Hi guys I was wondering if anyone has a fully electric car. what is it like to just use public charging? How many times do you need to top up. I have ordered one and now am very nervous about charging up.
First thing, please don’t be too nervous, we all are when we first try an EV but once you’ve charged a few times you’ll become confident, everything will simply become routine.
Before I had a wallbox I had two options, the “granny charger” (3 pin wallplug trailing a long cable outside to the car & charge very slowly, I made up a 20m cable), or the dreaded public chargers. Fortunately at that time the nearest Ionity chargers had just been installed & were free so I made shall we say full use of those ultra rapid chargers for about 6 weeks, driving the 12 miles to the charger simply fill up late evening even when I didn’t need to.
Another trick was to go to the supermarket that had 7kW chargers & always plug in to keep the state of charge (SoC) high, oh, those charges were free too.
You should do a “balance charge” about once a month, where you charge to 100% to allow the battery management system to fully balance all the battery packs, use the slowest charger for the last part of this, maybe a 7kW, maybe simply scrounge a plug-in at a friends place to get you from bulk charge (upto 90%) all the way upto 100%, & it may be quite slow, my car gets very very slow at charging between 98% and 100% but this will depend on the car.
Other than that, simply charge when necessary, try to keep the SoC between about 20% and 80% so it’s always ready to do a short journey, and you can charge to 100% before a long journey, always be charging when you can, especially off the free chargers.
So, you will need to plan everything, use Zap-Map to locate your nearest chargers, go have a look at them before you get your EV, note any busy time when you pass them so you can avoid those.
For a 7kW AC (also 5kW and 3.5kW) charging post you’ll likely be using your own Type 2 charging cable, always carry it with you in the car & always plug in at a charger when you’re out & about if one is available (as Bjorn Nyland says, “ABC, Always Be Charging).
For a 50kW rapid or faster you’ll use the tethered cable, CCS for most cars now unless it’s a Leaf, that means you don’t use your own cable as there’s one fitted that simply plugs into the charge port on your car. When using rapid chargers there’s usually no point of fully charging your car to 100% as the charging slow right down as you get to a higher SoC, aim to leave above 80% SoC.
Now, all the above sounds & is very simple, so, to complicate everything, those chargers often require either an “App” or an “RFID card” to get them to work, the RFID cards are quicker & easy but you have to apply for the right ones beforehand. Which ones you’ll need will depend on where you live, if it’s Scotland then you’ll want a Charge Place Scotland RFID car, there is an app but you’ll really want the card in case there’s no phone signal at a charger. In England you may want the BP Pulse card (three months free intro then £7.65 a month, plus maybe your car manufacturer can give you a code for another 6 months free, maybe Motability can get BP Chargemaster to give you a card for the 3 years I don’t know). Other popular cards are the CYC card but CYC chargers in England often get abandoned by councils so never rely on them (CYC chargers can use the Charge Place Scotland card), the Shell Recharge card, a SWARCO card in some fringe areas, ChargePoint lets you use lots of different chargers. There are so many so get the one you need for your local chargers.
If you live in a city with lamp post chargers (London, Brighton, etc) then you may need a special cable although the latest ones just use your own Type 2 cable and an app.
One other thing to note, supermarket chargers often have a limit on how long you can “park” for that gets applied to those of us charging too, it’s usually 2 or 3 hours, so 50-75 miles worth, don’t get caught out.
Currently my local train station car park is near empty due to COVID, and free parking can be arranged using the Blue Badge, charging on the PodPoint posts is free (you’ll need the PodPoint app), so park up, charge up & go for a wander (7 hours (if you were completely empty to full) wander home & back in a wheelchair is 1 exercise session if the police ask). I don’t do this as I’ve got a home wallbox (32A commando & OHME cable), and the local station is 2.9 miles from home, but I have arranged the free blue badge parking & have the PodPoint app in case I feel like it.
So, be prepared, work out where you want to charge & have the cards/apps ready to use.