Motorway charging

[Chrispyduck]

Is it me or are lots of the Ecotricity motorway charging points solely for Nissan cars and won't initialise my Ecotricity card for the PHEV to charge. I had a frustrating journey up the M1 and down the A1 over the weekend and couldn't charge in any of the three services I stopped at.

 

[rkde]

Charged at 2 today with no issues

 

[BeeJay]

Never had a problem apart from the rapid being broken, which is not a rare occurrence.

At the moment the Ecotricity rapids are not picky on RFID cards, they just need to detect any compatible RFID card to start, not even one of theirs.

So far I have successfully initiated charges with my office entry RFID card, an old Oyster card and a Touchless payment Natwest debit card.

 

[Abitinga]

I charged one today at ikea with no problem the other was at motorway services on the m42 but that wouldn't recognise my card on the rapid charger but it worked on the fast charger ( typically I'd forgotten my lead)

 

[spellinn]

So far I've had mostly positive experiences with ecotricity charging points. I've probably charged a dozen times successfully, with about 3 failures:

- One station (one of the M25 services) failed to recognise my card but 10 minutes later it worked(!). Could of been a local comms issue.
- Someone had activated the emergency stop button at the Ikea Croydon station. I didn't realise this stays in until it's manually reset by rotating it anti-clockwise. Once I had reset the button, after a minutes reset, the station resumed operation.
- Both spaces being occupied by non-hybrids (Nissan LEAF and a BMW), but we'll let them off

Both eSource London charging points have failed both times I've tried to use them so I can't see me renewing that card come September.

Regards

Neil

 

[Chrispyduck]

Thanks for your responses.

Just to be clear, when an Ecotricity charging point has the Nissan symbol on it, it will still allow me charge my PHEV by the DC outlet provided it recognises me as a customer or if the RFID can be fooled?

At one services recently there were two Charging points and the Nissan branded one would not let me charge yet the not branded one next to it would. It basically says during the initialisation that it can't help me.

 

[simonrh]

Have only ever used the watford gap south rapid charger and that worked fine. It was ecotricty branded.

 

[BeeJay]

Thanks for your responses.

Just to be clear, when an Ecotricity charging point has the Nissan symbol on it, it will still allow me charge my PHEV by the DC outlet provided it recognises me as a customer or if the RFID can be fooled?

At one services recently there were two Charging points and the Nissan branded one would not let me charge yet the not branded one next to it would. It basically says during the initialisation that it can't help me.

The Nissan sticker has no impact on how the charger operates is my understanding. It is part of the co-branding agreement, that is all.

It is just a freak that it happened to be the one that had the sticker on in your case didn't work.

If it's Ecotricity, then it will work with an Ecotricity card if the unit is functioning... (and even some other cards as I said above).

 

[7smudger]

I had some troubles at South Mimms.
First time I have used my Ecotricity card, I hooked up to the Rapid and it started charging and I waited a few minutes to make sure it was increasing in %
I then went for a coffee and came back 25 mins later to find a Black Nissan Leaf hooked up next to me. The driver had disconnected my charge and had plugged the leaf in. He said when he arrived it showed mine was 'disconnected' he even took a picture (a bit odd)
When I got in the car it had hardly charged so I asked the leaf owner to show me the picture. The time he disconnected my PHEV was 2 mins after I left the car!
Was it a scam?
Was it a faulty charger?
I will never know.

 

[simonrh]

You have probably been had!
The PHEV seems to be loathed in many places (i.e. SpeakEV) that you come across LEAFs etc because it isn't a real EV and you have the audacity to want to use some of the freely provided (for now) charging infrastructure.

 

[gwatpe]

This seems to be just a software on the charger problem.

The solution is to supply your own charging lead that is locked into the station with your access card. If someone interrupts the charging it stops and the lead will no longer work until the cord owners card is re-presented. This is how the CHARGEpoint card in AUS works.

I suspect that eventually EV driving rage will set in and paintwork may be spoiled.

 

[Stvtech]

I suspect that eventually EV driving rage will set in and paintwork may be spoiled.

"Sorry Officer... I was just topping up the brake fluid in my LEAF, and the bottle just slipped out my hand!"

 

[maby]

This seems to be just a software on the charger problem.

The solution is to supply your own charging lead that is locked into the station with your access card. If someone interrupts the charging it stops and the lead will no longer work until the cord owners card is re-presented. This is how the CHARGEpoint card in AUS works.

