ChargePlace Scotland now operated by Swarco?

[Dave S]

I'm not sure the transition is going well from personal experience, but I hope I'm proven wrong!!

I tried 3 CCS chargers yesterday. The one at Caley Thistle's ground (that would be the only reason I went there!!), the one at Raigmore Hospital, beside the Maggie Centre and the one at Strathdearn Community Cafe at Tomatin (great cafe, btw!) and only the last one worked!!
The first two were not allowing any connection and I tried to call the helpline but it rang out for AGES!!

I was trying to help a poor soul who had bouught his red MG ZS EV on Thursday and had taken up trip up to the Highlands to go fishing with a pal, but he hadn't ordered a ChargePlace Scotland card. He was taken by surprise as he says most of the chargers in the Central Belt allow you to pay with a Credit Card.

 

[bloggsy]

I'm not sure the transition is going well from personal experience, but I hope I'm proven wrong!!

I tried 3 CCS chargers yesterday. The one at Caley Thistle's ground (that would be the only reason I went there!!), the one at Raigmore Hospital, beside the Maggie Centre and the one at Strathdearn Community Cafe at Tomatin (great cafe, btw!) and only the last one worked!!
The first two were not allowing any connection and I tried to call the helpline but it rang out for AGES!!

I was trying to help a poor soul who had bouught his red MG ZS EV on Thursday and had taken up trip up to the Highlands to go fishing with a pal, but he hadn't ordered a ChargePlace Scotland card. He was taken by surprise as he says most of the chargers in the Central Belt allow you to pay with a Credit Card.

Good on you Dave for trying to helping others - typifies the membership on this forum I think! Shame about the chargers, though I've not needed to charge at a public charger since the Scottish members meet up!

Did you show him the app? I'm just wondering whether that still works or should I just un-install it from my phone?

Cheers

Bloggsy

 

[5teep]

I'm not sure the transition is going well from personal experience, but I hope I'm proven wrong!!

I tried 3 CCS chargers yesterday. The one at Caley Thistle's ground (that would be the only reason I went there!!), the one at Raigmore Hospital, beside the Maggie Centre and the one at Strathdearn Community Cafe at Tomatin (great cafe, btw!) and only the last one worked!!
The first two were not allowing any connection and I tried to call the helpline but it rang out for AGES!!

I was trying to help a poor soul who had bouught his red MG ZS EV on Thursday and had taken up trip up to the Highlands to go fishing with a pal, but he hadn't ordered a ChargePlace Scotland card. He was taken by surprise as he says most of the chargers in the Central Belt allow you to pay with a Credit Card.

Cps chargers will allow contactless in the coming months. On those chargers that have it, it's disabled because the old operator cyc could not/would not set their system up for it.

 

[5teep]

For info, from this morning you can start a charge using any rfid card. Swarco restarted this because so many cps cards were failing

 

[Dave S]

Good on you Dave for trying to helping others - typifies the membership on this forum I think! Shame about the chargers, though I've not needed to charge at a public charger since the Scottish members meet up!

Did you show him the app? I'm just wondering whether that still works or should I just un-install it from my phone?

Cheers

Bloggsy

He didn't believe in Apps etc either, so he was kinda stuffed!!

 

[Iain]

Went for a charge this morning at the UHI.
Who should be there but a SWARCO engineer.
Unfortunately the charger was not working but when I went past later all seemed good.
Anyway the good news is the chap is based in Inverness but covers a huge area including Skye and the West but hopefully things will improve with a “local” engineer.
I mentioned to him that I have previously had problems charging in Inverness and he blamed Renault Zoes which apparently trip the charger.
He was also driving a white MG5 which was nice.

 

[Dave S]

Went for a charge this morning at the UHI.
Who should be there but a SWARCO engineer.
Unfortunately the charger was not working but when I went past later all seemed good.
Anyway the good news is the chap is based in Inverness but covers a huge area including Skye and the West but hopefully things will improve with a “local” engineer.
I mentioned to him that I have previously had problems charging in Inverness and he blamed Renault Zoes which apparently trip the charger.
He was also driving a white MG5 which was nice.

@Iain
Iain,

I think I passed you yesterday, but there are a good few more ZSs on the road now.

Where is the charger at UHI?

Interesting theory re the Zoes confusing the chargers. It's probably based on a bit of speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's something as basic as that!!

 

[5teep]

There is at least one model of Zoe that has a 22kw+? onboard AC charger and they are known for tripping mcbs in ac charge posts
because they 'demand' full power from the charger immediately.

Never be a problem on our cars with their 6.6kw onboard charger.

 

[Iain]

@Iain
Iain,

I think I passed you yesterday, but there are a good few more ZSs on the road now.

Where is the charger at UHI?

Interesting theory re the Zoes confusing the chargers. It's probably based on a bit of speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's something as basic as that!!

