PHEV/EV Charging

The way I read it (and its not at all clear) there are some chargers in the car park, and some on a couple of the service pitches, which can be pre-booked via the office. 

It feels like this is a trial for the club, figuring out which model works best?

I may be alone here but for me yes its down to my personal finances, i have been looking at changing my current diesel car to either a EV or PHEV if its cheaper over say years to buy a run a Diesel then that's the car for me, at the end of the day i am not loaded and i can`t save the planet on my own.

i do however see what Chocolate trees is saying though regarding the amount of electrical items used within a stay for some is way more than others and in that respect i think having metered hook ups on all pitches would be a fair way to go then the EV or PHEV wouldn't be an issue. 

i am interested to see what the club and other sites outside the club do moving forward and they will after act soon as quoted above EV is coming so they need to get the plans sorted.

what will also be interesting is if they go done the line of dedicated charges what will the rate be charged at.

dont quote me but i think they are adding EV charge points to the Clumber Park club site which is closed at the moment.

So your proposed change is not about being personally environmentally friendly. OK, I get that but I suggest you wait a few more years before making any decision by which time things will have moved on and a clearer view of the way ahead will be available. 👍🏻

Planning approval for new or redeveloped sites that have parking places (not pitches) now require ev chargers to be installed. The number of chargers depends on the number of parking spaces in the car park.  This explains the provision of 7kWh chargers at Cayton Village last year, and chargers at those sites under redevelopment this year at Clumber Park, Lady Margaret’s and West Ayton.

Regarding costs. 7kWh public chargers range from free (at Tesco and other retail developments) to 40p/kWh. Some hotels and restaurants also provide free charges for their residents and customers. I’ve been trying to find out how much the 7kWh charges are on Club sites, but no luck.  Has anyone used the ones at Cayton or New Forest and how much are they please?

To put a 50% charge in a typical ev with a 60kW battery will cost between free and £12 at a public charger and take around 4hrs. On a club site using the 13 amp socket in your van will take around 15 hrs and during that time you will only be able to use 1kW for other appliances.  A 2kW kettle or 2kW heater will trip the EHU. Not very practical, so you’ll end up paying £9 to half charge your ev, but have to use your gas (heaven forbid) to keep warm and make a cuppa. The Clubs environmental credentials are questionable at best.

The other point I would make is this. Included in the cost of a pitch with an EHU is an amount to cover the amount of electric used from the 15 amp supply. To charge another £9 on top of the pitch fee to use a particular piece of electrical equipment, in this case a 2.2kW battery charger, sounds like double charging for electric, which I’m sure is illegal. On some sites, in the off peak season, this more than trebles the pitch charge! In November a standard pitch with EHU at White Water park is £4:15, rising to £13:15 if you want to charge your ev or phev!!

Just for info, our Tesla Model 3 will add 10 miles of range per hour when charging via a 13amp domestic socket. Assuming one £9 charge lasted from 6pm until 8am then we would add 140 miles of range. The same distance in a diesel car might cost £20 - £25 so £9 seems fair. We tow an Eriba with no heavy load items on the normal electric supply but free EV charging is a very emotive subject at the moment and I wouldn't expect ICE drivers to subsidise my charging.

As has been mentioned before the charge rate has gone up from £2 to £9. That is 450%.

Totally unjustifiable!!

I am in the process of buying a Skoda Superb PHEV which has a battery size of 13Kwh. I will get an pure electric range of 30 (if I am lucky) from a full battery.

It will charge in 5 hours but if I am forced to pay £9. I would be paying 70kWh. Pretty sure this will be about the most expensive electricity in the whole of the UK.

PHEV cars have smaller batteries and so should pay for how much electricity they NOT a standard rate.

An electric car owner could easier charge from 6pm to 10am next morning and get a healthy increase in charge of 37Kwh (about 2.3kWh per hour standard three pin plug rate) which equals to an increase range of about 100 miles. A reasonable excharge for some.

The club should be working head over heels to support members to move to electric power whether that is fully electric or hybrid. This unfair charge is doing the opposite. Please can all PHEV club members write/email with the aim to force them to reconsider this decision which so so unfair to us.

Totally agree. I posted similar earlier the discussion.  I've filled in the complaint form on the website. Got a fairly standard reply.  More people that do it the better though.  It's a bad policy, unfair and shows their lack of understanding of phevs and evs.

Hybrids will be phased out along with ICE cars. They offer little environmental benefit with considerable additional complexity so I am not sure why the Club should go out of its way to differentiate between EV and PHEV charging. After all, the range when towing is minimal; the main benefit is for short local trips where battery use can be maximised.

£9 for 30 mile range is about the same cost as diesel.

Can we expect wardens to be able to spot the difference between an EV and a PHEV if the pricing was different?

I got a reply from the club. It seems the change was mainly down to complexity of implementation for the wardens. They can’t determine what is an EV and what is a PHEV. Apparently some members were abusing the system, either declaring a PHEV over an EV or not declaring at all. 
The club admitted this is a stop gap, and are looking at longer term solutions including dedicated on site chargers and per pitch meters. 

They have not yet commented on the applicability of the MRP and what that might mean from a legal perspective. I am waiting to hear from Ofgem.