Where are the temporary ‘free vend’ chargers listed?

[Goaty]

The other day near Leeds, Ionity charger no. 6 ( ) was free. I only know this because I abandoned using it after 2 minutes due to it barely reaching 30 kWh, and moved to the adjacent one.

When another chap rolled up to ‘bay 6’, I advised him that he might want to use a different one because this one was slow, but he enthusiastically replied “ah yes, but it’s free at the moment”. When I asked him how did he find out about that, he said he “couldn’t possibly reveal his sources” .

When driving back a day later, I plugged into the ‘free’ charger for an hour ( no one else waiting ) and indeed, it seems I have not been charged .

Just wondering then:

A) Is there any type of resource / forum etc where temporary ‘free vends’ are announced?

B) is this stealing, if you ‘know’ a charger is faulty and giving you free energy?

Thanks!

[Goaty]

Ok, well in this particular case, I’ve just noticed that Ionity’s own app says it’s free

[IanEV]

Loving this! Worth the drive to Leeds this afternoon for an impromptu owners club meet at charger number 6

[nat1970]

@goaty zap-map shows all the free chargers on a filter in the maps, but not sure if 'temporary' free chargers are shown on the map. I have only had my car for 5 days, but am going to go this afternoon to a charger listed just to try my first charge away from home.

[RichR]

If they can’t contact the network (eg poor 4G signal) then they can’t transmit card details etc. I guess it’s the decision of the charge point operator as to whether it goes on free bend or disabled when this happens.
Probably at the moment given there aren’t that many charge locations and each operator is trying to establish brand loyalty it’s better to allow people to charge rather than develop a poor opinion of that location and brand.
Once the situation is maybe more like Norway where there are multiple charger operators on larger sites, they’ll be more likely to take the charger out of service rather than lose out on revenue.

So I’d say it’s not stealing as the operator has chosen to allow free usage. They’ll probably be trying to fix it so it usually won’t be for too long, but it takes time to get someone on site if it can’t be done remotely due to a communication issue.

[Goaty]

Loving this! Worth the drive to Leeds this afternoon for an impromptu owners club meet at charger number 6

Despite the Ionity app still saying that No6 is currently free, I was actually charged on Wednesday when I revisited !
Fair enough I suppose, as a week before, I’d squeezed in about 70kWh for free, although I think it’s a bit naughty of them to still show ‘free of charge’ on the app and actually charge someone. I only pay 25p per kWh but some poor soul might end up paying 69p per kWh after believing it to be free.

[Daffo1950]

Has anyone receiving their car after July noticed whether it has this new technology fitted including black box

[Daffo1950]

Sorry if my message appeared slightly ambiguous but I am referring to the mandatory fitment of speed limiters and black box to all new cars after July and retrospective fitting of such to all cars produced this year that has to be completed by 2024

[Lorttrol]

Sorry if my message appeared slightly ambiguous but I am referring to the mandatory fitment of speed limiters and black box to all new cars after July and retrospective fitting of such to all cars produced this year that has to be completed by 2024

Pretty sure most of this stuff has been fitted to cars for years now. We did some studies on the technology in my uni days, we're going back nearly 10 years now. I think the only difference is that its now law to have these devices built in. I dont think any manufactuere is making any extra effort to fit them. As we know the world is driven by data these days so the manufacturerers are collecting as much data as they possibly can and have been for years. Fly By Wire throttles and eletrical engine controls have been fitted for years now so speed limiters are much easier to implement if they havent been already. Its not going to make any difference to how people drive in my opinion, there will be more complications in the event of an accident as the investigators can get the data from the car to see if the breaks were applied, the speed, direction of travel, if seat belts were worn etc etc but thats all down to the lawyers to deal with. Speed limiters can be turned off or over ridden with a positive input on the throttle so I dont see them stopping people speeding or reducing accidents.

[Daffo1950]

Think it is more in-depth than what you are saying , these systems will be automatically triggered by road signs , GPS etc and yes there will be a facility to switch it off but if one is in an accident be it on their head and suffer the consequences and also insurance comes into it so be warned