I have an electric car on order through work and getting the charge point fitted next week. If you read the promo below from the seller and their response was "the free cable is the one that comes with the car", would that be reasonable?
My feeling is that the one that comes with the car belongs to my employer, and I should be getting my own one with the charger.
No they’re talking tosh that ad is very clear - it comes with a cable. What do the t&cs say?
Ahh wait a minute - is there a difference between ‘connector’ and ‘cable’?
If you pay an extra 75 quid you get a charger with a long cable already fastened to it, but I'm not allowed to have one of those in a listed building - it has to be removed from the charger when not actively in use.
The car does indeed come with a cable, but since they sell for about 150 quid I can see why the leasing company isn't just handing them out. Conversely I would like a spare and don't want to pay that myself!
It comes with a "connector". Is that synonymous with "cable"?
It does say though that the connector is "suitable for the car you ordered" so it is presumably a promotion in tandem with the order? If the car didn't come with a cable and they'd supplied it instead, would you have even thought to complain?
the one that comes with the car belongs to my employer
The one that comes with the car presumably belongs to the hire company, along with the car itself.
If the car didn’t come with a cable and they’d supplied it instead, would you have even thought to complain?
Nope, and that point of view makes perfect sense. 🙂
I would like a spare
Why?
It's a lease car, it's not yours. If it breaks then get on to the leasing company to send you a new one, that's the whole point of a lease car.
(For clarity, I'm not saying that I think you're necessarily right or wrong. I'm just rolling around ideas.)
Ask them to define what an 'untethered connector' is.
To me that's a detachable charge cable, as apposed to a tethered connector, which is a bone detachable charge lead. Reads as though the charge point should come with a lead....
1) Do you really need a spare?
2) The advert suggests you are getting an 'untethered connector' - I have no idea what that is. Business Bullshit Bingo winner.
"Free untethered connector" means a free connector for an untethered lead. It's pretty poorly worded but they are offering to fit a socket to match your car's lead for free, or pay extra for tethered lead.
Wanting a spare and not wanting to pay for it...that doesn't work. If they have said it comes with a cable then you have a cable...there are many things to get worked up about...this probably shouldn't be one of them - you'll get a car that needs charged to be used and you'll get the means to charge it.
Anything above that and you'll be paying unless you can charm someone to do a freebie.
Untethered connector is the same cable that comes with the car.
+ Need it to connect to chargers when away from the house
- Pain to keep getting in and out of the car when carging
Tethered connector is on that is always fixed to the charger.
+ Easy to connect when you get home as it isn't in the boot under a weeks shopping
- Still need an untethered on when away from the house
Many tethered chargers have the cables hidden away from sight when not in use which might help with the 'put away when not in use' clause.
I would read the add as saying the charger comes with it's own cable regardless of whether your car has one or not. My 2nd hand Leaf didn't come with a cable.
“Free untethered connector” means a free connector for an untethered lead. It’s pretty poorly worded but they are offering to fit a socket to match your car’s lead for free, or pay extra for tethered lead.
That's exactly as I read it.
+ Easy to connect when you get home as it isn’t in the boot under a weeks shopping
Or unload the shopping first?
Is 'the offer' for a car + charger? If the advert you posted is just for the charger then yes it's misleading. But if they're talking about a car + charger bundle then it makes complete sense.
It's like a riddle that ad. Really badly worded, no doubt on purpose. Sounds like the person who provided the response didn't really understand the deliberately worded ad. As above, I think they have been sneaky with the word "connector" - with them taking it to mean the socket in reality. Which is bullshit of course because if that wasn't "provided for free" it wouldn't **** work! You'll get a cable in the boot with your new car so whilst it's annoying and poor form by them it's not worth losing sleep over.
Which is bullshit of course because if that wasn’t “provided for free” it wouldn’t **** work!
Arguably I read it to mean they will supply one that fits your car free.
I mean it could have said "free plug " you'd be miffed when it came with one that didn't fit your car......this clarifys they will supply the right one.
Doesn't mention cable at all.
Am I being petulant and unreasonable?
I feel the OP has got off very lightly in this thread...
Reading the Add I would expect the car to come with one lead to charge the car - if I wanted a second lead I would expect to pay for it.
I think petercooke has it - if you were buying the charger separately then yes it should come with a(nother) cable, but it’s all part of the same deal with the car, so taken in that context you only get one cable. Presumably it’s warrantied so you shouldn’t need a spare..
This is the problem with taking things out of context, but it is still poorly worded…
“Free untethered connector” means a free connector for an untethered lead. It’s pretty poorly worded but they are offering to fit a socket to match your car’s lead for free, or pay extra for tethered lead.
This ☝️
I think “connector” means somewhere to plug your cable in to (which should be supplied with your car), a plug socket on the wall.
FWIW I have an EV charge point on my wall with a Type 2 socket on it and I plug my untethered cable in to it. The cable came with the car.
I could have paid extra and had a tethered cable fitted, but then I’ve permanently got a 5m coil of wire attached to my house.
I think “connector” means somewhere to plug your cable in to
Oh. Ohhhh. Now I see. And I feel stupid.
You know that bit about common standards on electric car charging connectors?
Okay, there are two or three but if the charger and car are bundled I would expect the cable to fit at both ends.
I have yet to see an electric car charger adaptor socket and they are unlikely to chop the end off the existing cable and tack on one to fit your car.
I would take the cable out of your car before the charger is fitted and then ask them to show you the 'free' connector they provide.
The earlier comment about getting your shopping out first is correct but you don't want to unload the car, get everything inside and then go back out in the rain to get the cable out of the storage bag, unwind and unkink it and then plug in each end to the charger. Tethered is simply step out of the car and plug it in. Believe me, I have a Leaf with really short battery life and the easier it is to charge at any moment the better.
AFAIK, most, if not all, EV’s and PHEV’s seem to come with a cable, with an appropriate connector at each end, a plug, basically. Charging stations have a permanent cable with a plug, I think, and I would have assumed that a private house installation would have a covered socket the car’s cable plugs into. We have a bunch of charging stations at work, and I’m pretty sure they’re just a socket with a weather-proof cover, relying on each car to have its supplied cable in the booth.
As I have no involvement with making sure any EV’s on site get charged, I’ve paid little attention to the finer details.
Mostly they get used for Teslas on site, but we’ve apparently got an electric British Gas van in storage - (that’s an oxymoron if ever there was one, surely!), and increasing numbers of others, like the Leaf, VW’s, etc., so it’s becoming ever more important to be able to charge the things.
[i]Charging stations have a permanent cable with a plug[/i]
No, a lot of charging stations are basically a plug socket with a meter that you stick your cable into and get charged for the electric you suck out. It is your challenge to have the right connector for the charger port which are mostly standard except for the Tesla ones which no-one else is allowed to use, oh and the proposed Ford/BMW/Peugeout ones that will be rolled out shortly.
The charger provides were worried that all the different car manufacturers would choose different car end connectors so decided it was better if the car provided the cable and connected to the charger. Then the charger manufacturers chose their different standards and charging apps which reversed the issue.