Rating every public DC rapid charger
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 มิ.ย. 2024
- With more EVs on the road than ever before and that figure to explode, it’s important that the public charging network can keep up so it can be the reliable back bone of the UK and everywhere else around the world as we move to electrification.
Today, I shall try every public DC charging network (near me) and rate them subjectively based on 4 valuable aspects. Location, safety, charging experience and charging cost, then I’ll rank them in order at the end of the video with my final thoughts.
Do you think the UK public charging network is good enough? Are the charging networks doing enough to convince EV and non-EV drivers that they’re ready and reliable.
What will it look like in 2030?
If you enjoy my video please consider liking and a sub to my channel. - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
I would love to see people report chargers that have issues to the CPO's and a review of the Support Centres...
Great video. Compared to 9 years ago in my first 24Kwh Nissan Leaf it is so much easier to find and use rapid chargers now, sure there are some annoying issues with poor maintenance from some of the networks but it's easy to move to the next one on route on most journeys. I have a MG4 Trophy and had 140kw on a BP Pulse (28% to 86% in 18mins!) on a longer road trip on the weekend. The biggest improvement (as well as 250 miles range) in the MG4 is the charge speed from low %, this makes longer trips for me no longer than in any internal combustion engine vehicle as I stop for a comfort break (15-30 mins) every 3ish hours of driving (175ish miles) and can top up with more than needed for the journey in that time. This also gives me a 70 mile buffer to continue to the next rapid if there are any problems.
Really great video!. Getting my first EV (MG4 SE) in a week! So really good to see the public charging experience in detail, and with the MG4. Thanks
Glad to hear it’s helped you Joe and congrats on your MG4 order. You will love driving ⚡️
Fantastic video, im a taxi driver and have just ordered my first electric car, which is an MG5. These videos you do, have really settled some fears I've had regarding charging. Many thanks, keep them coming 👍🏻
Glad to help
Thank you for this video, I'm getting my first EV next week. So the world of charging is all rather new to me.
Hello again Dan. This video was conducted a long time ago, I plan to do another soon as public charging gets better every day.
As a perspective EV buyer and a gloucestershire resident, your research and your channel in particular is invaluable! Let's just hope that any car I do get is partially amphibious; the roads from FoD into Gloucester are a nightmare at the best of times. Looks like there's plenty of options around Cooper's Edge, mind
Glad it has helped you. Lots of charging in the Gloucester area. Indeed, might need on-board motors soon at this rate!!!
Thanks Stuart, important that other prospective users see user experience videos like this for realistic expectations, especially when there is an issue and what to do instead of panicking! Keep up the great work 👍🏼
Glad it was helpful!
@@stuart_thomas would be really interested to see you drive your 70 comparison with the 77 kWh MG4 Extended Range.
Would also like see your experiences charging at motorway services! Cheers
I also use Pod Point chargers at Tesco and, when there is one, Sainsburys.
Used to have a Tesla so never really use other public chargers. Getting a new one soon (non Tesla) so looking at the prices. Quite frankly it is a disgrace the cost of these public chargers. At 79p that is £50 for a 63kw battery which only does 250 miles. Electric should never be more than petrol. Complete joke
You videos have been a massive help I love the MG brand and have been on the fence about switch to an ev but heading to my local MG dealer on the weekend and gunna test drive the MG4 and MG5 thanks again for the info you provide in your videos
Glad to help
kind of feel lucky that I have one of the gridserve electric forecourts only a few miles down the road that has 22 350KW ccs charger plus more type 2 and chademo. When we make the change to EV next year i know i can easily charge up at a quick rate and sit back and relax in a comfortable envirnoment.
Very Informative and interesting, thank you!
Thanks for your videos my MG4 is on order so watching this is brilliant 👏 😀 👌
Congratulations on your MG4 order Stephen
Having been using public charging networks for three years, I have found the following networks good. Instavolt and BP Pulse.
Really useful video Stuart. Thank you. As someone whos hoping to get an mg4 in the next few months, my first ev, the charging and all the different types of charger has been the biggest concern, this video has helped massively.
