Is the government’s announcement of a £2.5m fund for installing electric car charging points on residential roads a welcome step?
Last week the Department for Transport announced an additional £2.5m to install over a thousand electric vehicle charging points on residential roads, a doubling of previously available funds. The grant is intended to help people who do not have off-street parking to access charging points, and thereby to encourage the take-up of electric vehicles. This, the Department’s announcement states, will support the UK’s commitment to reach net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.
But some experts raised doubts about the wisdom of the policy, pointing to uncertainty around consumer behaviour in relation to EV charging, as well as technology type (AC versus DC) and disparity of operating systems. We asked our readers what they thought of the move, inducing a huge response (more than 1,100) split right down the middle of the two leading options. Perhaps reflecting wider scepticism on EVs in general, 45 per cent of respondents said the move was a poorly-thought-through gimmick from the government. Conversely, 44 per cent felt that the funding was a welcome step. Six per cent believed the policy would be ineffective due to its timing, while five per cent chose the ‘none of the above’ option.
“We managed 6-weeks using public charging in Lancaster while we waited for our home charger to be installed, this will make things even easier,” Tom Foreman commented. “Suggest they install 22Kwh Type 2 AC posts which will future proof the infrastructure as future EVs will have larger and larger batteries as battery energy density improves and prices come down. 350Kwh DC chargers should be used at MSAs and other busy main road stopover points.”
Reader Stephen Kemp felt charging points were only a short-term solution to a bigger problem.
“As a hybrid car user I am convinced that the provision of street charging is not going to work,” he said. “I enjoy the quiet clean electric power but to get away from petrol/diesel totally we need to look at the ability to provide a full charge in minutes not hours. To me that means we need hydrogen fuel cells, not simply charging points. We should be planning infrastructure to be effective in 2030 not a sticking plaster for now.”
Other commenters claimed that the real issue was about generation capacity rather than charge points.
“The big questions should be ‘Where are we going to get all this additional electricity from?’ and ‘How are we going to upgrade the infrastructure to distribute it?’,” wrote John Dominey. “Charging an electric car at home with a medium-speed charger is like leaving the electric shower on all night. If just a few people in a street decided to do that it’d blow the local distribution fuse!”
As always, we welcome continued discussion on this subject. Readers should familiarise themselves with our guidelines for the content of comments before submitting, and we remind all contributors their comments are moderated before publication.
While welcome, this will be the most challenging aspect of EV charging infrastructure to implement.
Service stations & supermarkets benefit from being centralised locations but urban charging points will have to compete for space to be accessible.
Consider the problems of city parking already & how spaced out current infrastructure (e.g. parking meters) is.
And just how many of ‘over a thousand electric vehicle charging points on residential roads’ will be installed anywhere north of Watford? ’cause we all know that anywhere north of there doesn’t count
If we overlook the massive short comings of EV vehicles and assume they are going to take over, then clearly this is not even close in terms of the investment needed to get everyone into EV’s.
Before the charging network is everywhere, that is to say that every parking space in the UK has a charging point. There is the small problem of the supplying the massive energy increase needed to support it. Plus the increase in pollution these energy production sites will produce.
The list goes on.
But the money is no where near enough.
Any local charging point would be welcome, but how will it work in suburban London, where competition for any parking space is incredible, never mind one within a cable’s length of a charging point? I foresee an outbreak of parking rage.
The environmental effect of concreting over gardens for parking is already huge; competition for access to a power point will surely lead to further loss of soak-away and green space as more gardens are paved over.
We managed 6-weeks using public charging in Lancaster while we waited for our home charger to be installed, this will make things even easier. Suggest they install 22Kwh Type 2 AC posts which will future proof the infrastructure as future EV’s will have larger and larger batteries as battery energy density improves and prices come down. 350Kwh DC chargers should be used at MSA’s and other busy main road stop over points.
I foresee that the majority of these 1000 charging points will be in the south of England, more precisely within a few miles of the M25.
1000 charging points will not go far if by 2040 all sales of new cars will be electric, by my rough calculation by this date some 10,000,000 chargers will be required, the majority will be at peoples homes, but for those without garages or off road parking (approx. 15% of car owners) road side chargers will be required.
Currently there are some 22 million cars on the road in the UK, with an approximate change out of 10% (i.e. 1 in 10 change their car each year) this would equate to 330,000 cars sold to people who park on the road. These people are currently put off buying EVs for the reason of lack of chargers. 1000 will not make any difference.
