EV chargepunt? A summer of trying to stay fully charged
Alex Harrison
Energy Partner at Akin | Head of Energy, Renewables & Transition | Co-Head of ESG | Generation & Production, Project Development, M&A, JVs, Financing & Restructuring, Trading & Regulation | Mature & Emerging Markets
I love my EV and charging it at home is usually a breeze but charging it in public, particularly on long journeys or holidays, can flip between a joy and a nightmare.
Over this summer of EV driving, our public and en-route charging experience has seen us:
- driving to watch the cricket, parking, charging, walking 30 minutes to the ground, taking our seats, checking the charging app to find the vehicle has disconnected itself and (after numerous calls to customer services) that charging can only be restarted by removing and re-inserting the chargepoint
- being fined for missing the maximum 90 minute time limit at a chargepoint
- not being fined for missing the maximum 90 minute time limit at a chargepoint, but returning after 85 minutes to EV chargepoint rage from an (understandably) irate driver who had been watching our car trickle charging in the nervy nineties for the last 30 minutes
- hanging around in the car parks of motorway service stations waiting for an EV driver to return to their vehicle to get onto a chargepoint or (worse) to start charging on a chargepoint with 2 cables which only work one at a time
- watching a vehicle charge without issue and then somehow being unable to connect to the same chargepoint (even after generous support from customer services, an over the air reset and multiple physical resets using the emergency stop button)
- driving around on battery fumes looking for a chargepoint to find a number showing online as "in service" that are not yet open to the public or not working
- downloading multiple apps and loading credit (much of it still unused) onto different CPO accounts
- dangling an extension cord out of the window of our holiday rental and feeling guilty about adding the cost of a week’s charging to our host’s electricity bill
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- freeloading power off friends and family (and tripping their fuse)
- bonding with numerous random EV drivers over similar experiences
When public charging does work it’s amazingly simple: no need to visit a petrol station, swift app or contactless access, charging speeds of up to 150kW and a significant cost saving compared to current conventional fuel prices.
Here are my reflections. Chargepoints need to work and not enough of them do, enough of the time. We need accurate live data about when and where chargepoints are available, which isn’t always available or easy to find. Chargepoints need to be easy to use and access – this is already a challenge for mobility impaired users given the height, weight and length of many cables. Contactless app free charging is fabulous. Struggling through different apps, accounts and subscriptions can be frustrating and doesn’t create stickiness or customer loyalty. Ultra-fast charging is essential for long journeys or extended periods away from home. Not being able to pre-book an en-route charging window in advance of arrival is a missing segment in the market.
The above examples don’t make for a great customer experience, but more than that they go to demand risk and the revenue stability, bankability and investibility of the underlying charging infrastructure and business models. CPOs continue to enjoy a quasi-monopolistic position in many geographies and locations. As the market grows, customer experience and brand perception may become a bigger driver of footfall than pure price. CPOs that can offer bolt-on comfort and a unique charging experience can add an advantage with extended dwell times.
The EV charging experience also speaks to the challenges of building a greenfield nationwide clean hydrogen vehicle charging network. Electricity is everywhere and it’s still difficult to over seamless charging at scale.
In a way, I envy the Tesla supercharger network, but I do believe that a diverse and competitive charging landscape will ultimately drive better outcomes.
More and more of us are buying full battery EVs and the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans will end in the UK from 2030 (other than hybrids which are being phased out from 2035). Our charging ecosystem is on an exponential growth curve and the service is improving all the time. For now, the inbetweeners who have followed the early adopters into the EV market will need to get used to riding out a few bumps.
Director/Owner at Serve Legal
1 年My business Serve Legal is looking at auditing EV charging points all around the UK. Our community of young auditors visit pretty much every service station, high street, forecourt etc in the the UK and Ireland and we are building up a set of simple questions which we can then convert into accurate and timely data which I hope can help both companies like InstaVolt and their landlords to keep pace with their performance and delivery. As the UK's No1 Award winning Age Verification business who works for all the big supermarkets, convenience stores, etc we are very confident that we can deliver a great service and be able to help EV charging industry to really deliver a great service
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2 年If only more places used Go Eve's DockChain solution! Even at highway charging locations, it'd help. https://www.goeve.co.uk/
Green.TV I EV SUMMIT I Emobility I Sustainability I EVA England I #GF100
2 年Great insight, thank you, and I hope that your holiday charging experience is markedly improved next year! I’ve done three or four staycations in my electric car with my children. It’s actually been very straight forward, with zero charging issues. Just sharing this to show that it’s not always littered with frustration. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/gill-nowell-b955a531_staycation-electricvehicles-activity-6961030510798069760-HD-k?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=ios_app
Sounds like a nightmare... There is this concept called credit card, and I never quite understood why EV charging providers won't let you simply use your credit/debit card to charge just like one does at a petrol station.
Joint Head of Low Carbon Fuels
2 年Interesting read Alex Harrison. Definitely fits with some of the experience of other EV owners we’ve heard (and my personal experience). The UK Government will be addressing some of these through regulations later this year. It includes opening up chargepoint data, a 99% reliability requirement for rapids of 50kW+ and contactless payment offered at all chargepoints over 7.1kW. It will be good to see the chargepoint industry responding.