I had done a reasonable amount of research to know that charging using public chargers was something that was definitely going to be part of the new experience, but could also have the capacity to be something of a challenge at times. But…there was much to learn.
I knew my car had a regular Type-2 socket and also an additional cover that could be removed to take a CCS connector. I also knew enough to know that the roadside/carpark device was a power outlet and that the charger(s) were built into the car. Research had told me that the different outlets had different power ratings and with a phone full of apps and different accounts for charging companies, off I went. I have 5 different charging locations within 5 miles of home, and the closest 2 are about a mile away.
Arriving at my first choice charging station and finding it free and available was great, especially as the car had been delivered almost empty. I quickly found 2 connector options which would fit my car (a Type-2 and a CCS). Whilst I was still sorting myself out and getting my app to work on my phone another driver joined me. He asked which connector I was going to use and, rather naively, I told him to carry on as I had the choice of two. He took the CCS (rated at 50KWh) leaving me with the Type-2 (rated at 22Kwh). I was happy with this. I was in no rush and would take the time to look over the car and read the online manual etc etc.
The app (PodPoint) was fairly easy to navigate as it works out. It used GPS to locate my location, correctly identified the charging unit and then allowed me to start my charge once the cable had been plugged in. It told me that it was ‘charging’ and that was good enough for me. I sat back in the car and started to play and read, quite content that I was going nowhere for the next 30-45 mins.
My new charging buddy arrived back at his vehicle after about 30mins so I took the opportunity to be a bit friendly and say hello. I knew he’d have some experience to pass on and I was eager to learn. I was taken aback by his gratitude for allowing him to use the CCS connector, but thought little else of it. He gave me all the info I needed on the costs of the other local outlets and which got busy, which were unreliable and also the invaluable advice of not using the Tesco free one for more than 2 hours because, although the charging was free, the 2hr limit in the carpark was still in play and an overstay was very expensive!
Greetings and anecdotes exchanged, I returned to focus on my charging. I was somewhat disappointed to find that despite a near-50mins of being connected to the outlet, I had still only added less than 30% to my charge and the calculation was showing that I may be in for a 4hr+ wait to get anything near full. This couldn’t be right. I stopped the charge, swapped to the CCS connector and stood back a little bit surprised and a little bit relieved that the calculated timing were a little closer to what I had been initially expecting (30mins to 80%). But what was going on?
My first lesson in appreciating the difference between an outlet and a charger – remember the charger is in the car! Despite the power rating of the outlet, the charger determines the speed of the charge. My car is capable of recieving a 100KWh charge through CCS and so will fully utilize the 50KWh delivered by this outlet. However, my car is only capable of receiving 7KWh through the Type-2 connector and so even though the outlet could provide 22KWh, my car was still going to take 7hrs+ to fully charge from fully empty! Lesson learned.
My EV and Me 