First experience of public charging...

[Rolfe]

I use a credit card. Once MFG took 2x£40 authorisation fees for a failed charge. It took 10 days for the credit to appear in my credit card account. Losing access to £80 from a current account would have caused me issues.

That's a damn good idea. Noted.

 

[Henbroon]

Received my MG4 on Thursday. Long trip to deepest darkest Lancashire week after next so wanted to try public charging before then.

Today I went to Wimpole Hall, a national trust place 20 miles from me. Got there just before opening time thinking it would be quiet but found all the EV charging bays full. Including two taken up by drivers that weren't even plugged in ?

Parked in a regular bay and walking in could see a load of people leaving a park run so popped back out and managed to get a charging point.

Had a nice walk and got home with 80% charge having left home at 55% and it was a free charger ?. I got the best and worst of public EV charging in one visit!

For the trip to Lancashire I'm planning on using the Ionity chargers on Spitfire Close in Stafford just off the M6 J14 if anyone has experience of them?

I have used the Ionity Chargers in another location several times and they are fast and usually reliable. I was almost caught out the last time because I assumed all would be fine. I ended up having to call their customer service (02038850100) who were great and kept on the line until the problem was resolved. Have a secondary charging point planned just in case.

 

[markreeves11]

Had my Mg4 se long range, in grey a cpl of months now. First big trip to Wales this week. I live in the Midlands.
What do I think after it.
Well let's start with the roof bars from thule and roof box and bike rack all mounted on the roof. I know ,shock horror. They all fit brilliantly, yes it has an impact on range. I drove 189 miles, almost all at national speed limits of either 60 or 70mph. Got to Saundersfoot with 28 miles left after a 100% charge. The front of the car and box was a killing field of flies, so was my orro venturi aero road bike.
But, it got there. I had my first public charging at Amroth which went great and easy to do. Enjoyed a full English while she was charging.
The car was a joy, almost faultless. Charged in Saundersfoot and couldn't release the charger, but a call and a lock , unlock, unlock sorted that.
Overall, coming from a ST fiesta to this has been brilliant, from one drivers car to another. It loves the twisting Welsh roads, loves the sharp climbs, screams overtake at you when the chance comes.
Home now, will clean ,wax and vacuum her out tomorrow. I can do it all again September, can't wait

 

[Rolfe]

I know what you mean about the flies. My car is a positive graveyard of the things.

 

[Torryhun]

I know what you mean about the flies. My car is a positive graveyard of the things.

What!! no ducks yet?

 

[Ian Key]

What!! no ducks yet?

That's Orville. Eider thought of something else

 

[JDMB]

Has the MG4 been certified for roof load now in the UK?

When I ordered mine it hadn’t, and I don’t recall hearing anything to say it had, although it would be good.

EDIT: UK brochure still says 0 but also show the car with a two-tone roof so who knows? ?‍

 

[Rolfe]

What!! no ducks yet?

Give it time!

 

[markreeves11]

Has the MG4 been certified for roof load now in the UK?

When I ordered mine it hadn’t, and I don’t recall hearing anything to say it had, although it would be good.

EDIT: UK brochure still says 0 but also show the car with a two-tone roof so who knows? ?‍

My line of thought is, if a company like Thule, produce and advertise the feet and bars for a MG4 then they've obviously checked its compatibility.
They fit brilliantly too

 

[DelBoy]

I have used public chargers a few times, motorway ones are normally contactless which have not been a problem. Once you get into the sticks then it can be a bit of a an issue if you do not have a Type 2 cable (MG 4 supplied with granny lead only) as this can limit your charger selection. The one I used at the start of the holiday went wrong, it was the only tethered charger for miles so I had to do a dash on return to top up on the rather good Norwich Hub which had everything you could wish for in a charger hub (albeit quite expensive). To improve the options I have had to buy a Type 2 cable but misread the auction site and actually bought a Type 2 to Type 1, bugger, so I bought a Type 2 EV Plug and chopped the Type 1 off and replaced it with the Type 2. This was not too difficult but you must ensure that the PP and CP pins are connected correctly (220 Ohm resistor etc). Now when I visit again I have a greater selection of chargers and at a cheaper rate. Hurray.

 

[JDMB]

My line of thought is, if a company like Thule, produce and advertise the feet and bars for a MG4 then they've obviously checked its compatibility.
They fit brilliantly too

I get that, but what’s the insurance companies view?

