Are we being forced to go electric?

[icowden]

I have already said that I think a bigger, much bigger, barrier to widespread take-up of EVs will - especially as the second-hand market expands and prices drop - not be the cost of the vehicle, but access to charging facilities.

Have you heard of supply and demand? The reason we got lots of petrol stations is that petrol producers wanted to cash in on all the people who wanted petrol. The same is happening now with public charge points. Companies are rapidly installing chargers to get a part of the market. The more EVs there are, the bigger the market. EV sales are increasing massively. 7 million cars last year, 10 million cars this year.

EV Prices will drop, the second hand market will flourish and charge points will proliferate like rabbits. Going to Shetland? They have quite a few...

 

[Chislenko]

View: https://youtu.be/5gvYDYoYi5M

 

[KnittyNorah]

All you need to charge is an electric socket. It's not that difficult.

But it IS difficult - impossible even - if there is no electric socket in which to plug your car.
What do you suggest this poster does:

I would need to run a cable across the street to charge a car.

I will soon be moving into a first-floor flat; I am not planning to buy a car, but if I were, I'd be looking for a 2nd hand EV. Should I sling my extension lead out of the window? Better than what oldwheels would need to do!

 

[cougie uk]

But it IS difficult - impossible even - if there is no electric socket in which to plug your car.
What do you suggest this poster does:

I will soon be moving into a first-floor flat; I am not planning to buy a car, but if I were, I'd be looking for a 2nd hand EV. Should I sling my extension lead out of the window? Better than what oldwheels would need to do!

So you're complaining that you can't charge a car that you're not planning to have. Ok...

And seriously - what's with all these cars that seemingly are essential but for some reason never go near anywhere they could charge?

Not to car parks, cafes, supermarkets, rail stations, zoos, canal museums, hotels, street chargers, petrol stations, work charging points, buffalo farms to name but a few of the chargers I've seen around.

 

[icowden]

But it IS difficult - impossible even - if there is no electric socket in which to plug your car.
What do you suggest this poster does:

Write to the council and ask how soon the lampposts in their street will be converted for EV charging.

 

[icowden]

Not to car parks, cafes, supermarkets, rail stations, zoos, canal museums, hotels, street chargers, petrol stations, work charging points, buffalo farms to name but a few of the chargers I've seen around.

Otter sanctuary...!

 

[KnittyNorah]

So you're complaining that you can't charge a car that you're not planning to have. Ok...

And seriously - what's with all these cars that seemingly are essential but for some reason never go near anywhere they could charge?

Not to car parks, cafes, supermarkets, rail stations, zoos, canal museums, hotels, street chargers, petrol stations, work charging points, buffalo farms to name but a few of the chargers I've seen around.

No, I'm asking what useful suggestions you can make as to how either I or oldwheels could - realistically - charge an EV at or around domestic electricity rates. You continue to insist that it is 'so easy' but have not once been able to explain how it is so easy without access to one's own domestic charger.
My nearest public charging point - about 10min bike ride away - charges 69p/kWh. The second nearest charges 57p/kWh. Both are considerably more expensive than Brighton's lamp posts

 

[ClichéGuevara]

Have you told Brighton? They have 200 of them. How about Portsmouth ? They also have 50 lamp post chargers. What about that there London? 6000 lamp post chargers so far. So it does look like a significant number of lighting columns can be converted.

So London has the most, with by your figures, 6,000. That's out of a total of 2.8 million. You may want to revisit the word 'significant'.

 

[Alex321]

So you're complaining that you can't charge a car that you're not planning to have. Ok...

And seriously - what's with all these cars that seemingly are essential but for some reason never go near anywhere they could charge?

Not to car parks, cafes, supermarkets, rail stations, zoos, canal museums, hotels, street chargers, petrol stations, work charging points, buffalo farms to name but a few of the chargers I've seen around.

Nobody has said they won't go near any of those places.

This was about the fact that charging at public (fast) chargers is getting to be as expensive as fuelling an ICE car, which I countered by saying most people (meaning most who will buy an EV) would do most of their charging at home.

All those other chargers are also much less convenient for most people. As has been pointed out numerous times, most journeys for most people are short ones. Having to go somewhere even a mile out of your way, and leave the car there for even half an hour is quite a lot of extra inconvenience over just plugging it in at home.

 

[geocycle]

The installers want to put in more charging points. The delay is often the regional electric company who have no competition for their services. They also charge a fortun. If chargers aren’t working it is often the phone signal they have lost as with smart meters due to poor coverage. Around us we have a community interest company installing chargers in difficult places to serve terrace streets and very remote villages. It can be done but the infrastructure needs to be lined up. Similarly there are a number of wind and solar schemes held up because of grid capacity, unfortunately the foreign owned national grid has not kept up with demand. Deregulation has not been helpful here.

 

[youngoldbloke]

So you're complaining that you can't charge a car that you're not planning to have. Ok...

And seriously - what's with all these cars that seemingly are essential but for some reason never go near anywhere they could charge?

Not to car parks, cafes, supermarkets, rail stations, zoos, canal museums, hotels, street chargers, petrol stations, work charging points, buffalo farms to name but a few of the chargers I've seen around.

- but doesn't the EV using these chargers monopolise the charger for the duration of their stay? Car Parks for example? Plug in and leave the vehicle. Go about your business and return in a couple of hours - one charger occupied for 2 hours. Won't hundreds of chargers be needed in every carpark or place of work?

 

[Alex321]

- but doesn't the EV using these chargers monopolise the charger for the duration of their stay? Car Parks for example? Plug in and leave the vehicle. Go about your business and return in a couple of hours - one charger occupied for 2 hours. Won't hundreds of chargers be needed in every carpark or place of work?

I would expect that is exactly what will happen, in time. The question is how long is "in time". I would expect that eventually, most car parks will have a charge point for every space.

 

[Dadam]

- but doesn't the EV using these chargers monopolise the charger for the duration of their stay? Car Parks for example? Plug in and leave the vehicle. Go about your business and return in a couple of hours - one charger occupied for 2 hours. Won't hundreds of chargers be needed in every carpark or place of work?

Do you have to put diesel/petrol in your ICE car every time you park up for a bit?

 

[oldwheels]

So you're complaining that you can't charge a car that you're not planning to have. Ok...

And seriously - what's with all these cars that seemingly are essential but for some reason never go near anywhere they could charge?

Not to car parks, cafes, supermarkets, rail stations, zoos, canal museums, hotels, street chargers, petrol stations, work charging points, buffalo farms to name but a few of the chargers I've seen around.

I have access to none the areas you mention as they just do not exist where I live and travel.

 

[Electric_Andy]

We had 5 EV charging points installed in our work car park a couple of years ago. For context; the car park has about 60 traditional parking spaces; 10 were removed to make way for 5 EV spaces. We then had an email around to say if you park your EV in a charging space, you have to move it once it's charged. That would probably work in our place but I can't see that happening in city centres. On that model, I think they'd have to progressively install more EV points as the number of EVs increase, so that you could park and leave it there all day. Otherwsie there would be no incentive for people to drive to work/shops if they have to move their EV after 2 hours?