[iX3 rijder]

I am planning a trip from Hull to John O’Groats to Holyhead for a round trip in Ireland.
Will avoid highways as far as possible. Got plenty of time…..
I have Zap-Map set up with credit card, got my BMW Charging account (card and app) and NewMotion card as backup.

Any advises on better preparations? I read Scotland is “notorious” for dedicated chargers? Or was this old news?

[ggla]

get a chargeplace scotland card as you will need it for the majority of scotland chargers. We also have some ionity, osprey, etc but those might be included in your BMW charging account.

[ggla]

Also what do you mean by notorious?

[iX3 rijder]

Originally Posted by ggla

Also what do you mean by notorious?

Notorious in the sense it is complicated. I found descriptions of people needing very many different means of payment in Scotland. In all honesty I never paid attention on the date of publishing so it could be outdated. But I better come prepared.

[iX3 rijder]

Originally Posted by ggla

get a chargeplace scotland card as you will need it for the majority of scotland chargers. We also have some ionity, osprey, etc but those might be included in your BMW charging account.

Just tried to download the app, not available for me outside UK.

[GDEvans]

Originally Posted by iX3 rijder

Just tried to download the app, not available for me outside UK.

ChargePlace Scotland will allow you to register on their website. So you could access it that way.

[iX3 rijder]

Originally Posted by GDEvans

ChargePlace Scotland will allow you to register on their website. So you could access it that way.

Will try that thx

[iX3 rijder]

Originally Posted by GDEvans

ChargePlace Scotland will allow you to register on their website. So you could access it that way.

Account in place. Can you advise on a Contact Card yes or no? Will contactless be sufficient? (I am starting to get a nice deck of cards over time&#128526

[ggla]

You need the specific ChargePlace Scotland card to enable most of the ChargePlace Scotland chargers (which are mostly free). So you would be best to get that posted out as soon as possible as they don’t work with normal credit or debit cards and starting them via the app hasn’t worked for me recently.

There are a high number of ChargePlace Scotland chargers out of action but zap map will keep you right.

On the main motorways and various major towns you will find InstaVolt/bp/osprey etc some of which work with contactless and some with the bmw solution but the out of the way areas are mainly ChargePlace Scotland.

If you need any more info with a specific place or route just let us know.

[ggla]

Just found this…

Only drivers who have a UK bank account and live in the UK are eligible to order an access card. If you are visiting Scotland and need to start a charge, you can activate chargers via the following link webpay.chargeplacescotland.org.

[GDEvans]

Originally Posted by ggla

Just found this…

Only drivers who have a UK bank account and live in the UK are eligible to order an access card. If you are visiting Scotland and need to start a charge, you can activate chargers via the following link webpay.chargeplacescotland.org.

When you visit that site you get the message:
“Webpay is currently unavailable. Please use an alternative method of payment, such as contactless, app, or an appropriate RFID card.”

[ggla]

I’ve raised it as an issue via my account, will see what they say

[ggla]

The response was: "This will be working next month, this feature is currently under a 2 week development cycle."

[iX3 rijder]

Originally Posted by ggla

Just found this…

Only drivers who have a UK bank account and live in the UK are eligible to order an access card. If you are visiting Scotland and need to start a charge, you can activate chargers via the following link webpay.chargeplacescotland.org.

Yesterday I received my card. It is linked to a (Dutch) credit card.
It seems I would not need the weppay option.

[ggla]

Good news

[iX3 rijder]

Originally Posted by ggla

Good news

Wrap up of my tour through England, Scotland, N Ireland and Ireland.

Scotland is very busy upping its game. Amount of new chargers (i.e. more at old locations, so no gain in coverage) is huge. Frustrating is that they are installed, yet not operational. So there is an “old one” not working (many times defective connectors) flanked by new ones not working (yet). Pitiful.

Chargeplace Scotland card was very useful, worked even in N Ireland. At some locations even charged for free. Thanks! Card is not accepted once in Ireland, but the BMW Charging card works there.

What I do not get is the 45 min max allowed charge time on a lot of the chargers. 45 min on a 50 kW charger is not enough to fill my iX3. Once 45 min have passed, I need to stay away for at least 30 min to be able to reconnect again. Hence a “full fill” will take at least 2 hours. Better is to allow 75/90 min and charge “idle-time” immediately after. Like 1£/min or so. More or less what Tesla does.

All in all a good experience and I recommend the Chargeplace Scotland card/app to all going up north.