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UK Long Range Charging Network

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dpeilow

Well-Known Member
Moderator
May 23, 2008
9,168
949
Winchester, UK
Now that UK deliveries are taking place and there is a growing population of Roadsters in the country, I thought it would be interesting to know where people intend to take their cars with a view to consolidating demand and seeing if we can get organisations to sponsor the installation of chargers.

With that in mind, perhaps UK owners could help by responding with the following:

  1. Roughly where are you based?
  2. Do you intend to tour with your car or use it for longer point-to-point trips?
  3. If yes, which parts of the country are you interested in visiting?
  4. Would you rather have a fast charge stop for a long lunch, or stay overnight? Please state which for each location.
  5. If you would stay overnight, which mobile charging system are you using and what current can it charge at?
  6. How far off-route would you be prepared to go to find a charger?
  7. Would you pay for the facility of charging or want it as an enticement to visit a location? If you would pay, how much?


I think it's quite obvious that a charge stop or two in Lancashire or Yorkshire (say Preston or Leeds) would be useful for London to Scotland journeys, but once you get away from the trunk routes, it's not so obvious.

If you have a charger location in mind and know of a good place to spend a few hours in that area, please say that too! :smile:

European owners are welcome to answer too if you are also intending to tour the country :biggrin:
 
1. Harrogate North Yorkshire
2. Yes
3. London
4. If the car could handle it I'd take a long lunch / plug the car in on the outskirts of London to charge during the working day.
5. Tesla charging point
6. 30 miles off route assuming I'd be on/around the M25 and near a train or tube stop
7. I'd be happy to pay GBP10-20 for combined park and charge.
 
Hi David

Thanks for putting this up after our private dialogue on the subject.

[1] Edinburgh

[2] Absolutely! As fully as possible

[3] London, South West (Exeter, Plymouth), North & West Scotland, Newcastle, Ferry Ports (for going abroad - Tyneside, Stranraer, Troon)

[4] Edinburgh-London: Overnight 32A charge is more practical at the mid-point (somewhere in Yorkshire) - ideally a good quality hotel or a restaurant with rooms. If location has great public transport to something interesting (e.g. York town centre), then intra-day fast charge with 63A HPC in 4 hours may get my attention. Critically some mechanism to pre-book the charger is needed! I have one potential location - will look into it again and see if the host is willing to move forwards.

Concur with MPT - need North London tube or fast train accessible location with HPC or min 32A. Tesla should provide charging at their locations in and around London too.

Edinburgh-South West: Difficult - will revisit in future post. One location of interest on the obvious M74, M6, M5 route is Tebay Services (the UK's only family-owned service area on the UK Motorway network and by far the highest quality - it has a hotel on site and decent food). An HPC here would definitely open up some journeys e.g. Central Scotland to North West England day round trips.

Edinburgh-North & West Scotland: I can reveal that the Highland National Parks Authority will be installing charging in a number of towns along the A9 including Aviemore. I have been in touch with them to gently suggest at least 32A and ideally an HPC in one location. This will allow getting to the Highlands to be stress free with either a couple of hours recharge adding 50-100 miles (over shopping, lunch or visiting these pretty towns) or adding a full 200 miles overnight.

The most important resource for EV tourists into the Highlands will be 32A charging at a number of good hotels where the charger can be booked along with the room.

Edinburgh-Newcastle:
No problem! 32A charging at Newcastle at a public transport hub would allow me day round-trip with ease, and would facilitate other journeys for other people. Obvious target is upgrade from 13A of the charging at the Metro Centre.

Edinburgh-Ferry Ports: Both Tyneside (for Amsterdam and Nordic destinations like Bergen) and Stranraer (or Troon - for Belfast) are well within reach already - what would be great would be dockside recharge after check-in (usually two hours) and/or onboard (dodgy on the CO2 front as it's diesel generated - maybe no worse than driving a Volt?!). Ideally a pre-bookable HPC at the port.

[5] Tesla 32A European Mobile Connector with Commando plug. I am also gently lobbying Tesla to step up the pace on a Universal Mobile Connector for Europe ideally aiming for 48A (this is now more important given the disappearance of the RFMC).

[6] Sufficiently far that the detour doesn't overwhelm the benefit! Also will be tempted further in detouring if the drive is scenic or the destination interesting (including gastronomically!)

[7] For a 32A socket: 2 times the raw cost of electricity charged - assuming 15p/kWh, around £5 for a half charge, £10 for a full charge. I attach a premium to HPC so would pay 4 times i.e. £10-20 to reflect the much higher equipment cost.

If I was spending a reasonable sum (>>£100) on the product or service of a location (lunch or dinner + overnight stay) I would expect or strongly appreciate the charging to be complimentary.

Andrew
 
Charging Network

Based in Birmingham we currently charge at a relatives in Wales then return to Birmingham.
Do you intend to tour with your car or use it for longer point-to-point trips?
If yes, which parts of the country are you interested in visiting? Wales
Would you rather have a fast charge stop for a long lunch, or stay overnight?
Fast Charge at large Supermarkets or Similar in Wales

If you would stay overnight, which mobile charging system are you using and what current can it charge at? Not aiming to stay overnight.

How far off-route would you be prepared to go to find a charger?
For a Fast Charger about 10 miles
Would you pay for the facility of charging or want it as an enticement to visit a location? If you would pay, how much?
Enticement or small charge.
 
^ it's just a guess, but are you driving a Rav-4 EV? :)

Please tell us a little more about what it takes to fast charge your vehicle - what kind of power supply - volts, amps, number of phases, type of plug.

