Category Archives: Ecotricity

Ecotricity ‘hands the baton’ to GRIDSERVE as it acquires the Electric Highway

June 19, 2021Charging, Ecotricity, Electric Cars, GRIDSERVE, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Following the acquisition of a 25% stake in March, GRIDSERVE has now fully taken on Ecotricity’s Electric Highway electric vehicle (EV) charging network.

When it took its initial stake in the network, GRIDSERVE announced it would be replacing all existing Electric Highway chargers, as the existing infrastructure had become outdated in the decade since it was created. In fact, it was ranked the worst public charging network in a survey of Zap-Map users in January, with common complaints including that the chargers are old, poorly maintained and frequently out of service.

GRIDSERVE said it is “ramping up investment” in the network through the replacement works, with the new chargers to feature all the latest advances including contactless payment. Indeed, last month the first high-power charging facility was opened at Moto’s Motorway services at Rugby, with this site featuring 12 350kW chargers.

Speaking to Current± following the initial replacement works being announced, Toddington Harper, CEO of GRIDSERVE, said the company was “moving heaven and earth as fast as possible to get new chargers in place in hopefully every location”.

The Electric Highway offers an 80% charge in half an hour for compatible vehicles

Having now completely handed the network off to GRIDSERVE – who Ecotricity founder Dale Vince described as the “ideal company to hand the baton to” as the network needs an owner with “access to serious funding” – Ecotricity is now able to focus on its core green energy business, with plans to bring forward a series of solar and battery storage projects to be built without government support.

“We’ve reached an interesting point in the electric car revolution, exponential growth is just around the corner, the technology for charging has evolved with one standard and an incredible rate of charging now being possible – using an electric car is almost on a par with using a fossil powered car, where you can just top up once every week or two,” Vince added.

In January, the energy supplier signed a power purchase agreement with Geothermal Engineering, becoming the first UK supplier of geothermal electricity.

It is also looking to expand its Sky Mining facility, a world first carbon capture and storage process that turns atmospheric carbon dioxide into diamonds.

It’s Time to Go Green!

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Government to end Ecotricity’s service station charge point monopoly

March 19, 2021Charging, Ecotricity, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Motoway service station charge points are set for an overhaul as the Government plans to intervene with new legislation to remove monopolies and ensure chargers are reliable and accessible by all.

Ecotricity currently holds an exclusive contract to provide charging provision along the motorway network, but this is set to change according to Transport Minister Rachel Maclean.

Speaking to electrifying.com, she said: “We do believe it will take government investment to ‘charge up’ this market. So we’ve got nearly £1 billion to upgrade those connections at motorway service stations. What we are going to have is at least six high power chargers in every motorway service area by 2023.”

Service level agreements will be put in place to ensure 24/7 customer care and there will be clear pricing information available. If these standards are not met the government says it will use legislation to enforce them.

Rapid Charging Step 1: Access the Rapid Charger (Image: T. Larkum)

The chargers will be available to anyone with a contactless payment card and will be in addition to Tesla units, which are already installed at most service stations. Larger sites will have up to 12 new points providing speeds of up to 350kW.

Maclean added: “We want the private sector to come in and we will take the best commercial offer. Now we have set out our strategy this is an attractive area for investment. This will drive an increase in performance.”

The move has been welcomed by industry experts. RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: “This is great news as charging electric cars at motorway service areas needs to fast, reliable and easy to pay for so drivers can make longer journeys with the minimum of fuss.

“Nothing is more frustrating to an electric car driver than the sight of an out-of-order charge point, so the fact that there will be a commitment to having chargers ‘in service’ will make a big difference. The promise of clear pricing is also important as drivers are used to knowing what they’d be paying before filling up, thanks to petrol price ‘totems’ on forecourts.

“It should also go a long way towards showing would-be EV drivers that ‘range anxiety’ is a thing of the past, further speeding up the switch to electric.”

It’s not just the rapid charging network which will see investment, the Government has also doubled the funding available to councils to improve local charging infrastructure.

It’s Time to Go Green!

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A1 Service

September 24, 2017Blog, BMW, Charging, Ecotricity, Electric Cars, i3, i3 94AhTrevor Larkum

We’ve just had A1 Service from Ecotricity. We’re on our way from home in Northampton to the Skegness Aquarium and charged up at the A1 Services at Peterborough.

We used an Ecotricity CCS rapid charger. There was no queuing and it worked first time.