It’ll bre interesting to see whether you’re right about the locations. Anecdotally, Manchester and Leeds have similar situations to London with dwellings that do not have off-street parking.
I’m inclined to think this money might be better served in getting standardisation across the industry now, rather than letting lots of individual companies invent their own solutions.
Equally, government should be looking at the national grid infrastructure both for electric vehicle charging and local, distributed small scale generation to help supply the power.
Let’s say to plan, design and install a charge point we’re looking at an absolute minimum of £10K – that’s just 250 CPs in total!! (or about 300 if partially funded as this scheme suggests) – The government should be pledging 10 times as much to make any kind of dent in this enterprise –
What about mobile units? Position with demand….if demand high, then implement permanent units.
I think they have got it all wrong . They should spend this money on Hydrogen filling stations. The Hydrogen Cell is the way to go and many people in the world think the same. The Hydrogen fill station could be installed in existing fueling stations and the fill time for filling a Hydrogen car is the same as filling it with petrol. You don’t get that with electric power.
As a resident in north Scotland (Cairngorm NP) we are seeing some charging points locally. There are also no less than seven Tesla points at Abington Services on the A74M. What’s more, the other day there were TWO Tesla’s being charged!! We have points in Aviemore and Grantown on Spey. There is even a point at the Speyside Centre near Skye of Curr.
There is life north of Watford after all!!
I am told that it is possible now for Scotland to source electricity 100% from renewables, (wind, water, solar) . The fact that everywhere you look there are wind generators is a bit of a pity, but they are no worse than girder pylons (some of which are being taken down in favour of underground cables.)
If you want to buy an electric car then you should also pay for the charging system needed to make it work.
We live just outside the M25 and looked into buying a Tesla. To install the fast charger would mean that our whole house would have no power and three of our nieghbours while we charged our car.
We are sticking to burning fossil fuels.
The real issue is human behaviour. “He parks on the charging bay and does not come back until the following morning; or worse after the weekend”. Just how can you control this. One solution is software flag when battery is fully charged. Charge the credit card a hefty fine for overstaying on the charging bay – debited to the Cr card account. You prove that you did not stay overnight and we will return your money!
Battery building is environmentally questionable. Electric is the way to go but more effort should be put in to instant refuelling by use of hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles. To refuel with hydrogen will take the same time as petrol / diesel, fast charging with batteries in 30 minutes maybe quicker with new chargers but fast charging damages batteries. Yes there are many hurdles to overcome with fuel cell but these will be overcome at some point which is more than will be said about the huge mountain of traction batteries that will be about when they are no longer suitable for vehicles. Use them for home use?? Not in my home – risk of fire if not properly used and maintained is too great. This has all the hallmarks of another rush to a technology that then proves to be flawed!! IMHO chasing the battery electric vehicles is the ‘dieselgate’ of 15 – 20 years hence.
If governments had any sense (which they usually don’t) they would have legislated to standardise EV batteries. If that had been done, cars could swap battery packs at refuelling stations and range anxiety and kerbside parking would no longer be problems.
Currently, The Grid could not possibly support a major switch to EVs. The figures are a bit intimidating – on a global basis, to decarbonise by 2050, one new 1.5GW nuclear power station, or its equivalent, would have to be completed every day for the next 30 years. This is physically impossible and totally unaffordable.
Personally, I love the idea of EVs – I bought an electric ride on mower and solar panels to charge it and nearly bought a Nissan Leaf (wife thought it too big compared to her little Peugeot diesel).
So, it will probably happen one day but not by 2050.
Suggest that charging be conducted overnight in Car Parks and industrial areas where there are many car parking spaces – unused overnight.
It should be easier to add the necessary power cables to these areas than to residential areas.
The other advantage is that Pavements would be less blocked and open to the elderly and disabled with their shopping trollies – walkers and wheelchairs.
Pavement parking is not Banned in Bucks. – yet the Council spends lots of our money on drop kerbs – not very joined up thinking.
As a hybrid car user I am convinced that the provision of street charging is not going to work.
I enjoy the quiet clean electric power but to get away from petrol/diesel totally we need to look at the ability to provide a full charge in minutes not hours. To me that means we need hydrogen fuel cells not simply charging points.
