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UK Long Range Charging Network
- Thread starter dpeilow
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- Ireland United Kingdom
Andrew B reported this afternoon that Dalmahoy (near Edinburgh) is fine and there may have been a mix up because the HPC connector is a little stiff when you twist it onto the car.
This of course means that the route is clear* for an even quicker end-to-end run now that The Moat House is installed. By my estimate a 5 hour reduction is possible.
*assuming Aviemore is ok, as I don't think anyone has been up there lately.
*assuming Aviemore is ok, as I don't think anyone has been up there lately.
Alexandersims
Member
Alexandersims
Member
Just to let you all know that I've been on at the Windsor Marriott for a while to scrap their tedious 10 pound flat fee for a charge and after speaking to the manager thetpy have waived the fee once I told them that only Tesla drivers could use it anyway.
I use it often as its between Wales and London but hopefully others can take advantage as well. Their restaurant and bar food is pretty nice....
I use it often as its between Wales and London but hopefully others can take advantage as well. Their restaurant and bar food is pretty nice....
Great. Do they still manage to lose the key for 20 minutes each time?
Re the roadtrip, will probably have to wait for better weather although the Highlands in the winter is always fantastic and fun to drive.
Re the roadtrip, will probably have to wait for better weather although the Highlands in the winter is always fantastic and fun to drive.
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Alexandersims
Member
In all fairness to them the key has been readily available every time.
Not sure why they don't have it on a latch as going to reception each time is a bit of a pain.
Still though, bit by bit!
Yeah, it was more that I'd like to do it at some point, would be cool to hold the record for a period of time at least. I'm sure it'll be beaten with the Model S...
Not sure why they don't have it on a latch as going to reception each time is a bit of a pain.
Still though, bit by bit!
Yeah, it was more that I'd like to do it at some point, would be cool to hold the record for a period of time at least. I'm sure it'll be beaten with the Model S...
I had an hour wait last time I was there and warned them that I'd start using the Marriott or Radisson Blu at Heathrow if this didn't improve... as ZeroNet expands and we get competition for EV driver visits this will improve.
It would be a great thing to do in the week following our Brighton EV Gathering in June when we expect lots of European owners... maybe we could have 20+ Roadster's undertaking the End to End drive one after another and award a cup to the best time.
an electric Gumball race? Gumball 3000 - Official Website
Or old kind of "mille miglia"? Mille Miglia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Or targa race, as Targa Newfoundland - It's About the Drive
Or old kind of "mille miglia"? Mille Miglia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Or targa race, as Targa Newfoundland - It's About the Drive
Alexandersims
Member
Gian has been very good to supply the Celtic Manor with an HPC so once installed they should have ZCW and HPC charge points. Good news for me and anyone else wanting to drive through South Wales.
A couple of weeks ago I got a message from another Roadster owner that he was at Tebay and the Roadster HPC was missing.
I immediately contacted the site manager and was told that it had been removed. The service station is just about to open an 8 bay supercharger on the other side of the road and was under the impression that it superseded the Roadster HPC. Obviously he was surprised that superchargers do not support Roadsters and said that is an oversight by Tesla (tell me about it...)
He also said that the Roadster HPC has not been used for more than a year and was in a bad state. Because of that I could not persuade him to reinstate it. However I know at least one owner claims to have been there earlier this summer.
I asked if Tesla was aware that this HPC was being removed and he said yes. AT NO TIME WAS THE REMOVAL COMMUNICATED BY TESLA TO ANY ROADTER OWNER I KNOW - MEANING THAT ONE TURNED UP AT THE LOCATION EXPECTING TO FIND AN HPC AND INSTEAD FOUND A HOLE IN THE WALL.
He also said that the current Tesla staff was unaware Tebay even had it. This is despite me sending a list of all UK HPC locations and site contact details to Georg Ell a couple of years ago after a conversation we had at the West Drayton opening party, where I said it would be nice to get Roadster HPCs on the Tesla "Find Us" page.
Tesla said to Tebay they did not want the unit back. Tebay were just going to dump it if I had not intervened. I had to sign a waiver to indemnify Tebay from any future liability issues and then arrange my own pick up from the other end of the country. Then I found out the box was full of water from where it had been left on the ground outside and it may not work, but nevertheless I decided it was still worth having.
Anyway as luck would have it, my Roadster is in for the 3.0 battery work and I have been loaned a 100D - the first time I have ever been given another Tesla as a loaner. This seemed as good a reason as any for a roadtrip, so rather than pay a courier to go get it (and not be sure I had everything) I jumped in the loaner with @Kerios and we put 550 miles on it yesterday. We retrieved the unit and sure enough it was full of water.
