Charging

TESLA INSTALLS WORLD’S 2,000TH SUPERCHARGER STATION

EV maker Tesla — which recently became the world’s most valuable car company — has hit another milestone after installing its 2,000th rapid-charging “Supercharger” site worldwide, and it’s network of 18,000th Superchargers.

The news comes in the week after the company installed its 500th Supercharger in the UK and Ireland. The 150kW system, which is currently exclusive to Tesla drivers, can charge a Tesla’s battery to 80% in around 40 minutes. A new “V3 Supercharger” promises 250kW charging and battery warm-up before arrival at a Supercharger site, which could cut charging times in half, the company says.

Tesla now operates its charging network in 41 countries, 29 of which are in Europe. It’s been six years since the UK’s first Supercharger was installed at London’s Royal Victoria docks, during which time Tesla has introduced the UK to the Model X SUV, the Model 3 saloon with the Model Y compact SUV expected next year.

The Model 3 was the bestselling car in the UK in both April and May, although new car registrations as a whole plummeted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Model Y, Tesla’s fourth mass-production car, has begun deliveries in the US and Canada but has not yet hit the roads of the UK. Tesla is buildig a new factory in Germany – Giga Factory Berlin. It is exoected to produce European and UK models of the 3 and Y some time end of next year.

Despite Tesla’s charging network being available exclusively to Tesla drivers, the network has won plaudits since its introduction — an Auto Express survey in April found that it was the best in the country in terms of charging costs, charging speed, ease of use and reliability. With a good number of Superchargers and “destination chargers” — available at hotels, restaurants and other venues — it is also proving convenient.

Unsurprisingly, the first superchargers sprung up in Los Angeles, Tesla’s physical and spiritual home, back in 2013. More were then added across the east and central US, before installations commenced across Scandinavia, central Europe and the UK in 2014 and 2015. There are now 520 supercharger sites across Europe, and Tesla says that over 1.4bn miles have been delivered to its European customers.

Of those 520 sites and 1.4bn miles, 63 sites and more than 170m miles were accounted for by the UK and Ireland. In 2019 alone Superchargers delivered 60 million miles worth of electricity to customers across the UK and Ireland, which Tesla says, in terms befitting its space-obsessed CEO, is enough to get to the International Space Station and back 100,000 times.

Tesla has been improving its coverage across the UK, recently adding more sites across London and Bristol. The country’s 500th Supercharger, installed last week, is located in Colchester, just off the A12. Tesla is now planning on rolling out further units of its V3 units.

The Tesla chargers make up only a small number of the total charging points available in the UK, however. According to the latest figures from Zap Map, there are now more than 18,600 charging points at 11,634 locations.

Wall St Journal reviews Tesla Model Y.

Model Y in WSJ. Best car in world?

Car Wow add EV charge map

Our friends at Car Wow have added a nice charge point map to their website.

Map is clean and easy to use with no pesky adverts.

See Car Wow – Electric car section / Map/

Works well on mobile and desktop. Plan with desktop and then drive with mobile using directions.

Using a Type 2 to Type 1 adaptor with a Tesla Wall Charger

We have a considerable number of clients who drive a Tesla and have subsequently purchased another pure EV more often than not a Nissan LEAF as a second EV.

With an existing Tesla charger the question we are often asked is how to charge a LEAF with a Type 1 connection from the Type 2 Tesla Wall charger.

T2 – T1 Adaptor

The Type 2 – Type 1 adaptor or converter enables you to charge a Type 1 car like the LEAF version 1 or the Outlander from any single phase Type 2 outlet.

However there are a few points to understand with the Tesla chargers and we have spoken to many different residential and commercial customers about their Tesla charger setup.

These are the key points to bear in mind.

For newer Tesla wall chargers that are bought for domestic purposes, when the wall charger is plugged in, it uses SWCAN to communicate with Teslas (the Leaf does not use this, it uses J1772 signalling). After 30 seconds of being plugged in without any communication via SWCAN the Tesla wall charger will revert to “Legacy” J1772 signalling. Then the LEAF will respond. – So wait 30 seconds for a sign.

For some Tesla charges – specifically those bought as “Tesla only destination chargers” – the switching does not happen automatically as it requires a configuration change.

A Dip Switch needs to be changed in the charger. The manual for the domestic chargers documents this switch as “Switch Position 2: DIP Switch Position 2 should always be in the UP position.” – where the UP position is “Normal (SWCAN) Communication”. On the inside of the wall charger there is a sticker which says “Dip Switch 2 | Function: Communication | Up (ON): Normal | Down (OFF): Legacy* | * Contact Tesla before using this setting”.

