As someone who is about to go EV, this video should be shown at every single car dealership. You are so much more knowledgable than the people actually selling the cars.

Honestly, the most informative real life, EV channel, superb reviews and advice. And best of all no bottles of.... . warm lucozade on display!

Thanks Richard, really informative video. Best one I have seen out there, that really gives you confidence around switching to EV’s sooner rather than later. Really like the channel. 👍🏻

Brilliantly informative, as always, Richard - you really go in to such great detail with every video post topic you cover and it's very much appreciated. And bravo to you, fine sir, for your remarks at 4 minutes in regarding "if you don't need to charge at the supermarket, then don't just do it to get the parking space - leave it for someone who DOES need to"... if only all EV drivers were so considerate...

Been looking for exactly this type of video for a while. Brilliant video and some great insight, I really enjoyed it. Also totally agree with other comments, this is one of the top EV channels that I have come across.

‘This isn’t as quick as it should be’… I came across a new owner on the M1 services who couldn’t understand why his MG ZS EV was saying it would take 8 hours to charge. I showed him the CCS cable he should have been using instead of the 7kw charger he was on.

Another excellent RSEV video with lots of great tips. Recently did a run from the Midlands to West Sussex in my Model 3 Performance with no hassle. Found a supercharger at a hotel with just two stalls courtesy of A Better Routeplanner.

Really well done video Doing Edinburgh to Farnborough at the weekend so will get to truly experience the Uk EV charging infrastructure !

My comment for people thinking to buy an EV is that they are different to "normal" cars. They have different advantages and disadvantages, and if you treat an EV like an ICE you will emphasise the disadvantages and largely miss the advantages. If you are willing to change your thinking a little though, it is quite easy to almost totally mitigate the disadvantages and enjoy the advantages. So charge at home if you can, and if you are away from home don't feel that you have to sit doing nothing at a fast charger for 40 mins every time the car needs charging. Instead book a hotel with chargers if you can (they can be more expensive though), or try to integrate charging with shopping, visiting an attraction or similar. I frequently charge whilst i am walking the dog, and often i look for a free charger to use whilst i am doing it. By adapting the way i think, and planning a little ahead, my car does almost all of it's charging whilst i am doing something i needed to do anyway, and i don't feel at all inconvenienced. I would also comment that it is strongly recommended to *_not_* use a home 13A socket to charge an EV: They are designed to pull high currents for just a few minutes at a time (boiling a kettle) not several hours. If you habitually use one to charge your car you'll probably end up burning out either the socket or the cable. In Norway where i live it is now effectively illegal to charge from a standard home socket except in an emergency.

We’ve just done a 1663 mile round trip to Scotland with our Tesla Model 3 SR+. Absolutely no problem and we never had to stop for more than 30 min. Normally the car was ready to go on before we finished our break. The tip with the flashing LED indicating how much current the car is drawing is good. I knew about the ‘urinal’ rule but when you get to a Supercharger I never never knew which car is nearly done charging and which one has just started. Now I know, thanks! Although you said most public chargers are now accepting normal wireless payment cards it is unfortunately not the case for some of the more remote chargers. I needed to charge up before the Isle of Skye but it would not take a normal payment card so I had to use the ChargePlaceScotland app (which I had signed up for but didn’t receive a RFID card for yet). Only problem was that I could not get any reception! In which case an app is useless.

Brilliant video. Another useful tip is that I often find people who are new to EVs don’t appreciate that with AC charging, the speed is dependent on the charger built in to the car. So people will complain that they are only getting 7kW out of a 22kW AC post and mark the charge point as faulty, but it’s because they only have a single phase 7kW charger built in to their car!

Really good video and loads of very useful information. Thank you so much, we currently offer free charging at our hotel, but unfortunately as electricty prices now become incredibly, expensive we're going to have remove that service, such a shame as I wanted to encourage people to have electric vehicles, it's a real shame the electric companies don't offer some form of subsidy. Keep up the great work and when it's time for me to buy electric, I'm certainly going to give you guys a shout

Regarding adapting an older Tesla Model S or X to use CCS: my understanding is that, well as getting the adapter that was shown in the video, you also need Tesla to apply a software tweak. Without that tweak, the navigation deliberately excludes the newer supercharger sites that are CCS only, because it knows you can’t use them. I’m having this done, along with the EMMC warranty replacement, next week, so will update this post if anything to add.