The HPC is now back at my place. If it is working electrically then I will sort out the cosmetic stuff and try to find a new home for it, preferably in the neighbourhood of Tebay so there isn't a hole in the UK network. If it is damaged beyond repair then I will use the plug and cable to equip a new 70A capable EVSE and try to do the same.
However, in my opinion this is yet another example of Roadster owners getting second class treatment. The community put a lot of effort into building this network. There aren't many of us in the UK, but I know that Roadsters from mainland Europe do visit on a regular basis as well. Once the Tesla country manager that was around when we built the network in 2010/11 moved on, it's clear that the next wave of staff couldn't care less about the work that was done on this 6 or 7 years ago. Many of the second hand owners are not aware that it exists and the poor record keeping and redevelopment of the website that eliminated the HPC press releases and map mean there is no way for them to find out either. It's all extremely disappointing.
So the final irony is that the blue 32 Amp outlet that I gave them in 2010 and which enabled me to do the famous Tesla vs. the BBC run is still there, but the HPC which was put in afterwards because of that effort is now gone. I never did get to use it myself.
I immediately contacted the site manager and was told that it had been removed. The service station is just about to open an 8 bay supercharger on the other side of the road and was under the impression that it superseded the Roadster HPC. Obviously he was surprised that superchargers do not support Roadsters and said that is an oversight by Tesla (tell me about it...)
He also said that the Roadster HPC has not been used for more than a year and was in a bad state. Because of that I could not persuade him to reinstate it. However I know at least one owner claims to have been there earlier this summer.
I asked if Tesla was aware that this HPC was being removed and he said yes. AT NO TIME WAS THE REMOVAL COMMUNICATED BY TESLA TO ANY ROADTER OWNER I KNOW - MEANING THAT ONE TURNED UP AT THE LOCATION EXPECTING TO FIND AN HPC AND INSTEAD FOUND A HOLE IN THE WALL.
He also said that the current Tesla staff was unaware Tebay even had it. This is despite me sending a list of all UK HPC locations and site contact details to Georg Ell a couple of years ago after a conversation we had at the West Drayton opening party, where I said it would be nice to get Roadster HPCs on the Tesla "Find Us" page.
Tesla said to Tebay they did not want the unit back. Tebay were just going to dump it if I had not intervened. I had to sign a waiver to indemnify Tebay from any future liability issues and then arrange my own pick up from the other end of the country. Then I found out the box was full of water from where it had been left on the ground outside and it may not work, but nevertheless I decided it was still worth having.
Anyway as luck would have it, my Roadster is in for the 3.0 battery work and I have been loaned a 100D - the first time I have ever been given another Tesla as a loaner. This seemed as good a reason as any for a roadtrip, so rather than pay a courier to go get it (and not be sure I had everything) I jumped in the loaner with @Kerios and we put 550 miles on it yesterday. We retrieved the unit and sure enough it was full of water.
The HPC is now back at my place. If it is working electrically then I will sort out the cosmetic stuff and try to find a new home for it, preferably in the neighbourhood of Tebay so there isn't a hole in the UK network. If it is damaged beyond repair then I will use the plug and cable to equip a new 70A capable EVSE and try to do the same.
However, in my opinion this is yet another example of Roadster owners getting second class treatment. The community put a lot of effort into building this network. There aren't many of us in the UK, but I know that Roadsters from mainland Europe do visit on a regular basis as well. Once the Tesla country manager that was around when we built the network in 2010/11 moved on, it's clear that the next wave of staff couldn't care less about the work that was done on this 6 or 7 years ago. Many of the second hand owners are not aware that it exists and the poor record keeping and redevelopment of the website that eliminated the HPC press releases and map mean there is no way for them to find out either. It's all extremely disappointing.
So the final irony is that the blue 32 Amp outlet that I gave them in 2010 and which enabled me to do the famous Tesla vs. the BBC run is still there, but the HPC which was put in afterwards because of that effort is now gone. I never did get to use it myself.
Further to the post above, the following was posted in a UK Facebook group at the end of last week.
That is now 3 UK sites where the the Roadster charger has been ripped out and replaced by Model S/X/3 HPWCs (not to mention several abroad like Saarbruecken). There would have been a 4th but for the fact my brother works there and I was able to put a stop to it. For the uninitiated, the Roadster charges at 70 Amp single phase, whereas European Model S/X/3 HPWCs provide 32 Amp 3 phase - which means the Roadster can only get 32 Amp out of them.
What is particularly frustrating about this case is that I was at that hotel for 3 days at the end of September, saw that the Roadster HPC plug was damaged (it had been reported by another local owner as well) and I had a conversation with the head concierge about getting it fixed - potentially free of charged by another owner who has an EVSE installation company. I explained the importance of the site for Roadster owners and corrected some misconceptions about other options. They promised to contact me to arrange a fix.
