What are the best public charging services and available discounts for someone needs to charge publically for a short while?

[ROTA]

As the title asks; the delivery of my Tesla Model Y draws near and it seems it’s going to be falling this side of the year Q4 2022.

Currently I live in a rented, terraced property but my wife and I have purchased a new build - currently being built which will have a double driveway and already comes preinstalled with a Hypervolt charger…problem is, I don’t expect the house to be ready till the end of January 2023.

I’ll have to charge publicly for around 3 months and I’ve been looking at what the most cost effective way to do that would be.

- As an Octopus Energy customer, I seen that I can get 5% off all Electric Universe (previously Electric Juice) partnered charging networks. I also like that my public charging payments just come through on my energy bill each month.

- I’ve also seen a company called Bonnet who offer a subscription for £2/mo I can get 10% off all the charging networks partnered with them.

—

So this is just an open ended question to people who might have some knowledge about other services or ways to reduce the cost of charging publicly as much as possible in the situation I’ll be facing.

 

[Js1977]

Not trying to be funny but you have a car that is not yet delivered and a house that is not yet built and you want us to find a solution to a problem you created and then do the maths for you... Sorry mate but it sounds like you need a financial adviser to put it bluntly.

 

[ROTA]

Not trying to be funny but you have a car that is not yet delivered and a house that is not yet built and you want us to find a solution to a problem you created and then do the maths for you... Sorry mate but it sounds like you need a financial adviser to put it bluntly.

Erm…it’s not really a problem. I completely understand the situation and have no problem with it - I’m in a good enough standing financially that I could even be in this positionvery first world.

The question is just “hey I’m new to public charging, if you’ve done it before what are your tips? What are some services you can recommend to make sure I’m going about it as smart as possible?”

If I have to spend £40 per charge then that’s fine - that’s how it is. But if someone can recommend something that makes it £20 per charge then asking the question was worth it..

I just don’t get what your response provides to the question that an empty response wouldn’t…

 

[GRiLLA]

I would suggest looking at what chargers are convenient to get to and wait at, that will be worth more than any few pennies you can save.

 

[rowedav]

Get the Zap Map app if you’re unsure of what charging locations are around you.

 

[Lord Farquad]

Generally the faster the charger the more expensive it is. Find one close to somewhere you use (gym, supermarket etc) to make the most of your time.

Alternatively find a super fast one you can hit for as short a time as possible.

Remember the car will charge faster at lower states of charge. So keeping it between 20 and 50% might only take 15 or 20min, whereas 50-80% 30 or 40. But it depends how much range you need daily.

 

[Alan J]

As the title asks; the delivery of my Tesla Model Y draws near and it seems it’s going to be falling this side of the year Q4 2022.

Currently I live in a rented, terraced property but my wife and I have purchased a new build - currently being built which will have a double driveway and already comes preinstalled with a Hypervolt charger…problem is, I don’t expect the house to be ready till the end of January 2023.

I’ll have to charge publicly for around 3 months and I’ve been looking at what the most cost effective way to do that would be.

- As an Octopus Energy customer, I seen that I can get 5% off all Electric Universe (previously Electric Juice) partnered charging networks. I also like that my public charging payments just come through on my energy bill each month.

- I’ve also seen a company called Bonnet who offer a subscription for £2/mo I can get 10% off all the charging networks partnered with them.

—

So this is just an open ended question to people who might have some knowledge about other services or ways to reduce the cost of charging publicly as much as possible in the situation I’ll be facing.

Install an App called Zap Map on your phone and explore what is available to you locally, on your regular driving routes or near where you work, Charger availability and pricing is very localised so there's no generic answer.

 

[Forty_Two]

Not trying to be funny but you have a car that is not yet delivered and a house that is not yet built and you want us to find a solution to a problem you created and then do the maths for you... Sorry mate but it sounds like you need a financial adviser to put it bluntly.

If you have nothing helpful to say simply move on to a post where you can add value

 

[ROTA]

Okay all great suggestions. Thank you very much it’s really appreciated.

