Tesco free charging.with VW and useful tip with granny charger

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peterg
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Post by peterg »

Quite happy with Octopus Go overnight a few times a week but visited local Tesco superstore and thought I would investigate this free charging deal. Firstly, a sign of the times…..all 4 bays occupied where 6 months ago there was always two or three free. This could turn out to be the biggest challenge for EV users on the road as the months go by I think. Supply and demand and all that. Anyway, got a bay and it seemed as easy as plug in and the Podpoint App does the rest. Only charged for 30 minutes and it seemed to show 6 or 8 miles of charge in this time. So I am left questioning whether the connection is as simple as that or it is just that free electric is at the slower end of slow. Has anyone experienced the Tesco Podpoint saga.?
Second point, parked next to Tesla man who knew all about his kWh, kw, 0 to 60 5 seconds etc etc but in the spirit of the EV brotherhood and sisterhood he took me to his boot to show me his home charger….just a mains lead or granny charger …….however, he has picked up on the fact that if you run a mains lead attached to a caravan or motor home charging lead 16v apparently, the charging time for a granny charger is dramatically reduced and the plug doesn’t get hot. Not one for me but thought I would pass this on.

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Post by Warminster id »

I’ve used Tesco a few times at amesbury while at work, there’s no max stay and even when I’m there for a while the other points are usually available.
I usually get about 25-30 mph so not too bad after 4 hours at work
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Post by bitmanEV »

Be very careful of the max stay as I was stung years ago at an ASDA costing £60 when I charged for about 5 hours over night while sleeping in the car as was underway to Dublin with no Rapids around
Last edited by bitmanEV on Wed Sep 08, 2021 7:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Warminster id »

Before my first charge I enquired about max stay and checked the signage.
But I do agree with you always check before also if I do feel I would be inconveniencing other EV drivers I would not stay so long. It’s one of the biggest complaints on Zap-Map
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Post by Deleted User 192 »

Nobody should rely on freeloading at Tesco, they’re for customers to use while they’re in the store, they’re not “yours”.
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Post by Warminster id »

scott28tt wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:51 pm Nobody should rely on freeloading at Tesco, they’re for customers to use while they’re in the store, they’re not “yours”.
I agree
I usually use the BP pulse charger in Warminster but it’s the only one, and faulty (no ccs available at mo).
I’m hoping they will install a few 7.5 kw chargers instead of a new expensive 50kw charger.
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Post by monkeyhanger »

scott28tt wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:51 pm Nobody should rely on freeloading at Tesco, they’re for customers to use while they’re in the store, they’re not “yours”.
With that in mind, and that the amount of juice you'll get on a genuine shop is very low, it does make me wonder why they even bother putting them in. They'd be much more useful if they were higher output (but that would be considerably more expensive). 7.4kWh charger access at places where you're likely to be parked up 2+ hours makes far more sense e.g Park and ride etc.

To be fair, I don't think anyone needs cheap/free slow charging for short duration parking. People without access to home charging need cheap and fast short duration charging.
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Daveion
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Post by Daveion »

scott28tt wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:51 pm Nobody should rely on freeloading at Tesco, they’re for customers to use while they’re in the store, they’re not “yours”.
I agree with not relying on them. The 22kw chargers at our local Tesco rarely work lately.
I don't however see it as freeloading if you do charge there. Tesco made a charger commitment commercially and must have weighed up the wider use of non Tesco customers. I shop 100% online these days with 2 deliveries a week from Tesco.
I do however put my bike in the car, put the car on charge at Tesco and have a long ride down the Thames and local country parks all off peak times.
I would have thought Tesco could have somehow used their Clubcard as a validation for charging as an active customer but chose not to.
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Post by Deleted User 192 »

monkeyhanger wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 9:48 am
scott28tt wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:51 pm Nobody should rely on freeloading at Tesco, they’re for customers to use while they’re in the store, they’re not “yours”.
With that in mind, and that the amount of juice you'll get on a genuine shop is very low, it does make me wonder why they even bother putting them in. They'd be much more useful if they were higher output (but that would be considerably more expensive). 7.4kWh charger access at places where you're likely to be parked up 2+ hours makes far more sense e.g Park and ride etc.

To be fair, I don't think anyone needs cheap/free slow charging for short duration parking. People without access to home charging need cheap and fast short duration charging.

They're part of Tesco's sustainability program: https://www.tescoplc.com/updates/2021/t ... 0-charges/
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Post by Deleted User 192 »

Daveion wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 9:56 am
scott28tt wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:51 pm Nobody should rely on freeloading at Tesco, they’re for customers to use while they’re in the store, they’re not “yours”.
I agree with not relying on them. The 22kw chargers at our local Tesco rarely work lately.
I don't however see it as freeloading if you do charge there. Tesco made a charger commitment commercially and must have weighed up the wider use of non Tesco customers. I shop 100% online these days with 2 deliveries a week from Tesco.
I do however put my bike in the car, put the car on charge at Tesco and have a long ride down the Thames and local country parks all off peak times.
I would have thought Tesco could have somehow used their Clubcard as a validation for charging as an active customer but chose not to.

