UK public charging networks - recommendations?

[vitesse]

After over 3 months and 4K+miles owning our Tesla and despite periods without a functioning home charge point (that's another story..) we've not needed more than a half a dozen or so Supercharger visits.

However, in a few days we're venturing to Falmouth, about 280 miles from home and 60 miles west of the most Westerly Supercharger in the South of England (Lifton). We still might not need to charge in Falmouth but I'd like a fallback option.

Bearing in mind it will only be used once in a blue moon, what's the best public network (ubiquity, cost, reputation)? Can you get away without having to pay a sub or other pre-pay fee and just pay as you go?

I don't have CCS or a Chademo adapter, but have a blue Type 2 cable and a UMC. So AC only. I might hire a Chademo for a road trip, but not for the Falmouth jaunt.

Thanks!

 

[Roy W.]

After over 3 months and 4K+miles owning our Tesla and despite periods without a functioning home charge point (that's another story..) we've not needed more than a half a dozen or so Supercharger visits.

However, in a few days we're venturing to Falmouth, about 280 miles from home and 60 miles west of the most Westerly Supercharger in the South of England (Lifton). We still might not need to charge in Falmouth but I'd like a fallback option.

Bearing in mind it will only be used once in a blue moon, what's the best public network (ubiquity, cost, reputation)? Can you get away without having to pay a sub or other pre-pay fee and just pay as you go?

I don't have CCS or a Chademo adapter, but have a blue Type 2 cable and a UMC. So AC only. I might hire a Chademo for a road trip, but not for the Falmouth jaunt.

Thanks!

I suggest you use ABetterRoutePlanner and see what that offers you on the journey.

I’ve used many different networks, and never had a monthly sub for any network. I have paid for a couple of RFID cards, but purely because the apps are often a PITA to use. I can’t wait to try a Supercharger.

In terms of reliability, I’ve always been very pleased with PodPoint and Instavolt. The support is excellent if you have a problem. On a trip to Scotland in June I used ChargePlace Scotland many times, and also found them reliable.

One to avoid in my view is Ecotricity. Very poor reliability, dodgy CCS compatibility, and only office hours support.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Bearing in mind it will only be used once in a blue moon, what's the best public network (ubiquity, cost, reputation)? Can you get away without having to pay a sub or other pre-pay fee and just pay as you go?

You shouldn't have to pre-pay on any of them now (by law). That doesn't mean "flash credit card" though so recommend that you download and install APPs for any brand that you might need to use. I manage to use Superchargers pretty much all the time, but use 3rd party a couple of times a year, and I have managed to get by with Polar, Ecotricity and CYC (CYC works at quite a lot of providers).

The main problem is that original grant money for Chargers was geographic, so various different companies sprung up in different places, so given you can now go 200 miles before you need a charge it is likely you will use different ones in different parts of the country ... hence suggest installing all that you might need.

By way of one example: the Ecotricity APP login has a "Guest charge" option, which you can use to charge without any pre-registration etc. It requires you to type in your full address, email, etc etc and all your credit card details, and if the pump doesn't work the first time you have to do that all over again - none of the data is remembered. I tried again at same pump, and then moved to the second pump, which did work, and all that took me 20 minutes before I actual got any juice ...

I have paid for a couple of RFID cards, but purely because the apps are often a PITA to use

RFID also useful where is no network reception, or pumps that are not "network connected" but at those pumps (i.e. APP knows nothing about that pump!! [No, I don't know why either ...] or APP doesn't start a charge successfully) I have been able to phone up and get a charge initiated ... not exactly plug-in & walk-away like Supercharger!

Get Plugshare too ... that will show you crowd-sourced data for where the pump is - I've used CYC APP to find their own pump and it was a wrong by about a mile! Plugshare also has user feedback, so some help in seeing if a location is usually good, bad or indifferent. probably worth also having ZapMap and using both as people who provide feedback on one are unlikely to also do it on the other! Personally I find all the click-click-click on ZapMap drill-down frustrating, not being able to see all details at a glance.

make sure you have Blue type-2 cable - there has been a shortage and some cars recently have not included them on handover.

 

[vitesse]

Yup, I have a blue Type 2 cable

I had a look at the PlugShare app and it seems to do everything the ZapMap one does and more - do I need ZapMap?

I also use abetterrouteplanner and will look at its coverage of charging points beyond Superchargers.