From all the responses I’ve gathered:

Use apps to find the most convenient charger. Convenience, in this case, will out weigh the pennies saved. Zap Map is a good app to try for this.

Installed Zap Map and found out that a row of chargers outside my gym gives free charging to the gym members! So that’s been an absolute gem

Again thank you. Just putting this here to consolidate all the above because I can’t mark them all as correct.

 

[YYY2022]

I took delivery of my Y on 1 March and only used public charging a handful of times until very recently. However a few weeks ago my home charger (Wallbox Pulsar plus) reported a terminal error and needed to be replaced under warranty. This took just over a week to get replaced and in that time I signed up to the Bonnet app which I thought was excellent. With a free sign up bonus and with signing onto a a monthly refill, I managed to get 108kw for just over £17 which saw me through the week of having no home charger. I’m now back to home charging again but I thought the bonnet app was good value. On the first day my car failed to charge overnight due to the home charger, and before I had signed up to bonnet, I spent £17 on about 25kw at a supercharger as I needed a top up to keep mobile.

The bonnet app has very recently changed it pricing structure (I received the email this morning) so you can no longer buy the monthly refills and I believe the charging stations are now priced differently depending on speed and location whereas they were all priced the same before and the kw used were taken from your monthly refill which you’d bought in advance. I think you now buy a monthly entitlement to a discount off whatever price the charger is. It doesn’t sound as good a deal as before but it’s definitely worth looking at and taking advantage of any new customer offers.

Enjoy the new car and house when it comes.

 

[DaveNN]

Erm…it’s not really a problem. I completely understand the situation and have no problem with it - I’m in a good enough standing financially that I could even be in this positionvery first world.

The question is just “hey I’m new to public charging, if you’ve done it before what are your tips? What are some services you can recommend to make sure I’m going about it as smart as possible?”

If I have to spend £40 per charge then that’s fine - that’s how it is. But if someone can recommend something that makes it £20 per charge then asking the question was worth it..

I just don’t get what your response provides to the question that an empty response wouldn’t…

Anything but a supercharger.. no different to filling up ..from nigh on empty... my Velar with V Power on motorway services.

 

[Romario786]

I stopped using Tesla superchargers.

I have an membership with Elli which i pay£12.99 a month and i get acces to all bp fast chargers for 35p kw and Ionity chargers for 27p kw.

They have chargers all over UK and EUROPE. Half the price when compared to Shell recharge, tesla chargers and other fast chargers.

Also:

Pod point - mostly free chargers in supermarkets and retails. - included in Elli membership.

chargepoint app
MFG APP - some chargers included in Elli membership
ZapMap
BP PULSE - included in Elli membership

Hope this helps.

 

[ROTA]

I stopped using Tesla superchargers.

I have an membership with Elli which i pay£12.99 a month and i get acces to all bp fast chargers for 35p kw and Ionity chargers for 27p kw.

They have chargers all over UK and EUROPE. Half the price when compared to Shell recharge, tesla chargers and other fast chargers.

Also:

Pod point - mostly free chargers in supermarkets and retails. - included in Elli membership.

chargepoint app
MFG APP - some chargers included in Elli membership
ZapMap
BP PULSE - included in Elli membership

Hope this helps.

I’ll definitely check it out, the price sounds fantastic compared to the other alternatives. Thanks

 

[DeejUK]

Congrats on the house purchase, as well as a new Model Y! It sounds like you've gotten yourself to a good financial position in life, and I remember when we bought our first place ten years ago how relieved we were to finally be out of the renting game.

I'm not sure how much use this is going to be, but getting to know your local area can make a huge difference to how much you pay, if you're willing to sacrifice speed.

I'm in Ashford, Kent, and there's a MacArthur Glen Designer Outlet here. They have eight 3.4kW chargers, which are really slow but free. The car park is £1 for four hours, but if you stay overnight the ANPR system doesn't recognise you and so lets you out. Thus, every day those charging bays are full I may have been known to drive down there with my Brompton in the boot, and make a five-minute bike ride home.

