Stafford shops opening - Turning into a boom town?

c0tt0nt0p

Well-Known Forumite
A sensible EV owner would plan for a more suitable location than a McD.
6b85347c9d6c473ec32899fe8fc3704b.jpg
 

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
How many changepoints do they have in Wednesbury?

I think it’s just the one rapid, can’t remember how many it can take on a fast charge but it’s only able to pump a rapid charge into one car at a time I know that much

You also get basically priority parking which is nice, dunno how they keep ICEs from parking there but I’ve never had an issue with people parking and not charging before
 

GNM67

Well-Known Forumite
IKEA give you £6 off when you use a charger too, so you can actually end up spending a negative amount of money charging your car.

Sometimes I’m actually upset when it’s offline and free vending as I don’t have any proof of charging to give them for the discount

IKEA don't do this anymore. When the birmingham store charger was replaced with a new one the discount was stopped.
 

GNM67

Well-Known Forumite
Is it not an Ecotricity one any more then?

Still Ecotricity, or at least it was last time I went (1 or 2 years ago), Ecotricity replaced the old charger with a new one, when that happened IKEA stopped the discount.
 

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
Pretty well sums up Ecotricity.

Yep, but they dominate motorway services because they got in first, despite having some of the worst prices for rapid charging IIRC.

And the owner has the cheek to say Tesla are bad for not sharing their network…
 

Tumble weed

Well-Known Forumite
Whoever has taken on this unit has had a steel shutter installed in the unit, so whatevers moving in isn't going to be a charity shop, or food place.
Disappointingly the old Greggs unit has turned into another vape store :fap::shifty:

Guess it's a little better than an empty unit though.
 

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c0tt0nt0p

Well-Known Forumite
Yep, but they dominate motorway services because they got in first, despite having some of the worst prices for rapid charging IIRC.

And the owner has the cheek to say Tesla are bad for not sharing their network…
Where I work, one of the big motorway service station companies is a customer of mine and we've tried to get our foot in the door for that very thing and haven't come close.
 

joshua

Well-Known Forumite
https://instavolt.co.uk/instavolt-ceo-issues-statement-in-response-to-hmrc-vat-brief-25-may-2021/

InstaVolt CEO issues statement in response to HMRC VAT Brief – 25 May 2021

Today HMRC has released a VAT Brief stating that the standard rate of VAT (20%) will apply to charging electric vehicles (EVs) at public charging points. The Brief also confirms that the ‘de minimis’ provisions – which allow for a reduced rate of VAT of 5% to be charged – does now not apply to public charging. This is extremely disappointing and immediately increases the cost to InstaVolt by 15% which we have to reluctantly pass onto our customers.

Since installing our first rapid charger in 2017 we have revolutionised the public charging experience for drivers. We were the first major network to introduce straightforward pence per kilowatt-hour (kWh) pricing and contactless payment, and put reliability and customer experience at the forefront of our offer. Since 2017 we have stayed true to those principals, and maintained our price of £0.35p/kWh despite the wholesale energy price alone increasing by over 20% over the past four years.

With the announcement today, we have no option but to apply the additional VAT to our base price. Therefore, effective from 10pm on Thursday, 27th May, our price will regrettably increase to £0.40p per kWh. To be clear, InstaVolt will not profit from or retain any of the price increase. The rise is entirely attributable to VAT which will all be passed to HMRC.

Following OFGEM’s announcement of another £300m funding and the Government continuing to champion the transition to an electrified transport network, increasing the cost of charging to EV drivers through VAT just feels wrong. InstaVolt strongly disagrees with HMRC’s disappointing position on this subject. This single move discriminates between the millions of drivers who do not have access to off-road parking and rely solely on public charging, and those who benefit from home charging and the 5% rate that applies to domestic energy bills.