Great review & you have answered many of woes about charging an electric at home, so on & so forth 👍

Great EV advice as usual from Richard.

Collecting my Model 3 in a few weeks. This was super helpful, thanks!

I've had a 32amp commando socket installed in the garage for £90 - perfect for the low milage I cover. It charges around 30mph so really quick to put an extra 100m range in.

Breaking the 80% rule seems to be the biggest issue these days - if you hit 80% plus and someone turns up to charge, move on a let them get some juice.

New to the channel and only been driving electric corsa e since September and happy to take any knowledge on board,thankyou

Great video. A lot of good information. My only gripe with some of the rapid chargers are subscriptions or accounts we’re you have to deposit money on said accounts. Why they all don’t have contactless payments beats me.

Thanks again Mr Symons; another comprehensively informative video.

Really useful, thanks. Only just got my first EV (company Tesla) so great to be able to learn from your experience.

Another very useful video which should help those thinking of making the change to an EV. If you’re retired or work for significant periods at home , charging from a domestic 3 pin plug could be all you need. If like me you have solar panels it makes sense to charge slowly during daylight hours so it can be predominantly or entirely free.

Excellent video - it would be great to have another video detailing pricing given the upcoming VAT changes. I’m in a cheap Leaf waiting for my Taycan so the more info the better please!

Picking up my Model 3 LR on Thursday - optimally timed video!!

Re: Hotels with chargers. I recommend the Carrington Arms in Moulsoe. 3 miles from the M1 Milton Keynes. 6 Tesla destination chargers, 3 are open to any car. Free to use for customers and accomodation and food top class. (I have no links with them)

Very useful video. One of the things I learnt was that different cars have different types of chargers and different charging companies have greatly different price rates. So there's no standardisation and the cowboys can take advantage. I think I'll hold back from buying an EV until they sort that out.

Great informative video. I've been driving electric for 6 years now, so I understand the process, but it is still much more complicated than putting petrol in a car. Ionity is similar to refueling on the motorway - always the highest prices and only in emergency

Great info Richard. Now if only we could grow the charging network a bit mor in Australia :)

Thanks for the initial rule, my Tesla will be here very soon. I did spot you taycan at fully charged earlier in the year. 👍 Whilst I was riding the yellow lemon bus 🤣

Great stuff… SO informative. Pity most dealers aren’t necessarily giving new EV drivers a similar debrief or model-specific ‘how to charge’ knowledge before they take their new car away! I think they’ll need to improve that side of it quickly, and almost certainly will.

Thanks. We are getting so many EVs on the road finding chargers busy.lets hope we get more charging points

Great video Richard. Hotels should have chargers at their car park. Even a 3 pin would help. When we went to the Lake District I couldn’t find any hotel which had chargers. I had to find an Insta Volt station every now and then. It was a bit inconvenient.

Another good video, thanks. Have you or anybody got any knowledge of using the ‘teslatap’ in the UK?

Really interesting facts on charging

is Cornwall the only place we go on holiday it what you seem to be saying Tesla can change the socket on older cars to the new ccs and its not that expensive to get done

Excellent video thank you. I’ve had an i pace 2020 for nearly 2 years now and still cannot understand why it charges so slowly at fast chargers. Today I plugged into a supposed 175kw bp charger but never got above 45kw. I plugged into a gridserve 300kw charger 2 days ago and never got above 77kw. And of course 50kw chargers charge between 30-40kw. It drives me crazy - I only ever charge in public when between 10-70% but even with careful planning spend far longer charging than anticipated because of the slow speeds. Also, never got more than 70kw from an ionity. Lease is up for renewal this summer and I’ve no choice but to go Tesla for some reliability and peace of mind for my long trips!

Thanks for this. Really useful. I've just ordered my 1st Tesla and used your referral link. Hopefully it works.......

Hi, Any suggestions about where offers cheap chargers installation. I've been quoted a minimum £1050 for a home 7Kw charger.

Great video, awesome content, Richard. Could you make a video about sentry mode? What do you recommend using for recording? USB stick? Memory card? What size? How to format it? Thank you!

Many thanks for your videos they are really very smart and helpful

Thanks for mentioning the commando socket. I can't charge at home but I can at my Mum's about a mile away, although because it's not where I live, I wouldn't get the government grant, so I suppose I could just fit (pay an electrician) a 32A commando to charge from? Can't afford much but was thinking of an older Leaf (6.6kwh charger) and any long trips hire a car. I know for the US Model 3's they have to charge at a supercharger or chademo, is there any CCS to Chademo adapters and would this be possible in a Leaf?

