AIBU to be annoyed my caravan site has banned electric car charging with no warning?

[LowFlyingBacon]

Just after some advice because I’m honestly not sure if I’m being unreasonable or not here

last year I inherited some money and purchased a static caravan on a site. It’s perfect to take my ASD kids on holiday because it’s ours and has our stuff, but gives me a break away too! Except I’ve just had an email from the site saying that they’re no longer allowing owners to charge their cars on site. The email was really rude and literally said they’d remove any owners who were caught ignoring the rule. The owner has clearly had an argument with one of the other owners and is kicking off.
But I’ve got an electric car, I checked when I bought the caravan and was told I could charge there as otherwise I’ll have to pay to charge at a petrol station (can’t make it there and back otherwise). I pay for the electricity so it’s not costing the owner anything for me to charge.
is he allowed to just change the rules like this? I own the van, I pay for the electricity, how can he just decide like this? I’m furious, right at the beginning of summer too! It’s not a huge issue, but waiting around at a charging station isn’t easy with my kids, and it will cost so much more than charging it overnight where we are staying.

@LowFlyingBacon

Is there a local pub close to walking distance of the caravan site?

Perhaps the pub may consider installing EV charging points? I live in a tourist area and quite a few pubs are installing them.

Given that the number of charging cars is increasing rapidly and eventually I imagine this will be the ONLY type of car available, I find it very unlikely that the caravan site owner has done this because he just doesn't want people charging their cars as this would be a recipe for the popularity of his site to go into continued accelerating decline, and eventually be a site most people can't really use.

I imagine he has done it because of some difficulty or risk being associated with charging cars. If as others, have suggested, he feels that cars charging may cause a fire risk or he's had problems with people effectively stealing other's electricity, then it's logical that banning charging in the short term is very sensible, but honestly I reckon he will create the opportunity for it again perhaps by installing pay as you go meters that are safe for car charging and require pre-payment at the point, or something like that.

Theres always one that spoils it for everyone else isn’t there. It doesn’t cost a massive amount to charge a full charge on a car (usually less than £10 even at a public charger).

I suspect within a month or so you will find the site owner had installed some public charging points that they get paid for. Which will be more expensive than 3 pin charging you had before but make the site owner money! He can’t make money if everyone is charging themselves 😉

No, a lot of people with EVs (ourselves included) charge regularly from a granny charger. Some people spend a grand or two and install a special round (or roundish) 7V EV charger, but not everyone deems it necessary (ourselves included). Depends on mileage you need to cover every day. Hence the whole discussion as to how to make it fairer for EV owners without drives.

This

Start of the summer?

Lets say there is a 100kW transformer supplying a campsite with 50 pitches - electric vehicles can demand 10-16A or fast charging even 11-22A but 50 electric vehicles with a demand of 16A say would need a supply of 50 x 16A x 230V = 184kW - which would exceed what the transformer supplying the site could supply. The number of electric cars is increasing and many campsites just don't have the electrical infrastructure to meet the demand of everyone with an electric vehicle. Maybe it's that simple.

You need to see if you have anything in writing as you own the caravan rather than just on holiday. How are you charging the car as if just plugging into to caravan then the plug can get hot which could cause a fire.

rapid chargers are that. Get on the highest one you can at the services and by the time you’ve gone into the services for the toilet and pack snacks etc it will be done. It cost me about £20 which is way less than a tank of fuel and I only have a little 40kw battery and charged 3 times at services.

you need to ask holiday camp why as it could be their insurance or fire regs etc.

ask if you can install a charging point. If not then you may need to sell the caravan if it doesn’t work for your family. Or plan outings where you can charge the car.

If a 13A plug gets hot or even warm pulling 10A for a granny charger it or the socket are a deadly menace and should be rewired yesterday.

We have a touring caravan and go on to lots of sites with statics caravans too.

One of the owners at a recent site we visited told us it was due to insurance and the potential fire risk. The owner of your site should have explained this more clearly in their correspondence.

Ask them about getting chargers installed in the carparks like lots of caravan parks have.

Speak to a solicitor. That’s a clear change to the terms and conditions under which you purchased. That’s a significant misrepresentation of available facilities perhaps enough to force a buy-back or financial compensation.

Unlikely it was in the T&C that you could charge cars

A solicitor will be able to advise. If it was not mentioned at all in T&C and verbal or written reassurances were given- and he had already been charging his car on site - it might still be a significant change.

You're not unreasonable to want notice but it may be an insurance issue.

Most insurance companies will exclude overnight battery for motor vehicles on commercial policies as they are deemed to be a public liability/fire risk.

Edited to add: that doesn't mean they should disallow all charging but maybe they are spooked by the insurance companies exclusion reasons so just want to avoid the risk altogether out of an abundance of caution

I would also be annoyed.

@Poppyfie1dsi agree in part and would in normal circumstances. BUT. As I have said look at holiday park action group. These people are horrific.

the other worry for OP is, ok let’s take legal action. Alone. How does she go there happily with that going on?

Haven are much the same here in Scotland, they have a few hire caravans with the proper chargers now but the amount of private / haven hires who have wires going in through caravan windows is wild! Caravans already struggle at times with being overloaded I imagine this doesn’t help and as an owner to get your electricity bill at the end of the season must be a nightmare!

Home and contents insurance may have legal cover to pay for legal action if an initial solicitor consultation shows that the case has merit. If the park acts out of turn because of any legal action they could be looking at added legal actions of harassment. It would be incredibly stupid of the park to be unpleasant. However, if the park is no longer fit for purpose then OP probably shouldn’t visit to holiday without legal advice, it would look like implied acceptance of the new conditions.

Oh I haven't seen any going in through windows, that is wild! 🤣

But I have seen them plugged into the electrical points outside the vans.

Of course EVs can be charged using a 3 pin plug, its just slow.

Renault quite literally sell a 3 pin 'granny ' charger as an optional extra. Its under accessories.

https://www.renault.co.uk/electric-vehicles/r5-e-tech-electric/configurator.html?modelAdminId=renault5-htb-ph1

This used to happen down at the local marina. Very naughty.

The only sites I know of that have banned charging caravan-side have had a few proper ev chargers put on the carpark at reception. Just drive up, plug in (and pay ofc), drive back to caravan.

Just drive up, plug in (and pay ofc), drive back to caravan.

Is the charging cable long enough?

My parents had a caravan out in the middle of wales. It used to trip the electrics if you plugged in the kettle, the toaster and another appliance never mind charging an electric vehicle. It would overload the circuit.
Not all locations are equipped to supply the amount of electricity needed to charge these vehicles and maybe now there's too many coming onto the site so they are having to put a stop to it.
Could you charge your car whilst you're out for the day in a local town.