This week I had the chance to visit the office of a company I work with. It's always nice to meet a few positive people you can do something cool with, but that's not what this post is about.
Since the office is in Warsaw, I decided to top up the car at the nearest Greenway before heading back. And instead of finding a fast CCS charger, I pulled into a partner station where electricity costs more (3.15 PLN per kWh instead of 2.40 PLN). I quickly realised something wasn't right and started looking for another charger. I remembered that there were supposedly hubs in the area, e.g. Ekoen on Postępu Street. 3 minutes' drive and I'm there.
Unfortunately, fate had another surprise in store for me…
Seven of the eight bays were taken. Perfect – at least each post works independently, so I don't have to share power with other users. I pulled up at the free 240 kW bay, plug in the CCS and launch the EKOEN app… and nothing. The app doesn't work by connecting to the car. Even though I've been working with software for almost a decade, here I was helpless. Close to panicking, I noticed a friendly guy with a Tesla two bays down, who after a short chat showed me how he does it. It turned out that instead of the EKOEN app, all you need is the Elocity app. I scanned the QR code from the parking ticket and got free parking at the hub for 2 hours (instead of the standard 20 minutes).
After that experience, I uninstalled the EKOEN app – since I can use Elocity for the same price (2.29 PLN per kWh), better to have one app fewer in the folder.
And to top it all off, one more classic: trying to drive out, I spent 2 minutes wrestling with the ticket at the barrier until I called for help. Of course the problem was trivial – the code scanner is at the top, not at the bottom… Well done, me!
Despite these little "adventures", I'm liking this car more and more, even when driving without any particular destination. It was supposed to be economical, and it really is cheaper per 100 km, except I drive more, so not much of those savings is left.
I recommend the EKOEN hub – it's busy, the prices are good and charging is fast. With the Elocity app it works great and without any problems. All in all – nice!