' ecotricity.co.uk blames price-hike on too many Outlander pih' 'The time has come to charge - for charging ... a simple flat free of a fiver for a 20-minute fast-L3-charge strikes the right balance'
% UK Outlander pih can charge at various L2 rates, and at a L3 120A CHAdeMO rate% http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/electric-car-drivers-hit-5-fee-charge-just-20-minutes-1569502 Electric car charging no longer free as fees roll out across UK July 7, 2016 Alistair Charlton [image https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1450271/bmw-i3-electric-car-charging.jpg BMW i3 electric car charging All Ecotricity car chargers will soon impose a £5 fee for 20-minutes' use / IBTimes UK ] Ecotricity to charge £5 for 20 minute battery top-up at all motorway service station chargers. Electric car chargers at UK motorway service station will soon cost £5 for 20 minutes' use, ending drivers' ability to refill electric cars for free. Ecotricity, the company who owns and runs all charging points at motorway service stations, will soon roll out an update to its 3,000 chargers, meaning that they will only work once a driver has paid £5 through a smartphone application. The roll out begins on 11 July and is expected to be completed by 5 August. The allotted 20 minutes of charging is enough to fill most electric cars by around 50%, but the range this gives varies massively depending on the vehicle being charged. While a Nissan Leaf with 24kWh battery pack should get around 75 miles of range, hybrid vehicles will get much less – and in some cases fewer miles of range per pound than if they had refuelled with petrol. For example, a report by Motoring Research claims a 20 minute charge of a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV – a sports utility vehicle with a petrol engine and an electric motor – will top the battery up by 50%, but that is only enough for 15 minutes of driving before the petrol engine kicks in. "Without charging the same distance will cost around £2 in petrol," the website claims, undermining any cost savings the hybrid had when recharging was free. Ecotricity was founded in July 2011 and planned to rid the UK of the electric car's chicken-and-egg problem, whereby no one would buy a car until there was a charging network, and a charging network would not be built until people bought electric cars. But while the electricity comes from wind and solar power, making it effectively free, Ecotricity admits it must start charging to cover the cost of new charge stations being built. "So the time has come," the company told customers in an email, "to charge - for charging. We've taken a lot of feedback from EV drivers in order to arrive at the right pricing model. We've decided that a simple flat free of a fiver for a 20-minute fast-charge strikes the right balance." The fee will not apply to Tesla owners who use the company's own Supercharger network, however the electric-car poster child has also suggested it will start charging drivers to charge in the future. Company CEO Elon Musk said recently that buyers of the upcoming Model 3 will have to pay for a "package" to get Supercharger access. [© 2016 IBTimes] ... http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/ecotricity-charge-£5-20-minutes-electricity-its-charging-points Ecotricity to charge £5 for 20 minutes of electricity from its charging points The majority of the company's 300 charging points are at motorway service stations; drivers will have to use an app to pay to use them 7 July 2016 ... http://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/motorway-electric-car-charging-now-expensive-petrol Ecotricity hits EV drivers with £5 fee for 20 minute charge July 7, 2016 http://i0.wp.com/www.motoringresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/LEAF-CHARGING.jpg http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/consumer-news/96286/plug-in-hybrid-boom-blamed-for-6-ev-charging-fee-on-motorways Plug-in hybrid boom blamed for £6 EV charging fee on motorways 12 Jul, 2016 Martin Saarinen [image http://cdn2.autoexpress.co.uk/sites/autoexpressuk/files/styles/article_main_image/public/0/36//dsc_6806.jpg?itok=Aaq9UObD Kia Soul EV - electric car charging point ] Sole provider of UK motorway EV charging stations, Ecotricity, plans to start charging a £6 flat-fee and blames PHEV cars for it Mitsubishi has hit back against claims the success of its Outlander PHEV is to blame for the recent introduction of a £6 fee for electric car charging on UK’s motorways, calling the move a "retrograde step" for the whole industry. Electric car owners using rapid chargers along the UK’s motorway network will have to pay a £6 flat-fee for a 30 minute charge, after the UK’s sole