Club EV charging costs

There are 30 + charging providers in the UK, but you can think of the providers as Shell, BP, Esso etc, and the systems as petrol or diesel (or high octane Petrol or high octane diesel). All the providers use the same pump type, you just have to pick the right one for your car.

But there is no common payment method yet. One vendors card won't work in anothers. Use of contactless payment is a step in the right direction but it is not universal yet.

peedee

The UK program of new power station building is being driven by replacing old equipment that is being taken out of service with new, not by increasing net demand. The peak UK usage had dropped in recent times (since peak of 2005). There is more of a challenge at the DNO level and at the local level, no argument, and individual club sites will each have different issues. But this is a good point in time to examine what they do have and how it can be prepared for the future. 

I am not expecting a short term fix, (that is in place with the EV charging policy) but a longer term strategy that looks to take the club into the future. By the time 2030 comes, I will be on my 3rd or 4th EV and have been towing with some form of electric vehicle for over 13 years. I may be in the tiny minority now, but it would be good for the club to be ready for when the even the large minority are on EV rather than wait to have a plan for the majority?

OscarMax wrote "We informed them we have 2 80 watt solar panels on the roof so don't use the caravans charger, and charge up the mobility scooter using our invertor ? still £6.00."

Am I reading this right. You are being charged even though you aren't using EHU?

"I may be in the tiny minority now, but it would be good for the club to be ready for when the even the large minority are on EV rather than wait to have a plan for the majority"

Did you ever do as I suggested on page 1 and contact the club with your thoughts? If so, did it result in any definite information which would obviate the need for speculation which, as far as most of us know, has little or no basis in fact?

I seem to recall reading that some CLs won't allow charging of electric bikes which I do think is rather petty.  Perhaps they could charge 50p a night extra for each bike that is going to be recharged and show it on their on  their website so people are aware of it.  Three years ago I stayed at the CL at Hatton  Country World.  It is situated next to the rally field and some cheeky people on the rally field had pitched right against the hedge and hooked up to the spare CL hook up.

"But there is no common payment method yet. One vendors card won't work in anothers. Use of contactless payment is a step in the right direction but it is not universal yet." 

But all new public chargers have to have contactless as well as whatever RFID or app based approach the company chooses to use. So thats not an issue for public charging at a club site, or for private (member only) at a club site where some other mechanism could be used. 

"Did you ever do as I suggested on page 1 and contact the club with your thoughts? If so, did it result in any definite information which would obviate the need for speculation which, as far as most of us know, has little or no basis in fact?"

No - not yet. I am interested in a public discussion on the topic and to see what opinions others hold in order to refine my own thinking before I contact them. 

So far my take is that charging EVs, the payment for it and the provision of dedicated charging capacity, needs to be part of wider reform by the club in overall electricity use. 

With respect, I don’t think you can make any assumption based on the posts here. The club has hundreds of thousands of members but only a  handful post on this forum. In no way can the views expressed here be seen as representative of the whole membership.

I fear that any survey on the subject will always reflect the individuals' views of what will be of most benefit to them rather than what will be the best way for the club to manage the issue in a businesslike and effective manner. 

 I think the main problem with the CAMC EV/PHEV  offering is the loss of power to the van when the charge is being used so it isn't a satisfactory way of dealing with the situation. The supply is 16amp and whilst a charge is being taken the supply to the van is reduced. A pitch fee covers electrical usage in general but an extra fee is charged for a PHEV/EV charge even though the user is actually doing a balancing act with what is supplied. The user can't draw more than the supply and an adjoining pitch user without a PHEV/EV may well be using the domestic element with every conceivable appliance at the highest level too. 

I think this is the main gist of the conversation on here written by the OP and as an EV user I would be in agreement, but we won't be attempting to charge ours on a site, this is indeed a juggling act for which we would have to pay an extra fee!

Hi Cyberyacht

We use the EHU, but we do not switch the charger on, in fact I cannot remember the last time we switched in on.

We only use the EHU to run the fridge and power up the 600 watt Remoska