Charging at AppleGreen stations, Warwick Services

[tonybridge]

Arrived this afternoon at Warwick South Services to top up for the final 70 miles to home. 20 Tesla stations all ful - round the corner, 16 AppleGreens for us poor people, completely empty So, plugged in, faffed about with the touch screen (almost unreadable in the strong winter sun) and tapping debit card with no result. Out of the blue came a guardian angel in the shape of an AppleGreen engineer! He talked us through the correct procedure - first, use the app (makes sense!), with which youget a 5p/kWh discount, so from 76p per to 71p) and in the app, set up the charge session (by swiping on-screen) and ONLY THEN plug in the cable. Worked well, and we were off, charging at 115K wow!

He then told me that he was there because all the chargers had stopped working because they had all become occupied at the same time and the total supply to the installation had become overloaded I always knew that two cars on the same charger would share the loadOF THAT CHARGER, but wasn't aware that ALL the chargers would share a common load... maybe I misunderstood? But a couple of minutes after my car had started at a brilliant 115k, another car turned up on another station, and my charging dropped to 60-somethingk (still a quick session).

As I was unplugging, a couple of other drivers came over and, seeing I had finished a succesful charge, asked me the correct procedure, which I explained to them - fortunately, the very knowledgeable and helpful AG engineer was still on site and as I left, he was going round several other cars helping them out!

What is needed, surely, on these charging stations is a point-by-point list of clear instructions to help new EV owners through this often frustrating process?

 

[siteguru]

I've used the AppleGreen chargers at Gretna Green service before - with varying levels of success. You're right though - detailed usage instructions are needed as they vary from charger supplier to charger supplier.

Shouldn't need an app though (other than for the discount) as contactless should work "out of the box".

 

[Silver estate]

‘Twas choca block with cars in Warwick SB today and I noticed all the posh chargers were full
Truck park had plenty of spaces though , stopped for a quick 15 min break in my truck

 

[tonybridge]

I've used the AppleGreen chargers at Gretna Green service before - with varying levels of success. You're right though - detailed usage instructions are needed as they vary from charger supplier to charger supplier.

Shouldn't need an app though (other than for the discount) as contactless should work "out of the box".

Contactless didn’t work… app did (plus the discount)

 

[siteguru]

Contactless didn’t work… app did (plus the discount)

If that continues then they'll be in breach of the new regulations, as all open-to-all chargers must offer (working) contactless payment.

 

[tonybridge]

If that continues then they'll be in breach of the new regulations, as all open-to-all chargers must offer (working) contactless payment.

 

[JonnyG]

Contactless didn’t work… app did (plus the discount)

I've found this at a few stations now so I get the apps for the stations I use most

 

[EV convert]

You were lucky!

When I arrived there back in November, ALL of the AppleGreen chargers were out of action. And even if they were working, that procedure is designed to confuse and dissuade 90+ percent of potential users (and it appears to be working).

It is for certain that new chargers above 8kW should accept contactless which the regulations define thus: “contactless payment” means a payment made at a contactless payment terminal using the contactless payment facility of a payment card that does not require the payer to have entered into a pre-existing contract with the charge point operator.

Even for existing chargers and those below 8kW that need not offer contactless payment, I believe that regulatory definition should be applied when listing the chargers on website etc.

Over the last couple of years I've found this problem several times when location destination chargers using ZapMap. However, ZapMap tell me that they can only use the information the charge point operators provide (fair point but still an entirely unsatisfactory situation from EV drivers' viewpoint). An easy clarification for the regulators one would think.