Non-Tesla charging sucks

[Mullermn]

On a week long trip around the Cairngorms area in Scotland at the moment. We charged at Keele, Gretna and Edinburgh super chargers on the way up. Edinburgh had an issue and all 16 bays went dead, but a Tesla engineer came out and restarted them and we we back up within 10 mins, all the rest were fine (if busy and so not charging at stated speed).

Then we left the supercharger network, and since then we’ve tried 4 chargers. One worked (50Kw, contactless payment), one appeared to be working but I didn’t have the rfid card and it couldn’t be activated via the app, one of the other two appeared to work but didn’t and the final one was totally dead with nothing on the display. Because we are in a fairly remote area this is not a survey of some of the available chargers, this is literally ALL of the chargers we’ve been able to try without notable detours which would have burned range and may themselves have led to broken chargers.

We’re now on the outskirts of Aberdeen and will hit the Tesla service centre charger tomorrow.

If this is the state of affairs in 2023, I can only imagine the impact of teslas network ~5 years ago when they started to dominate.

"Solar powered EV charging station" by Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine is marked with CC0 1.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail

 

[kavyboy]

Here in the US (sorry, it's the only frame of reference I have), the non-Tesla charging in the past was actually somewhat better. EV charging was a new thing, which meant new, working equipment. The push was in getting the equipment installed and cost/payment was less of a concern. I said at the time to my wife, "These are the glory years. Chargers are everywhere, they work, and they're free." And I was right, because all that changed. Now with supercharger dominance, it seems there's less effort in anything else, and very little is free and/or working.

 

[M1tch]

I’ve given up on all but podpoint and tesla. The rest are a joke that are so complicated it’s literally not worth my time.

 

[Tronguy]

Here in the US (sorry, it's the only frame of reference I have), the non-Tesla charging in the past was actually somewhat better. EV charging was a new thing, which meant new, working equipment. The push was in getting the equipment installed and cost/payment was less of a concern. I said at the time to my wife, "These are the glory years. Chargers are everywhere, they work, and they're free." And I was right, because all that changed. Now with supercharger dominance, it seems there's less effort in anything else, and very little is free and/or working.

With the nominal exception that the Tesla Superchargers are working, but not free.

Interestingly, the IRA (some kind of omnibus bill with Something For Everybody, "Inflation Reduction Act") has serious money for DCFC installations and preferred, national routes into which said DCFC's should go, although (as usual) it seems like the individual U.S. States get to do the bid and contract work. And, even more interestingly, the IRA reputedly mandates reliability standards for any DCFC's that get installed. Apparently, all those reports of dead Electrify America (tnx, VW) DCFCs frustrated both voting constituents and automobile manufacturers, who, as a competitive edge, would like to have DCFSs that actually work.

A local US firm, Chargepoint, made a big fluff a week or so ago where they announced their Very First NOC (Network Operations Center) where the operational status (or lack thereof) would be displayed with Big Monitors.

Heh. First, Tesla has apparently had at least one or more of these since forever. Second, most Chargepoint charging stations are L2 (they're all over the place), some of which are actually run by Chargepoint, but a huge percentage are run by the likes of parking garages. Who may call Chargepoint to come and fix the busted kit when something happens, but automated, it isn't.

 

[UkNorthampton]

I’ve given up on all but podpoint and tesla. The rest are a joke that are so complicated it’s literally not worth my time.

Instavolt is ok (from my limited experience) - expensive, slow & reliable. Fine when on holiday, we just did a shop or relaxed coffee/lunch during the longer time. Non Tesla when abroad was pointless, never found a working ENEL in Italy (years ago).

Overall though, I've rarely charged on anything but home or Tesla Superchargers, sometimes podpoints on holiday parks, Instavolt on holiday & a 43kW AC charger in days gone by (not a Tesla car).

 

[init6]

the IRA reputedly mandates reliability standards

Knee-capping tends to encourage higher standards

 

[MovingSouth]

Ona week long trip around the Cairngorms area in Scotland at the moment. We charged at Keele, Gretna and Edinburgh super chargers on the way up. Edinburgh had an issue and all 16 bays went dead, but a Tesla engineer came out and restarted them and we we back up within 10 mins, all the rest were fine (if busy and so not charging at stated speed).