It was quick, with the i3 fully charged in half the time it took us to have lunch. A1 service!

Next: on to Skegness.

Electric Cars are Getting Too Popular!

August 18, 2017Blog, BMW, Charging, Ecotricity, Electric Cars, i3, i3 94AhTrevor Larkum

As sales of electric cars keep increasing we are seeing more and more of them on the road. That simply reflects the rising demand as everyone now knows they will be transitioning away from fossil-fuel cars.

We saw one result of that today. We’re on our way to Devon on holiday in our i3, and called in at Chieveley Services to charge.

On arriving, there was a Tesla Model S charging at one of the Ecotricity pumps, the one with the CCS connector that the i3 needs. After a brief discussion he kindly agreed to move to the other pump so we could charge.

Once we were charging we went inside for lunch, and I monitored the charging on my phone. As it approached 100% we headed back to it only to find a charging queue for the first time ever!

The Tesla had gone and been replaced by a Nissan Leaf. Waiting to charge were a second Leaf and a Renault ZOE. We moved out of the way for the second Leaf, but the ZOE probably had a half hour wait ahead of it.

This type of situation will probably become increasingly common as more EVs hit the road, at least in the short term. Eventually it is hoped that we’ll see all petrol stations, and perhaps most parking spaces, changed over to be charging points.

Electric Car Charging Networks 1: The Electric Highway

August 4, 2017Away From Home, Blog, Charging, Charging, Ecotricity, Electric Cars, FAQTrevor Larkum

A row of electric cars at a rapid charger station (Image: Ecotricity)

I have previously covered the ins-and-outs of charging your electric car at home using a charge point or a 13 Amp cable:

If you want to charge your car away from home, and can’t get by with a 13 Amp ‘granny cable’, then you will need to join one or more of the national charging networks. That gives you access to the public charging points available around town centres and on the motorway and trunk road systems.

There are a number of sites where you can look up charging points, including:

In an occasional series I will cover the biggest networks: Electric Highway, Polar Network, POD Point and so on. Here we begin with the Electric Highway, created by Ecotricity and now owned and operated by Gridserve.

Electric Highway (Updated for 2022)

Website: Gridserve Electric Highway
Operated by: Gridserve
Online Map: Charge Point Map

Operator’s Description

“Our low-cost, rapid and high power charging infrastructure is reaching every corner of the UK, covering 85% of the UK’s motorway network.

We provide rapid and high powered charging at some of the lowest rates in the UK. Our next generation chargers are supported by renewable energy from our solar farms.”

Our BMW i3 on charge at Corley Services (Image: T. Larkum) — My BMW i3 on charge on an Ecotricity DBT rapid charger at Corley Services (Image: T. Larkum)

Our View

If you join just one network it probably has to be the Electric Highway (EH) as they have a virtual monopoly on charging at motorway service areas (the exception being Tesla with their Superchargers). The good news is that the majority of services now have at least one rapid charger, an increasing number have two and some have even more. So for long distance driving with your electric car you can pretty much get around most of England by charging at motorway services. Coverage outside England (in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and particularly in Wales) is however poor.

The reliability of Ecotricity charge points has historically been quite poor, but this has started to improve since the takeover by Gridserve.

Curiously, apart from at motorway services the majority of EH rapid chargers are in the car parks of IKEA superstores (due to a partnership deal between them – see IKEA Electric Vehicle Charging).

The majority of EH rapid chargers were large white units manufactured by DBT-CEV. These provide DC charging at 50kW for CCS (BMW i3 etc.) and Chademo (e.g. Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi Outlander) connectors, and AC charging at 43kW (Renault ZOE). Typically the first ones installed were ‘single headed’ with just Chademo cables for the Leaf. Later they were ‘double headed’ with the addition of a Type 2 cable for the ZOE. Current installs are ‘triple headed’ with the addition of a CCS cable for the i3 and Hyundai IONIQ.

My Renault ZOE charging at an Ecotricity 22kW medium-fast charger (Image: T. Larkum)

Note that most EVs with a Type 2 connector (not the Leaf or Outlander) can be charged with any rapid through the Type 2 cable but only the ZOE can use it at full power (43kW or 22kW). Some can use it at reduced power (e.g. the i3 can use 11kW) but most will drop down to 7kW, like charging at home. You should use the CCS or Chademo connector for rapid charging, and only use the Type 2 if these aren’t working (it will be much slower).

