Zero:Net - The UK's open Charging Network

[Kevin Sharpe]

From Cumbria To The North Pole..

"This week a Cumbrian student is attempting to travel from his home at Muncaster Castle to Devon in an electric car to demonstrate it is a viable technology and to attempt to win a place on an expedition to the Arctic Circle."

http://www.zerocarbonworld.org/news/from-cumbria-to-the-north-pole

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

113 locations live today :smile:

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

Weekly Roundup – Country House Hotels and a Nuclear Bunker

 

[jcstp]

I am sure the UK is going electric about all the chargingstations you are installing! ;-)

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

I am sure the UK is going electric about all the chargingstations you are installing! ;-)

It's great to see them being used.... Ampera drivers in particular are driving around the country in ever increasing numbers. I'm also aware of some European Tesla drivers that are visiting the UK soon.

 

[jcstp]

must be satisfying that your vision is so well recieved by the users ;-)
wish your succes keeps going on!
With your help the UK is going EV-ready the way users are able to use it! ;-)
Curious if it will evolve the same way on the other side of the chunnel!

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

Curious if it will evolve the same way on the other side of the chunnel!

Everything I hear tells me that the French are committed to the EV and Renault have some sizeable sales to the French Government and state owned industries.

In the longer term I'm not sure whether charging will remain 'open' in Europe... it seems such an obvious target for a Government cash grab, selling off charging regions in a bidding war similar to the wireless spectrum sales to the mobile phone operators. Sometimes I wonder if that's what the early commercial EV charging network operators are banking on because they would be compensated for any pre-sale nationalisation....

 

[jcstp]

this will be cashing in two times (for the chargingnetworks)

but as long as there will be dumb plugs, there will be smart people who will find ways to avoid paying networks!

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

News & Star: CUMBRIAN STUDENT COMPLETES 390-MILE TRIP IN ELECTRIC CAR

 

[VolkerP]

A 25 hour trip with 3 charging stops in a Vauxhall Ampera.

JRP3, I have to admit that not only the headline is misleading :redface:. The complete article doesn't mention that the Ampera is a hybrid. They could have done the trip all at once within 6-8 hours in "petrol mode". Recharging 3 times means, they used the electric range 4 times. With careful driving that would make for half of the 390 miles. I don't see the point, tough.

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

A 25 hour trip with 3 charging stops in a Vauxhall Ampera.

Actually this was part of a ~1000 mile trip from London to Cumbria and back, via Dartmoor. The two guys involved intended to do the majority of the trip on electricity using public Charging Stations. After one successful charge and three charging failures they gave up when the final Charging Station would not release the £250 Type 2 cables and the drivers had to leave it behind. Fortunately, the overnight stops at Zero:Net locations worked as expected.

A full account of the journey will be published today but you can watch some of the public charging fiasco here

Here's a link to the 1000 mile Ampera trip

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

Walworth Install Free Electric Car Charging Point

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

Weekly Roundup - Canals, Airports and Organic Farms

 

[dpeilow]

A 25 hour [390 mile] trip with 3 charging stops in a Vauxhall Ampera.

Yeah - an interesting exercise in charge point testing but not something you want to shout about in the newspapers.

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

Yeah - an interesting exercise in charge point testing but not something you want to shout about in the newspapers.

I think we need transparency in this industry so that people learn to deliver reliable charging... pretending that everything is OK will not deliver transition. I cannot recommend any mainstream buyers purchase pure-BEV in the UK today if they must depend on public charging.

 

[dpeilow]

I was refering to doing 390 miles in 25 hours in an Ampera. I bet Vauxhall loved that one

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

I was refering to doing 390 miles in 25 hours in an Ampera. I bet Vauxhall loved that one

We are just telling it as it is.... for the record, we are working closely with both Vauxhall and ZipCar so expect a lot more events and trips.

 

[jcstp]

We are working closely with both Vauxhall and ZipCar so expect a lot more events and trips.

nice team!

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

Stanstead Airport: Charge Up Before you Fly Away "We hope to eventually see Charging Stations available at more of our hotels"

 

[dpeilow]

We are just telling it as it is.... for the record, we are working closely with both Vauxhall and ZipCar so expect a lot more events and trips.

Telling it like it is for a very arbitrary scenario, however. I can't see how promoting that journey time in mainstream press helps the EV or PHEV cause at all.