[reluctantcripple]

I  had my first use of a public charger yesterday. I wanted to share this for other wheelchair users concerned about using a heavy duty charger.

Round trip of 320 miles. Started on 95% (77kw useable battery). Used charger on return journey after approx 200 miles (approx 40 miles range left).

Charging station Gridserve Norwich Electric Forecourt. CCS2 fast charger (up to 350kw – I think mine managed a maximum of 140kw+ at one point, but may have been more?). Parked in one of two designated wheelchair bays (I think I’d easily access the other bays in a wheelchair as they’re generous size). Very large area and good access. The charging cable is chunky and stiff but I managed to plug-in and unplug. (I’m a T4 para so have limited muscle use below upper chest). Used MotabilityGoCharge card without any issues. (receipt automatically emailed afterwards).

Whilst charging went upstairs (via lift)  to the upper floor of Gridserve shop/lounge/cafe. Had a coffee, used facilities and returned to car at 25 mins. 49kw added. Very fast, 70% battery and 200 mile range. Cost £39 (£0.79 per kw).

Midweek, 5pm, Gridserve (28 chargers? + TESLA superchargers) about 80% empty. Facilities excellent. Very new. Lounge area, cafe area, private meeting rooms, supermarket style fridges with produce. This is obviously the best charging experience you could have (I’m looking forward to charging at a busy motorway services….).

Hope this info is helpful to other manual wheelchair users contemplating the BEV switch. EV charging infrastructure is going to have to grow exponentially, but if this Gridserve station was the standard we’d all be pretty happy. The cost is another issue, again without home charging or regular access to economic slow chargers, public only charging is expensive.

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[Jojoe]

Great info, Go Charge will email you and ask for a review of the site, it helps other disabled folks. We used Gridserve in Grantham, there were 15 bays with 2 disabled bays, only 4 were being used. They are pricey but very good, lots of space on all bays.

[DumfriesDik]

Nice review.

Chargers and their associated cables are not the easiest thing to handle from a wheelchair.

Skoda Enyaq Race Blue

[Rhodgie]

#reluctantcripple

Good review and things are so much better these days than they used to be, not perfect but definitely better than the days EV chargers were stuck in disabled bays and it was a bun fight to get in…. disabled ICE drivers and able-bodied EV drivers arguing about who had priority 🤯

Plenty of times I’ve tried to push the plug in and only succeed in pushing myself away from the car 🤦‍♂️😂

Also as your charger is on the drivers side of the car it isn’t the worst place but the likes of Tesla and a lot of other cars where it’s on the passenger side means needing space to get your chair out as well as space to get to the charge port, not always possible with some bays (Instavolt I find are the worst for the bays being tight?) so plenty of times I’ve had to park squint across 2 bays 🫣

Enjoy your car and I wish you many happy road trips 😁

[reluctantcripple]

Also as your charger is on the drivers side of the car it isn’t the worst place but the likes of Tesla and a lot of other cars where it’s on the passenger side means needing space to get your chair out as well as space to get to the charge port, not always possible with some bays (Instavolt I find are the worst for the bays being tight?) so plenty of times I’ve had to park squint across 2 bays 🫣

I think it was someone’s advice on this forum to select a car with a charging port on the driver’s side of the car if you’re a wheelchair user. 👍 This was one of my criteria for choosing this EV.

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[Author]

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