Also which part of Wales do you visit, and where en-route would you ideally charge?

Andrew
 
Hi Guys,

1. Roughly where are you based?

Cambridge / Herts border.

2. Do you intend to tour with your car or use it for longer point-to-point trips?

Will try to use it for some longer distance business trips. Would like to do so for leisure but not sure how thats going to work out. When I first met my wife we used to go camping in France for a week with all the luggage (tent and wine included) in the tiny boot of an old MG. These days a night involves dropping the kids off at my parents and carrying 8 tons of clobber around. Its not the range that the problem here!


3. If yes, which parts of the country are you interested in visiting?

Because of the above if using the Tesla its going to be short trips, Central London or Norfolk.

4. Would you rather have a fast charge stop for a long lunch, or stay overnight? Please state which for each location.

A fast charge would be good at a long lunch, but to be honest that would only be as part of a longer trip (ie a way to kill 2 plus hours whilst topping up) as I am not going to drive 100 miles just for a meal. Overnight, if its dinner, bed and breakfast a 13A socket will do the job.

5. If you would stay overnight, which mobile charging system are you using and what current can it charge at?

As above, 13A is OK. More would be great, but the 30A charger takes up half the luggage space so would not make Mrs T very happy.

6. How far off-route would you be prepared to go to find a charger?

For leisure it would have to be part of the trip - say if going to a hotel 250 miles away then a 20 mile detour for a 2 hour lunch on route or to look around somewhere interesting would be OK.

7. Would you pay for the facility of charging or want it as an enticement to visit a location? If you would pay, how much?

Happy to pay, but thats less of an issue than guaranteed availability. If travelling on a trip that is going to require charging away from home then what happens if 2 EVs turn up both wanting a 4 hour charge from the same point. Also you would probably need to phone ahead to check. Not sure what the electric equivalent of running on fumes is, but imagine finally making it to the only charging point for miles around and finding an "out of order" sign on it.

Regards
Alan
 
Many of you will remember that last year I borrowed a Roadster and drove it from London to Cornwall. I stopped overnight at my brother's place to recharge.

At the time I was driving to Cornwall a lot. While driving the second leg in the morning I thought "wouldn't it be great if there was an HPC somewhere so that in the future my colleagues and I could take a Model S and stop for dinner en route?" Then I thought, "hang on, my brother is on the board of the poshest hotel in town" and an idea was born.

A little bit of arm twisting later and The Castle Hotel now has the first public HPC in the UK :smile: Furthermore, I think this is the first public 70 Amp HPC in Europe :wink:

attachment.php?attachmentid=1573&d=1301909855.jpg



Now, it is possible to travel from London or the Midlands to anywhere in the South West (it's 143 miles from the London store, 140 from Birmingham).

Stop in at the Castle Hotel for a meal and then carry on down to The Scarlet for a perfect EV long weekend, or stay at the Castle and check out some of the fantastic drivers' roads around my home town. The sun is out, it's a lovely day.

Please call them on 01823 272 671 to check the charger is available to use. The address is:

The Castle Hotel,
Castle Green,
Taunton,
Somerset
TA1 1NF



Besides, here are some of the other clientele. We need an electric reply to this :biggrin:

leisureheader.jpg



DSCN6870sm.JPG
 
Hmm - nice hotel but about 220m from my house so 2 issues.

1. Would need a top up en route unless I drive at 30mph all the way.

2. No way there is enough luggage space in the Roadster for my other half to fit in all the clobber she needs for a weekend away.

Well done for getting this arranged / installed !
 
Last edited:
Hmm - nice hotel but about 220m from my house so 2 issues.

1. Would need a top up en route unless I drive at 30mph all the way.

2. No way there is enough luggage space in the Roadster for my other half to fit in all the clobber she needs for a weekend away.

Well done for getting this arranged / installed !


Hi Alan,

You should be able to make use of it by stopping for a quick break at either the Mercure Windsor or the Montpelier Chapter at Cheltenham. Both have 32A charging.

As for your good lady's packing, 'fraid I can't help you there, but I was surprised at how much you can get in the Roadster if you really try.
 
We specialise in just in time delivery here: After I tested the HPC on Saturday, Kevin Sharpe was the first customer for the HPC on Sunday!


Anyway, having worked through the case for Taunton and getting a positive result, I thought I try my luck a bit further. So here is the second public HPC in the UK at The Nottingham Belfry, pretty much in the middle of the country at J26 on the M1.

attachment.php?attachmentid=1540&d=1301394537.jpg



This one was installed yesterday afternoon, tested in the evening by local owner Patrick Bird and then used for real by Andrew Bissell last night, who was already en route when the work took place. Talk about just in time!


The address is:

The Nottingham Belfry
Mellor's Way
Off Woodhouse Way
Nottingham
Nottinghamshire
NG8 6PY

Tel: 0115 9739393


Again, I'd recommend calling ahead to check availability, as this site is already proving popular.



NottinghamHPC2.jpg
 
I must admit, when I drove up there to pitch the idea to them, I spotted the cabinet and thought "perfect". Fortunately they were able to free up 70A by moving the light circuits around on the three phases.


Here are a couple more shots of the charger being tested:

attachment.php?attachmentid=1571&d=1301909486.jpg


attachment.php?attachmentid=1572&d=1301909497.jpg



It was a pity that the space got ICEd in the morning, otherwise we could have had two Roadsters parked alondside it :smile:



Nottingham1sm.JPG
Nottingham2sm.JPG