Gadget Geek
Distinguished Member
My first journey to Heathrow and back last year was an experiment in seeing how easy it would be to travel using the cheapest chargers.I suspect it's never that busy but still pays its way.
I think there's an unusual element at play when it comes to motorists' willingness to put up with silly prices. I've felt it in myself, and I heard another EV driver express it openly at a charger he couldn't get to work.
"I hardly ever use these things, I don't care what it costs I just want to get the car charged."
Most people are charging at home most of the time, often on very low variable tariffs. When they charge on a rapid charger the total cost isn't actually that much anyway - they're not starting from zero and they're not charging to 100%, and most EV batteries have a much lower range than a car's petrol tank. The bills of £70 and £80 to fill up don't happen, and when the most you're likely to be charged for an occasional visit to a rapid charger is maybe £25 there's much less incentive to cruise around looking for the cheapest. Most of your motoring is done at a much lower cost than that, so 65p a unit (or more) at a rapid charger doesn't really seem like a lot once in a while. Even though it's twice the price of the average domestic electricity supply.
It will be interesting to see how this develops as more and more people who don't have home charging get EVs, and people start to get selective about which chargers they use based on the price. I mean, a range from 30p to 79p per unit for rapid charging (which I've seen) is a bit hard to justify.
What a disaster that was!
It was 8.00am on a Sunday morning near Hounslow and there was a queue at the first one I tried (Pod-Point 50kW). The next Pod-Point was offline, and the third one was also in use, but fortunately they were just doing a 10 minute "splash and dash".
A taxi driver who was waiting for me to finish explained that the chargers were so busy because of the new clean air zone. Everyone was buying EV's to avoid the fee, but had to park on street so needed to use the cheap chargers.