Life without a home charger?

[hmadsen]

Interesting.
I wonder though about who would be willing & able to modify (& maintain) the charger's systems to be involved in the locking out part of the process? (I presume they would otherwise naturally work on a "more hours = more money, bring it on!" model)

Also the locked out car(s) would need to be encouraged to not block the charger bays (that they now can't use)...

Even now at my local stores there are definite peak hours when one shouldn't expect to get on a free charger. Of course the rapid pay for charger is right there next door for those who've miscalculated or are on a crucial picnic run or some other worthy necessity that they should be paying for a charge to complete...

Make people sign up with their plate, and have them supply a phone number, send them a text, after 50 minutes reminding them to move the car.

If the car is not moved 10 minutes after charging ends, add another week before they can charge again.

I mean, can people really complain, the service is free

 

[slmorgan42]

I think in most cases using the charging points while shopping is just a way to top up what you use going to and from the supermarket. Its part of adopting a grassing approach to charging rather than using the reaction approach (car is empty fill up) we use for ICE cars.

 

[Alb]

adopting a grassing approach to charging

grazing maybe?

 

[slmorgan42]

grazing maybe?

LoL yes very much so ha ha

 

[hmadsen]

I think in most cases using the charging points while shopping is just a way to top up what you use going to and from the supermarket. Its part of adopting a grassing approach to charging rather than using the reaction approach (car is empty fill up) we use for ICE cars.

I think this is the idea behind it.

But to be honest, you just know that if they do not limit it in any way, there will be a whole line of tight git's that would not mind spending their sunday in the car, while they charge it from "empty" to "full".

There is a saying here "It is always the few, that destroy it for the many"

 

[Gomev]

I think this is the idea behind it.

But to be honest, you just know that if they do not limit it in any way, there will be a whole line of tight git's that would not mind spending their sunday in the car, while they charge it from "empty" to "full".

There is a saying here "It is always the few, that destroy it for the many"

Same saying here and so true, 'Always the few that spoil it for the rest'.

 

[Lovemyev]

How many miles do you get out of a 7kw charger when it's there for an hour... almost completely pointless

I agree, our local Tesco has four 7 Kw posts but I never use them.
My weekly shop takes about 30 minutes to complete, in that time I may pick up about 10 - 12 miles of extra range.
Not worth the bother of plugging in really ?.
Yes, I could take longer to do the shopping by spending more time and money buying things I really don’t need of course, or go to the small in store cafe and have a brew.
But I only live 10 minutes away, so no point really.
If they where rapid units, then a 30 minute “Splash and Dash” would see some serious range being added, and maybe worth using.
It’s free juice, but 7 Kw units will only give you an additional 25 miles of extra range in one hour, at best !.
I can make it down to the North Wales coast and be sitting have a nice cup of tea at the seaside, in the time it takes me to collect an extra 25 miles of range at my local Tesco ?.

 

[Gomev]

I agree, our local Tesco has four 7 Kw posts but I never use them.
My weekly shop takes about 30 minutes to complete, in that time I may pick up about 10 - 12 miles of extra range.
Not worth the bother of plugging in really ?.
Yes, I could take longer to do the shopping by spending more time and money buying things I really don’t need of course, or go to the small in store cafe and have a brew.
But I only live 10 minutes away, so no point really.
If they where rapid units, then a 30 minute “Splash and Dash” would see some serious range being added, and maybe worth using.
It’s free juice, but 7 Kw units will only give you an additional 25 miles of extra range in one hour, at best !.
I can make it down to the North Wales coast and be sitting have a nice cup of tea at the seaside, in the time it takes me to collect an extra 25 miles of range at my local Tesco ?.

Horses for courses, We could never manage a weekly shop from parking to returning to the car in 30 minutes unless it was the corner shop. ?
But think of it another way, 50 weekly shops with an extra 10-12 miles each time....500-600 miles. Now that's worth having.
The stats in my Podpoint app reveal that in the last year I have obtained over 400kWh from the freebie stops I've made. Therefore at about 4 miles/kWh gives somewhere around 1500 miles of free motoring.

