Public charger availability

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Wombleyaq
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2021 1:48 pm

Post by Wombleyaq »

We just completed our first long journey (London to Cornwall) where we'd planned to charge en-route at a public fast charger. We'd done several road trips previously where we charged at the destination carpark and it had worked well.

All the fast chargers we'd earmarked and contingencies were busy and had multiple people waiting. I couldn't find any info on likely fast charger availability by times of day, despite tools like ZapMap giving realtime availability via the network APIs.

Anyone who travels long distances regularly got any tips on best times to travel or how to find out when chargers are likely to be busy in advance?
Enyaq iV 80 Loft

orrery
Posts: 375
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2021 3:22 pm

Post by orrery »

Find chargers off the motorway.
iV80 Lounge, Heat Pump, 125kW charging, Tow bar
Previous EVs: Leaf 40 (x2), Leaf 30, Leaf 24. EVing since 2014.
IanJ
Posts: 229
Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2021 7:32 am

Post by IanJ »

I think that you had the perfect storm. School holidays, and prime holiday travel route.
I would think that travelling outside of peak times is your best bet. Google maps has a great feature that predicts how busy your route is likely to be at different times of day.
iV 80 Suite, Arctic Silver plus various packages. ME 3.1
Ordered late Oct 21 for delivery June 2022. Scheduled production now Week 29 (was previously late September). In transit 25 July 22. Delivered as ordered 17 August 22.
Wombleyaq
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2021 1:48 pm

Post by Wombleyaq »

IanJ wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 7:36 pm I think that you had the perfect storm. School holidays, and prime holiday travel route.
I would think that travelling outside of peak times is your best bet. Google maps has a great feature that predicts how busy your route is likely to be at different times of day.
I was hoping they'd do the same graphs for charger locations, like they do for restaurants etc. These weren't motorway services but diners etc with a couple of InstaVolt chargers outside. We made it on fumes but hope to avoid in the future...the whole family will love the 4am departure time to avoid the rush!
Enyaq iV 80 Loft
orrery
Posts: 375
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2021 3:22 pm

Post by orrery »

You need to locate the larger multi-charger installations. Gridserve Hubs, Instavolt have some.

For your journey, I'd have targetted Exeter services with a Gridserve Hub.
iV80 Lounge, Heat Pump, 125kW charging, Tow bar
Previous EVs: Leaf 40 (x2), Leaf 30, Leaf 24. EVing since 2014.
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