RAY MASSEY: My charging hell shows why electric has a long way to go

Let’s get something straight. I am not ‘anti EV’, nor a petrolhead Luddite.

I have driven and reviewed dozens of electric cars, and seen them evolve from deathtrap machines like the G-Wiz, to the superbly engineered vehicles of today. I’ve had an electric charger on my driveway for more than a decade.

Cars are no longer the issue – the national charging network is. And the nightmare I recently endured shows it’s still not fit for purpose.

Already late for an appointment, I arrived with 32 miles left on my EV (the exact car is irrelevant), and to save time, decided to recharge on my return that evening.

My sat nav showed a fast-charging BP Pulse station close by. The first machine accepted my credit card, and I connected the cable to my car. But it wouldn’t charge and the card reader would not accept my card again. I tried other cards and chargers. Zilch.

A Good Samaritan came to my aid – Porsche EV specialist Jack Marshall. He explained that the BP Pulse ‘tap’ card readers don’t have an option to enter a PIN – a huge flaw – and after a few taps, the card gets blocked.

Driven to distraction: The nightmare Ray recently endured shows the charging network’s still not fit for purpose.

Ray’s car – sensing he was short of juice – kept re-routing him back to BP Pulse

The first machine accepted Ray’s credit card, but it wouldn’t charge and the card reader would not accept the card again

Jack tried his account card. It was accepted but seconds later, a warning appeared – ‘connector damaged, retry with a different connector’. We did. Many. Each time, more alerts were thrown up. 

After five or six different connectors (we both lost count) we gave up. Only then did I tell him what my job is.

Plan B. Across the way, I spied a car park with slow chargers. But no. It required jumping through multiple hoops to download apps and sign up to pay.

Time for Plan C. I tried via the sat nav to find an alternative charging site. But the car – sensing I was short of juice – kept re-routing me back to BP Pulse. Desperate, I switched off the sat nav and headed into the night.

Entering Warwickshire with just five miles of charge, I pulled into Corley South Services and found a row of Instavolt 125kW DC fast-chargers. Bingo. It worked first time.

An hour and 22 minutes later, I had a 94 per cent charge. But at 89p per kWh, the bill was £62.71 – more than a fill-up of my petrol car and less range.

Ray eventually got to Corley South Services and found a row of Instavolt 125kW DC fast-chargers

When I posted my plight online, initially I received only ‘bot’ replies from BP Pulse.

However, BP Pulse did respond, and said: ‘This isn’t the standard we set for ourselves, and it’s certainly not the experience we want for our customers. 

‘We understand how important it is for EV drivers to rely on our network, and we’re committed to making sure our infrastructure can deliver.

‘We are working to investigate what happened at the NEC that night and will work with our team to do everything we can to ensure all issues are resolved.’

Given my experience, it’s unsurprising to see BP Pulse score so lowly on the latest Zap-Map survey of the best and worst public charging networks. 

In a poll of some 3,700 EV drivers last year, it was rated just 2.2 out of 5. The best – the Tesla Supercharger network – received 4.7 and only GeniePoint (2 stars) scored worse. 

For all the government blether about putting in more chargers, they actually need to work. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander should have a word with new BP Pulse chief executive Martin Thomsen and bang some heads together.

Want people to switch to electric cars? Get the charging network sorted.