Before using DBT rapids Ecotricity installed a small number of ‘medium’ chargers providing 22kW. Some of these are still in place and can be seen alongside the DBT ones; again, you should make sure that you understand which charger and cable/connector is most appropriate for your circumstances.

Ecotricity Change Cost Structure of their Rapid Chargers.

July 26, 2017Blog, Charging, Ecotricity, Electric CarsJo

Ecotricity recently changed the cost structure for their rapid chargers. Below is a summary of the letter they sent to their customers explaining the changes.

It is about a year since Ecotrictity introduced ‘charging for charging’ on the Electric Highway, after being free to use for five years. Charging was set at a rate of £6 for 30 minutes, with intention to monitor use and later produce “a more sophisticated approach to charging”.

With that now done a new model has been developed and rolled out, promising to give

“more flexibility and typically lower charging costs across all makes and models”.

The new rates are charged at 17p per unit, which they explain is

“pretty much the rate that people pay at home”

the cost of providing the service is administered via a £3 connection fee for all sessions.

Dale Vince wrote

“In our modelling this will typically lower the cost of charging for all makes and models as well as charge more proportionally for energy taken.”

They have also increased the maximum length of charging sessions to 45 mins, it is hoped this will offer greater flexibility to those customers who need a bit longer to charge up.

For Ecotricity customers there currently is no connection fee, this reflects their opinion that their customers’ energy bills help them build the network.

Those existing Ecotricity customers that benefit from the offer of 52 free charges in a year will continue to benefit from this arrangement until their first anniversary with the company, or their first 52 charges (whichever comes first). After this they will be automatically transferred to the new charging model.

The new rates and process came into effect on 26th June 2017, it is recommended that customers of update their mobile phone app’s to pick up the new tariff changes.

Information Source: Email from Ecotricity

Rapid Charging with an Ecotricity Charge Point – Part 2

July 4, 2017Blog, Charging, Charging, Ecotricity, Electric Cars, FAQTrevor Larkum

Rapid Charging on the Motorway – Completing the Charge

Ecotricity rapid charger with LCD display (Image: T. Larkum) — Ecotricity rapid charger with LCD status display (Image: T. Larkum)

I previously described the process for initialising a charge at an Ecotricity rapid charger, as found at most motorway services. Here I’ll cover the process for monitoring and ending the charge session.

Step-by-Step Guide

12. While the car is charging you will want to monitor it regularly to confirm it is continuing successfully and to see when it has completed. The charge status, the time taken, the amount of electricity used and usually (depending on the car) also the charge level will be shown on the charge point screen.

Rapid charger status screen during charging (Image: T. Larkum)

13. There will also be visual indications on the car, for example the Nissan Leaf has blue lights on the dashboard, the Renault ZOE shows an icon on the driver’s screen, the BMW i3 has an indicator light around the charge socket, etc. However the most convenient monitoring method is via smarthphone, using an app provided by the car manufacturer. You can use this remotely, for example while eating in a services restaurant. Each app functions differently, but they all provide a display of the current charge level. The BMW one can generally be updated on demand (though sometimes requires the app to be killed to achieve this). The Renault one, rather inconveniently, will only update every 30 minutes.

BMW 'i Remote' app display during charging (Image: T. Larkum) — BMW ‘i Remote’ app display during charging (Image: T. Larkum)

14. When you wish to end the charge session you do so first in the Ecotricity app, then follow its instructions.

Ecotricity app display after ending session (Image: T. Larkum)

15. You remove the charge cable from the car and hang it back up on the charge point. Then you notify the Ecotricity app. The app will display the cost of the session (zero if you’re an Ecotricity customer) and the session identification number. You will also usually receive this information soon after by email to your registered address.

Ecotricity app display at end of session (Image: T. Larkum)

16. The session is ended and the rapid charger display will return to its welcome screen.

Ecotricity rapid charger welcome screen (Image: T. Larkum)

Rapid Charging with an Ecotricity Charge Point

May 2, 2017Blog, Charging, Charging, Ecotricity, Electric Cars, FAQTrevor Larkum

Rapid Charging on the Motorway

Once you’ve had an electric car for a short while you’ll want to venture beyond its initial range and you can only do that by charging away from home. The most popular method is to use one of the network of Ecotricity rapid chargers, their ‘Electric Highway‘; there is at least one located at virtually all service stations on the UK motorway network.

In advance you need to have installed the Electric Highway smartphone app (available for Apple and Android devices) and set up an account with Ecotricity to allow you to use it. Ecotricity home customers get 52 free uses per year, otherwise the charge is £6 per half hour charge.

