Applegreen Chargers at Warwick

[tonybridge]

Last November, returning from a family wedding in Worcester, I called in at the Warwick Services on the southbound M40 for a quick top-up for my 4LR. This was my first-ever attempt at public charging. The two (count them!) chargers that I was heading for were of course occupied. I hadn't done my research, and wasn't aware that there were 8 new Applegreen stations at Warwick. A lady charging her Leaf pointed them out to me. My eyes lit up! But they soon dimmed... the three chargers that I tried to hook up to were unresponsive - I thought that maybe it was necessary to download and install the app in order to use them, and spent a frustrating half hour in the cold November wind (and why are EV chargers so open to the elements?!) trying to get the app to progress beyond the Sign-up stage. Then a lady drove up to one that I hadn't tried yet, plugged in and walked off for a coffee. When she came back some time later, I was still trying to figure out what I was doing wrong with the app - she said, 'You don't need the app!'

So, I moved over to the charger she had vacated, and Hey Presto! I was charging!

After spending New Year with the Worcester family, I decided to call in again to Warwick services and have another go on the Applegreen Chargers, surely they would all be working now? Hah! Despite big new signs on the way ion to the Services announcing the Applegreen EV Charging, there were just two of the eight working, the others all had red lights or scrawled notes stuck over the displays with 'NOT WORKING' on them. Both points had just one EV using them - when I parked next to the BMW, the guy told me that, should I plug into the other charger on the point he was on, his would stop charging and also, he said, you don't need the app

He finished after 15 minutes, and I found that I was getting a 110KwH charge (not cheap at 79 per), so I was back up to 70% in 20 minutes and on my way. So it worked well once it worked - but how useless is this? It's almost as if they are deliberately making things awkward for EV drivers - surely not?!

 

[siteguru]

I've had variable outcomes on the Applegreen chargers at Gretna Green services - sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. I now have the app (as a backup test) but it seems several marques have issues with them, not just MG.

 

[Rolfe]

The first time I tried one of these was at Gretna and I gave up after three goes, three pre-authorisation charges of £30, and three messages reading "the car did something unexpected." A nearby 50 kW Gridserve came good, although even that broke down on me, after giving me enough to get home!

I tried again at Abington later and did get a charge, but on the third unit I tried. The problem seemed to be with reading my card though, not the charger or the car. (Again an old 50 kW Gridserve connected at once.)