Opportunity charging

[morphix]

I’ve only made a few enquiries so far and all have been negative even though I have tried to explain, as best I can, that charging my battery doesn’t use much electricity and I am not putting anyone in danger. Offering to pay generously for the privilege of doing so doesn’t seem to sway folks either.

One reply was anything electrical has to be PAT tested. (I had already figured that would be the first thing they would ask) so I replied my charger has a current ‘indate’PAT test label on it, to which they just said no……

At one establishment, the guy working there wouldn’t mind except his boss has camera’s everywhere and calls him about anything he has seen on camera that he doesn’t like. Not wanting to put this job at risk I thanked him and moved on to the next place. Except by now I thought it was a lost cause and what I am seeking to do doesn’t meet with general acceptance.

Would it be the same if I were to ask to plug in a laptop or a phone charger?​

[FONT=&quot]Just wondering if any of you fellow ebikers have ever asked to recharge your bike away from home at any time and what was the response?
[/FONT]

I'm curious, what kind of places are you asking? I think it must be confusing for some places like pubs and guest houses etc, because they probably fear a big electricity bill or some scam or something.

Something I thought about a while back which might be a good idea is some kind of national awareness scheme promoted by the industry to encourage more public establishments to allow ebike charging.. perhaps if a website was setup it could promote all these businesses free of charge, and issue them with signs for their windows or whatever, some industry logo saying ebike friendly, charge here etc..could even have membership cards issued to ebike owners so establishments know they're bonafide, and perhaps have a small standard fee to cover the electricity. Ok so I'm probably running away with myself a bit here, but I do think something like this is the way to go in the future maybe.. who knows it may help both promote the ebike industry and all the public businesses who often struggle in todays climate.

 

[flecc]

One option to overcome fear of the consumption would be to carry a mains monitor like this one and tell them they'll be able to see how many Watts are being consumed.

Most people understand Watts to some extent from light bulbs and will appreciate how little our chargers use when they see the very low reading displayed after plugging in.

 

[kitchenman]

Perhaps for now we should use this forum's logo as a symbol that can be put in the widow so that members will know where they can get a charge..

 

[Synthman]

One option to overcome fear of the consumption would be to carry a mains monitor like this one and tell them they'll be able to see how many Watts are being consumed.

Most people understand Watts to some extent from light bulbs and will appreciate how little our chargers use when they see the very low reading displayed after plugging in.

Yep that's the one I got. Good to have just to check how much power the charger is using, it drops gradually until the green light comes on, and still takes a bit for about an hour afterwards.

 

[wurly]

Flecc, i am not so sure that would help when you encounter a blanket refusal. Even offering to pay doesn't seem to get the response i had expected.
Maybe it's the way went about asking? but i don't really know what else to say. I just think it is an unusual request, they are suspicious I can see, the look on their faces gives it away.
The places i asked, were little huts selling food and drinks and one place was an amusement arcade. I could feel the heat given out by the machines so i figured a little battery charger wouldn't dent his electricity bill and there were plenty of sockets available.
As Lynda said, if you are buying a meal from a pub or restaurent then possibly the response will be positive, I’ll try it when I make my epic journey.

[FONT=&quot]The idea of little stickers to give away to ebike friendly places is good (I think it’s been mentioned here before). We need someone who is good with ‘photoshop’ for the design. I’d contribute to the cost, surely it can’t be that much to have a few hundred printed to start with?[/FONT]

 

[funkylyn]

Do you know.....the more I think about this idea of ebike friendly charging places with stickers, the more I think its an excellent idea and will just take a little bit of effort to design and print and the goodwill of members, which i am sure we have in buckets, to get this idea off the ground.

So who would like, and is able, to do the design/printing ?.....I too am happy to contribute financially......then surely its then just a case of us all getting out on our bikes and distributing them.
We can have a dedicated area on the forum to list all participants and away we go.

The advantage to the people happy to display the stickers is hopefully the increase in business they could get.
There is a 'sort of' similar scheme for motorhomes called Brit Stops where interested businesses offer free overnight stays in the hope of participants buying their products, whether its a vineyard, pub, farm shop or whatever and it seems to be taking off.

Perhaps a separate thread now to discuss and see what interest there is ?

Lets get cracking......no time like the present.....lets see what ideas an informative discussion into the pros and cons of such a scheme can bring.........

Lynda