 

[hmadsen]

I agree, our local Tesco has four 7 Kw posts but I never use them.
My weekly shop takes about 30 minutes to complete, in that time I may pick up about 10 - 12 miles of extra range.
Not worth the bother of plugging in really ?.
Yes, I could take longer to do the shopping by spending more time and money buying things I really don’t need of course, or go to the small in store cafe and have a brew.
But I only live 10 minutes away, so no point really.
If they where rapid units, then a 30 minute “Splash and Dash” would see some serious range being added, and maybe worth using.
It’s free juice, but 7 Kw units will only give you an additional 25 miles of extra range in one hour, at best !.
I can make it down to the North Wales coast and be sitting have a nice cup of tea at the seaside, in the time it takes me to collect an extra 25 miles of range at my local Tesco ?.

But to be fair, is the intention with these chargers not, more or less to give you about the amount of juice you use to go to their shop.

So that you get to go there "for free" in regards to "fuel" for the car.

A shopping centre 40 miles from here, had a deal, where anyone that visited their shopping centre and bought for atleast 30 pounds in one of more of their stores, would get a voucher for £6 for a specific petrol station chain.

Strangely enough this was only to buy petrol and diesel, sort of encouraging only petrol and diesel owners to come visit them

 

[Lovemyev]

But to be fair, is the intention with these chargers not, more or less to give you about the amount of juice you use to go to their shop.

I guess you are right.
We are lucky enough to have almost every one of the big supermarkets within a 2 mile radius of each other.
All of them are only about 5 miles from our home.
Both Tesco and Aldi have 7 Kw posts, but the Aldi ones have been turned off, over a issue of who actually owns the land the car park is built on, can you believe that ?.
It is possible to spend one hour around the Tesco store to collect some free juice I guess, but I prefer to charge at home on my fixed energy deal and take FULL advantage of the 4.5p / kWh low rate for 35 hours a week.
Weekly grocery shopping ? to me is seen as a necessity and not a pleasurable experience.
I prefer to go grocery shopping myself to be honest.
A make a list and stick to it, it sends my wife mad !.
It’s like a SAS mission, get in and get out !.
If it’s not on the list, you don’t get it - simple.
I pick a time and day, when I know the store will be quiet ?.
I can drive there ( about 5 miles ) do the shopping and be back in the house in about 30 - 40 minutes tops !.
If I go with the wife, we are gone for about two hours plus - why ?????.
My late farther had the best plan, when taking my Mum shopping.
He would stop off at the local news agents on route and buy a paper.
He would park up and send in my Mum to do the shopping.
Telling her to take her time !.
He would read the paper front to back while she did the shopping ?.
Never went into a supermarket, ever ?.
Then he would moan about how much she had spent !.
My Grandad was the same, maybe this is where my dislike of supermarkets comes from ?.

 

[hmadsen]

I guess you are right.
We are lucky enough to have almost every one of the big supermarkets within a 2 mile radius of each other.
All of them are only about 5 miles from our home.
Both Tesco and Aldi have 7 Kw posts, but the Aldi ones have been turned off, over a issue of who actually owns the land the car park is built on, can you believe that ?.
It is possible to spend one hour around the Tesco store to collect some free juice I guess, but I prefer to charge at home on my fixed energy deal and take FULL advantage of the 4.5p / kWh low rate for 35 hours a week.
Weekly grocery shopping ? to me is seen as a necessity and not a pleasurable experience.
I prefer to go grocery shopping myself to be honest.
A make a list and stick to it, it sends my wife mad !.
It’s like a SAS mission, get in and get out !.
If it’s not on the list, you don’t get it - simple.
I pick a time and day, when I know the store will be quiet ?.
I can drive there ( about 5 miles ) do the shopping and be back in the house in about 30 - 40 minutes tops !.
If I go with the wife, we are gone for about two hours plus - why ?????.
My late farther had the best plan, when taking my Mum shopping.
He would stop off at the local news agents on route and buy a paper.
He would park up and send in my Mum to do the shopping.
Telling her to take her time !.
He would read the paper front to back while she did the shopping ?.
Never went into a supermarket, ever ?.
Then he would moan about how much she had spent !.
My Grandad was the same, maybe this is where my dislike of supermarkets comes from ?.

