Little Chef and Chargemaster installing UK national charging network

[dpeilow]

A big win for Mennekes in the UK with Little Chef...

UK Public EV Chargers Within 30 Miles by 2012

Little Chef announces massive charge scheme - Autoblog UK







Little Chef is a chain of roadside diners for those that don't know.

These are going to be 7kW but I hope they can be persuaded to install some 22kW or higher in strategic locations.


The station above is now open at Popham (popham little chef - Google Maps) which is 10 miles from here.

(The BBC South local news still managed a negative spin on this story)

[VolkerP]

So there are already two standard AC solutions racing head by head in UK, Mennekes and J1772. ZCW provides commando sockets. More enthusiasm establishes a HPC network. CHAdeMo makes significant progress. And Tesla states, their DC charging is going to be the solution. Sigh. Seems we have to repeat the lessons from Thirty Year's War?

[dpeilow]

There aren't that many J1772s. Not in public locations anyway. Most are in Leaf owners' garages.

We have plenty of J1772 cars but not charging posts.

[VolkerP]

Dave,

what are the current totals grouped by type of public charge point from the openchargemap database? UK only.

[dpeilow]

Not sure, can one of the OCM admins answer that?

[Kevin Sharpe]

ZCW provides commando sockets

All existing ZCW sites are designed to be upgraded to "mennekes" and in Q1 2013 we will deploy that socket as standard on our ~£250 Charging Stations.

We also expect to deploy some 32A and 63A 3-Phase using the same basic hardware... target price ~£500

After that maybe we need to look at a low cost CHAdeMO solution

[doug]

So there are already two standard AC solutions racing head by head in UK, Mennekes and J1772.

I don't really see those standards as competing. Since the model is to carry your own cable, J1772 can plug directly into Mennekes with an adapter cable. Though limited to single phase, it doesn't really matter since most those J1772 cars have puny 3.3kW chargers.

[Kevin Sharpe]

These are going to be 7kW but I hope they can be persuaded to install some 22kW or higher in strategic locations.

I certainly don't want to spend several hours at a Little Chef waiting to charge at 32A... really need 63A as a minimum.

[fraccy]

Neither do I want to wait like that, but this is also about combating perceptions of range anxiety as well as making extending range practical. Its nice to know if you fall short that there are easily accessible options.... admittedly options with fairly revolting coffee, but options nonetheless.

[Kevin Sharpe]

Neither do I want to wait like that, but this is also about combating perceptions of range anxiety as well as making extending range practical.

waiting for hours in a Little Chef does not combat range anxiety but reinforces it IMO (I would be really anxious that I'd have to spend 8 hours there!). We NEED these sites to understand that the absolute minimum charging rate for a 'motorway/trunk services' location is 63A AC and CHAdeMO DC because Tesla and Leaf drivers can then make a more appropriate length stop.

In reality you will find that these 32A sites simply go unused as people choose to go to more appealing locations up the road.