UK Mach E Public Charging Wiki

[SteveUk]

Does anyone know what ford pass will cost for subscription when the free year is up??

Sponsored

 

[Smuddell]

I noticed Instavolt had to increase their prices to 40p / kWh due to government changing VAT rules late May - they did say if they could persuade the government to backtrack on this, their costs would drop back to 35p but as far as I'm aware this hasn't happened.

InstaVolt CEO issues statement in response to HMRC VAT Brief – 25 May 2021 | InstaVolt

 

[BlackheathDiggs]

I noticed Instavolt had to increase their prices to 40p / kWh due to government changing VAT rules late May - they did say if they could persuade the government to backtrack on this, their costs would drop back to 35p but as far as I'm aware this hasn't happened.

InstaVolt CEO issues statement in response to HMRC VAT Brief – 25 May 2021 | InstaVolt

In truth, the Government didn't change anything, they just clarified that electricity at public chargers is subject to 20% VAT. This was already the case and many companies already had this right, but some like Instavolt had it wrong and were charging 5% VAT by mistake, so had to up their prices.

Would be great of course if they did reduce VAT on public charging to 5%, which would bring it in line with home charging and be more equitable for those who can't charge at home. I think it unlikely though as more people switch to EVs, and fuel duty takings go down, the Treasury will need to get their money from somewhere!

 

[BlackheathDiggs]

I hear there's a announcement coming from Gridserve tomorrow - so watching this space for what this could be, but whatever it is, likely to be good news! More info on next steps for the motorway charging sites they now own, new sites for electric forecourts? Any other guesses!

Toddington Harper, their CEO, is doing an interview with Robert Lewellyn at 12pm tomorrow, which can be watched here:

 

[BlackheathDiggs]

Testing out the charging on some local BP Pulse chargers (once which I’ve used regularly before on my PHEV).

All very straightforward, and used my existing BP Pulse membership card, rather than the FordPass card.

 

[Andeh]

Few observations over the last thousand miles.

New upgraded Gridserve sites have on the whole been good, although one at IKEA Gateshead barely gave out 7kw. It was on free vend though, so perhaps faulty. Other such as Sandbach and Rugby were spot on.

Ionity has been excellent, worked fine with the Ford charge card.

Instavolt has also been excellent. Pricey, but always work.

The old Ecotricity pumps, which will be thankfully be scrapped by September do not work with my Mach-E. I've tried a couple now, and they only deliver 1kw before failing. We all know they're crap in general, but it seems they don't work with the Mach-E full stop. Avoid them!

 

[BlackheathDiggs]

Being a bit geeky, I'm tracking the costs of my charging - pretty much exclusively on the public charging networks.

Have had my car a little over 2 weeks, have charged it with around 110 kWh of electricity in total at various convenient moment. So that's more than a complete charge, and it's cost me £23, giving an average price of 21p/kWh. Yes, that's more than charging at home for sure, but still giving great savings on petrol/diesel (would cost more than twice that to fill a similar sized ICE SUV).

Also, more than half the cost so far came from one on-street charger (Source London) where I was effectively paying for parking as well! Take that out of the equation and the p/kWh cost is 9.6.

 

[Leslie Gabriolek]

I came across this on You Tube - Road Trip #3 in the Mustang Mach-E! - YouTube

Does anyone know if you can use the J1772 Tesla adapter in the UK to connect a MME to a Tesla fast charger? From what I understand from the US it wont work on the supercharger network but seems to work in the US on fast chargers.

 

[Wonky_Donkey]

I came across this on You Tube - Road Trip #3 in the Mustang Mach-E! - YouTube

Does anyone know if you can use the J1772 Tesla adapter in the UK to connect a MME to a Tesla fast charger? From what I understand from the US it wont work on the supercharger network but seems to work in the US on fast chargers.

As you suggested - that adaptor would not allow you to use the Tesla Supercharger Network. It might allow you to use the Tesla Destination Chargers around the UK, but most of these are just standard 22kW or 7kW AC wall chargers provided by hotels etc with a Tesla connector on the end rather than a standard Type2 connector. Also keep in mind that for AC charging the Mach-E can only take a maximum of 11kW through it's onboard inverter. So again - not a massive advantage over just sticking with a normal Type 2 connection.

I imagine that lots of places with Tesla destination facilities probably also have Type 2 chargers as well.

It would theoretically give you more options of where to plug in, but you run the risk of upsetting a Tesla owner or two if you're hogging their designated charger all night!

 

[BlackheathDiggs]

Pretty big news overnight as Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla plans to open up its Supercharger network to non-Tesla EVs. With the Superchargers in the UK already using using CCS (that's what the Model 3 uses in the UK) it should be relatively easy, and would obviously be a game-changer for Mach E users.

No definitive timescales - coverage here: https://electrek.co/2021/07/20/elon-musk-confirms-tesla-open-superchargers-to-other-automakers/

 

[portlandg]

Pretty big news overnight as Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla plans to open up its Supercharger network to non-Tesla EVs. With the Superchargers in the UK already using using CCS (that's what the Model 3 uses in the UK) it should be relatively easy, and would obviously be a game-changer for Mach E users.

No definitive timescales - coverage here: https://electrek.co/2021/07/20/elon-musk-confirms-tesla-open-superchargers-to-other-automakers/

It all depends on how much they are going to charge us. If it is 69p/kw like non member Ionity charges then it isn't going to much of a benefit

 

[BlackheathDiggs]

It all depends on how much they are going to charge us. If it is 69p/kw like non member Ionity charges then it isn't going to much of a benefit

Very true - but will hopefully help remove range anxiety, especially for the standard battery size cars (an expensive top up is better than a tow home!).

UK regulators are keeping an eye on the costs of public chargers, so hopefully that will limit any crazy pricing, although you could easily argue that the Ionity costs already fall in that bracket. Let's see if Elon's promise actually happens anytime soon...

 

[Andeh]

I came across this on You Tube - Road Trip #3 in the Mustang Mach-E! - YouTube

Does anyone know if you can use the J1772 Tesla adapter in the UK to connect a MME to a Tesla fast charger? From what I understand from the US it wont work on the supercharger network but seems to work in the US on fast chargers.

Tesla don't use a proprietary connector in the UK anymore. Since the Model 3 they use CCS like everyone else, so you don't need an adaptor to use most of their destination chargers. Just plug in and enjoy the hate.

You won't be able to use Superchargers.

 

[bl0ke]

Has anyone tried the chargers at Toddington Services (either direction) on the M1 yet? Planning a couple of stops.

 

[BlackheathDiggs]

Has anyone tried the chargers at Toddington Services (either direction) on the M1 yet? Planning a couple of stops.

I haven’t been, but comments on Zap-Map suggest that you should be ok! They are certainly the upgraded Ecotricity ones.

Sponsored