 2nd UMC (£160-ish I think)

I’ll be buying a blue commando adapter.

If you already have a Commando socket that will give you about the same charge-rate as a wall charger. Commando sockets used for charging EV are supposed to have more stringent installation requirements, which puts them in similar price bracket to wall charger

what do you use to plan your journeys

ABRP as has been said - ABetterRoutePlanner - after choosing Make / Model you can set Temperature (to compare Winter / Summer), and weather (wet / dry). I recommend trying that for the recurring longer journeys you do - so see where you would charge, and how long it will take.

I don’t think I’ll be buying a CHAdeMo adapter.

you can't use Chademo

I thought that the old MS/MX adaptor worked with M3/MY?? Might be wrong on that ... but can't imagine why anyone would want one, nowadays

I had only looked at Zap Maps

I find Zap maps very fiddly - zoom-in/out and having to look at individual stalls to figure out what kW is available on a site, and so on. I prefer PlugShare, but I'm not sure that is getting a lot of love any more. Zap Map is UK only.

If you are going somewhere (destination or an unfamiliar 3rd party charger site) worth reading the User Comments (form both sources) to see if there are any recent "Not working")

Do you have to subscribe to individual charge providers?

I'd start with deciding whether you are ever likely to use them ABRP would help you there (and if you have journeys where Supercharger doesn't look ideal then ABRP has option to include other providers ... you could then decide which one(s) might suit you)

But as @GeorgeSymonds said Charge Point Scotland is useful where you are (and more universal than what we have Down South )

public pavement to deal with

If you can park in same place - right outside your house - then I've seen that some councils do a "narrow slit" in pavement, that you can stuff the charging cable into. Various "cable safety covers" and so on ... some car insurance also covers 3rd party liability for that (assuming you have the right sort of "safety protection" for the cable in place )

Street lamp charging becoming a thing too:

 

[Sean.]

I thought that the old MS/MX adaptor worked with M3/MY?? Might be wrong on that ... but can't imagine why anyone would want one, nowadays

I’ve got one. I think I last used it about 3 years ago

 

[Overworked]

Get the Chargeplace Scotland (CPS) app and find what is near you or on your normal routes. Then check all your long journeys in ABRP.

The granny charger puts about 10mph into the car, so if you do less than 150 miles per day you can survive on that by charging back to full overnight.

Some of the CPS chargers are still free, a bonus! Others are mainly cheaper than domestic charging ie 25p/kW rather than 40p/kW for me. CCS2 chargers have a tethered charge cable, but most Type 2 require you to use the cable supplied with the car.

If you drive a lot then ABRP is very good and plots the journey and suggests charging for you. Up and down the Motorways you will find the Tesla superchargers suffice with the occasional Gridserve in my experience.

You wont need any more until you have tried the above. You would have to be off the beaten track to need much more, and a three pin plug will suffice.

 

[Adopado]

Also what do you use to plan your journeys and what are the best providers to sign up with?

Others have suggested Abetterrouteplanner which is good to play with and look at prospective trips but in practice you will find that 99% of the time you can just get in the car ... set the navigation for your destination .... and the car will work out if you need to charge en route, and it will direct you to an appropriate Supercharger where you will plug in until the car tells you it has enough charge to get there. Unless you are long trip "road warrior" you will rarely charge anywhere other than at home and at Tesla Superchargers when on particularly lengthy trips.

 

[xbcxbc]

Thanks everyone. That has really helped.

I also have access to a public Type2 very close to work which I think will be my main source (until I work out what, if anything, I can do about a home charger).

 

[Fursty Ferret]

Consider one of the black and yellow cable protectors if you need to charge outside your house. It’s not illegal to run a cable across the pavement but you do need to mitigate the risks (both to the public and to your charge port if someone trips over the cable).

The other thing to consider is a high quality orange extension lead. The day might come when you need to plug the UMC in somewhere really inconvenient and having a 13A extension cable is useful.

 

[xbcxbc]

I’m actually thinking of a making a fake/real garden lamppost with a swingarm that will take the charging cable over the pavement - haha

That or something similar to the slot drain idea posted above.

I have also been looking at extension cables.