My first IONITY Charging experience!

[BigBob]

My second ever charge was at Ionity Beaconsfield. Worked really well even for an absolute novice such as I.

My eldest lad particularly enjoyed the ability to knock back a couple of bacon sandwiches while I "filled the car" ?

In that case, I'm down with the kids!

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[WRC_1S]

To be fair though - you didn’t actually plug the car in. Queued fair enough. It was busy. Tesla can be exactly the same.

But can you condemn the whole shooting match before you actually tried to use it…?

I haven’t. I said my first experience as a customer was crap. I haven’t condemned the whole IONITY network. I was quite excited as to using it having done 10k miles since last july and this being the first time. But it he was broken, another wasn’t working, all were full and other than a one in Berwick there’s none near me. Bit of a pointless network for me. I’ll report back if I ever manage to come across one again in the future.

 

[DJ-UK]

My second ever charge was at Ionity Beaconsfield. Worked really well even for an absolute novice such as I.

My eldest lad particularly enjoyed the ability to knock back a couple of bacon sandwiches while I "filled the car" ?

Seems the double bacon sandwich son is a thing...

 

[Midlifecrisis]

I wish Tewkesbury was my local dealership it was very nicely one and everyone seemed really helpful and wanted to chat. Here is me with my 10 min top up.

They are my local dealership and I generally find them to be very helpful. I can’t compare them to others as I haven’t used any other Porsche dealers but I am happy to recommend Tewkesbury

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Sorry for the slightly random question here. I have only used an Ionity charge station once, 2 weeks ago. It shows in my Porsche app as a transaction but there is no corresponding payment from my credit card. Seems odd… have I had a free charge? Or do they bill at the end of the month?

For the record, despite setting it as a location the battery hadn’t fully heated up. From memory was about 19 degrees. Got 60kW, rose very briefly to 120kW then dropped back to 100kW. Initial SOC was 39% IIRC and I left with about 65% after 16 mins charging. Used the RFID card to start. Beaconsfield charger

 

[tigerbalm]

Or do they bill at the end of the month?

Monthly invoice. Individual invoice and payment taken for each country you charge in. Sometimes I get 11 invoices and payments taken from card in the one month!

 

[ineedanoriginal]

Sorry for the slightly random question here. I have only used an Ionity charge station once, 2 weeks ago. It shows in my Porsche app as a transaction but there is no corresponding payment from my credit card. Seems odd… have I had a free charge? Or do they bill at the end of the month?

For the record, despite setting it as a location the battery hadn’t fully heated up. From memory was about 19 degrees. Got 60kW, rose very briefly to 120kW then dropped back to 100kW. Initial SOC was 39% IIRC and I left with about 65% after 16 mins charging. Used the RFID card to start. Beaconsfield charger

you should get a consolidated bill at the end of the month.

 

[simcity]

you should get a consolidated bill at the end of the month.

Fastned are the same if charging natively through their account rather than through PCS.

 

[smartymarti]

Yesterday I drove from home In Sunderland to Sheffield and back for a team meeting. I had planned to do a quick stop on the way back at the Gridserve fast chargers at Wetherby services on the A1M. Enough to get me home then charge full as I usually do. When I left Sheffield I put home into my Nav and it automatically picked an IONITY charger at junction 45 of the M1. Now after 10,000+ miles of driving I’ve never used a IONITY charger! Living in the NE there are none in any useful location for me.
So I thought why not. There are 6 and the car was showing what I thought was 4 in use. When I got there, one was out of use. All the rest were in use, with one guy giving up saying his wasn’t working. There were 3 people in front of me. So I gave up and went on to Wetherby as planned. Stopped for 15 mins which was enough to put 60 miles on which got me home. First impressions of IONITY is it’s crap and I’ve not missed anything in my 10k miles of driving.
I drive on the A1 North and South M1 the same and the M6 North and South. This is purely observational but there really doesn’t seem to be a noticeable increase in chargers being installed on major routes in the North, and a lot of the established ones are getting on a bit. Sheffield really is about as far south as I drive and Manchester in the west. Anything South of those I train or fly. I am seeing more and more EVs on the road. My IONITY experience yesterday is going to become more frequent if the infrastructure doesn’t catch up. No real point to this post other than a mild whinge . Enjoy your Friday.

try the new jet garage at catterick it’s really good 170kw always no que

 

[WRC_1S]

try the new jet garage at catterick it’s really good 170kw always no que

Thanks mate that’s good to know.