At last, someone explaining about not charging over 80%, so much faster on journeys

When my free charging days are over I'll be using a 3 pin, car set to 8 amps, for about 4 hours each afternoon, 32 miles per day added. I don't commute much during the week.

Hi Richard and hi everyone. Next month I will be travelling to the UK from Spain with my new Tesla Model 3 LR. It will be my first time in the UK so I'm very excited. However I have been trying to plan my trips and the charging points for my 10 days in the UK, and I have seen that there are lots of different charging apps... I don't know which one to choose... that's completely insane... I will drive to Scotland too and I need another card to charge there... What should I do? Thanks!

Basic rule of thumb. If it's a tesla it's a real practical option. Anything else? It will be a right pain in the arse if you ever take it on a long journey ie: one charging point and its in use, slow charging points, charging points not working, a different app every time etc.

Should I need to worry about about the exposed ccs ports, when using type 2 cables

Can we get a 2023 version of this video including how much it cost to run a cost roughly to run a car like a taycan if you can’t charge at home cheers

Very interesting, if your charging at home is it best to top up every time you leave your car, overnight etc, or is it best to get down to a low percentage and then to top up, I’m thinking mainly of ease of use and prolonging battery life. I’m a fan of your channel but still undecided on when to go electric, so I’m trying to gleam as much info as I can prior to taking the plunge!

It’s time for an update! Is there a CCS extension cable available for a Non Tesla, so I can extend the cable around the back of my car & so I don’t inconvenience anyone by taking a space up unnecessarily. (My car charges on the rear RH side). Thank you.

Hi, I’m getting a new Tesla in 2 weeks is the reward charging link now out of date? As the link isn’t opening up? Cheers love the vids mate

Focus on people who can’t afford a Tesla or other expensive cars you spoke about here Be more considerate with people who can’t afford the high price cars you mentioned here

Out of date now. The Tesla super chargers are going to open up to everyone soon so this is really good. The chargers you’ve shown one was really misleading. The eo genius (the white charger) is recommended more for fleet management not for a home charger. Why you mentioned that as a home charger in the opener was misleading. Eo Mini is the home charger. The rolec don’t even bother unless you want a building fire eventually the rcds burn out eventually. I recommend Indra or zappi for home charging. The Tesla one isn’t great either

"normally charge from home " people say that a lot .... do you live in the city ? 80% of house/flat in London dont have a garage or driveway ... its on street parking

Well I’ve decided to go to an EV for my first car as a disabled person with no access to a home charger but for how often I’ll actually need to charge for how far I’m likely to actually drive I think I’ll be ok and don’t really mind if the cost is comparable to petrol for the sake of better health for the planet and less guilt I guess I just need to factor in where my nearest free charging is and then lowest cost fast charging is

Just a note on this video for later viewers like myself as of November 2023: Lots of nice chargers popping up in my area... But the cost! Wow.. I have a hybrid, parity with petrol prices for mine right now are around 35p per kWh, most rapid chargers are now priced at 79p per kWh, instavolt are 89p! Some slow chargers are still around 30 - 50p p kWh & Tesla are 45p But seriously.. these prices are unsustainable! It's gonna kill the pure EV market dead.

Really good, informative video. A couple of points though - 60% of Scots live in flats not houses, so home charging's a no-no. You can't get away from the fact that all EV charging takes a lot longer than fuelling a petrol or diesel car - and that, as a result, all EV drivers have range anxiety - I'm afraid I would find that very frustrating. BW.

Very informative clear information. If I was looking for an EV would consider contact RS EV as Richard seems honest about "real world range" etc. Is there any cost difference using the 50kW ove the 100kW ? Is the 50kW cheaper?

Summer holiday Rich? It’s a bit late for that mate 😜

So if your Tesla was stolen the next time it was charged you would know exactly where it is?

Thanks Richard The whole system is a nightmare. Why they allow a jungle if types I do not know. Cables are often too short and contactless impossible

Great video very helpful, I am about to buy my first electric Tesla , which model would you recommend Model 3 or Model S ?

What the best option for 3 phase charging? If you have 100kva transformer at a commercial premises. Can you just plug a Tesla straight into a commercial socket ? Most are 32amp

Great video. Keep them coming 👍

Hello, is it true that you can't travel by ferry with an electric car

excellent please talk a bit clearer on the cost per KW part

We got a long range model 3 and were wondering wether we nedded a Tesla wall charger or just use the included 3 pin plug but we realised we need a wall charger

Great vlog. Very informative.