I know from being the main driver of rolling this network out in 2010 and 2011 that sites are contractually required to get Tesla's permission to remove, sell or dispose of these HPCs. We know from the conversation with the Tebay site manager that Tesla approved the removal of theirs. My brother's site was also encouraged to get rid of their Roadster HPC until I showed them how they could wire 4 Model S/X/3 destination HPWCs alongside the Roadster unit without overloading the supply.
We have now lost Tebay, Moat House (near Birmingham) and Celtic Manor to this ignorance. That means it is impossible for an owner in the south of England to get to the Lake District or Brecon Beacons - some of the best driving roads in the country.
Before anyone says that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few - I agree, but it costs nothing to leave the Roadster HPC in place. This site is huge (it hosted a NATO Summit and a Ryder Cup) and they just built a massive conference centre which for sure has a multi-megawatt supply. Even if power was a problem, we would happily supply a double pole transfer switch to allow both types of charger to co-exist.
With this and the lack of parts, Tesla is allowing the systematic devaluing and diminishing of usefulness of our cars in a process that started in 2017, just 5 years out of production.
That is now 3 UK sites where the the Roadster charger has been ripped out and replaced by Model S/X/3 HPWCs (not to mention several abroad like Saarbruecken). There would have been a 4th but for the fact my brother works there and I was able to put a stop to it. For the uninitiated, the Roadster charges at 70 Amp single phase, whereas European Model S/X/3 HPWCs provide 32 Amp 3 phase - which means the Roadster can only get 32 Amp out of them.
What is particularly frustrating about this case is that I was at that hotel for 3 days at the end of September, saw that the Roadster HPC plug was damaged (it had been reported by another local owner as well) and I had a conversation with the head concierge about getting it fixed - potentially free of charged by another owner who has an EVSE installation company. I explained the importance of the site for Roadster owners and corrected some misconceptions about other options. They promised to contact me to arrange a fix.
I know from being the main driver of rolling this network out in 2010 and 2011 that sites are contractually required to get Tesla's permission to remove, sell or dispose of these HPCs. We know from the conversation with the Tebay site manager that Tesla approved the removal of theirs. My brother's site was also encouraged to get rid of their Roadster HPC until I showed them how they could wire 4 Model S/X/3 destination HPWCs alongside the Roadster unit without overloading the supply.
We have now lost Tebay, Moat House (near Birmingham) and Celtic Manor to this ignorance. That means it is impossible for an owner in the south of England to get to the Lake District or Brecon Beacons - some of the best driving roads in the country.
Before anyone says that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few - I agree, but it costs nothing to leave the Roadster HPC in place. This site is huge (it hosted a NATO Summit and a Ryder Cup) and they just built a massive conference centre which for sure has a multi-megawatt supply. Even if power was a problem, we would happily supply a double pole transfer switch to allow both types of charger to co-exist.
With this and the lack of parts, Tesla is allowing the systematic devaluing and diminishing of usefulness of our cars in a process that started in 2017, just 5 years out of production.
What a real shame .. in the full sense. I have only become a Tesla owner this year but I am acutely aware that a history (if short) has been established and that individual early adopters made significant personal contributions to the success of the Tesla story. It is disappointing to read that the support for public charging of the original Roadsters is now lacking.
OfficialMark_H
VLOGGER
Many of you will remember that last year I borrowed a Roadster and drove it from London to Cornwall. I stopped overnight at my brother's place to recharge.
At the time I was driving to Cornwall a lot. While driving the second leg in the morning I thought "wouldn't it be great if there was an HPC somewhere so that in the future my colleagues and I could take a Model S and stop for dinner en route?" Then I thought, "hang on, my brother is on the board of the poshest hotel in town" and an idea was born.
A little bit of arm twisting later and The Castle Hotel now has the first public HPC in the UK :smile: Furthermore, I think this is the first public 70 Amp HPC in Europe :wink:
View attachment 123609
Now, it is possible to travel from London or the Midlands to anywhere in the South West (it's 143 miles from the London store, 140 from Birmingham).
Stop in at the Castle Hotel for a meal and then carry on down to The Scarlet for a perfect EV long weekend, or stay at the Castle and check out some of the fantastic drivers' roads around my home town. The sun is out, it's a lovely day.
Please call them on 01823 272 671 to check the charger is available to use. The address is:
The Castle Hotel,
Castle Green,
Taunton,
Somerset
TA1 1NF
Besides, here are some of the other clientele. We need an electric reply to this :biggrin:
View attachment 1573
I appreciate I’m a few years late to the party, would be great if they opened it to non residents even for a small charge.
At the Castle Hotel? As far as I know it is open to non-residents. They were charging £10 the last time I checked. The bars and restaurant are available while you wait as well. They now have four Model S/3/X HPWCs at up to 22 kW as well as the Roadster HPC.
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