Dealer chargers - can you just turn up & charge?

rocketspocket

Can you just rock up to a dealer & charge your car as i saw that Frank Keanes in Dublin has a 50KW charger sitting outside- what is the etiquette?

whippet

rocketspocket wrote: »

Can you just rock up to a dealer & charge your car as i saw that Frank Keanes in Dublin has a 50KW charger sitting outside- what is the etiquette?

as with anyone else's property if you want to use it ask for permission

BENDYBINN

whippet wrote: »

as with anyone else's property if you want to use it ask for permission

What about the ones on tesco’s property?

whippet

BENDYBINN wrote: »

What about the ones on tesco’s property?

I'm sure you can use them with Tesco's permission ... what does the signage around the chargers at Tesco say?

can I rock up to your gaf and charge my car?

liamog

There's a big difference between the chargers at tesco, branded as eCars and listed on the app, versus the white box chargers installed at the VW dealers.
I use the rule of thumb, if it looks branded and gives a public URL on the front then it's usually for public use.
If it's a blank unit without instructions, then I'd ask for permission.

Gumbo

BENDYBINN wrote: »

What about the ones on tesco’s property?

They are eCars. So prior registration and valid payment details in place. So yes, you can just rock up and charge as they in turn will be charging you.

zg3409

rocketspocket wrote: »

Can you just rock up to a dealer & charge your car as i saw that Frank Keanes in Dublin has a 50KW charger sitting outside- what is the etiquette?

Typically only Nissan dealers offer their public ChaDeMo chargers to the public.
Other dealers have fast and slow chargers but generally staff use only.

Where possible I have listed every one with details on the plugsgare app. I mark them as restricted when they are staff only. You might need to change default options to show restricted chargers.

Some Nissan dealers now charge a fee (see plugshare app for site specific fees)
Other Nissan dealers are only acessible when dealer is open.
Swords Nissan for example installed an extra long cable so charger is acessibke when dealer is closed by parking outside on the grass and stretching the cable. Its quite popular at weekends and many Nissan are listed on the ESB app as third party sites.

I would like more dealers to offer a service, even at a fee, some non Nissan cars fill up at Nissan dealers for free!

Kramer

zg3409 wrote: »

some non Nissan cars fill up at Nissan dealers for free!

Na, no one would be so brazen.................a non-Nissan, Chademo equipped car........?

Wonder what could that be...........anyone?
EML327 gets around........maybe he'll know.......I'll PM him now .

The CCS at my local Audi dealer looked nice & tempting when I drove the etron.............

the_amazing_raisin

When I bought the Leaf the dealer told me that anyone can use the charger there (Windsor Airside) and they could even use it after hours as it was accessible from the road

Now when I say accessible, you had to park perpendicular across the pavement, get the nose of the car as close to the fence as possible. Then step over the fence (it's one of those wooden knee height jobs) and stretch the cable from the charger back to your car

So not exactly designed for public use, more an accident of placement. However I was using it regularly until I got the home charger, and there was often another leaf waiting while I charged. So it's a popular option for some folks, certainly difficult to argue with the price

I guess it's up to the dealer how they want to use it, whether it's for staff, customer or public use. I imagine for example if I turned up at a VW garage with an ID.3 or and E-Golf begging for a quick charge they'll probably say yes. Rocking up with a Tesla however they might say no, it's hard to be sure

the_amazing_raisin

BENDYBINN wrote: »

What about the ones on tesco’s property?

You're paying for those, dealership chargers are generally free to use and don't need any app or RFID card, just plug and charge

Kramer

cruisey1987 wrote: »

I imagine...........Rocking up with a Tesla however they might say no, it's hard to be sure

Be grand with a Tesla...............hit them with a "DYKWIA", while gesturing towards your Tesla.

Privilege :pac:.

Jofspring

It's a pity you can't get a card for your specific brand when you buy the car and just charge for free at that dealer during opening hours. For example, if you have a Nissan, then you rock up with your Nissan card, pop in your reg to confirm what car you have and charge away.

the_amazing_raisin

Jofspring wrote: »

It's a pity you can't get a card for your specific brand when you buy the car and just charge for free at that dealer during opening hours. For example, if you have a Nissan, then you rock up with your Nissan card, pop in your reg to confirm what car you have and charge away.

Another card!? We've got enough already

I suppose since VW give out those We Charge cards they could do something like that

Gumbo

Jofspring wrote: »

It's a pity you can't get a card for your specific brand when you buy the car and just charge for free at that dealer during opening hours. For example, if you have a Nissan, then you rock up with your Nissan card, pop in your reg to confirm what car you have and charge away.

The dealers are normally charging their demo stock so it’s not a good idea.

zg3409

Nissan rolled out their own network at huge cost many years ago at high cost to them and free to customers. This was done to sell cars. Other brands should take note if they want to sell. Tesla Belfast could not get decent chargers at their Belfast site so they abandon their cars at nearby ESB charger for hours, but you can ring dealership and ask them to move!

It is a pity more dealers did not deliberately install their 50+kW chargers where they can be accessed at weekends and when dealership is closed. I know they need them for demo cars, particular at peak demo times like Saturday morning , but it would give customers confidence they won't get stuck even if they were reserved for dealer office hours. I put up some rural dealers own slow chargers such as in Rathdrum County Wicklow, which could work out very handy if stuck with no range to get anywhere else.

We all hoped a proper public network would emerge and we would not have to struggle to fund available charge points, but this is not the case, and won't get any better any time soon.

liamog

zg3409 wrote: »

Nissan rolled out their own network at huge cost many years ago at high cost to them and free to customers. This was done to sell cars. Other brands should take note if they want to sell.

It's called Ionity, and is usually a much more deliberate location than whatever is the local place to sell cars.

Toyotafanboi

We'd always be happy to facilitate this.

You do from time to time get people asking at reception can they use our charger (usually because they are stuck), absolutely no problem is most dealers stance on it, but just let reception know you are using it.

unkel

You work for VW (Frank Keane's Liffey Valley), Toyotafanboi?

slave1

When Nissan rolled out their dealer Chargers they were free for Leaf owners subject to something like 3 charges a week but how could you patrol that.
When Tesla launched in the US/UK they specifically brought out the CHAdeMO adapter to gain access to the Nissan dealer "network", this was their inital public charging solution.
UK dealer "network" was well abused, folks parked on paths to access out of hours chargers etc and now their "network" is redundant given level of public charging choices today

Toyotafanboi

unkel wrote: »

You work for VW (Frank Keane's Liffey Valley), Toyotafanboi?

Not for a few years now, but 100% there'd be no problem pulling in to borrow a charger once they know about it, unless things have changed dramatically.

Only making sure they aren't looking to charge a demo/ workshop car at the same time.