Tethered Type 2 Public Charge Points UK

[trichens]

Hi, had a look through the other posts and not found one that answers my question.

There are a few local public charge points that I can use for free when I'm out and about.
But they all have a tethered Type 2 cable so can't plug in.
Can anyone recommend a suitable adaptor to link to the car?
I assume these are available?

Thanks

 

[jdsx]

Hi trichens. I'd be very surprised if they are 'tethered type 2' charge points (I think there are some, but they're very few and far between). Generally speaking, the 'rapid' charge points (i.e. CHAdeMO) always have a tethered cable. 'Fast' charge points are generally 'type 2' (no tethered cable) and you need a 'type 2 to type 1 cable' in order to plug in. These are readily available for about £125-150.

 

[trichens]

Definately tethered cables on all the charging points.

I was hoping that the two "slow" chargers would be just sockets but there's a Type 2, a CCS and a CHAdeMO - part of the Pod Point network - and they are all "hard-wired" into the charging unit with no sockets accessible.

So was looking for a simple Type 2 socket to Type 1 plug. Presumably these should be available from someone?

Can I generally expect public chargers to NOT have a tethered cable if they are not CHAdeMO ?

 

[michael8554]

Hi trichens

Just search for Type 1 to Type 2 cables.

You'll see short adapters and also 5 metre cables.

I've not had my car for long so have yet to come across a free charger

So based on jdsx reply that free chargers don't have tethered cables, you should go for the 5 meter one, about the same price as the short one, the connectors are very pricey and determine the cost.

Ideally if there's such a thing as a free chademo station, that would be the cable to get?

 

[ThudnBlundr]

You should never use an adaptor to convert a type 2 cable to a type 1 socket. They have different safety protocols and pin layouts, so any adaptors sold have to bypass these to make them work. You need to find untethered chargers and purchase a type 1 to type 2 cable.

Or why not simply use the Chademo?

 

[Mitch]

Why not?
A good quality adapter is absolut fine.
Only the typ 2 locking is missing, but typ 1 has no lock at all.

 

[jdsx]

A unit which has CHAdeMO, CCS and Type 2 is a 'rapid' unit, and you should just plug the CHAdeMO tethered lead in to the PHEV's CHAdeMO socket. You will get from 'empty' (in reality somewhere around 30% actual) to 80% in about 25 minutes. There would be no advantage in plugging the tethered type 2 lead, including any adapter if you could find one, into the 'normal' socket.

Some more info from podpoint here:

https://pod-point.com/guides/driver/ev-connector-types-speed

 

[Mitch]

This adapters are for charging points which have only tethered Type 2 cables and are working w/o any issue

 

[trichens]

I don't see why there should be a problem with a Type 2 to Type 1 adaptor that I can plug into a tethered cable with a Type 2 plug.
It's just the same as a "normal" Type 2 to Type 1 apart from having a Type 2 socket to plug into.
In theory it's just lengthening the tethered cable by 300mm or so.

Does anyone have any experience of using one of these?

The nearest public point to me is a 43KW three phase AC Type 2 with tethered cable - is that the wrong charger to be hooking up to?
There's also a 50KW CHAdeMO.

A little further away are two 7KW single phase Type 2 - don't know if they have tethered cable or not.

 

[Craigy]

The problem with adaptors is the resistor reading issue when the evse try’s to find out what current the cable is rated for. However if you’re using the lower current (16a) as this is the highest rate the outlander can charge at it really shouldn’t be an issue, I would consider getting a 32A adaptor to be sure it can’t be overloaded.
It’s quite an expensive thing to buy for the very few times it’s useful though, I stayed at a hotel recently that had a 7kw Tesla charger, one for Tesla, the other was a tethered type 2; Would have been useful there.

 

[Bloggsy]

Hi folks - I'm new to the EV world, so I've been doing some research and found that a lot (possibly the majority?) of public charging points in Scotland are free! You can sign up at 'Charge Your Car' and buy an RFID Card for £20 (per year) which you use at the machine, or download their app from Playstore (for Android mobiles), and register a credit card, and use the app to activate the charging.

Most machines are free, but if you use one that isn't, the cost will be charged to your credit card - it will tell you in the app - and their cables are tethered.

One other thing I've learned today (after using a machine for the first time), if the machine has an AC, DC and Combined Charger you can use the AC charger at the same time as someone else using the DC charger. However, if someone is using the Combined charger, no-one else can connect their car (obviously, if you're using the DC charger, they can't use the Combined charger at the same time).

Apparently, this scheme is funded by the Scottish Government!

Cheers

Bloggsy