Step-by-Step Guide

Here is your guide to charging your electric car at an Ecotricity rapid charger:

1. On arrival, park up so the required cable can reach the charge socket on your car. Typically that means facing forward if your car has the charge point in the nose (e.g. the Nissan Leaf, Renault ZOE or Kia Soul) but reversing in if the charge point is near the rear (e.g. BMW i3, Mitsubishi Outlander, Hyundai IONIQ or Tesla Model S).

2. Get out of the car and check the screen on the rapid charger to confirm it’s working. Assuming the charge point is not already in use, the rapid charger will show a screen saying ‘Welcome! To charge your car, use the Electric Highway smartphone app’ or ‘Welcome! Select the correct charger for your vehicle’.

Rapid Charging Step 2: Welcome Screen (Image: T. Larkum)

3. Start the Electric Highway app on your phone. If it has been correctly setup it will show your car type at the top. The screen will say ‘What would you like to do?’ with two big green buttons labelled ‘Charge: charge your vehicle now’ and ‘Find pumps: find compatible pumps’.

Rapid Charging Step 3: Choose to Charge (Image: T. Larkum)

4. Press the ‘Charge’ button. The screen will change to say ‘Charging your car’. Press the ‘Get Started’ button.

Rapid Charging Step 4: Get Started (Image: T. Larkum)

5. The screen will change to say ‘To start, scan the pump’s QR code or enter the pump ID’. Here ‘pump’ is Ecotricity’s term for a rapid charge point. For simplicity we’ll choose the latter – press the ‘Enter pump ID manually’ button.

Rapid Charging Step 5: Identify the ‘Pump’ (Image: T. Larkum)

6. This will bring up a box to enter the pump identification number; selecting in this box will bring up your ’phone keyboard. Type in the four digit number as written below the screen on the charge point.

Rapid Charging Step 6: Enter the Pump Number (Image: T. Larkum)

7. The app will look this up and specify the location of the rapid charger with that number. If the number matches your location press ‘YES’.

Rapid Charging Step 7: Identify the Pump Location (Image: T. Larkum)

8. The screen will change to allow you to select the appropriate cable and connector for rapid charging your car. This is essentially straightforward: the Renault ZOE uses AC rapid, the Leaf, Outlander and Kia Soul use CHAdeMO and most others use CCS. You should know the connector type for your car, and the app will also exclude the ones it believes are incompatible. However, you should be aware that most cars can use the AC at low speeds as well as the DC at high speeds and so you may accidentally use AC but find your car charges only very slowly. In other words, use CCS and CHAdeMO in preference to AC unless you have a ZOE.

Rapid Charging Step 8: Select the Connector (Image: T. Larkum)

9. At this point control of the charging moves from the app to the charge point itself. Once initialised the charge point screen will show ‘Connection: connect your vehicle’.

Rapid Charging Step 9: Connect to the Car (Image: T. Larkum)

10. Plug the connector into the car, remembering to remove the secondary dust cover if you have a CCS socket. So long as the car is set to charge (i.e. you don’t have the charge timing override set) the car and charge point will ‘negotiate’ the fast charge they can both support, and charging can begin. The screen will show ‘Initialization: Please wait whilst your vehicle connects to the charge point’ and will highlight the charge point going through a number of check steps: Start communication, Isolation check, Precharging, Charging.

Rapid Charging Step 10: Initialization (Image: T. Larkum)

11. At this point charging starts, and you can usually hear the distinctive high pitched whine of rapid charging underway.

Rapid Charging Step 11: Car is Charging (Image: T. Larkum)

Monitoring the charge progress, and ending the charging session, are covered in Part 2.

In Praise of the Ecotricity Charging Network

April 4, 2017Blog, BMW, Charging, Ecotricity, Electric Cars, i3, i3 94AhTrevor Larkum

Last week I took a bunch of friends to a concert by the progressive rock band Haken. The round trip distance from Northampton to Nottingham was 150 miles. So, even in the new i3, I knew I would need a charge or be constrained to keep my speed low.

With a bit of Googling I settled on parking at the Victoria shopping centre as it had a charge point. On arriving we plugged in and I started a charge using an old Plugged in Midlands card.

The concert was great and Haken were in fine form. However afterwards we returned to the car to find the charge had failed. Unfortunately I hadn’t been able to monitor its progress on my smartphone as the location had no signal.