We should be planning infrastructure to be effective in 2030 not a sticking plaster for now.
Charging points at car parks,supermarkets and shopping areas still few and far between need boost before public roads in my view.
It’s a gimmick, poorly thought through, but probably part of the upcoming general election strategy.
The amount is a joke and one has to ask is this new money or is Peter being robbed somewhere else to pay this Paul ?
£2.5M for a 1,000 points comes out at £2.5k per charging point, hopelessly inadequate I’d guess. Plus, as mentioned elsewhere, where would these 1,000 points be located, Chelsea, Westminster ?
I would suggest that until the problems with the National Grid are sorted (flaky infrastructure, baseline generation capability, storage for renewables) then putting more strain on the grid is short sighted, at best.
Combining Chris Oates-Miller 10m charger requirement x quoted unit cost £2500 = £25 BILLION who is going to pay?
My personal opinion is that Hydrogen fuel is the ‘quick fix’ answer. Looking at the infrastructure requirements for the proposed all electric vehicle future I suspect it would be easier to standardise the batteries fitted to cars and have an exchange program at service centres or as we used to call them petrol garages. It cannot be beyond engineers to configure a battery in a car that could be changed within say 15minutes, not that long a wait surely. The installation of induction charging at supermarkets or cinemas would also be of huge benefit for top ups as people go about their daily lives..
There are plenty of practical issues with hydrogen too, including refuelling infrastructure, which are inevitably pointed out whenever we write about it.
The big questions should be “Where are we going to get all this additional electricity from?” and “How are we going to upgrade the infrastructure to distribute it?”. Charging an electric car at home with a medium-speed charger is like leaving the electric shower on all night. If just a few people in a street decided to do that it’d blow the local distribution fuse! All the cabling will need to be upgraded. And those thinking they could put a socket on each lamp-post will quickly run into the same problem. We’re running close to capacity now in the winter so there’s no way it’s going to work.
Woefully and completely inadequate. Aside from the enormous increase in generating capacity that will be needed to support such vehicles there needs to be several orders of magnitude more spent on the infrastructure, both distribution and outlets. It is not range anxiety that bothers people and constrains take up but the lack of suitable charging facilities at sufficient national density to make the use of EVs practical. Use the budget otherwise wasted on HS2 for this purpose, which will benefit the whole country and not just the large employers in the South East. We use the equivalent of 500TWh of energy each year with liquid fuels, where is that coming from if we move away from fossil? Each existing petrol station needs to be expanded and provide an equivalent throughput capacity in charging facilities to maintain our current dependence on personal transport.
An alternative to swapping HS2 expenditure to charging points, generation and distibution would be to invest in hydrogen infrastructure. This is an extremely flexible form of stored energy comparable to fossil fuels and can power EVs by fuel cells! And is more effective way of re-energising an EV that has got a flat battery than sitting there with a diesel generator for several hours!
Wow, a lot of the comments so far really are ignorant at worse, ill-informed at best. I live in California, and am about to relocate to the UK. Over here the growth of the Tesla model 3 is explosive. Owners tend to charge these cars once a week, even if they have a home charging solution.
Money for charging stations can go a long way if properly spent. In the UK, funding should prioritise 6kW EVSEs at supermarket car parks combined with incentivisation grants to install solar panels on top of buildings.
Hydrogen is now completely out of the game. You only have to experience life today in California or Norway to understand this. Why are these two areas leading in the field? Simple, they implemented well though out incentivisation policies. Further, hydrogen’s refuelling time advantage has now been defeated thanks to bigger batteries (Tesla M3 LR) and higher output EVSEs. Tesla and BYD, as industry leaders, are setting the example for everyone else to follow. 300 mile range battery packs are here now, and 600 miles are on the way, even though they are practically unnecessary.
You should be able to pay at a charging point with a contactless debit card. How many consumers want to download a unique app (& go through the fuss) with each & every supplier? These apps are often the only way to pay at the moment.
I agree with the others who ask where the electricity is coming from for all these electric cars. When the next global recession hits, will the UK Gov build the Wash & Severn Barriers as a way to create jobs & energy security? Will we have a coherent plan for a fleet of new nuclear power stations. Will there be enough water storage/battery back up, to cope with the variable nature of renewables?