 

[WannabeOwner]

do I need ZapMap

If I am checking reliability, based on user "could not charge" comments, then I look at both. Comments are not very common, so using both can provide a decent number of recent ones ... "No 5 Needs More input! More input!"

 

[davidmc]

Anyone have a Referral code for Polar Network they wish to share with me? Please PM me

Thanks in advance

 

[interbear]

Anyone have a Referral code for Polar Network they wish to share with me? Please PM me

Thanks in advance

No referral code but I was reviewing electricity providers/tariffs for EVs this week and you may be interested in the fact that Ovo are offering 2 years of Polar Plus membership (usually £7-8ish per month) for free to new customers. Tariffs not the best though hence I am looking elsewhere.

 

[davidmc]

Ill add this question here as it seems appropriate

Can you add to the M3 Maps other chargers that you use? Like "waypoints" or "Favorites" etc? Say for instance i use an Ecotricity or ionity etc, and my car then recognises this waypoint as a charger?

 

[cezdoc]

Ill add this question here as it seems appropriate

Can you add to the M3 Maps other chargers that you use? Like "waypoints" or "Favorites" etc? Say for instance i use an Ecotricity or ionity etc, and my car then recognises this waypoint as a charger?

At present any charge point where you've successfully charged is remembered by the car and can be displayed on the main Nav screen . Beyond that I think the only way to get custom pins on the map is to put them in (one by one) as navigation favourites.

The abetterrouteplanner website works will with the car browser though, and that displays almost all available public chargers sourced from an online database.

 

[Jeffoun]

I use source with a £4/month subscription
Thanks to the overnight cap i get a full charge on my M3p+ overnight for ~£13...i am happy with that

 

[mrobins64495]

Looks to me like the Polar nextwork is the biggest.. shame about the monthly subscription tho.

 

[Dan77]

After over 3 months and 4K+miles owning our Tesla and despite periods without a functioning home charge point (that's another story..) we've not needed more than a half a dozen or so Supercharger visits.

However, in a few days we're venturing to Falmouth, about 280 miles from home and 60 miles west of the most Westerly Supercharger in the South of England (Lifton). We still might not need to charge in Falmouth but I'd like a fallback option.

Bearing in mind it will only be used once in a blue moon, what's the best public network (ubiquity, cost, reputation)? Can you get away without having to pay a sub or other pre-pay fee and just pay as you go?

I don't have CCS or a Chademo adapter, but have a blue Type 2 cable and a UMC. So AC only. I might hire a Chademo for a road trip, but not for the Falmouth jaunt.

Thanks!

Hi there,

6 weeks after picking up our MS 100d, we went down to Cornwall for Christmas...our first long road trip. This is how we did it...

Left Leicestershire Thursday mid morning with around 50%.
Lunch at Hopwood Park M42 while supercharging.
Left Hopwood with 98%.
Overnighted at Clevedon, Somerset with 60-odd% remaining.
Left Clevedon Friday morning.
Exeter Dart Farm supercharger mid morning for half hour browse of shops and supercharger top up.
Lifton supercharger just after noon. Lovely hour lunch (pre-booked) at the Arundell Arms while we maxed out Tessa.
Stopped at Cornwall Services mid afternoon for a top up on 43kW Ecotricity.
Arrived Porthleven late afternoon with approx 78% charge remaining.
Spent a week driving around the area.
Topped up twice, once at Podpoint at Sainsbury's Penzance, the once at a 7kW unit at the Minack Theatre.
Headed home on the following Friday, quick top up at Cornwall Services as we were on 20-odd % by that time, then to another lovely lunch (pre-booked) at the Arundell Arms and a supercharger max-out.
Non-stop after that to Hopwood Park, topped up to about 80%, then straight home.

Lessons learnt?

As expected, we were overly cautious being Tesla newbies. The Dart Farm and Cornwall Services outbound stops were unnecessary, we'd have been fine, especially as I'd got a couple of destination chargers in the back pocket once we were in deepest Cornwall.

I can particularly recommend the Royal Duchy Hotel in Falmouth (Tesla 22kW), and Budock Vean Hotel near to Trebah Gardens (7kW type 2). Visited them but didn't bother charging.

We've signed up to several third party charging providers, but only one we've ever used is Ecotricity on the Cornish trip. I've got about 30 metres of top quality cable and various adaptors from Xavalec in the boot for emergencies, but other than that...nothing. Nice long range, good forward planning and just getting to know the capabilities of the car mean you'll go further than you might think.

Cheers
Dan