The “DOWN” setting will force the wall charger to only use J1772 signalling, and it will not use SWCAN. Tesla vehicles can communicate in J1772 protocol, so with the position set to DOWN both Leaf and Tesla will charge.

Musk tweets Europe will be 100% covered for Supercharging

Tesla Model 3s are expected to land in Europe early in the new year. To increase awareness of the Tesla proprietary supercharging network Elon Musk revealed via Twitter that Tesla is planning a Supercharger expansion that will cover “100 percent of Europe…From Ireland to Kiev, from Norway to Turkey,” he added, in response to a tweet that some parts of Ireland are badly in need of Superchargers.

The automaker started preparing the Model 3 for European markets in November, displaying it in showrooms in various countries across the continent. That time, the company also said that the vehicle’s European version will come equipped with Combined Charging System (CCS) fast charging-compatible ports. In addition, Tesla said it will upgrade its existing Superchargers in the continent with CCS plugs before Model 3 arrives.

If the company plans to retrofit existing Superchargers with Combined Charging System (CCS) plugs, then the new installations might already come with them from the get-go. Since CCS technology is commonly used for EVs in Europe, people wondered whether Tesla intends to open up its network to other companies’ vehicles. Tesla’s head of global charging infrastructure, Drew Bennett, said the company has been talking to other automakers, but there are no concrete plans just yet.

The Combined Charging System (CCS) covers charging electric vehicles using the Combo 1 and Combo 2 connectors at up to 80 or 350 kilowatts respectively. These two connectors are extensions of the Type 1 and Type 2 connectors, with two additional direct current (DC) contacts to allow high-power DC fast charging.

As usual the EV industry is making charging systems and standards as clear as mud. The EC is trying to impose standards for manufactures and charging stations while the industry, especially Tesla is pushing high-speed charging as a proprietary and unique selling points.

Sunday times joins the EV race with review of Best Electric Car in 2018

The Sunday Times asks WHICH IS THE BEST ELECTRIC CAR IN 2018? AUDI E-TRON VS JAGUAR I-PACE VS PORSCHE TAYCAN VS TESLA MODEL X?

On the face a strange question as two of the cars, the Audi and the Porsche are not yet available and the I-Pace is so new that very few people have seen one.

It does lead with:

A new wave of battery-powered luxury models are arriving in Britain’s car showrooms, with the likes of Audi, Jaguar and Porsche joining Tesla in the battle to woo owners of posh cars who are contemplating ditching diesel or parting company with petrol.

California’s Tesla may have led the charge of the upmarket electric car, launching its Model S saloon in 2013, but Britain’s Jaguar has managed to get the head-start on its European rivals, beating them to the market with its recently launched I-Pace pure EV.

Audi will reveal the production version of its e-tron SUV at the end of August, which is likely to appeal to both Q5 and Q7 owners. And Porsche is in the race as it readies the Taycan, its first pure electric car that’s about the size of the Panamera.

Range

For those looking at these EVs, the obvious question is how do the new luxury electric cars compare? Here, we review the specifications of the Audi e-tron, Jaguar I-Pace, Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model X, to help drivers decide which best meets their needs.

Arguably the greatest concern for any driver that’s not owned an electric car before is how far it will travel on a fully charged battery. Distances are improving from earlier, less powerful electric cars like the Nissan Leaf, which would struggle to better 100 miles on a charge, but there’s still the largely misplaced anxiety of running out of battery juice in between charging points when driving an electric-only car.

Charging time

After range anxiety, the next headache for anyone new to electric cars is how long a battery takes to charge. It’s all good being able to travel 300 miles on a single charge, but if you forget or face a long journey it’s good to know how quickly a depleted battery can be replenished at a public charging point, or at work.

Depending on what you’re using to top up the batteries, the charging times will vary considerably. For example, when plugging the car into the regular mains household supply, Jaguar only reckons you’ll get 38 miles of range out of the I-Pace if you leave it charging overnight. That’s why most owners have a 7kW wallbox installed at home or at work, as it will give a full charge overnight, or in 13 hours.

Jaguar says that at a standard charging point at a service station its I-Pace should have 168 miles or so of range after an hour’s charge. Once 100kW-capable charging points are available in the UK, it should also be possible to top up the battery to 90% capacity within 45 minutes.