The correct method whether it be electric or hydrogen is to ban private ownership. Put all cars on an app
When you need a car, you call one up and it drives itself to you, drops you off at your destination and then picks up the next passenger. Most cars spend not more than 15% of their lives on the road. This method could free cup 85% of the cars and most of the parking space. Much more efficient at the loss of a bit of choice for the individual. Cut down the number of charging places.
We need the actual cars to be able to produce their own electricity rather than relying on the grid to supply everything. More research needs to be done how to make this more efficient, also the motors need to be smaller for greater range for the same battery capacity. We don’t need cars that do 0 to 60 MPH in three seconds, we need longer distance capacity & practicality. Also charging could be done via induction in the roads (overall cheaper to do), therefore no charging points are required outside peoples homes. This is mainly impractical as there are not enough places to park all of the cars outside a block of flats for example.
There is no way to replace all fossil fuel vehicles with electric ones without something like doubling our generation capacity of about 60GW. You can arrive at that figure any way – for example consider the number of drivers in the country and the average amount driven gives an idea of the total power consumption per year, arriving at a figure not unajacent to Nick Cole’s 500TWh.
Our profit-driven electricity market, that treats the issue as a financial game, has happily consumed a lot of high grade North Sea gas with turn-key CCGT stations so that now we have almost run out of gas. This is all the result of ‘leaving it to the market’, which responds by increasing the price rather than by sensible planning in the national interest. So we have no long term plan for electricity at all and are just winging it, lurching from near disaster to near disaster. Hence the £93.5/MW guaranteed strike price for Hinkley C, which is almost the retail cost we pay. Meanwhile France has a 100 year plan.
At £2,500 per point, why not just add the price to the cost of the vehicle. Pay for your own charging point.
Nice to see California adopting the Tesla 3, but if they really are explosive don’t bring them here. And the idea that 600 mile packs are not needed is nonsense. I need, to reduce charging to once a week, exactly that capacity.
It is the infrastructure needed to feed all these chargers that is the real concern. The nimbies and tree-huggers will delay and appeal every planning application for new power stations of whatever type, whether wind, solar, wave, gas, nuclear. We could maybe on past form get one built in 30 years, never mind 60. Stick to ICEs.
It is a gesture which provides a lever from which to argue for a more substantial commitment.
The idea that this leads to boxes with cables plugs and sockets sprawling all over the place is ridiculous. Some form of in road, under car, drive onto contact system needs to be devised before we end up with multiple systems. Maybe government should put that out to tender!
I recently calculated the amount of power needed to run the present number of electrical cars doing the same number of miles per year based on government statistics and using the present average of 4 miles/Kwh. This showed we needed 4 times the total amount of power generated in 2018 just to charge the cars. Bearing in mind that the charging would not be evenly spread during the day we would need large amount of storage capacity to deal with this and a far greater amount if the power itself comes from renewables.
The proposed installation of a few charging points is an irrelevance.
As the owner of two EVs and having used them for over two years now, I have found that the only massive short comings is the sheer ignorance of people who have very little knowledge of the massive gains from using these vehicles.
There is absolutely no downside despite the false information being given out.
I have an EV and live where there is no off street parking. I think there should be more rapid chargers at eg fuel stations, pubs and shops. On street charging would not be feasible where everyone is trying to get parked near their own home there just wouldn’t be the space for it.
I have googled types of charging point fitted to ev’s and it seems there are 3 types depending on manufacturer and type of charge rate, https://www.zap-map.com/charge-points/, so if there are 3 types who decides what type is fitted where? A colleague recently visited a a motorway service area and counted 12 points for Tesla’s only one of which was in use and 2 points for a. n.other ,both of which where in use and ev’s queuing to use them .
I’ll stick to my euro 6, 2.0L diesel which at my age will probably outlast me!
I have looked into purchasing an EV and decided against it based on lack of infrastructure for charging on long journeys – typically to North Devon. I then looked at plug-in hybrids, but all were far too big to fit on my drive! I purchased a petrol engine powered car which is now approaching replacement. Now I see something called a ‘self charging hybrid’ is available, but the sales persons I’ve spoken to are only interested in telling me about the ‘infotainment’ system and how great the ‘connectivity’ within the vehicle is; they had no idea on practicalities like service costs, running costs, or likely life times of major components like battery packs. this along with a higher purchase price has put me off, so it will be another ICE vehicle.
