Our First Failed Public EV Charge

Reading time: 4 minutes (690 words)
Author: @pugmiester
Tags: ev , transport

A little mini-rant about public charging infrastructure…

If we are to believe the reports in the mainstream media, this is something that happens every time someone tries to charge any EV, after they’ve downloaded 50 different apps and registered for a dozen different cards, but in all honesty it’s the first time it’s happened to us in 18 months of driving our EV.

We spent the day at Warwick Castle, which is right at the limit of the realistic range (at 60-70 mph on the motorway) of Eddie, our Peugeot e2008. We get a fairly consistent 130 miles of range at most times of the year. We happen to use a public charging stop near Warwick for the majority of our long distance runs down south, but more on that later.

We topped up Eddie at home overnight so we set off with a full battery. Our trip down to Warwick was uneventful, ignoring the fact I managed to take the wrong exit on two different roundabouts, adding a few extra miles to the journey. We stopped at our usual spot and for the first time all 4 chargers were in use so we had to wait, only about 5 minutes though, before we could plug in and charge while we grabbed a drink. There was nobody waiting when we came back to the car so we hung around to get us back up to 100% to make the journey home easier. Obviously, if someone had been waiting to charge we would have moved earlier, because that’s just how we roll.

But, back to the problem at hand.

After our day at Warwick we set off back home. We’d decided to check out another stop on the way, even though we likely wouldn’t need it, just to get the lay of the land in case we needed it in the future. We had checked on ZapMap before our arrival and noted that of the 6 charges, 4 were in use and there was one marked as not working. But, they are really fast charges so we knew we wouldn’t have to wait long. As we arrived, we could see one charger unoccupied (which we assumed to be the faulty one), 4 in use and one just being vacated, so we hopped into the recently vacated spot and this is when the problem started…

4 times this happened, using 2 different phones.

“Nah, screw this”.

We had enough charge anyway so we set off home. We’ve used this particular charging network once before and don’t remember it being this much hassle. There’s a pretty good chance we won’t be using them again unless they are our last resort. I’m guessing it was the charger that was at fault because the other folks charging didn’t seem to have any issues but there were just no clues what the actual problem was. Was it the car? Was it the charger? Was the payment network having a day off? Who knows…..

But, just to add some balance to my little rant, here’s how the charge on the way down to Warwick went

That’s how 99.9% of all of our public charging sessions have gone over the last 18 months.

In hindsight, checking ZapMap or the charge point operators own app would have confirmed that we just pulled into the faulty charging spot but if the operator already knew the charger wasn’t working, why the hell doesn’t the charger display something so folks don’t waste time trying to get it to work. Surely it’s not that difficult to have some sensible feedback on the charger screen.

Anyway, that’s my little rant.