Then we left the supercharger network, and since then we’ve tried 4 chargers. One worked (50Kw, contactless payment), one appeared to be working but I didn’t have the rfid card and it couldn’t be activated via the app, one of the other two appeared to work but didn’t and the final one was totally dead with nothing on the display. Because we are in a fairly remote area this is not a survey of some of the available chargers, this is literally ALL of the chargers we’ve been able to try without notable detours which would have burned range and may themselves have led to broken chargers.

We’re now on the outskirts of Aberdeen and will hit the Tesla service centre charger tomorrow.

If this is the state of affairs in 2023, I can only imagine the impact of teslas network ~5 years ago when they started to dominate.

I've had a far better success rate than that with CPS travelling around Scotland, with just the odd failure. It is somewhat dependent on region, as the maintenance is, I believe, down to the local owner. The key message is not to go without a CPS RFID card. Some chargers are in a location where your phone might not have mobile data, whilst the charge point does.

For the rest of the UK, you're missing out if you try to stick to only Tesla - it's even difficult to go to some areas. We've been running non-Tesla EVs since 2017 and get on perfectly well, as well as our Model 3. We prefer Instavolt, Osprey, Gridserve and Ionity, which are all reliable networks, (and Tesla of course, and CPS in Scotland). That's three times the number of rapid charger offered by Tesla alone. We'll use other rapids if operational and available (and with the status checkable on ZapMap etc.). We avoid BP Pulse after too many bad experience.

 

[Mullermn]

Some chargers are in a location where your phone might not have mobile data, whilst the charge point does.

This is probably true, but I’m the case I mentioned above there was a sticker on the machine showing which payment methods it could accept out of RFID card, contactless and app and RFID was the only one available.

I should have bought a card but we’re only here for 1 week and I didn’t realise until a few days before we left that it can take 10-14 business days (so potentially 3+ weeks!) for them to send you it.

For the rest of the UK, you're missing out if you try to stick to only Tesla - it's even difficult to go to some areas.

I can believe this. The most south westerly supercharger is in Exeter, for example, and there’s still a chunk of country left after that.

One thing I can say in favour of Scotland’s network is that my understanding is that, hypothetically if the chargers were working, they’d all be part of the same network and you do not need 27 different apps to locate and use them - I don’t think this is the case in England.

 

[GRiLLA]

This is probably true, but I’m the case I mentioned above there was a sticker on the machine showing which payment methods it could accept out of RFID card, contactless and app and RFID was the only one available.

I should have bought a card but we’re only here for 1 week and I didn’t realise until a few days before we left that it can take 10-14 business days (so potentially 3+ weeks!) for them to send you it.


I can believe this. The most south westerly supercharger is in Exeter, for example, and there’s still a chunk of country left after that.

One thing I can say in favour of Scotland’s network is that my understanding is that, hypothetically if the chargers were working, they’d all be part of the same network and you do not need 27 different apps to locate and use them - I don’t think this is the case in England.

The two Exeter SuperChargers are the most South-Westerly other than Lifton and Cambourne ?

 

[Mullermn]

The two Exeter SuperChargers are the most South-Westerly other than Lifton and Cambourne ?

I stand corrected, must have been remembering incorrectly.

 

[roadcred]

Im on my 5th Tesla and my second Kia.
I have never charged the Tesla at any charger outside home and Tesla Superchargers, nor have I needed to.
I have never charged the Kias anywhere but home and never intend to.

 

[MovingSouth]

Im on my 5th Tesla and my second Kia.
I have never charged the Tesla at any charger outside home and Tesla Superchargers, nor have I needed to.
I have never charged the Kias anywhere but home and never intend to.

Which is great and shows Tesla are doing a good job. But we take our Tesla to the Lakes and Pembrokeshire for a week or so, for example, and couldn't cope with only using superchargers, the nearest being at Tebay and Carmarthen. Both a needless 1.5 to 2 hour round trip away.

We also toured Spain and Portugal in June. Couldn't have used only superchargers in either, especially in Portugal where we only passed one.