Tesla’s Model X 75D takes about 11 hours to charge at home with a 7kW wallbox, and 3.5 hours with a public 22kW rapid charger. Switch to a 120kW Supercharger and within 40 minutes it should have 80% charge.

Audi claims that the e-tron will offer 150kW DC charging capability. That means it should charge from empty to 80% in around half an hour, and reach full within 50 minutes, as and when such powerful charges become publicly available – something the company is working on in partnership with BMW, Mercedes, Ford and the rest of the Volkswagen Group, under the guise of the Ionity network. Charge at home, using an 11kW wallbox, and it will take around 8.5 hours for a complete fill.

Porsche has yet to provide comprehensive charging data for the Taycan, saying only that it has the ability to provide a range of 248 miles after 15 minutes. However, as with the Jaguar, the technology that would allow this isn’t yet available in the UK.

With its own Supercharger network Tesla wins the charging infrastructure game by a long way. Tesla operate 1,327 Supercharger Stations with 10,854 Superchargers. Each year, owners receive 400 kWh of free Supercharger credit, enough to drive about 1,000 miles. These credits cover the long distance driving needs of most owners, so road trips can be completely free. Customers who travel beyond the annual credit pay a small fee to Supercharge—only a fraction of the cost of fuel.

Price

Because the Audi and Porsche are not yet on sale, the final price for UK drivers is still to be announced. However, the companies have given guidance on the anticipated cost, with the Audi e-tron likely to start from £60,000 when it is revealed in showroom trim in September, and the Porsche Taycan expected to be around £70,000 – when it finally reaches showrooms early next year.

Rubbing shoulders with both is the Jaguar I-Pace, which costs from £63,495 and reaches £74,445 in top-spec, HSE trim. The Tesla Model X 75D costs from £74,650.

All four cars qualify for the government’s plug-in car grant for zero-emission vehicles, which is worth up to 35% of the price or a maximum of £4500, and would be deducted from the prices listed above.

Read full article at the Sunday Times website:

BP jump into EV charging fuel supply with purchase of Chargemaster

BP has bought the UK’s biggest electric car charging network, in the latest sign of major oil producers addressing the threat that low-carbon vehicles pose to their core business.

The acquisition of Chargemaster, which has more than 6,500 charging points across the country, will begin to result in the deployment of fast chargers at BP’s 1,200 forecourts over the next year.

The deal is understood to be worth £130m and was lauded as a significant milestone towards cleaner motoring in the UK. There are more than 140,000 electric vehicles on the UK’s roads, most of which are plug-in hybrid vehicles that can run for a short distance on battery power before switching to petrol or diesel.

BP estimates the number of electric vehicles will hit 12m by 2040, although some analysts put the figure much higher.

Tufan Erginbilgic, the chief executive of BP’s downstream division, which includes refineries and petrol stations, said:

At BP we believe that fast and convenient charging is critical to support the successful adoption of electric vehicles. Combining BP’s and Chargemaster’s complementary expertise, experience and assets is an important step towards offering fast and ultra-fast charging at BP sites across the UK and to BP becoming the leading provider of energy to low carbon vehicles, on the road or at home.

Erginbilgic said BP was doing more on electric car infrastructure in the UK than any other market, although the firm is also piloting chargers in Germany later this year.

The company said the rebadged BP Chargemaster would prioritise ultra-fast 150KW charging, which can add around 450-600 miles of range per hour of charging. That would mean a car such as Jaguar’s new I-Pace could add about 100 miles in 10 minutes.

Charging a car at home usually takes around six to 12 hours, unless the household has an upgraded charging point.

Bob Dudley, BP’s chief executive, has said the company is finally strong enough financially, after the Deepwater Horizon disaster and oil price slump, to start moving deeper into greener energy.

The £130m paid for Chargemaster is part of the $500m (£382m) the UK-based oil firm has pledged to spend on low-carbon activities and follows a recent return to solar power.

However, it is still a small slice of the total $15-16bn that the company will spend this year.

The foray into electric car infrastructure is much bigger than the one BP made in January, when it invested $5m in the US firm Freewire Technologies. BP’s Anglo-Dutch rival Shell took its first steps into the market last year, installing chargers on its forecourts and buying the Dutch firm New Motion, which has 30,000 charging points in Europe.

Asked if the company could be expected to make further steps into the electric car market, Erginbilgic said: “Yes, but not for the sake of investment; they must be in line with our strategy. I don’t believe the fastest person in this space will succeed.”