Hi Richard, I'm not a Tesla owner, but would like to register with Tesla to use the charging network. I have registered an account on the website, and downloaded the app. I had to re-add my details in the app too. I can't add payment in the app, as it gives an error. The front scteen of the app only gives Tesla Car models. There is no option to charge anywhere. I would have thought the app would bring in my card details from the Tesla account I set up in my PC browser??

How do you charge your rental electric car if you are a tourist from Australia, US or Canada? I hear, the European apps will not install on American phones. There is no such problem when you want to pay for gas aka petrol - pull your credit card and swipe.

Newby question. Is there a type 2 to old Tesla adapter available or have most of the old Tesla plugs changed now at super chargers?

Mega informative video, thank you

Excellent video. Thanks.

Hi I just ordered model y and try to click on your link for free charge for new customer but the link doesn't work. Do you have a code I can used please

My local council prohibit home chargers :( - need to use Source network (minimum £3 for 7Kw = 42p/kw, or £6.54 for 11/22kw at 59/29p per kwh or capped overnight at four hours- Ubitricity which is more than 5x the price of home tariff at 24p/kw). And also nearest residents to the two ubtricity lampposts hog them. so the other EV owners usually sit and pounce when free as attempts to make a rota failed. In the end I declined to get an EV this time.

I'm surprised you haven't mentioned anything about 800V architecture EVs of Hyundai Motors group because this is the future They are the fastest charging ones and even Tesla hasn't got this technology yet. Second thing is the battery charge time vs battery capacity. Most of us use home chargers just 4 to 6 hours overnight because of the tariffs and is important to know how many hours will take for a full charge. Tesla and Hyundai, Kia, Genesis are the most efficient EVs today and this is mandatory to know prior to purchase the new car. German, Japanese and French EVs are ages behind but the chinese cars are slowly taking over the market.

Does rapid charging cause battery degradation?

CCS adapter requires a small retrofit on older model s , can't remember the model year when you don't need the retrofit .

How find out which Tesla charger work with none Tesla cars

Unfortunately not everyone can charge from home I am getting the new polestar 2 this week and have to rely on public charging and will be doing well over 100 miles a day any tips for me ?

If you install a Tesla Wall Charger at home…is that charger compatible with charging non Tesla cars?

Really useful. Thanks.

Time to update the video with the new prices and information about Tesco free no longer available but charges now will be incurred etc -

Didn’t the supercharging miles via referral link stop?

excellent. thank you.

Hello guys, Very informative videos. I have a Kia E Niro 4+ and I know it’s always recommended to try to play between 20% and 80%, which means don’t go lower than 20% and don’t charge it over 80%. I am a private hire driver and I have to charge it every evening to keep the car between this state of charge or I can charge it to 100% and charge it every other day. Which way degrade the battery more or which way is best to keep the health of the battery longer? To charge it every from 20% - 80% or to charge it from 3-4% to 100% every 2 days? I would like to mention the car is on hire purchased which means is mine, no lease or pcp, so I would like to have it for as long as possible. Thanks

Excellent info thank you

Great video- thanks.

On the Ionity chargers using the Ionity app, do you start the session on the app first and then plug in or do you still plug in first? I have had issues getting the charging sessions started and have had to call Ionity on a number of a occasions to sort it out.

really helpful - thanks

Great video as usual thanks

When's your next race with Matt?

Note that you have to use the free 1,000 miles within 6 months. Never really had to use it much so had the make special trips to the supercharger. 🥴

I cannot use a plug and socket or key and lock!

Wrap wet towels round the charging cable . . . . Simples!

Useful info and tips.

I don't have a driveway? but I'd love to get an EV, can I charge on the street from my house?

“Home charger in the uk about £350 fitted”. That’s complete nonsense, most installations are at least £1000. I’d be interested to hear how much others paid.

You can also get a Chademo adaptor for Tesla for about £150 on ebay.

The don't charge above 80% bothers me. That's a good amount of miles to not have access to especially on the standard Tesla 3 model which only gives you 250 miles with a 100% charge. I'm a teeny bit sceptical about this though. My hunch is loads of peopel will have been charging to 100% because they know they wont be keeping the car for more than three years. Charging to 80% is about extending battery life.