PHEV/EV Charging

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Most of these ‘fuel shortages’ are caused by people saying there’s a fuel shortage on social media!

Have a good trip! I guess everyone will be charging off site after this price hike. 

A definite self fulfilling prophecy however, last week, in St Austell, ASDA had no fuel and Tesco no diesel on the Tuesday.

 

When charging a PHEV was £2 it was just worth while. Same for £8 for an EV. £9 for an EV is acceptable given the increase in costs, £9 for a PHEV is daylight robbery. The absolute max I could put in my PHEV is 10kWh, or 90p per kWh.

For the BEV the absolute max is more likely to be governed by the charger, not the battery. 24 * (10A@230v) 2.3kW = 55kWh or about 16p per kWh assuming a full 24 hour charge (noon to noon). But realistically, it will be more like 8A from 4pm to 10am so 18 * 1.84 = 33kWh or 27p per kWh. Again - reasonable.  

But roll on metered charging. 

This weekend while away in an Air BnB Deal in Kent we definitely had range anxiety. We had gone down in two cars, the EV and our Kia Picanto that our children drive. They have about the same range on a full charge / tank around 220 to 240 miles. It was 150 mile one way journey and we filled both cars before we left.

In Deal we had access to a socket in the house, and 11 * 7kW public charge points within 15 mins walk of the house. There are two petrol stations in deal and two more on the outskirts of Dover. On day 3 of the holiday we headed to Dover white cliffs and the south-foreland lighthouse. On the way back, we tried all 4 fuel stations. No Petrol. I charged the EV over night on the public charger - choice of chargers. It took until Saturday to phone round and find a fuel station (north of Sandwich) that had some petrol, and we got a full tank to allow us to get home. 

 

 

 

@ Chocolate Trees .... and our Kia Picanto that .... . They have about the same range on a full charge / tank around 220 to 240 miles.

You'll surely get more than that. Your Picanto & my 1.0 turbo Smart both have a 35 litre tank and do similar mpg. I reckon on about 300miles per tank and still have the best part of a gallon left in the tank when I fill up. And I don't drive my Smart to get the max mpg from it.

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To be fair - thats what the GOM (Guess-o-meter) reads on tank full, but it seems to match what is used. 

We've charged our PHEV on a few sites now - trouble free via the caravan exterior 240v socket.  Its really helpful to be able to do so, and yes we are careful of what else we switch on in the van whilst the car is charging so as not to overload or blow any breakers.

This new C&MC policy seems to show their lack of understanding of EVs/PHEVs and what members need.

I have no problem paying a fee for charging a PHEV or EV on site, but it needs to be proportionate and fair.

It is unfair to PHEV owners whos vehicles have a far smaller battery (say 15kW) than a full EV (say 70kW), to charge them the same rate 'per charge'.

The £9 charge takes no account of the charging time or capacity of the vehicle.

Once on site a PHEV owner is likely to want to charge each day, overnight due to the limited EV range (say 30miles) of the car.  A full EV owner is less likely to do so if they have a ranges over 200miles now (not towing) allowing for plenty of day trips from site on a single charge.

Hence the PHEV owner gets charged £9 each day of his stay, whilst the EV owner could do a single long charge at the end of his stay the night before departure, yet the PHEV will likely not used any more electricity than the full EV, its just taken its charge in smaller daily doses, but gets charged multiple times.  How is this fair?

I understand it would be difficult to implement a metering system on site and will take time to install dedicated EV chargers.  I also understand C&MC want to introduce a simple system for staff and members to understand.  But charging in this way is unfair to PHEV owners.

 

   

Totally agree TT. That's exactly what we did with our BEV on our last club site (Borrowdale) trip. Charged on site the day we arrived, and the night before the day we left. Everything else was a top up from a rapid in Keswick. 

Previously when towing with the PHEV, we would charge the car overnight every night via the van, both on CLs and Clubsites (and pay the owner for the extra electricity used). 

£9 for an EV is fair and justified. 

£9 for a PHEV is nuts.