They're part of their sustainability program, for customers: https://www.tescoplc.com/updates/2021/t ... 0-charges/

Driving to the store JUST to use them doesn't seem to be their intention.
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Utumno
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Post by Utumno »

scott28tt wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 10:00 am
Daveion wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 9:56 am
scott28tt wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:51 pm Nobody should rely on freeloading at Tesco, they’re for customers to use while they’re in the store, they’re not “yours”.
I agree with not relying on them. The 22kw chargers at our local Tesco rarely work lately.
I don't however see it as freeloading if you do charge there. Tesco made a charger commitment commercially and must have weighed up the wider use of non Tesco customers. I shop 100% online these days with 2 deliveries a week from Tesco.
I do however put my bike in the car, put the car on charge at Tesco and have a long ride down the Thames and local country parks all off peak times.
I would have thought Tesco could have somehow used their Clubcard as a validation for charging as an active customer but chose not to.

They're part of their sustainability program, for customers: https://www.tescoplc.com/updates/2021/t ... 0-charges/

Driving to the store JUST to use them doesn't seem to be their intention.

22kW ? The massive Tesco reasonably near us has 4x 7kW points. Hardly worth the hassle of plugging in for the time you're shopping there.
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Post by Daveion »

2 stores near to me have 2 x 22kw chargers each plus 2 x7 kw and 1 50kw that you pay for. The ID3 will only charge at 11kw on AC but its still provides 50 miles/hour and a useful top up from time to time whilst out for a ride.
I thought all Tesco Superstore set ups would be the same!
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Post by Idmania3 »

scott28tt wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:51 pm Nobody should rely on freeloading at Tesco, they’re for customers to use while they’re in the store, they’re not “yours”.
Agree well said scott28tt.
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Post by peterg »

Is this for real ? would you like to see my Tesco receipt ?
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Post by Bromsgroveuser »

Tesco are paying for the electricity so it's only reasonable for them to assume that you are shopping there , not doing so would be like someone pulling up on your driveway and using your charger while they take a rest and have their sandwiches
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Post by Jamh2000 »

Regardless of the issue of whether you should be shopping in Tesco if you use them, I think the 7kw 30min time limited chargers are a gimmick and no real use. Much better is something like the system at the Westgate centre in Oxford, where there must be c100 parking spaces with 7kw chargers and no time limit. Parking is pricey but it’s a day out in Oxford and an example of what other car parks could look like.
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Post by Warminster id »

Oxford are piloting ‘Park and charge’ scheme.
And as I understand it other councils are looking to introduce it.
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Utumno
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Post by Utumno »

Warminster id wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 8:36 pm Oxford are piloting ‘Park and charge’ scheme.
And as I understand it other councils are looking to introduce it.

It's an interesting scheme as far as it goes, but there simply aren't enough chargers going in, and the focus seems less on enabling public overnight charging than mid-speed destination charging that subscribing residents can 'book' overnight. It's a start, but I can't help thinking that providing more, but lower amperage, points in the pilot might have helped residential charging needs better.

For example, the sole pilot currently running for this project is the Cattle Market council car park in central Bicester, which is about 15 minutes by car from us. It's a 200+ space car park and the installation is 6 double-headed posts of 22kW each, so 12 spaces. Not much.

All credit to Oxfordshire County Council though, they're active in multiple projects and trials. Far more interesting to me at least is their GULOW project which is putting a small number of a large variety of public charging points out to try to work out likely charging behaviours. There's a mix of lamppost, dedicated posts, subsidised driveway chargers with booking support for public use and the like in various residential areas of Central Oxford.

Credit to Westgate Centre car park though; 50 charging points in their shopping centre carpark means that EV drivers with deep pockets shopping in Oxford are pretty well served with that destination charging. I personally would like to see more public charging though, not destination charging.
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Post by van »

Agreed, public charging is the challenge with so many people not having off street parking or work charging options.
Our local council recently ran a survey of ev owners to see what interest there might be in having charge points in their car parks. The objective was to see if destination charging would encourage visitors. I tried to point out that it was the visitors they needed to survey, not residents, and that a better question might have been " might you consider buying an ev if local public charging existed?".
Their reply showed my two penn'orth had fallen on deaf ears.
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Post by Utumno »

van wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:08 am Agreed, public charging is the challenge with so many people not having off street parking or work charging options.
Our local council recently ran a survey of ev owners to see what interest there might be in having charge points in their car parks. The objective was to see if destination charging would encourage visitors. I tried to point out that it was the visitors they needed to survey, not residents, and that a better question might have been " might you consider buying an ev if local public charging existed?".
Their reply showed my two penn'orth had fallen on deaf ears.

You can't expect the local council to serve the needs of the residents in this day and age. They need to encourage visitors to prop up the businesses paying business rates.
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