I am still, like many, unable to grasp why those in government cannot see past the next election and make a long term plan for infrastructure to allow the widespread adoption of EV’s and force manufacturers to adopt a common connection method.
perhaps the Chinese will be showing the rest of the world the way to go?
There are at least 100 charging places within 12 km of Watford.
https://openchargemap.org/site/poi
Don’t see, on the map, one that you know of ? Add it.
It is through collaboration that we will achieve the fast transition to clean mobility, most probably EV, but nothing should excluded if it is systemically sustainable. Fossil fuels as are done, so is the current fossil-based economy.
How close are we to a sustainable economy? Here is a milestone worth celebrating and emulating: http://www.energy-observer.org/actu/en/energy-observer-has-arrived-on-the-island-of-spitsbergen-powered-solely-by-renewable-energies-and-hydrogen-a-world-first/
I would consider this a gimmick. Before any charging points are installed at any time in the future the Government (guided by experts) should take the lead in specifying a universal equipment infrastructure specification and charges for purchasing electricity at point of use. If this approach is not adopted we will just end up with numerous providers installing random technology and charging models. There are many more opportunities to provide vehicle charging points in Supermarket car parks where turnaround would be 1-2 hours as opposed to a charging point being block for most of the day in Municipal and park and ride car parks thus limiting the charging pitch availability to one or two vehicle being charged over a 8 hour period.
I would also welcome Hotels and Hospitals providing charging points. Unfortunately I don’t have the confidence to purchase an electric vehicle for many reasons:
The initial purchase cost, government reducing contribution grant for new vehicle purchase (indicating a lack of real intent to reduce pollution on our roads), Range anxiety brought about by confusing manufacturers claims, battery replacement cost at end of life, reduction in batteries ability to hold charge thus limiting range further with age, insurance costs, finding a suitable charging point for a particular vehicle.
Silvia – it is no good having the charge points if there is insufficient grid power to supply them. Dabney’s comment also matches my own observations whilst travelling round the UK. If you can’t use a Tesla point then you will either have to wait ages, or chance it and go to the next nearest point, possibly miles off your intended motorway route.
9 kg of hydrogen = 108 cubic metres you’d need one of these to store it:
https://www.boconline.co.uk/shop/en/uk/hydrogen-size-wk-54-wk
Weight ratio is 167:1
From the foregoing comments, it is clear that all sides of the argument have something to say which makes sense. However I did see a calculation some months ago that showed that the output from six new nuclear power stations would be needed to power every vehicle if they replaced the internal combustion engine!! Hydrogen infrastructure would make more sense. But I think in reality we need to think the whole transport system through carefully. does every household require a car if most people live in cities? a carefully designed public transport system would probably be better. Although people living in rural areas would probably still ned individual vehicles.
Of course the new power stations would not necessarily need to be nuclear, but the generating capacity of six typical power stations does seem to be a realistic estimate of what would be needed,
Fascinating has anyone in Government actually lived outside the immediate environment of London?
Almost certainly not.
This scheme is quite obviously fatuous and the individuals pushing it should be fired.
What exactly is wrong with the use of Scalectric for long haul road journeys with the ability to move to on board power when one leaves the main trunk routes.
They should do a street properly for the long term. Chargers every car-length, no matter where you park there’s a charger (which is what will be needed in a couple of decades). And enough power for EVERY bay to be in use. Not cheap!
As an added feature, it will stop people parking half on the pavement.
It just occurred to me, are we taking a little Britain approach to our charging infrastructure or is there any compatibility/standardisation with the rest of Europe.
If I had an EV and wanted to take it to, say, France for a week would I be able to charge it ? And, vice-versa will Johnny Foreigner be able to charge his EV whilst in the UK ?
It seems, to me, that until the issues with the national grid and standardisation are sorted then any money thrown at the problem is going to be wasted (a bit like, so called, smart meters).
Something wrong with the polling system? I just voted three times
I believe that the whole idea that all electric vehicles are green and the way forward is frankly ludicrous. The power has to be generated somewhere and you can’t tell me that it is going to be completely emission free. Besides which, we are struggling to keep up with general power usage now, how are we going to charge millions of vehicles in addition? I can’t see that the green movement will appreciate that fact that we are going to have to built say 10 nuclear power stations just so they can drive a Zoe. There has to be a better alternative that we should be spending the funds on developing, hydrogen fuel cells being the more obvious option. Short of this I guess I will be investing in a paddock, resorting to a horse and cart.