...

Not an option for the ChaDeMo charging points that are being discussed above - they are the high-current DC chargers that have tethered (and very thick) cables.

 

[greendwarf]

Whilst de-coupling you from a charge station is poor manners - remember pure EV drivers have no choice and should have priority. After all, as has been frequently mentioned here, the amount of charge we get is only enough for a few miles and saves us pennies.

Did the OP leave a note to say when they would be back?

 

[gwatpe]

I still see software being able to prevent tampering by another driver.

I see this as a solution.

have a timer that is started by the presenting of a card. This timer either times out after say 30min, or if the same card is presented. If some other card user tries to use the charger and it is under 30min or has not been cleared for use by the previous user then it will be unavailable for at least 30min. The timer would only start once current was flowing.

This would mean that if your car was connected and charging and someone else came along and unplugged you, they would have to wait at least 30min to get any juice. Meanwhile if you came back and presented your card, the point would become immediately available to another user.

The key is that if your car had current flowing and it was interrupted, then at least 30 min would have elapsed before the station was available for another user. I do see opportunity for misuse if another user disconnected you and replugged. You would get an incomplete recharge. This can still happen with the present system. The other user would have no benefit to unplug you before you got at least 30min of charge.

SO: There would be no point in another driver unplugging your car to charge there own with a simple forced delay if the card was not presented to disconnect.

I cannot see any issues with presenting a card again as these cords have smarts to know if they are connected and disconnected. The longest another driver would have to wait would be 30min.

I think all EV or PHEV have the same right to use the charging stations, so need some station smarts to make all users play fair.

 

[Stvtech]

remember pure EV drivers have no choice and should have priority.

Pure EV drivers have the choice of waiting for a maximum of 30 minutes, or unplugging you before you finish charging.

Whilst I can understand the frustrations of pure EV drivers, I paid out money to drive a plug-in Hybrid, and having to unnecessarily use up petrol that I have to pay for so that an EV driver can save a max of 30 minutes on a journey where they would have to have had to account for stop-offs anyway is just as frustrating.

If we as Phev drivers are demonized for wanting to use as much EV driving as possible (at the expense of a 30 minute max wait for a pure EV driver), then perhaps we should all sell up and go and buy a diesel instead!

I have now twice had the opportunity to hook up to Motorway charge points, but chose not to on account of my SOC didn't warrant it. And if in the future a LEAF driver pulls up just as I was hooking up, and I had any charge left at all, I would still probably defer to him/her if their demeanor wasn't hostile toward the situation.

Charging etiquette should work both ways, for all types of plug-ins, not just pure EV.

 

[maby]

I would expect that most of the charging network will go commercial soon - at a price which will make it not cost effective for us to plug up - that will resolve the question pretty quickly. I seem to remember jaapv saying that the same had happened in his part of the world.

 

[kentphev]

So first attempt at motorway charging today but found M4/reading was offline. So carried on down the ones near M32 and found some twat in an Audi had parked across both bays while the he used the cashpoint machine!

They guy then got all pissy with me because I had stopped behind him and didn't move the nanosecond he got back in his car.

Did eventually figure out how to use the 50A doofer and got charged in about 20 mins.
Just long enough to queue at M&S and Costa.

 

[user 816]

So first attempt at motorway charging today but found M4/reading was offline. So carried on down the ones near M32 and found some twat in an Audi had parked across both bays while the he used the cashpoint machine!

They guy then got all pissy with me because I had stopped behind him and didn't move the nanosecond he got back in his car.

Did eventually figure out how to use the 50A doofer and got charged in about 20 mins.
Just long enough to queue at M&S and Costa.

I would have taken pictures.. we could have a rogues gallery.

 

[kentphev]

So first attempt at motorway charging today but found M4/reading was offline. So carried on down the ones near M32 and found some twat in an Audi had parked across both bays while the he used the cashpoint machine!

They guy then got all pissy with me because I had stopped behind him and didn't move the nanosecond he got back in his car.

Did eventually figure out how to use the 50A doofer and got charged in about 20 mins.
Just long enough to queue at M&S and Costa.

I would have taken pictures.. we could have a rogues gallery.

Was tempted, but he was pretty big and angry with it. I've been decked by someone with road-rage before and don't fancy it again!