Getting the best from charging your EV in the UK - Tesla and Non-Tesla electric vehicles.

#tesla #ev #howto

Following many questions and forum posts, i’ve compiled a summary run-through to charging in the UK and how to get the best from your EV. Maybe you are new to electric vehicles and about to undertake your first EV road trip.

No doubt there are things i’ve missed off, and there will probably be new chargers and options since filming, but hopefully this at least serves as a beginners guide run through of some of the basics. It really is a simple and easy process but there are a few things to be aware of to make your experience as easy as possible and minimise charging time where required.

Tesla CCS adapters explained.
Do you follow the suggestions made by the car?
Destination charging v rapid charging
What is the urinal rule?

If you have extra advice and help you recommend, please add to the comments below. please note, this is UK specific so there will be variances by country.

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[JoeyDND]

As someone who is about to go EV, this video should be shown at every single car dealership.
You are so much more knowledgable than the people actually selling the cars.

[tomattime]

Honestly, the most informative real life, EV channel, superb reviews and advice.

And best of all no bottles of.... . warm lucozade on display!

[JHClassics]

Thanks Richard, really informative video. Best one I have seen out there, that really gives you confidence around switching to EV’s sooner rather than later. Really like the channel. 👍🏻

[ThatMarkGilroy]

Collecting my Model 3 in a few weeks. This was super helpful, thanks!

[SirHackaLt.]

‘This isn’t as quick as it should be’… I came across a new owner on the M1 services who couldn’t understand why his MG ZS EV was saying it would take 8 hours to charge.
I showed him the CCS cable he should have been using instead of the 7kw charger he was on.

[jonathantaylor]

Brilliantly informative, as always, Richard - you really go in to such great detail with every video post topic you cover and it's very much appreciated.
And bravo to you, fine sir, for your remarks at 4 minutes in regarding "if you don't need to charge at the supermarket, then don't just do it to get the parking space - leave it for someone who DOES need to"... if only all EV drivers were so considerate...

[djwarren]

Great EV advice as usual from Richard.

[benjaminwarren]

Been looking for exactly this type of video for a while. Brilliant video and some great insight, I really enjoyed it. Also totally agree with other comments, this is one of the top EV channels that I have come across.

[kevinliley]

Another excellent RSEV video with lots of great tips. Recently did a run from the Midlands to West Sussex in my Model 3 Performance with no hassle. Found a supercharger at a hotel with just two stalls courtesy of A Better Routeplanner.

[iainmcintyre]

Really well done video
Doing Edinburgh to Farnborough at the weekend so will get to truly experience the Uk EV charging infrastructure !

[cowslip]

Regarding adapting an older Tesla Model S or X to use CCS: my understanding is that, well as getting the adapter that was shown in the video, you also need Tesla to apply a software tweak. Without that tweak, the navigation deliberately excludes the newer supercharger sites that are CCS only, because it knows you can’t use them. I’m having this done, along with the EMMC warranty replacement, next week, so will update this post if anything to add.

[MrBinabanana]

Brilliant video. Another useful tip is that I often find people who are new to EVs don’t appreciate that with AC charging, the speed is dependent on the charger built in to the car. So people will complain that they are only getting 7kW out of a 22kW AC post and mark the charge point as faulty, but it’s because they only have a single phase 7kW charger built in to their car!

[raymck]

Really good video and loads of very useful information. Thank you so much, we currently offer free charging at our hotel, but unfortunately as electricty prices now become incredibly, expensive we're going to have remove that service, such a shame as I wanted to encourage people to have electric vehicles, it's a real shame the electric companies don't offer some form of subsidy. Keep up the great work and when it's time for me to buy electric, I'm certainly going to give you guys a shout

[bit]

My comment for people thinking to buy an EV is that they are different to "normal" cars. They have different advantages and disadvantages, and if you treat an EV like an ICE you will emphasise the disadvantages and largely miss the advantages. If you are willing to change your thinking a little though, it is quite easy to almost totally mitigate the disadvantages and enjoy the advantages. So charge at home if you can, and if you are away from home don't feel that you have to sit doing nothing at a fast charger for 40 mins every time the car needs charging. Instead book a hotel with chargers if you can (they can be more expensive though), or try to integrate charging with shopping, visiting an attraction or similar. I frequently charge whilst i am walking the dog, and often i look for a free charger to use whilst i am doing it. By adapting the way i think, and planning a little ahead, my car does almost all of it's charging whilst i am doing something i needed to do anyway, and i don't feel at all inconvenienced.

I would also comment that it is strongly recommended to *_not_* use a home 13A socket to charge an EV: They are designed to pull high currents for just a few minutes at a time (boiling a kettle) not several hours. If you habitually use one to charge your car you'll probably end up burning out either the socket or the cable. In Norway where i live it is now effectively illegal to charge from a standard home socket except in an emergency.

[immouk]

We’ve just done a 1663 mile round trip to Scotland with our Tesla Model 3 SR+. Absolutely no problem and we never had to stop for more than 30 min. Normally the car was ready to go on before we finished our break. The tip with the flashing LED indicating how much current the car is drawing is good. I knew about the ‘urinal’ rule but when you get to a Supercharger I never never knew which car is nearly done charging and which one has just started. Now I know, thanks!
Although you said most public chargers are now accepting normal wireless payment cards it is unfortunately not the case for some of the more remote chargers. I needed to charge up before the Isle of Skye but it would not take a normal payment card so I had to use the ChargePlaceScotland app (which I had signed up for but didn’t receive a RFID card for yet). Only problem was that I could not get any reception! In which case an app is useless.

[mattb]

New to the channel and only been driving electric corsa e since September and happy to take any knowledge on board, thankyou

[SMX]

Great review & you have answered many of woes about charging an electric at home, so on & so forth 👍

[brendandonegan]

Thanks again Mr Symons; another comprehensively informative video.

[AutoAbsolute]

I've had a 32amp commando socket installed in the garage for £90 - perfect for the low milage I cover. It charges around 30mph so really quick to put an extra 100m range in.

[stephenclay]

Great video. A lot of good information. My only gripe with some of the rapid chargers are subscriptions or accounts we’re you have to deposit money on said accounts. Why they all don’t have contactless payments beats me.