Glad to hear it’s help you Andrew and congrats on your order. Public Charging is getting better everyday. In terms of charging your MG4, there’s only 3 charger types, one won’t fit (chademo) and out of the other two, the bulky one is the DC charger for rapid and ultra fast. Try and download the apps for each network, they’re handy for getting real time info if a charger is down or in use.
@@stuart_thomas cheers Stuart. Yep I have downloaded a lot of the apps that I have seen are popular, looking forward to trying them out!
I always try to get to the nearest Instavolt charging point because I find them the best and most reliable chargers. The least reliable chargers are Pod Point and Shell.
Great charging network completely agree
Hi Stuart, had similar issues with a BP Pulse unit a few weeks ago in my MG4. Called up and they remote reset the charger, only took about a 5 minute phone call. Obviously we’d prefer it if they didn’t fail in the first place but it didn’t take too long to get through. It was a much better experience that time than the time before that I had to call them about a different unit (May 2022) where it took ages on hold and the call handler just said “yeah, it’s broken you’ll have to find somewhere else” and couldn’t even send a message to the machine to warn future users. (Took the reservation amount and then didn’t connect, but didn’t cancel the payment! Had to wait ages for it to be refunded)
Hi Rebecca, sorry to hear you have had a couple of less than great experiences. Indeed resetting does normally do the trick. I agree phone calls shouldn’t have to be made, it’s inevitable there will be one day where you might not have access to your phone. However, as you saw for the best part all worked perfectly. I think it’s always good to have a plan B. As long as there’s transparency with networks, apps and they work seamless it can be easily managed. Thanks for commenting and tuning in 👍
I had exactly the same issue with BP Pulse, tried 5 times so it took 5 payments of £45, still waiting for the reservation transactions to time out. 😢
Thanks Stuart this was very useful. Glad you had a good experience with Shell, my own was less good, using both their app and rfid card. May be a problem with my ioniq 5. Conversely my experience with BP has been good. What we now need is consistency from all charging providers.
Great video. Very Informative
My favourite network is Fastned.
Never tried them Colin, but hope to one day soon
Great video,just what I want out of a ev vlog,esp involving the mg
Thanks for tuning in - glad you enjoyed it
I hardly ever use chargers at Shell stations because I have found them absolutely terrible!! The unit in Enfield never works properly.
Great video Stuart! I would probably use the blur tool to block your credit card details which are fully visible a couple of times during the video e.g. 29.35
Thanks Jeff. Good shout 😉
I have just done a charge at a BP Pulse at Monks Cross York ( great set up here by the way. Superchargers 175kw) and I was parked next to the same vehicle you where at the Gridserve Charger. I noticed the grey gaffa tape on his broken OSR door window. Small world.
That’s crazy! There must get around!!
Pleased to hear you had a great charging experience Ian 👍
Great, video, thanks Stuart. I don't quite understand the reservation amounts, is it saying it will charge this to your card no matter how much energy you use?
Exactly that. But it’s more of a holding fee like the deposit held on a hotel room as looking at my credit card days later no refunds or payments taken either other than the billed energy use
Hi. The Tesco's near me have podpoint rapids which accept contactless. It is a different style of machine than the one you are using at Lidl.
Is it only certain ones that only take payment via the app..
Thanks Dan. Great to hear. I’ve never come across one as of yet which don’t need the app to activate - I’ll keep an eye out.
I have exactly the same error with my local BP Pulse. This charger type seems to have a serious problem as it is not related to the car, it happens before I plug in. The charger eventually resets and has connected successfully. I have also had the same issue you saw at Podpoint/Lidl. Waiting will eventually allow the charger and the app to sync up and allow the charge, it seems to take a few minutes. I think the issue is with the app rather than the charger.
Thanks for the comment Matthew. Absolutely, for the best part, time and a reset will sort most issues out. I think until app/charger becomes seemless it’s just good to know what you might have to deal with and know it’s not the end of the world and no need to panic. Thanks again for watching and the comment
Hi Stuart. Good video. I know this video was not about the charging speed but I have seen your other videos and can’t see anytime where you have achieved around 100kw charging speed.
