EV general discussion

mjt said:
Look, it's clearly a dick move, regardless of whether you like it or not.

Would I do it? Possibly. Would I still be a dick? 100%

Own it.
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I just don't get it, sorry.

I am a dick for charging my car for free while nobody, literally nobody, else is using the chargers? Okay, I guess that is the general concencous, judging by comments here, I will have to accept it. I just don't see what I am doing 'wrong'.
 
They probably didn't even contemplate someone would decide to make their free public chargers for shoppers their own personal overnight routine free charging and parking service.

Whilst it might not technically be breaking any rules, this sort of behaviour is exactly what will contribute to places like Tesco restricting their public charging - someone is paying for that electricity and sooner or later, they'll cotton on that people are using it routinely overnight and start restricting usage all round.
 
Kenai said:
They probably didn't even contemplate someone would decide to make their free public chargers for shoppers their own personal overnight routine free charging and parking service.

Whilst it might not technically be breaking any rules, this sort of behaviour is exactly what will contribute to places like Tesco restricting their public charging - someone is paying for that electricity and sooner or later, they'll cotton on that people are using it routinely overnight and start restricting usage all round.
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Yeah, you maybe right. But do you not think this will happen anyway? Free charging now for shopping (if thats what it is) until enough people have EV's then they charge. Just like VED. It is free now, but give it 2 years when enough people have them we will be back paying £200 a year.
 
Sorry for the double post. I have emailed Tesco to be honest with what I am doing and I will wait their response on it before I charge the car there again.

In the meantime, there is a BP Pulse charger about 10 mins from my house, I will put it there on charge overnight twice a week, hopefully this is okay with everyone?
 
davejh666 said:
Sorry for the double post. I have emailed Tesco to be honest with what I am doing and I will wait their response on it before I charge the car there again.

In the meantime, there is a BP Pulse charger about 10 mins from my house, I will put it there on charge overnight twice a week, hopefully this is okay with everyone?
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Do what you like. I'm a dick, so would probably do the same as you. The difference is, I'd admit to it :D
 
davejh666 said:
Yeah, you maybe right. But do you not think this will happen anyway? Free charging now for shopping (if thats what it is) until enough people have EV's then they charge. Just like VED. It is free now, but give it 2 years when enough people have them we will be back paying £200 a year.
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Maybe but there's a difference between costing in a loss leader to get people in the door and subsidising someone's entire fuel bill :p
 
Kenai said:
Maybe but there's a difference between costing in a loss leader to get people in the door and subsidising someone's entire fuel bill :p
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So, as above, I am going to charge at BP Pulse, which is also free for me, still have to put it on for the same amount of time and take up a charging station for 3/4 of a day/night. Is that okay?
 
davejh666 said:
So, as above, I am going to charge at BP Pulse, which is also free for me, still have to put it on for the same amount of time and take up a charging station for 3/4 of a day/night. Is that okay?
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You say 'free for you' which implies it's included in your lease or something? Which would be different because you're effectively paying for that in the lease, even if it's 'free' at point of use.
 
davejh666 said:
I just don't get it, sorry.

I am a dick for charging my car for free while nobody, literally nobody, else is using the chargers? Okay, I guess that is the general concencous, judging by comments here, I will have to accept it. I just don't see what I am doing 'wrong'.
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How can you not see you are doing something wrong. The charge point although free is paid for probably by Tescos for the convenience of their customers, with the projected usage case being someone that shops there for an hour or so. It isnt provided for someone to charge up their car for the week at their leisure whether its being used by anyone else or not, just so it can save you some money. You are taking the ****, that is the point people are trying to make
 
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davejh666 said:
Yes, it is included in my subscription charge for the car.
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As Kenai says, the BP Pulse case is different. The usage of that is included as part of your subscription whereas the Tesco is free to customers so is a different usage case. The only caveat to that is if the Tescos charger is actually a paid for charger to Tescos customers and its only free to you to use as its part of your subscription and if thats the case then you arent doing anything wrong
 
My local Tesco isn’t 24/7 and the car park is formally closed overnight and a 2 hour limit (not monitored or enforced though) per the signage. There are physical barriers they can close but I have only seen them closed on days the store is actually closed, however I can’t say I frequent the store when it’s formally shut. That’s not to say they couldn’t at their whim close the gates, the signage says they will lock the car park out of hours.