My wife is exacly the same and as a consequence i am the one doing the weekly shopping.

I, like you, can stick to a list and not get home with £50 of extra non essential crap every week.

My wife agrees with this so she is fine with me doing the shopping. This way i also do something.

A few years back i also told her i would take over grass mowing duty (I am allergic so can not do it)...And promptly bought a robot lawnmower.

Then the next year i agreed i would do the vaccuming .... And promptly bought a robot vaccum cleaner

 

[slmorgan42]

I guess you are right.
We are lucky enough to have almost every one of the big supermarkets within a 2 mile radius of each other.
All of them are only about 5 miles from our home.
Both Tesco and Aldi have 7 Kw posts, but the Aldi ones have been turned off, over a issue of who actually owns the land the car park is built on, can you believe that ?.
It is possible to spend one hour around the Tesco store to collect some free juice I guess, but I prefer to charge at home on my fixed energy deal and take FULL advantage of the 4.5p / kWh low rate for 35 hours a week.
Weekly grocery shopping ? to me is seen as a necessity and not a pleasurable experience.
I prefer to go grocery shopping myself to be honest.
A make a list and stick to it, it sends my wife mad !.
It’s like a SAS mission, get in and get out !.
If it’s not on the list, you don’t get it - simple.
I pick a time and day, when I know the store will be quiet ?.
I can drive there ( about 5 miles ) do the shopping and be back in the house in about 30 - 40 minutes tops !.
If I go with the wife, we are gone for about two hours plus - why ?????.
My late farther had the best plan, when taking my Mum shopping.
He would stop off at the local news agents on route and buy a paper.
He would park up and send in my Mum to do the shopping.
Telling her to take her time !.
He would read the paper front to back while she did the shopping ?.
Never went into a supermarket, ever ?.
Then he would moan about how much she had spent !.
My Grandad was the same, maybe this is where my dislike of supermarkets comes from ?.

Hey
All points here are good ones. One thing to keep in mind is the original purpose of this thread which is people who do not have the option to have a home charger not even a granny. So this mean charging while we are going about our daily lives is more important.

 

[BugEyed]

Previously I'd have suggested workplace charging, but the mess that both the Civil Service and the Politicians have made means that is likely to be the most expensive unless companies subsidise it.
How about driveway sharing schemes? I'd be happy to let someone else charge when we don't need to charge (2xEV, 2x charge points, most nights we don't both need to charge).

 

[hmadsen]

Previously I'd have suggested workplace charging, but the mess that both the Civil Service and the Politicians have made means that is likely to be the most expensive unless companies subsidise it.
How about driveway sharing schemes? I'd be happy to let someone else charge when we don't need to charge (2xEV, 2x charge points, most nights we don't both need to charge).

I dont know how your tax services work, but here, if the company wanted to offer employees to charge at work for free, the employee would certainly be asked to pay taxes off of the electricity provided.

The reasoning would be that if they did not, then the company could offer "free charging" instead of a raised salary.

The raised salary would provide extra taxes, but free charging would not if it was not taxable.

An example of this is me...I have company paid mobile phone and internet. Both things are something that the company pays because i am on call most time when i am not at work, and since what i do is IT related, they offer me internet.

Still...This is reported to the tax agency, and they then add this onto my tax report as £350 income.

