Electric cars.

The charging cable is part of the charger in the ones I have seen, I think, I doubt half these places have enough power coming in to fit more than a couple of chargers at most without seriously altering the electrics coming to them.

 

I'm not clear how splitter would work. Surely the first person using the charger would be paying for the use. Does the other user of the splitter get it free?
Regarding the power requirements, I was watching a programme about a year ago about the largest recharging station around London. Their problem was that the grid could supply the required power to allow all chargers to be used at their maximum output. If I recall correctly the grid could only provide about 1/3rd of the required power.

 

Many people can and do track their charging from a mobile, and increasingly they will get alerts.

It's generally possible to have more chargepoints if they are slower AC chargepoints - 'destination chargers'
These tend to be 'untethered' - you bring your own cable.

It's rare for people not to unplug and move once they have enough charge from a rapid (DC) charger. There is, in my experience, a great deal of goodwill and co-operation between drivers at rapid chargers.
Rapid chargers are always 'tethered' - the cable is attached to the charger.

Some older DC rapid chargers are 'single headers' - they can only charge 1 vehicle at a time, even though there may be 2 cables.
An increasing number of rapid chargers are 'double headers' - they can charge 2 vehicles at once. Some of them split the available charge between the 2 cars, others are able to charge both at full speed. This depends (I think) largely on the available electricity supply to the site.

Getting enough electricity to a site is a key factor - not a problem in some places (eg; Exeter services), but causing problems in other places (eg; Cornwall services)

 

Yes, you will see people leaving their cars charging for a long time on AC chargepoints, including leaving them plugged in when they're fully charged.
Where it's unusual is on DC rapid chargers.

I was at IKEA the other day and getting a quick top-up for the car battery.
There were 2 cars in the charging bay - one plugged in and charging, the other not plugged in.

The owners of the not plugged in car returned and asked me in a friendly manner if I'd left the note on their car.
I said no, and was the note problematic?
They said no, not at all, the note was an apology from the driver of the now plugged in car explaining that they really really needed a charge, saw that their car was at 99% so they hoped they didn't mind that they had unplugged their car.

I think the people who'd received the note just wanted to reassure whoever had left the note that it was ok, or perhaps to explain or apologize themselves for leaving their car charging longer than is arguably reasonable.

The rate of charge of EV's particularly older ones, slows down considerably as they get towards being 100% full, so it is generally considered good form to unplug when you have enough for your journey, rather than spending ages on the last few percent.

It's actually unusual these days to be able to stop someone else's DC charge, and personally I wish that Gridserve didn't make it so easy to accidentally stop someone else's charge,
There are starting to be some really useful apps, where you can put in how long you're going to be on a charger, and another driver arriving can ping to let you know they're now waiting - I hope this will catch on, and this thread is a useful reminder to me to start using it!

 

It does seem a bit iffy if someone can come along and just unplug your car when it's charging.

 

Are you seriously suggesting that is somebody only needs to travel 50 miles, for example, they should put minimum charge in just to cover that journey. Would they then be expected to do the same for every journey? I wouldn't only half fill a petrol tank so why should I not fully charge a battery?

 

I'm sure the average EV driver has a different mindset from someone with a petrol or diesel powered vehicle.

We still drive a little petrol car, but our children both have EVs. When our daughter visits us from her home in Ireland, she'll make sure she has enough charge for the journey before setting off, and will use her "granny cable" to top up at our house, if necessary, before the return trip.

For our son, it's more complicated, because he comes from eastern England by ferry with 2 small children. It requires forward planning; charging before leaving home, booking a B&B with charging facilities, and working out in advance where to stop in Ireland for a small top-up charge - combined with somewhere to eat, and for the boys to stretch their legs - to get them to our house, where they can fully charge overnight.

 

No, that's a bit of a understandable misunderstanding of what I'm suggesting. What I'm saying is not that we should never charge more than you need for the journey, I'm saying this this is what most people do much of the time, because it's both generally more convenient (bladders are often the determining factor between charging stops!), and if there are people waiting, polite and helpful

The answer to your second question (why not fully charge your battery when you would fully fill your petrol and) is, for many EV drivers, simpler:
-because you can't fill your petrol tank overnight at a really cheap rate at a destination charger at or near your home or destination.

 

Yes - it's a silly design, I don't know why Gridserve still do it that way, I don't think any of the other charging networks do.

 

The grid does, in fact, have capacity in terms of generation. I do agree that where it struggles is in insufficient storage and antiquated distribution.

 

So is the cable locked to you car in some systems and not others?