So we went to Plan B and stopped off on the way back at Donnington Services to top up on the Ecotricity rapid charger. Although we might have gotten away with just a ten minute charge, there were signs saying the M1 was closed further south so I gave it a good 20 minutes instead.

After a coffee and a Danish we were on our way. It turned out that it wasn’t just the M1 that was shut but also the main alternative, the A5, so we had to divert a long way out via Rugby.

The i3’s range was more than up to it though and we got home with charge to spare. The trip took place after going to work earlier in the day so the i3 had done 200 miles in a day without trouble. And all for £8.70 in fuel costs (the daytime charging at work in Milton Keynes).

Rapid Charging an Ioniq eMotor?

January 8, 2017Blog, Charging, Ecotricity, Electric Cars, Hyundai, IONIQ ElectricTrevor Heale

Where were we? Ah yes. I have my Ecotricity* Android App and my Chargemaster Polar RFID card. I’m ready for the big leagues. Rapid high current charging here I come. “Gather yourself woman!” I said. “We’re off into the countryside”.

An hour out from Milton Keynes, we’re tootling down the M40 on a misty Saturday afternoon and the Memsahib challenges Satnag to guide us home. Duly programmed Satnag does its thing and Ioniq interrupts proceedings with a message of gloom and disaster.

“You will never see your destination. Doom! Doom again! Woe betide the fool that tries to… ”.

Well that’s what it felt like and now I know what Range Anxiety (RA) can do to a fella. It’s not nice.
The actual message? “You have insufficient charge to reach your destination”. And then as an afterthought “Would you like to know the nearest defibrillator?” or did it say “charge point”? You get how I’m feeling.
Five miles later we arrive at Moto Cherwell Valley. Some semblance of cognition kicks in as I remember that electric charge points aren’t located near the liquid fuels and we play hunt the charge point in the car park.

Look, as evidenced in this image… We won 🙂

We didn’t know yet but something was wrong. Not the process, no, that was fine. Introductions went well:

Phone, App – Say hello to – Charge point.
Charge point – Phone App.

Electronic handshaking takes place. This is so much easier than I expected. “Do you accept the cost?”. I accepted. Grudgingly. I don’t have my free charges yet but £6 is still a bargain.
Found the AC connector. It looked exactly like the one at home (some of you are jumping ahead) and Click! The blue charging lights coming on the App assures me I’ll be told when to come back.

RA sorted, I notice that my back teeth are floating and the cold isn’t helping. Time to get in out of the cold and find the toilets.

Just consider that a moment. Find the toilets.

Why would I have to try to find the toilets? More to the point why would any public place hide the ^%$%ing toilets? I have visited facilities in many service stations. They’ve always been near the entrance and clearly labelled. Moto Cherwell Valley believe otherwise**. Plan accordingly if you stop there.

Mind, body and spirit at ease we look dotingly out of the window at eMotor suckling at the Ecotricity teat. All is well with the world. You know it isn’t but we don’t. Yet.

Let me offer you some simple advice for these times. Bring a book or magazine or something. If it’s going to be a flask and some sandwiches stay in the car so as to avoid being turfed out for not buying anything.

Forty minutes later, I’m feeling concerned. There has been no word from App. We go back to eMotor and the charge lights are off. I’m not concerned any more. We can be on our way and I’ll take App to task later.

In five minutes time I will be talking to a helpful young man (Victor) at ecotricity.

Pre-launch checks show we now have sixteen more miles than what we came in with.
What? Sixteen? One six? Not six zero? Grrrrr at all things electric!
“Breathe” She says. I breathe.
“That cost me six quid!” I breathe again.
“Where’s my phone?” I breathe again.
There’s a number on the charge point if you have any problem.

Turns out that there were two charge points and I parked at the wrong one. You live and learn.

This is for slow charges (Image: T. Heale)

This is for rapid charges (Image: T. Heale)

BTW – The Ioniq eMotor? It is a fantastic machine. Pure pleasure to drive.

Bye for now. I’ll be in touch.

*Yes their logo is ecotricity but I believe in Capitalization for proper nouns.

** Enter building***. Fight through crowd. Pass the hot drinks turn right. Fight through crowd armed with hot drinks and food. Look into the distance on the left side there is a small sign about two thirds of the way down. Small sign with even smaller logos representing the genders.

***If you exit the building to the outdoor seated area the doors open automatically so you can look at you eMotor unobstructed. When you walk back in mind your nose (or other protuberance), the doors do not open of their own accord.