Lidl app glitching and taking holding charges with no charge

RainbowsInTheSpray

Talking of private companies, you'd think that some outfit like Ecotricity would get involved with something like charging point installation. I'm aware it's an expensive investment but I think they're missing a trick - the good publicity which could flow from championing the 'clean transition' could see their profile raised massively and their general sign-ups for household supply increase significantly.

I get the impression that UK industry, used to nice little and not so little subsidies from the taxpayer, are waiting this one out, hoping that the government will do all the heavy lifting, after which they will step in and tun the things, creaming off tidy profits, thank you kindly.

I suspect each side is playing for time, hoping the other will blink first.

born_again

Wirbs said:

I’m fully aware of this. There were more charging options when I bought it with the promise of more to come. They’re disappearing instead. I think the fact that the app is taking multiple payments and is holding peoples money is an issue. 

I’m not sure I’d be responding if I had nothing constructive to contribute…..

Which area are you in?

They are not taking money. All they do is ring fence it so it can not be spent elsewhere. 
If you used Pay @ Pump at supermarkets, they do the same only £100. 

Lidl have simply taken over Pod Point on their sites. The original deal they had was up for renewal. Lidl decided that they wanted all the profit from them.
Sainsburys are installing their own chargers & very good ones as well. Kempower 😍
https://smartcharge.co.uk/
Asda will be doing the same.

As of April 1, 2024, there were 59,670 public electric vehicle charging devices in the UK. This includes 11,590 devices with 50kW of power or more, and 35,339 devices with a power rating of 3kW to 8kW

https://www.zap-map.com/ev-stats/how-many-charging-points#

While there are area's with poor infrastructure, as a rule you are never more than 20 miles from a charger. 

born_again

RainbowsInTheSpray said:

Talking of private companies, you'd think that some outfit like Ecotricity would get involved with something like charging point installation. I'm aware it's an expensive investment but I think they're missing a trick - the good publicity which could flow from championing the 'clean transition' could see their profile raised massively and their general sign-ups for household supply increase significantly.

I get the impression that UK industry, used to nice little and not so little subsidies from the taxpayer, are waiting this one out, hoping that the government will do all the heavy lifting, after which they will step in and tun the things, creaming off tidy profits, thank you kindly.

I suspect each side is playing for time, hoping the other will blink first.

The EV charger marketplace has far to many brands. At some point soon quite a few will go belly up as the amount invested from the private lenders, is not paying the returns they expected. With over 40% never using these chargers & @ the prices required to get a return this is inevitable. On average these chargers spend 60% idle. That is a lot of time not making money.

Once supermarkets really step up their game & do the same as they have done to fuel prices. The fun will really start.
 
Our local Sainsburys has them installed & it was cheaper for them as they have the roof covered in Solar & needed no supply upgrades to install them, unlike other sites. But @ 75p kWh to expensive. When 1/4 mile down the road is a set of EvPoint @60p kWh. Which have been in for a while under a different group & far more expensive. Just waiting to see what sainsburys do now.


I would guess at 3 or 4 players at the end with Tesla being the biggest. 

Wirbs

born_again said:

Wirbs said:

I’m fully aware of this. There were more charging options when I bought it with the promise of more to come. They’re disappearing instead. I think the fact that the app is taking multiple payments and is holding peoples money is an issue. 

I’m not sure I’d be responding if I had nothing constructive to contribute…..

Which area are you in?

They are not taking money. All they do is ring fence it so it can not be spent elsewhere. 
If you used Pay @ Pump at supermarkets, they do the same only £100. 

Lidl have simply taken over Pod Point on their sites. The original deal they had was up for renewal. Lidl decided that they wanted all the profit from them.
Sainsburys are installing their own chargers & very good ones as well. Kempower 😍
https://smartcharge.co.uk/
Asda will be doing the same.

As of April 1, 2024, there were 59,670 public electric vehicle charging devices in the UK. This includes 11,590 devices with 50kW of power or more, and 35,339 devices with a power rating of 3kW to 8kW

https://www.zap-map.com/ev-stats/how-many-charging-points#

While there are area's with poor infrastructure, as a rule you are never more than 20 miles from a charger. 

The petrol stations do taking a holding charge but they usually appear straight back in your account. These have taken a day to over a week which isn’t acceptable. There are plenty of slow chargers but nowhere I could leave my car for the amount of time it would take. They’ve replaced the pod point with an older model inexplicably. I’ve managed to get hold of the details for the actual company running it (who isn’t Lidl) and they’ve said they’ll escalate it and investigate so hopefully they’ll sort it. The only other rapid chargers within miles of me are InstaVolt which are very expensive and in McDonald’s car parks so the spaces are often taken.