What is the highest speed you have managed to get?
I got my MG4 Trophy couple of weeks ago but have not had the need to use a rapid charger yet
Hi Syed, thanks for tuning in and the question. LFP battery needs warm cells to get the 80kW speeds, especially in colder climate.
In my charging tests I throw everything at the car to get the pack as hot as possible.
The highest speed I’ve got is 88kW. Once I get some warmer temps I’ll do another video on it.
That’s great you have a trophy, they charge like a beast! It’s a great road tripper👍
How do you know which figment is which?
Can't belive how expensive those chargers are.... My worry would be when everyone is pushed into electric cars they will charge even more as demand on the grid will be huge
Thanks for tuning in and your great comment.
I’m hoping as with anything, the more something is in demand the price can come down but we’ll see. Tesla can currently charge as little as 30p for some of their superchargers so there has to be some movement in the pricing structure.
Thanks
Thank you so much for your super thanks. It really means the world ❤️
I prefer to avoid Instavolt because of the narrow charging bays.
Would you be able to provide some stats regarding the DC charger manufacturer?
Hi Andrew, if you keep an eye in the video after the stopwatch timer I list the network and charger type. Hope that helps. I’d suggest to google the spec (as I’ve listed it) as in most cases there’s tons of specs to list and go through to really add on the video. If there’s many requests to look at chargers themselves I’d be happy to do a video on them
Hi Stuart, my MG4 signals me “regenerative braking performance decreased” every time i start my motor to go. I have asked my dealer they said it’s due to a high level (80%)of my battery so it needs less energy from regeneration. But it also happens when it is about 70%. Does the same signal occur to you?
Hi Hugle, great question. From experience I wouldn’t have thought it was due to too much charge but, it’s more than likely reduced capacity. Is this only happening in the cold. This can be because the battery’s too cold and therefore capacity is reduced (and it feels more like a full battery)
Before you jump in the car next time, use the app, or jump in the car and use the intelligent battery heating for 30 mins. That should help rule out the cold battery suggestion. If it still happens after that contact the dealer and explain what you’ve tried to mitigate it.
I don't have this message with my mg4.
Yes at high state of charge regen is reduced as it is with any ev. But I don't get any message
I don’t remember ever seeing that message in my SE LR, whether at 100% charge or -4 temp. What battery pack do you have? Maybe it’s an LFP thing?
@@DrMatthewhannah i have a SE model, it stopped showing it since the temperature went up in Birmingham. And i did reboot the system the other TH-cam taught, i dunno if it matters.
I see this message but I always cycle through the drive modes (linked to my left hand star button on steering wheel) to switch it to eco, as I have to cycle thru sport mode I thought the message was related to the regen setting changing with the drive mode.
I find it incredible; the price of these chargers. All the Tesla Chargers are back down to 40-55p/kWh, as far as I know. The fact they have Stickers on for 79p/kWh makes it look like they have no plans to change.
even the rate for non-tesla at superchargers is 55-66p/kWh (without subscription)
Hi Stuart , I see you are putting up shots of the Zap App . Do you subscribe to see App ?
If so how do you find it, or do you just use it as a map find of EV Chargers.
Would like to here you comments on its limits. many Thanks Nick
Hi nick, it is free and there’s also a subscription model to open up more features. I use it as it’s great for finding chargers, see prices, decent usage and also filtering searches by connector type or speeds. Unfortunately, it’s an app which I think has hit its ceiling in terms of valuable data. We need more live data to make the EV ownership better. But that also requires the efforts of charging networks to make sure their kit is also doing the same. You can use native apps for the networks which do give a lot of live data which is really helpful, but as you saw in my podpoint unsuccessful charge they can fall short too
With dual Gridserve chargers better to just tap your card again to stop charging. Otherwise may stop the wrong charge if not careful I believe.
If you do use EV chargers at night. Please turn off your headlights so you dont dazzle otherdrivers trying to pull in or drive round a car park.
Why don't you turn your lights off?
Not very considerate to other drivers.
Pull up plug in and go for a coffee. Tesla for the win!!!!!
Indeed.