There's also a network called ChargeYourCar (CYC), and for reasons I don't fully understand I only pay a £1 connection fee when I plug in to any of their chargers. They don't seem to be metering actual usage. Hmm... On closer inspection, it looks like they've been bought by BP, and maybe I'm on a grandfathered-in deal.

IKEA chargers seem to be free too. The one in Dartford/Lakeside doesn't require authentication or payment.

I don't know how actionable the above will be given that you don't have a car to try stuff out with yet, but maybe there's some local EV forums or groups you can join to get people's local experiences?

 

[ROTA]

Congrats on the house purchase, as well as a new Model Y! It sounds like you've gotten yourself to a good financial position in life, and I remember when we bought our first place ten years ago how relieved we were to finally be out of the renting game.

I'm not sure how much use this is going to be, but getting to know your local area can make a huge difference to how much you pay, if you're willing to sacrifice speed.

I'm in Ashford, Kent, and there's a MacArthur Glen Designer Outlet here. They have eight 3.4kW chargers, which are really slow but free. The car park is £1 for four hours, but if you stay overnight the ANPR system doesn't recognise you and so lets you out. Thus, every day those charging bays are full I may have been known to drive down there with my Brompton in the boot, and make a five-minute bike ride home.

There's also a network called ChargeYourCar (CYC), and for reasons I don't fully understand I only pay a £1 connection fee when I plug in to any of their chargers. They don't seem to be metering actual usage. Hmm... On closer inspection, it looks like they've been bought by BP, and maybe I'm on a grandfathered-in deal.

IKEA chargers seem to be free too. The one in Dartford/Lakeside doesn't require authentication or payment.

I don't know how actionable the above will be given that you don't have a car to try stuff out with yet, but maybe there's some local EV forums or groups you can join to get people's local experiences?

Thanks for the kind words and helpful tips.

I’ll definitely have a look at local forums - I hadn’t thought about that. I’m sure the EV users in my city will already have figured out the local spots for nice bargains when it comes to charging.

 

[Alan J]

Okay all great suggestions. Thank you very much it’s really appreciated.

From all the responses I’ve gathered:

Use apps to find the most convenient charger. Convenience, in this case, will out weigh the pennies saved. Zap Map is a good app to try for this.

Installed Zap Map and found out that a row of chargers outside my gym gives free charging to the gym members! So that’s been an absolute gem

Again thank you. Just putting this here to consolidate all the above because I can’t mark them all as correct.

I survived on Public Chargers for 3 years until they got so busy that it became impractical, the secret is little and often with the occasional Fast Charger Session if doing a Road Trip, good luck !

 

[Redbaron73]

At the risk of this sounding "off" do you not have any friends (with EV)? Surely one would let you plug in and pay them for some elec?

 

[ROTA]

At the risk of this sounding "off" do you not have any friends (with EV)? Surely one would let you plug in and pay them for some elec?

That would be ideal. Unfortunately, two issues;

1. Most my friends are my age 21. And they’re petrol heads in the full sense. So petrol till they die.

2. 2 of my friends have EVs, one lives in Wales and the other about 2 hours away from my house…very unfortunate

Good idea though. I’m sure for someone else that’ll be one to try.

 

[Redbaron73]

That would be ideal. Unfortunately, two issues;

1. Most my friends are my age 21. And they’re petrol heads in the full sense. So petrol till they die.

2. 2 of my friends have EVs, one lives in Wales and the other about 2 hours away from my house…very unfortunate

Good idea though. I’m sure for someone else that’ll be one to try.

If you pass into Lancashire you are welcome to plug in at the same 39p that shell charge me for a kwh as i have the opposite scenario of the house , the drive, the charger and no car... obv only 7.2kwh

 

[Js1977]

I just don’t get what your response provides to the question that an empty response wouldn’t…

Sometimes you have to cruel to be kind...just saying