Charging is the real issue
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I disagree that the range of an electric vehicle is the most important factor when determining whether an electric vehicle will become a mass-market product. Reaching 150 miles simply means that more people will use the cars to travel away from home where their recharging can be done easily. How will these cars be charged and how long will it take? If you had a lot of people, for instance, visiting a hotel in electric vehicles would it have the charging facilities to allow them to take their cars back home again? The building of infrastructure as with so many new developments in transportation will decide how successful they are. None of us think anything of taking our petrol or diesel vehicles out even with a half empty tank because we know very well that the country is full of refuelling points. When the same ease and speed of recharging is true of electrics then they will have reached the mainstream, with range an important but secondary consideration.
Charles Keith
edinburgh
Readers' comments (1)
Anonymous | 23 Dec 2009 1:33 pm
I was fortunate to visit Florence Italy last year to attend a friends wedding.
They are ripping up the roads and putting in a rail network in for an electrified tram system for mass transport.
Many of the local firms provide plug in charge outlets next to a parking area for electric scooters which are fitted with a simple padlock to prevent unathorised use.
Employees simply plug their electric scooters into the outlets and these get charged up during the normal working day.
The scooters have a range of about 40 -50 miles and a speed of +30 mph and so serve the typical commuting distance which is typically only 15 to 20 miles.
The electrical power is provided free by the employer as they are keen to support a reduction in CO2 emissions and pollution within the city.
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