Keith, your concerns are valid. There are many solutions in place or in development that address the grid capacity and management required by adding EV charging stations. Here are some examples:
1. Integrated energy -mobility systems (The Engineer has quite a few good articles on the topic).
https://www.solsmart.org/resources/upcoming-webinar-7-31-what-local-governments-need-to-know-coordinating-efforts-on-solar-pv-and-electric-vehicles/
https://driv-eco.com/en/parasol-eng/
2. Replacing the centralized grid model with decentralized, off-grid, localized alternatives, most probably DC, including high-voltage DC.
3. Battery and other types of storage, including EV batteries integrated in a smart grid system.
I don’t know what is the average commute by car in the UK, but given that it is quite a small geographic area, a driver cannot be too far from a charging station, anywhere. I don’t know why anybody would commute by car in a country that has an excellent and eco-friendly alternative, trains, but as it is the case, I am convinced that the charging network is being designed for convenience and to match the current driving patterns.
Nobody needs to always charge completely the EV battery, only what is necessary to get her or him to destination. However, it might be a good idea for all of us to slow down and take our time, instead of rushing everywhere and for anything. While the EV is charging, one can read The Engineer or other useful stuff, enjoy the surroundings, check the charging station technology, talk to somebody, etc. We should all adopt Slow Living, not only Slow Food.
If one is in a hurry in UK, she or he should take the train.
Most people would have heard of Nikola Tesla’s experiments in providing the world
with wireless electrical power, unfortunately he did not show any practical way of
achieving it. He may have been inspired by the Crystal Radio, first discovered in
1874 though it wasn’t put into commercial use until the very early 20th century. The
great thing about a crystal radio is that it doesn’t need a separate power source,
since all the power it needs is picked up from the antenna, with the power coming
from the radio transmitter that originates the radio wave. There is a method of
capturing and controlling the electro magnetic waves from the electro magnetic
spectrum, from Radio, WiFi, 3G & 5G, Microwave, Infrared, Visible, Ultraviolet, X-
Ray and Gamma Ray and provide the world with FREE wireless electrical power for
all electric applications, Cars, Automobles, Planes, Ships and household
applications.. All of the electro magnetic spectrum are forms of electrical waves.
Electricity has waves, currents and other characteristics that govern its various
attributes. While you may think of radio waves and electricity as being different,
they’re actually the same phenomenon! Radio waves are just fluctuations in the
electromagnetic fields that surround us at all times. They’re invisible to us, because
they don’t react with us. However, a copper wire can “see” the waves because it’s a
conductor of electricity! A crystal radio produces very, very little power, and is
concerned with refining that power to receive sound while this invention is focused
on obtaining the maximum amount of electrical power from the various electro
magnetic spectrum wave lengths. The new antenna and electro magnetic wave
capture and controlling device is subject to a provisional patent.
An even better example of integrated clean RE- mobility system far North of Watford, far meaning 3 full re-charges for a Renault Zoe, if one drives all the way to this great city:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/aug/16/dundee-green-revolution-charging-hubs-electric-cabs-scotland
My city will very soon have an electric bus line that will use wireless 300 kW inductive charging points provided by the American company Momentum Dynamics
https://chargedevs.com/newswire/indianapolis-buses-to-use-wireless-inductive-charging/
Any other “No we can’t” arguments? There is a solution in place for all of them.
Electrically powered vehicles have arrived, that is unquestionable, and that this is an essential step towards the target of zero carbon, is beyond reasonable doubt. The attempts over the last few years
by the motor vehicle manufacturers to divert the threat with pessimistic pronouncements that
electric vehicle were not viable have been thwarted. The economic future of their industry,
they know, really, depends upon their own efforts to catch up with… and adopt the new technology
. . . and in true blue-sky manner. Also, to mention in passing, the industry ought not to play the
Brexit card as a cause of their losses; manufacturers have been caught out by a certain South
African with vision and a preparedness to put his money up front.
We should not look for a perfect plan for the progress of the electric vehicle concept; it is not a gimmick, as some propose. Any government will wait for a public trend to follow before it provides
any, meaningful, support to the development of such, radically, new technology as we have here.
