New Cornwall charging hub, Summercourt, near Newquay

[i3m3Andrew]

First Bus has announced its investment in a state-of-the-art consumer electric vehicle (EV) charging hub at its Summercourt depot in Cornwall. This move by the bus industry will provide direct access to rapid electric charging infrastructure for electric cars and vans, making it the first of its kind in the sector.

The new Summercourt hub, known as a ‘turn up and charge’ facility, will feature eight rapid charging points that will be available to the public on a pay-as-you-go basis. By establishing this hub, First Bus aims to contribute to the local community by creating a long-term charging site while encouraging more individuals to transition to electric vehicles, thereby improving local air quality.

The units are dual head Heliox units with CCS only charging, one car plugged in they max out at 150kw.

Due to be pay by credit/debit cards only and planned to open mid July.

 

[NewbieT]

Will complement Lifton and Cornwall Services nicely.

 

[Mrklaw]

Will complement Lifton and Cornwall Services nicely.

as a tesla driver will keep well away from it as there isn’t much non-tesla capacity so it’ll be rammed with everyone else.. Exeter/lifton/cambourne are my go-tos. Actually maybe swap exeter with darts farm

Do we have any idea of reliability? Not familiar with Heliox and presumably this is the first of such a hub First Bus have set up so payment etc might be unknowns?

 

[i3m3Andrew]

as a tesla driver will keep well away from it as there isn’t much non-tesla capacity so it’ll be rammed with everyone else.. Exeter/lifton/cambourne are my go-tos. Actually maybe swap exeter with darts farm

Do we have any idea of reliability? Not familiar with Heliox and presumably this is the first of such a hub First Bus have set up so payment etc might be unknowns?

Good question, they are charging over 200 buses daily on Heliox units across the UK, but the compatibility testing will be key to reliability.

Some good options for Tesla drivers, others not so much.

 

[Mrklaw]

for those interested in the area I knocked up a custom google map showing current and planned hubs in cornwall

Cornwall Rapid Hubs - Google My Maps

bodmin retail park will be getting 24 rapids across an ionity hub with 12x 300kw chargers and an instavolt one with 12x160kw chargers. That + Exeter when it ramps up to about 50 rapids between gridserve and Tesla will mean just ignoring Cornwall services until they sort out their power supply issues.

 

[SteveH13]

Newquay ones are being built here highlighted in red I think. There was signs and building works going on when I was there the other week.

 

[Mrklaw]

thanks. I’ll try and nudge next time I’m on a computer - google maps doesn’t let me edit on an ipad.. need to adjust the bodmin ones down to 24 too now I found the planning applications.

 

[Mase]

for those interested in the area I knocked up a custom google map showing current and planned hubs in cornwall

Cornwall Rapid Hubs - Google My Maps

bodmin retail park will be getting 24 rapids across an ionity hub with 12x 300kw chargers and an instavolt one with 12x160kw chargers. That + Exeter when it ramps up to about 50 rapids between gridserve and Tesla will mean just ignoring Cornwall services until they sort out their power supply issues.

Thanks for this. We’re heading to St Austell in a few weeks so really appreciate this.

 

[Mrklaw]

10 chargers going in at st ives too - almost look ready to open. 4 rapids, 6 AC chargers. No bad for that ‘arrived with low SoC’ situation. at the leisure centre car park

 

[Mase]

Lifton - does it usually get quite busy? I can’t see another Tesla rapid charger around for miles on the Tesla Map, so I’m assuming it will be fairly busy over the summer?

 

[yessuz]

Lifton - does it usually get quite busy? I can’t see another Tesla rapid charger around for miles on the Tesla Map, so I’m assuming it will be fairly busy over the summer?

camborne is the next one.

i doubt it is super busy. but yet, tesla boom was last year and this year might be one when they all come to cornwall...

 

[Mrklaw]

updated to tweak location of Newquay planned charger, correct Bodmin to 24 rapids, and add St Ives 4 rapids

Map of Cornwall rapid charging hubs (open and planned)

 

[kelvin 660]

Have a look in real time at Lifyon

ChargeFinder - Charging stations for electric cars (EV)

Find charging stations with a simple search or browse the map. Real-time availability, pricing, and other useful information for 100 000+ EV chargers.

chargefinder.com

 

[Mrklaw]

Have a look in real time at Lifyon

ChargeFinder - Charging stations for electric cars (EV)

Find charging stations with a simple search or browse the map. Real-time availability, pricing, and other useful information for 100 000+ EV chargers.

chargefinder.com

does it do historical availability? Would be great to say 'whats the availability like normally around eg 5pm on a friday'

 

[kelvin 660]

No historic data, as far as I know, but at least you can get an idea of what to expect by looking one week in advance...
The Tesla car/app does give average useage throughout the day, if that's a help...

 

[Cutoman]

for those interested in the area I knocked up a custom google map showing current and planned hubs in cornwall

Cornwall Rapid Hubs - Google My Maps

bodmin retail park will be getting 24 rapids across an ionity hub with 12x 300kw chargers and an instavolt one with 12x160kw chargers. That + Exeter when it ramps up to about 50 rapids between gridserve and Tesla will mean just ignoring Cornwall services until they sort out their power supply issues.

Not sure if this map only reflects larger sites, but there are now 2 x 120kw Instavolts at Padstow service station upgraded from 50kw FYI

 

[Mrklaw]

Not sure if this map only reflects larger sites, but there are now 2 x 120kw Instavolts at Padstow service station upgraded from 50kw FYI

yep only 'hubs' so my entirely arbitrary cut off is 4-6 per site. Snax's main map focuses on 6+ but for cornwall I think 4 is reasonable at least not on trunk roads (like the st ives one)

there will be a reasonable scattering of single/duals around which I personally wouldn't rely on for a long trek, but if you're in the area it can be handy to pop out to for a top up - eg a dual instavolt at a mcdonalds early in the morning which I've done before while the rest of the family are still lazing about..

 

[mph137]

Lifton does get busy in the summer, well it was last year and the year before, its the only time i've had to wait to get on a supercharger in 2 1/2 years and 110k , saying that it was only for 5 minutes, so wasn't really a problem. Also, the del at the Arundel Hotel does really nice coffee...
Saying that, with 20 odd chargers at Exeter (Services and Darts Farm) and Camborne now open, I would think that Lifton will not be as busy going forward, I'll let you know in October when the summer is done

 

[Mrklaw]

If I was going deep down towards at Ives way I don’t know I’d skip Lifton. If I remember the Camborne ones are only 8 so could be busy too.

 

[yessuz]

If I was going deep down towards at Ives way I don’t know I’d skip Lifton. If I remember the Camborne ones are only 8 so could be busy too.

last year I went to Hayle and stopped at Camborne - half of stall were empty. it was ~11-12 am on bank holiday saturday.

I do genuinely think that when we stopped at some services and I used some 3rd party cahrger for like 15 minutes at 50 kw, it helped me with increased range a bit and I did not have to stop at Lifton.

I saw some poor soul with Leaf, stopping every hour to charge on my way down...