 

[simcity]

try the new jet garage at catterick it’s really good 170kw always no que

Convenient. A shame they’re not on PCS as it’s double the cost.

Edit: I thought there were way more Jet garages with DC chargers (Jet Charge) but apparently there’s only 3 in the entire country ?

https://www.jetlocal.co.uk/drivers/locator

 

[ChrisM]

My experience (incl a 2,700 mile Euro road trip) is that Ionity are the best EV chargers to use when not charging at home - quick, reliable and cheap.
Please don’t get me started on how an OPC can get away with charging you twice as much and why their chargers aren’t accessible out of hours !!!

 

[Throb]

As for Ionity, I tend to prioritise them if I'm travelling but there aren't too many of them, and as the author of this thread stated, they do get busy. I use the one at Cobham Services on the M25 regularly and it can be hit and miss, both in terms of wait times, and then charging speeds. I rarely seem to get above 150kw there, and most of the time it is below 100kw/h. But, the price is phenomenal and therefore I ignore the wait times and poor speeds.

That said, it is frustrating when you see a 6-bay 350kw Ionity station full of cars that can only use up to 100kw/h (and in some cases, much less!). But my wife reminds me that they are as entitled to use it as anyone else, regardless.

Cobham is apparently getting another 6 IONITY chargers installed this year. My worst experience of IONITY was one charge I did at Cobham about a month ago, where I had to queue for twenty minutes, followed by a really slow charge. However, every other IONITY charge I've had at other sites over the last four months have been absolutely flawless. That's in the UK, Germany and Belgium. All very quick, with Plug & Charge working flawlessly. In fact, I've yet to use my Porsche Charging Card.

For the record, despite setting it as a location the battery hadn’t fully heated up. From memory was about 19 degrees. Got 60kW, rose very briefly to 120kW then dropped back to 100kW. Initial SOC was 39% IIRC and I left with about 65% after 16 mins charging. Used the RFID card to start. Beaconsfield charger

If your nav destination is a charging station, the car will not preheat the battery. It will only preheat if it's a stopover. I made that error early on in my Taycan ownership.

 

[Englishtony2002]

Whilst this might be your experience, in almost 3 years of driving the Taycan I have only (almost exclusively) ever used Ionity (admittedly mainly in the South East/Midlands and South West areas). I have very rarely also used BP's services which have been hit & miss.

My experience is completely the opposite to what you are saying - its the best and most reliable charging network I have used. Not only that but, it is truly plug/play. No cards, no faffing about with apps. Turn-up, plug in and walk away - the car takes care of everything including the billing to your Porsche Account. It is also cheaper than any other public charging network (for the first 3 years at least). Unless forced to do so, I will continue to use Ionity because of the experience I have had...

Totally agree, nothing but pure joy with Ionity to this point, the only problem is that are usually very busy.

 

[Englishtony2002]

Cobham is apparently getting another 6 IONITY chargers installed this year. My worst experience of IONITY was one charge I did at Cobham about a month ago, where I had to queue for twenty minutes, followed by a really slow charge. However, every other IONITY charge I've had at other sites over the last four months have been absolutely flawless. That's in the UK, Germany and Belgium. All very quick, with Plug & Charge working flawlessly. In fact, I've yet to use my Porsche Charging Card.





If your nav destination is a charging station, the car will not preheat the battery. It will only preheat if it's a stopover. I made that error early on in my Taycan ownership.

Good to know - thanks.

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