But, there is a rapidly growing, even irresistible, support among the public for the electric vehicle
to bring the early extinction of the ICE powered dinosaur. It is that force that will drive the ideas
and the development required. . . including, improved storage of electric power, readily available
charging, and many other facilities for the electric vehicle. This is far more than the improvement of
an existing system; this is a revolution in the movement of people and things, and one that will
include, quite soon, the autonomous vehicle. We must open our minds, also, to the industrial and
technical opportunities the electric vehicle, and what goes with it, can offer this country.
Snow, Rain, Dirt……
Why do you think tramways got rid of that system ?
Would it be an idea to offer charging at work places? For most people this would coincide with when the sun was shining. You could even put the solar panels over the car park. The car will be there for several hours so the charge rate will be moderate.
There are about 37 m vehicles in the UK 85% of them have offstreet parking and therefore can by charged privately so about 550,000 will need on street parking when the fleet is 100% electrified. It will take about 25 years to reach that figure so by 2022 you need to arrange for about 35,000 cars charged on the street. Each parking unit can be configured with with 7 kW capacity spread between two vehicle so each one can receive about 40 kWh overnight. At typical UK mileage 160 miles/week 40 kWh is equivalent to about a weeks usage for a Focus size car so each charge point can charge 14 vehicles, so by 2022 if no-one ever goes to a public charger or charges at work, shopping centre etc you need about 2,500 chargers, if no-one uses them during the day. hence 1,000 chargers is a good start and if they build 1,000 to 2,000 per year, it will go a long way toward meeting demand . If they are used at 30% occupancy during the day and 70% at night and 30% of charging is done on the road at work etc, the UK would only need about 20,000 street chargers in 20 years time.
As for demand, if 80% of the fleet was fully electric you would add about 60 TWh to annual load . The current load is 270 TWh and falling by about 6 TWh per year so electricity use is actually falling faster than EVs can possibly increase demand. Consequently as long as the distribution grid is properly managed there is no issue with energy supply, in fact EV charging will form a huge part of grid stabilisation in a highly renewable grid
For all those who think the grid doesn’t have enough generation power.. Thanks to the drop in UK manufacturing and industrial power usage, Peter Farley’s comment is correct: The current load is 270 TWh and falling by about 6 TWh per year so electricity use is actually falling faster than EVs can possibly increase demand. Consequently as long as the distribution grid is properly managed there is no issue with energy supply, in fact EV charging will form a huge part of grid stabilisation in a highly renewable grid.
Also – re people wanting battery swaps or hydrogen fuelling – do you enjoy visiting a service station on a regular basis to fill up your car? If you charge an electric car at home (which 60pc of people can/will do) – then you wake up with a full battery, every single morning. No need to visit a service station to fill up. SO much more convenient – ask anyone with an EV and off-street parking.
We have owned an electric Nissan Leaf for 7 years and charge it overnight in the garage at home. Only 2 or 3 times have we ever needed a charger away from home. I think that is what most owners do. So there is not a need for massive numbers of charging stations “in every parking space” as somebody above suggests. As the range increases to the point when electric cars have a range of 200/300 miles, the need will be only really for emergencies as people will charge at home.
Of course some will never be able to do that, such as flat dwellers, but those people presumably would not buy electric anyway.
Two forms of electric car charging infrastructure need extending. Firstly the larger faster roadside and town centre chargers. Secondly slower street side chargers for streets where household chargers cannot be used, where pavements, yellow lines or multiple flats make this impossible. I have spoken to many people who will not get an EV until very local chargers are available. At present lamp post or rising bollard chargers offer the best facilities. Anout40% of uk households need these street by street chargers. We need a massive roll out of these facilities.
I believe that all of the above need to be run on renewable electricity, to maximise the decarbonisation of this sector.
Public money should go into the street side chargers, whilst motorway chargers can be self funding, due to much larger demand. We don’t need to give public money to BP and Shell, they can afford to fit chargers themselves.
To tie in with clean air objectives, we need to get on with this now, then more people will make the switch to full electric vehicles.
Steve Emsley, see ne-electricvehicles.weebly.com
This is a small voluntary non profit organisation
Currently we can only install 3 million smart meters a year. Installing a charging point at home is much much harder than installing a smart meter. Lets say we could manage to install 300,000 home chargers a year. At that rate it would take 75 years to provide every house with a charging point. Then there are the 7 million houses that do not have off street parking and need chargers in lamp posts or similar near their homes. We’d better get a move on.