provider of motorway charging, Ecotricity, decided to start charging motorists who use its 300 strong charger network along UK motorways. Ecotricity initially introduced a £5 charge for a 20-minute charge, but changed it following customer feedback after just a few days. The company blamed plug-in hybrid electric vehicles clogging up the motorway charging points for pure electric vehicles, the company said: “The vast majority of complaints we receive are about PHEVs clogging up chargers. We want to encourage electric car use and if we can do that by discouraging plug-in hybrids from using our network, that’s a good thing.” The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is currently the UK's most popular zero-emissions vehicle, with 11,786 sold in the UK last year alone. The plug-in hybrid electric vehicle uses an electric motor with a range of 32 miles, along with a 2.0-litre petrol engine to boost the range if the battery runs out. Responding to a question on the Outlander PHEV on BBC Radio 4, Ecotricity’s owner Dale Vince said: “It is not designed to be used on electric power for long journeys. It’s designed for running around town on its very small electric battery, filling up at home or at your destination over a period of several hours. It is an inappropriate use of a fast charger at motorway services.” Mitsubishi hits back at Ecotricity Mitsubishi told Auto Express: “We don't understand why the only supplier of charging points in the UK's motorway services would want to deter the drivers of the UK's most popular zero emission capable vehicle from charging. “In a growing sector, with a diversity of pure-electric vehicles and plug-in electric vehicles, we believe that consumers should have a choice. A reasonable nationwide strategy would be to have the same charging facilities to match everyone’s requirements." Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV - front "This announcement is more than disappointing - it seems to be a retrograde step not just for us but for the whole industry”. What does the new charge mean for EV owners? Most plug-in hybrids and EVs will now see about 80 per cent of their battery charged in half an hour. The switch to charging will be manually implemented at all charging points, with work starting on 11 July and expected to be completed by Friday 5 August. Tesla owners using Tesla’s own Supercharger network won’t incur the charge, although owners of the upcoming Model 3 will be required to pay to access the network in the future, according to statements made by Tesla Motors CEO, Elon Musk. The latest figures show there are nearly 60,000 electric cars on UK roads, with registrations up 23 per cent on the previous year. The surge in sales has experts predicting that the Government targets to see all new cars sold by 2040 using electric power will be met. In an e-mail to its users, Ecotricity said: “The combination of more cars on the road and faster charging means we’re now delivering two million miles of clean driving each month – all powered from the wind and sun. That’s a great result. It’s also a growing cost. And to keep pace with demand, we need to build more electricity pumps – at existing and new locations. “So the time has come for us to charge – for charging. We’ve taken a lot of feedback from EV drivers in order to arrive at the right pricing model.” [© Dennis Publishing] ... http://www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk/outlander/charging.aspx ... a complete charge taking just 9.8KWh* of electricity and an EV range of up to 32 miles ... DC Charging All Outlander PHEVs are supplied with a DC rapid charging socket which can be used at the many [L3] CHAdeMO charging stations across the UK ... Rapid charging allows for an 80% charge in approximately 30 mins ... Charging times and current details for the PHEV: Type Current Amperage Duration (approx) 3 Pin Domestic Socket AC 10A 5 hours EV Charger AC 16A-32A* 3.5 hours Rapid EV Charger DC 125A 80% in 30mins ... https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/news/news-archive/2016/major-changes-in-electric-highway-as-revolution-continues-at-pace ... A rapid [L3] charge of up to twenty minutes will cost £5 ... while the [L2] network will remain free for Ecotricity domestic energy customers ... ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_ain%27t_no_such_thing_as_a_free_lunch no free lunch http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/free-lunch.asp http://www.rickackerman.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Free-lunch.jpg For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Ecotricity-ends-free-L3-lunch-5-6-45-20min-pih-boom-blamed-L2-still-free-tp4682910.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
