Charger ICE'd - literally...

[Shrink Proof]

I was out and about in the far, frozen North of Scotland for most of yesterday, ultimately covering over 170 miles in temperatures that the car registered as between a balmy -2℃ (central Inverness) and a truly bone-chilling -15℃ (Loch Glascarnoch). Driving range was, as expected, decimated. Not wanting to get stranded in what resembled the Arctic, I decided to top up charge in Ullapool. There's a CCS charger in the large parking/assembly area there, where cars are sorted into queues prior to loading onto the Stornaway ferry. To ensure the ferry kept going in the current freeze, this area had been cleared of snow by bulldozer - they'd shoved the snow into a huge heap and then put a temporary fence around that, leaving the rest of the car park snow-free for embarking vehicles to be lined up.

They'd dumped the huge heap of snow (a foot and a half high) directly in front of the charger, making it impossible to get a car anywhere near it. Still, who needs fuel in this weather, eh?

 

[Jomarkh]

I don't suppose you took a picture as it could win a best (worst) ICE'd picture competition

 

[Shrink Proof]

I don't suppose you took a picture as it could win a best (worst) ICE'd picture competition

No I didn't, I was more concerned with not gettting stranded in the frozen wastes. I got back to Inverness with just 13% charge.

Mind you, the scenery was pretty good...

 

[Gadget Geek]

Imagine if snow was ever piled up in front of petrol pumps. The bulldozer driver would have been lynched.

 

[5teep]

I was out and about in the far, frozen North of Scotland for most of yesterday, ultimately covering over 170 miles in temperatures that the car registered as between a balmy -2℃ (central Inverness) and a truly bone-chilling -15℃ (Loch Glascarnoch). Driving range was, as expected, decimated. Not wanting to get stranded in what resembled the Arctic, I decided to top up charge in Ullapool. There's a CCS charger in the large parking/assembly area there, where cars are sorted into queues prior to loading onto the Stornaway ferry. To ensure the ferry kept going in the current freeze, this area had been cleared of snow by bulldozer - they'd shoved the snow into a huge heap and then put a temporary fence around that, leaving the rest of the car park snow-free for embarking vehicles to be lined up.

They'd dumped the huge heap of snow (a foot and a half high) directly in front of the charger, making it impossible to get a car anywhere near it. Still, who needs fuel in this weather, eh?

I think they did that because it's too old to upgrade and they get fined if they let people use it. Remember the law changed back in November and all chargers must offer contactless now.

Shame for that one because it was cheaper than the one in the car park past Tesco.

 

[Shrink Proof]

I think they did that because it's too old to upgrade and they get fined if they let people use it. Remember the law changed back in November and all chargers must offer contactless now.

Shame for that one because it was cheaper than the one in the car park past Tesco.

Not sure about that - this one IS a new charger. The old one was a Chargeplace Scotland machine, this is a spanking new one, courtesy of ForEV. It was blinking away quite happily, obviously powered up, and had a panel for contactless payment too. Frustratingly it even had two extra long cables, much longer than the ones on the old machine, but still not long enough to reach over the heap of snow.

 

[5teep]

Not sure about that - this one IS a new charger. The old one was a Chargeplace Scotland machine, this is a spanking new one, courtesy of ForEV. It was blinking away quite happily, obviously powered up, and had a panel for contactless payment too. Frustratingly it even had two extra long cables, much longer than the ones on the old machine, but still not long enough to reach over the heap of snow.

Ah, didn't know they had changed it, I was on thbe ferry a couple of weeks ago and it was still the old charger then. Maybe it's not finished being installed yet.