I'm not trying to say that many Tesla owners can't manage sticking to superchargers. I'm just wanting to encourage those that need to use others to find the best, reliable ones and carry the minimum number of RFID cards. Shell Recharge (important to note that this was Newmotion) and Electroverse cards are, in my experience, sufficient (with CPS a necessity for Scotland). I'm sure other aggregator cards, such as ChargeMap, can do the job.

 

[pdk42]

Until recently my wife had an ID3. Bad experiences with public charging is the reason we no longer have it!

 

[spooksman]

Until recently my wife had an ID3. Bad experiences with public charging is the reason we no longer have it!

Exactly this ^^^

My wife had a Peugeot e208 - loved the car, but a couple of trips where she had to use public charging is why we just got another M3...

 

[init6]

One thing I can say in favour of Scotland’s network is that my understanding is that, hypothetically if the chargers were working, they’d all be part of the same network and you do not need 27 different apps to locate and use them - I don’t think this is the case in England.

Yes, single card covers the majority of the chargers. You still get Osprey, etc, but they tend to be more expensive and more hassle. I've found calling CPS to be worthwhile. They are really helpful will do what they can to get you a charge.

 

[Chimpy McChimp]

Yes, single card covers the majority of the chargers. You still get Osprey, etc, but they tend to be more expensive and more hassle. I've found calling CPS to be worthwhile. They are really helpful will do what they can to get you a charge.

I agree. Went up to Skye last year charging at fort William SC on the way. Once we got to Skye we had no major issues charging. But would definitely recommend getting the CPS card in case.

One charger wouldnt start and a quick call to CPS got it started.

My only comment is some of the chargers are slow and you are limited to 45 mins plus 15 minutes grace. Tried that at one charger and only got a few % in before we had to move.

 

[Adopado]

I agree. Went up to Skye last year charging at fort William SC on the way. Once we got to Skye we had no major issues charging. But would definitely recommend getting the CPS card in case.

One charger wouldnt start and a quick call to CPS got it started.

My only comment is some of the chargers are slow and you are limited to 45 mins plus 15 minutes grace. Tried that at one charger and only got a few % in before we had to move.

We were in Skye October last year ... CPS chargers were mostly out of action. Uig and Portree were within a reasonable distance but both were out of order. The state of the charger in Portree lead me to an email exchange with Highland Council ... who denied knowing it was in need of repair (they are the responsible body) ... this despite the Zapmap chat revealing that it had been out of order for months and CPS telling me it's not their responsibility and that they had been onto the Council about it! I've just looked at Zapmap out of curiosity and the chat goes back 8 months with not one single report of a successful charge! Thankfully I was equipped with cabling and the UMC so it was a cable out the window of our cottage ... which worked perfectly!

 

[Chimpy McChimp]

We were in Skye October last year ... CPS chargers were mostly out of action. Uig and Portree were within a reasonable distance but both were out of order. The state of the charger in Portree lead me to an email exchange with Highland Council ... who denied knowing it was in need of repair (they are the responsible body) ... this despite the Zapmap chat revealing that it had been out of order for months and CPS telling me it's not their responsibility and that they had been onto the Council about it! I've just looked at Zapmap out of curiosity and the chat goes back 8 months with not one single report of a successful charge! Thankfully I was equipped with cabling and the UMC so it was a cable out the window of our cottage ... which worked perfectly!

We used Broadford and kyleakin mainly. Kyleakin was great. Fast charge. No waiting. Worked perfectly. Nice walk around the town whilst charging. Broadford worked but was slow.

 

[M3noob]

I’ve given up on all but podpoint and tesla. The rest are a joke that are so complicated it’s literally not worth my time.

My feelings exactly until I encountered Electra in France. The notice said I could be charging in a minute. I said "Go ahead, punk. Make my day ;-)"

Damn if it didn't give forth lots of KW with a charge card swipe - and I had an app that might have worked too (Electromap).

 

[Adopado]

We used Broadford and kyleakin mainly. Kyleakin was great. Fast charge. No waiting. Worked perfectly. Nice walk around the town whilst charging. Broadford worked but was slow.

I do remember a good one in Kyle of Lochalsh just on the other side of the bridge ... opposite the leisure centre up Douglas Row. Unfortunately once up in the north of Skye it's not exactly handy!