Albert Cheung, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said: “Oil majors like BP face a double threat from electric vehicles. They’ll take a hit on oil demand but they’ll also face declining customer traffic at their petrol stations. BP understand the threats and see the opportunity to be part of the EV industry.”

BNEF expects more than half of UK cars to be electric by 2040.

Founded in 2008, Chargemaster runs POLAR, the largest public charging network in the UK. The POLAR network now includes over 6,500 public charging points. The company has over 40,000 customers of its POLAR network, of which an increasing number choose to pay a monthly subscription, and the remainder access on a pay-as-you-go basis. Chargemaster is also a leading supplier of home charging points across the UK and has strong links with car manufacturers, as the charging partner for a number of car brands in the UK.

David Martell, Chief Executive of Chargemaster said “The acquisition of Chargemaster by BP marks a true milestone in the move towards low carbon motoring in the UK. I am truly excited to lead the Chargemaster team into a new era backed by the strength and scale of BP, which will help us maintain our market-leading position and grow the national POLAR charging network to support the large range of exciting new electric vehicles that are coming to market in the next couple of years.”

Upon completion of the transaction, Chargemaster employees will continue to be employed by BP Chargemaster or its subsidiaries. BP Chargemaster will operate as a wholly-owned BP entity.

Chargemaster were considering an IPO and now that BP has pounced a few bankers will need to look for other oportunities.

See BP announcement at BP Press website

Visit Chargemaster at their website

EV bus outlook seems rosy

New Bloomberg report on the use and deployment of Electric Buses makes interesting reading.

Produced by the @BloombergNEF and partners @c40cities  the report paints a positive picture on the rapid adoption of electric buses especially in China.

See the full report

EO Charging installs 40 smart chargers at Gnewt Group’s London base

Our friends at EO Charging have installed 40 EO smart chargers in London for the logistics firm Gnewt Cargo.

Gnewt Cargo, a last-mile city logistics operator that has its main depot in the Bow area of London, has commissioned a total of 63 EO smart chargers, connected by two eoHUBs, to keep its 100% electric fleet of around 100 vehicles on the London streets.

Gnewt Cargo worked with the Mayor of London’s office to develop a successful bid to Innovate UK, which provided a million pounds in funding for the new chargers.

As part of the project, EO Charging unveiled a number of innovations for its charging solutions, including advance load management, priority charging and demand-side response.

“Whilst the Gnewt Cargo fleet is currently unique, we know that this size of EV fleets will become commonplace in cities over the next few years,” said EO founder Charlie Jardine. “We’re fully aligned to [Mayor] Sadiq Khan’s vision of a cleaner, greener London and know that drastic action is required if we are to reduce poisonous emissions by more than half, by 2025, across the city.”

“Gnewt has been through a rapid growth phase, which in turn has put greater focus on the way in which our ever-increasing electric fleet recharges,” said Sam Clarke, founder and Head of Business Development at Gnewt Cargo. “I was impressed by how EO tackled this unique challenge and how the innovative yet cost-effective solution was presented.”

Contact Cables For Charging to learn how you could benefit from an EO based charging system for your EV fleet.

BMW’s plug-in hybrid 530e to get wireless charging

BMW revealed its newest electric vehicle, a plug-in hybrid called the 530e iPerformance. The variant’s options include a forthcoming wireless charging pad, targeting a 2018 release window, which will include a charging pad drivers can install in their garage and drive over to provide a power supply with rates up to 3.2 kW, with a total charging time for refilling the vehicle’s onboard battery of about three and a half hours.

BMW is already showing the wireless pad and its charging capabilities in prototype form, and the system includes visual feedback and instructions for the driver via the in-car infotainment dash display, so that they know when they’ve pulled in for an optimal charging connection. Wireless charging is a big carrot for EVs and hybrids, since it takes away the added mental component involved in remembering to plug your car in once you’re done driving. It seems like a small thing, but it goes against many decades of learned behaviour for most drivers.

The other interesting component here is that BMW is offering its Digital Charging Service for the 530e iPerformance, which intelligently manages charging when plugged in so that the car remains topped off for when it needs to drive. The service also adjusts the planned charging to draw power mostly during off-peak hours, and to prefer power supplied by the customer’s own solar power generation capacity, if they have both that and BMW’s Wallbox Connect dedicated vehicle charging solution.

Getting customers excited about electric vehicles is in part about making sure they see that it’s also not going to change their lives dramatically in terms of their daily routine and how they use their cars. These charging technologies help with that, and wireless charging in particular should be a hit if BMW can deliver it as promised.