Hi Dave,
Charger at UHI;-
Entering UHI from lights on B9006, turn right at mini roundabout past main building. Follow the road round a right hand bend and then turn right, alongside a large blue roofed building, into the car park behind. The charge point is down the second row of parking area.
Can’t remember what the building is called but signed for “car parking” at rear.
Two points on stand but cable required.
Still free but was advised not for much longer.
Also states car park for staff only but no one has questioned my presence as yet!

 

[Iain]

There is at least one model of Zoe that has a 22kw+? onboard AC charger and they are known for tripping mcbs in ac charge posts
because they 'demand' full power from the charger immediately.

Never be a problem on our cars with their 6.6kw onboard charger.

That confirms what the SWARCO engineer said

 

[macd2401]

Anyone else having a mare with CPS since it changed over?

Just over the last few days, I've tried to charge on at least 6 different CPS rapids... 2 at Strathaven, 1 at John Wright in East Kilbride, 1 at Calderglen in EK and 2 in Larkhall. They all authenticated fine (except the John Wright), but failed to start charging. The John Muir eventually read my card and charged fine. But it wouldn't read my card to stop the charge ?‍ And tonight, I've had to jump onto the PodPoint at Lidl in Larkhall, with zero issues, despite CPS returning multiple failures on their system.

I though SWARCO was a new dawn...they're worse now than they were under the old system ??

 

[Archev]

I’ve not had any actual refusals but the units I’ve tried over the last week or so have been very “hesitant “ to read the card. Linlithgow sports club unit took a while to activate after cleaning the reader and card with a wipe then showing it both sides of the card a few times. It eventually worked but not as effortlessly as before. One of the Falkirk stadium units wouldn’t come alive but the one next to it did work after my coaxing it with a sighting of each face of the card again. In contrast the Pos Point units at Tesco’s south Queensferry have given a couple of faultless top ups.

 

[5teep]

Anyone else having a mare with CPS since it changed over?

Just over the last few days, I've tried to charge on at least 6 different CPS rapids... 2 at Strathaven, 1 at John Muir in East Kilbride, 1 at Calderglen in EK and 2 in Larkhall. They all authenticated fine (except the John Muir), but failed to start charging. The John Muir eventually read my card and charged fine. But it wouldn't read my card to stop the charge ?‍ And tonight, I've had to jump onto the PodPoint at Lidl in Larkhall, with zero issues, despite CPS returning multiple failures on their system.

I though SWARCO was a new dawn...they're worse now than they were under the old system ??

If your cps card isn't working, try any other contactless card, even a tesco clubcard will work for now at least until Swarco get the user database issue sorted.
Once authenticated the start process is entirely local to the charger/car and nothing to do with the network. I have not had any problem getting a charge to start on a newer one, lots on the old cabinets but they never did, nor will work on the mg5.

 

[macd2401]

If your cps card isn't working, try any other contactless card, even a tesco clubcard will work for now at least until Swarco get the user database issue sorted.
Once authenticated the start process is entirely local to the charger/car and nothing to do with the network. I have not had any problem getting a charge to start on a newer one, lots on the old cabinets but they never did, nor will work on the mg5.

The card didn't seem to be the problem. Except for one unit, they all read the card OK. But they all failed to start charging, and showed the error message and warning triangle. I tried taking the plug out and trying again, cancelling the charge and starting from scratch, starting and stopping the car, doing a lap of the car park and trying again...and then moving to another charger. Even tried the app, which said it was starting the charge, and then timed out. But I drive to the PodPoint maybe 2 miles down the road, and everything is OK once I remember my password.

If it was only last night, or only this weekend, I wouldn't mind so much (but it seems to be happening quite a lot over the last month or so). I don't mind taking an hour out of my day to charge. But taking an extra hour to find a working charger is taking the piss given how much they hyped the changeover.

 

[jamesie]

Only tried one of my go to chargers in Jedburgh and it was fine. No difference to normal.

I did have problems logging in to the website and changing my password but that's been sorted.

By all accounts, there have been numerous problems with the changeover.

 

[Dave S]

I hear that ForEV have made an application to also provide a Scottish Network.

Does anyone know more about this?

Welcome to For EV - FOR EV

EV made easy and rewarding. We install, operate and maintain best-in-class EV charging solutions in the UK and Europe.

forev.co.uk

 

[Archev]

Hi Dave,
This all sounds very interesting but it’s the first reference I’ve seen to this enterprise. It certainly whets one’s interest
Archie.

 

[5teep]

Looks like they are using Swarco Chargers which is good because they are good quality. No mention of who or how their network will be run but it must be a good thing to have another 1700+ chargers in the ground. As long as Scotland's charging network doesn't turn into the clusterf*** that England has experienced it will be great.

 

[Rabtmac]

Charge place Scotland app just tells me I have no internet connection and to try again later???
Good thing I'm sat at home with a full strength connection and not sat at a charger pulling my hair out trying to work out where else to go?

 

[jamesie]

Charge place Scotland app just tells me I have no internet connection and to try again later???
Good thing I'm sat at home with a full strength connection and not sat at a charger pulling my hair out trying to work out where else to go?

Working fine for me.