It is still a good deal, as i would have to pay, myself more than £350 for internet and a mobile subscription per year, but still, it is taxed and so would free electricity (Free meals in the cafeteria at work, etc etc.) be.

 

[BugEyed]

In the UK the Government turns a blind eye to the value of workplace charging. Central Government, and most local Government, does not currently charge for the value of free workplace parking (worth about £10 day for me with the added benefit of a high level of security which would cost a lot to replicate in a commercial alternative, let alone the convenience). No doubt both will change in the next few years.

 

[slmorgan42]

Previously I'd have suggested workplace charging, but the mess that both the Civil Service and the Politicians have made means that is likely to be the most expensive unless companies subsidise it.
How about driveway sharing schemes? I'd be happy to let someone else charge when we don't need to charge (2xEV, 2x charge points, most nights we don't both need to charge).

Hey
I think sharing home chargers is a idea in theory. As stated in the thread I have no way to install a home charger. There is a house round the corner that has a charger they no longer use as the person with the EV moved out. I did approach them about the possibility of using it but we could not work out a convient and easy way that worked for both of us to cover the cost. I think in time there may be a way to do some sort of pay as you go approach l to this.

Unless there is already a way I have missed.

 

[BugEyed]

Companies like ZapMap let you rent out a home charger on a per kWh basis, but the simplest are ones like JustPark where you rent the driveway by the hour at a rate that conveniently matches the electricity cost. So if your car charges at 7kW and their electricity costs 30p/kWh they charge you slightly over £2.10/hour to park there and cover the admin costs.

 

[slmorgan42]

Even though like most I am still waiting for my car to arrive. I am keeping an eye on the public chargers i will be using (in the lack of having a home charger) and the different costs.

Even with the price hikes my area of London is still well below the cost of my current diesel. Looking round I have found a few chargers in quiet streets not far away that are 29p/kWh.

It’s a pain in the backside to have many apps and accounts I have also noted a few brands where if I sign up and get their apps their advertised price is halved.

 

[sgt4hed]

I agree, our local Tesco has four 7 Kw posts but I never use them.
My weekly shop takes about 30 minutes to complete, in that time I may pick up about 10 - 12 miles of extra range.
Not worth the bother of plugging in really ?.
Yes, I could take longer to do the shopping by spending more time and money buying things I really don’t need of course, or go to the small in store cafe and have a brew.
But I only live 10 minutes away, so no point really.
If they where rapid units, then a 30 minute “Splash and Dash” would see some serious range being added, and maybe worth using.
It’s free juice, but 7 Kw units will only give you an additional 25 miles of extra range in one hour, at best !.
I can make it down to the North Wales coast and be sitting have a nice cup of tea at the seaside, in the time it takes me to collect an extra 25 miles of range at my local Tesco ?.

Free electricity is free electricity...

see that 10-12 miles of range is enough to cover the trip to and from tesco with 6-8 miles left over which to me is profit and definitely worth it... I will always plug in if I can, even if for just 15 minutes as that is normally enough to cover my trip there and back

 

[Lovemyev]

Free electricity is free electricity...

see that 10-12 miles of range is enough to cover the trip to and from tesco with 6-8 miles left over which to me is profit and definitely worth it... I will always plug in if I can, even if for just 15 minutes as that is normally enough to cover my trip there and back

Yep - Your totally correct, you can’t get anything cheaper than free I guess !.
But plugging in for 15 minutes is only likely to give you about an extra 6 miles of so called free juice.
If you stay longer in the super market, then any savings have been consumed by the extra items you purchased from the store or in their cafe’ if they have one !.
If you have a cheaper “Off Peak” rate, then that 6 miles of range is likely to cost you less than the plastic carrier bag that your food is holding ?.
The four charging posts at our local Tesco are sited right next to one of the trolly parks.
This is enough reason why I would not use them.
A visit from the “Dent Man” is likely to cost more than my weekly shop !.
Free does not very often mean FREE if you get my point !.