I’d like to reiterate that running an EV is still much cheaper than a petrol or diesel vehicle, with the cost-per-mile of electricity being over 25% cheaper than running a fossil fuel vehicle. InstaVolt, along with others in the industry, has spent millions of pounds over the last five years developing a world-class public charging network to build confidence in the ease of use, reliability and simple access. We hope HMRC recognises this mistake quickly, as taxing EV drivers with no ability to charge at home is not fair.

We will continue to engage with Government to reduce the rate of VAT on public EV charging to 5% in line with domestic energy tariffs, and be assured that if HMRC reverses its position we will immediately reduce our price, as InstaVolt does not want to profiteer from this tax increase and will continue to champion the interests of the consumer. If you want to lend your voice to this effort and support InstaVolt in this, you can write to your local MP and highlight the inequality this VAT position creates. This can only help reverse this disappointing change in the VAT position.

Yours sincerely



Adrian Keen

CEO, InstaVolt
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
https://instavolt.co.uk/instavolt-ceo-issues-statement-in-response-to-hmrc-vat-brief-25-may-2021/

InstaVolt CEO issues statement in response to HMRC VAT Brief – 25 May 2021

Today HMRC has released a VAT Brief stating that the standard rate of VAT (20%) will apply to charging electric vehicles (EVs) at public charging points. The Brief also confirms that the ‘de minimis’ provisions – which allow for a reduced rate of VAT of 5% to be charged – does now not apply to public charging. This is extremely disappointing and immediately increases the cost to InstaVolt by 15% which we have to reluctantly pass onto our customers.

Since installing our first rapid charger in 2017 we have revolutionised the public charging experience for drivers. We were the first major network to introduce straightforward pence per kilowatt-hour (kWh) pricing and contactless payment, and put reliability and customer experience at the forefront of our offer. Since 2017 we have stayed true to those principals, and maintained our price of £0.35p/kWh despite the wholesale energy price alone increasing by over 20% over the past four years.

With the announcement today, we have no option but to apply the additional VAT to our base price. Therefore, effective from 10pm on Thursday, 27th May, our price will regrettably increase to £0.40p per kWh. To be clear, InstaVolt will not profit from or retain any of the price increase. The rise is entirely attributable to VAT which will all be passed to HMRC.

Following OFGEM’s announcement of another £300m funding and the Government continuing to champion the transition to an electrified transport network, increasing the cost of charging to EV drivers through VAT just feels wrong. InstaVolt strongly disagrees with HMRC’s disappointing position on this subject. This single move discriminates between the millions of drivers who do not have access to off-road parking and rely solely on public charging, and those who benefit from home charging and the 5% rate that applies to domestic energy bills.

I’d like to reiterate that running an EV is still much cheaper than a petrol or diesel vehicle, with the cost-per-mile of electricity being over 25% cheaper than running a fossil fuel vehicle. InstaVolt, along with others in the industry, has spent millions of pounds over the last five years developing a world-class public charging network to build confidence in the ease of use, reliability and simple access. We hope HMRC recognises this mistake quickly, as taxing EV drivers with no ability to charge at home is not fair.

We will continue to engage with Government to reduce the rate of VAT on public EV charging to 5% in line with domestic energy tariffs, and be assured that if HMRC reverses its position we will immediately reduce our price, as InstaVolt does not want to profiteer from this tax increase and will continue to champion the interests of the consumer. If you want to lend your voice to this effort and support InstaVolt in this, you can write to your local MP and highlight the inequality this VAT position creates. This can only help reverse this disappointing change in the VAT position.

Yours sincerely



Adrian Keen

CEO, InstaVolt
It was always only a matter of time. The more electricity takes over the market, the more the government will screw us motorists, like they have over petrol and diesel.

Somebody has to pay for politicians fuckups and Civil Service/local government pensions.
 

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
So what's the average increase in pounds and pence for a full charge??

Varies by car, but around 60kWh is fairly common and would be £24.

Of course you’re very unlikely to do a full charge on a battery that size unless you’re doing a long journey. Otherwise you’d charge at home, work, etc
 
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