Around my way you’d be lucky to get on one during day time hours now and as they are 7kw chargers for the most part, turnover is very slow. Even into the evening there are still lots of people using them.

As they are pod points, they already have all the infrastructure in place to pull the plug at any time they want but other supermarkets around our way are putting in free chargers which might stop Tesco from pulling the plug for awhile. Aldi just added 4 but that car park is ANPR controlled with a 90 min limit.

That said, it’s pretty clear the intention for these chargers is for people shopping in the store only.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Around my way you’d be lucky to get on one during day time hours now and as they are 7kw chargers for the most part, turnover is very slow
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do they reliably give the 7KW
... the op would be fixed if they they just dropped the charging rate off for anyone hanging around, or imposed a max energy limit, so you have to get out of bed to return and replug.
 
Yes, it’s a 7kw charger that doesn’t share power, very few AC installations. 4 7kw chargers only need a 30kw supply which isn’t exactly beefy for a commercial premises with 3 phase.
 
A time-limited charge system is needed asap. A small ANPR camera looking at each charging bay would be able to charge drivers staying over a prescribed limit (match this to the local car park rules if applicable), and also have a non-charging charge, to stop moron EV owners using the spaces only to park instead of charging.
 
My name is in the email, need to edit

Right, so response from Tesco with my name now edited out:

Dear David (EDIT),


Thank you for contacting Tesco. Firstly I would like to apologise for the delay in responding to your quiery.


Tesco St Neots store closes at midnight. This was introduced in 2020 during Covid restrictions due to staff health and safety. The signage on the Tesco petrol station is incorrect, this is hopefully something we will rectify in the near furutre. Please accept our apologise for any incoveince caused.


With respect to the Pod Point charging points, these are owned and opearted by Pod Point. Tesco accept no ownership or responsibility for these. I can however confirm that the St Neots Tesco Extra store has no car parking restrictions. The chargers are listed on our website as being off at store closing time, but I can confirm that they are accessable 24 hours. With regards to any time limits for the Pod Point chargers I would ask that you contact Pod Point for advise on this as they own and operate the charging facilities.


If you need any further information or help please reply to this message


Thanks again.


Your Sincerley


Nazia


Customer Service Advisor
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So, my understanding is Tesco don't run these EV charging points, Pod Point do and I need to contact them to see if I am doing anything wrong?
 
squerble said:
A time-limited charge system is needed asap. A small ANPR camera looking at each charging bay would be able to charge drivers staying over a prescribed limit (match this to the local car park rules if applicable), and also have a non-charging charge, to stop moron EV owners using the spaces only to park instead of charging.
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Not really, it just needs people to stop being self centred <insert your choice of insult here>, oh wait…. yeh, enforcement is probably needed while chargers are at such a premium.

I arrived at a supercharger yesterday, every stall was in use but one, it wasn’t even ICE’d, someone had parked their Mach-E there and left it. Great.

Luckily the turnover on a 250kw charger is very fast and someone else was was just coming back to their car to leave when I arrived. That said even the supercharger network is creaking at peak times just from the weight of Tesla’s.
 
davejh666 said:
My name is in the email, need to edit

Right, so response from Tesco with my name now edited out:



So, my understanding is Tesco don't run these EV charging points, Pod Point do and I need to contact them to see if I am doing anything wrong?
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Fair play mate, I'd say just go ahead and keep using them
 
chanjy said:
Fair play mate, I'd say just go ahead and keep using them
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Im gonna use the BP one tonight as I have not contacted Pod point yet, I am struggling to find an email address to contact them. The kick back in here was bad so I want to be 100% sure I am doing nothing wrong before I continue to use it.
 
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