 

[tsedge]

I get that, but what’s the insurance companies view?

Different companies will take a different view - I'd recommend each individual talk to theirs first to establish if they will insure in these cases.

 

[JDMB]

Different companies will take a different view - I'd recommend each individual talk to theirs first to establish if they will insure in these cases.

Agreed. Thule may have developed them for th MG4 but if the roof is zero rated, I’d not take a chance unless the insurance ok’d it.

 

[CrisA]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum and public charging but wanted to share my recent experience. My wife has had a Smart forfour eq and now a Corsa e, but as she doesn't do many miles and has never used a public charger. Then a couple of weeks ago I swapped my Merc E220d for a MG4 Trophy and on day two did a 250 mile round trip to Cardiff. I used the Tesla charger at their forecourt and it charged at 97kwh from 45 to 90% in about 20 minutes. Then yesterday used an Osprey station near my home and charged at 73kwh from a 75 max charger. Osprey cost £26 for 36kwh. Very expensive. But both simple and car was impressive.

 

[Geo68]

Question for those of you who have used public chargers.
Do you pay by bank card or do you have to use an app.
And if you can use your bank card, can you pay by Debit Card?
I will admit to being in my 70, so getting my excuses in early.
But I have downloaded zapmap and then chargepoint but it was not obvious (to me) how I would go about paying for charging.
I was hoping that public chargers would be as simple as paying for petrol.

Having no home charging I use public all the time, have an account with Chargeplace Scotland and a touch card. Works well for me

 

[CarlThom]

My son sent me a video of the exact opposite yesterday, a Tesla driver parked at a petrol pump while he went in to shop?

Saw the same few weeks ago, nice shiny Hyundai ev parked at the pumps in Sainsburys with a long queue waiting for petrol behind it, driver was chatting to his friend outside the shop. I assume no-one realised it was an all electric car

 

[Rolfe]

Having no home charging I use public all the time, have an account with Chargeplace Scotland and a touch card. Works well for me

How do you handle balance charging, given that so many of these chargers have time limits on them? And do you have suitable chargers close enough to home that you can walk home while the car charges?

 

[PeteC]

How do you handle balance charging, given that so many of these chargers have time limits on them? And do you have suitable chargers close enough to home that you can walk home while the car charges?

When I'm in Scotland I also have no home charging as I'm in a first floor flat. The 22kW Chargeplace Scotland chargers that I use have a 4 hour time limit during the day but you can leave a car on them for longer outside the day time hours - so you could leave it overnight if you wanted to. I'm lucky that there are some Connected Kerb chargers within a few hundred yards of the flat and they have no time limit, so I can do a balance charge on those at any time if I need to. They are a bit more expensive at 35p per kWh as opposed to 25p for the others, but I'm happy enough with that for the convenience when needing a longer charge.

 

[Rolfe]

That's handy. The ChargePlace Scotland charger near me has a 45 minute time limit (well, 54.5 minutes with the grace period) and there is no return within 90 minutes. So while you could do it, and I see two people with EVs and mid-terrace houses very close to the charge-point who seem to be doing it, it's not that straightforward.

I think the problem is, what do you do while the car is siting on one of these 4-hour or overnight chargers. If you can walk home, fine. But you can't always be going shopping or to the theatre or whatever if you have to use chargers further from home.

 

[PeteC]

That's handy. The ChargePlace Scotland charger near me has a 45 minute time limit (well, 54.5 minutes with the grace period) and there is no return within 90 minutes. So while you could do it, and I see two people with EVs and mid-terrace houses very close to the charge-point who seem to be doing it, it's not that straightforward.

I think the problem is, what do you do while the car is siting on one of these 4-hour or overnight chargers. If you can walk home, fine. But you can't always be going shopping or to the theatre or whatever if you have to use chargers further from home.

There's a beach next to the 22kW charger that I use so I tend to 'graze' on the charger for about an hour a time and sit at the beach and read my book (or stare around, most likely!). So I do quite a bit of my topping up that way. Then I grab other opportunities whenever I can while I'm out and about doing something else. I seem to manage ok without feeling like I'm just waiting for the car. Admittedly, being retired makes this easier for me to do as I can choose the times that suit me! And there's a 50kW charger fairly close if I need a bit more charge more quickly. This has a 45 min limit like your one.