If the UK is to keep up with the demand for zero-emission electric cars, there need to be another 83,500 public electric charging points added around the UK by 2020 says data firm, Emu Analytics. With the current number at approximately 16,500 nationwide, this would be some feat, perhaps just simply asking too much.
Race to electric
The current locations fitted with charging points are going to see a lot of pressure in the coming months, estimates say that there will be one million electric cars on the road within two years, thus meaning the infrastructure has no choice but to adapt.
In London, for example, 3 in 5 residents will become reliant on public charging spots as they don’t have garages or driveways to charge their car safely and as more and more motorists look to make the switch from diesel and petrol, the government must offer more valuable incentives for implementing EV friendly solutions. Such scheme would be logical considering the ambitious plan to ban all traditionally fuelled cars by 2040.
Lack of infrastructure
Currently, there are around 150,000 electric cars on UK roads, and already these drivers have experienced trouble with the lack of public charging points. There is one charging spot for every nine electric vehicles on the road, leading to problems charging cars when out and about.
If the infrastructure is increased to meet the study’s suggested figure, this will still only be one charge point for every ten electric cars. Industry insiders say that most people will continue to charge their cars at home, but the problems lie when making longer journeys as a pure electric car can typically only run 100-200 miles per charge.
London snapshot
The snapshot from London is an excellent example of the problem. The numbers of electric cars in the capital is booming with over 12,000 models registered, but the infrastructure is well behind. Currently, people with home charging locations such as a driveway or garage are the most likely to buy an electric car and, in London, this accounts for only 40% of the residents.
The remaining 60% would need to rely on on-street chargers which are not being installed quickly enough, according to the London Assembly’s report on the subject. It also points out that funding for the project is ‘heavily over-subscribed.’
Charging point options
Different companies already offer different charging solutions around the world, and it can be confusing for local authorities to know which option to choose. A lack of standard design means that drivers could face having to carry around adapters in case they go to an unfamiliar area and find the charging point is a different specification to the one they are accustomed to using.
Payment methods – paying for electric charging should be a simple process like paying for diesel or petrol. However, again, there is a lack of standardisation that sees options ranging from mobile apps and payment cards to different accounts. It could mean a driver has to sign up for a new service for every different charging station that they use.
Countrywide picture
Currently, around the UK, there are significant differences in the availability of chargers. Newcastle is one of the top cities for chargers with a ratio of 1.45 cars per plug-in point. At the other end of the scale is Peterborough which has a ratio of 485 vehicles per charger – although, the area does have a higher rate of off-street parking than many cities.
Supermarkets are one of the top locations for public chargers, but the picture is varied amongst stores. 19% of ASDA supermarkets have a charging point installed compared to Tesco with just 0.4% of their stores.
The speed of charge must also be addressed. BMW recently announced they are working with a Dutch energy company, Alfen, to supply electric vehicle charging that will mean the cars have ultrafast charging capabilities. However, if the infrastructure in place can’t provide the power at a rate that makes the process convenient, then these added benefits may not be felt by motorists.
Supply issues
The UK electricity network already notices a surge when everyone pops the kettle on during popular TV show finales, so what will it be like when everyone gets home at 6 pm and sticks the car on charge?
When charging an electric car, much like your phone, overusing fast chargers can damage the car battery and keeping it around 80% keeps the car in optimum condition. Overnight the car charges at anywhere between 3kw to 22kw so all that electricity is undoubtedly going to affect us negatively.
The message taught by firefighters to always switch off everything before you go to bed springs to mind here, as one presumes that anything left on overnight poses a potential hazard. If Emu Analytics predict correctly and there are 1 million electric cars on the roads in the next two years, then inevitably the electricity grid will struggle as well as the potential fire hazard.
If you are thinking of buying an electric car then it is always worth checking the charging point availability around you, ZapMap covers all of the UK and shows most of the charging points.
When looking at home charging, the government provide a grant for electric plug-in points for your house, for 75% of the cost up to £500.
Have you considered buying an electric car? What are your main concerns? We’d love to hear from you!
I’ve recently bought a plugin hybrid (PHEV) and live in Dorset. I mostly charge my car at home overnight for the 9.5 mile commute to/from work. I’m lucky enough to have a drive and a garage with an external 13amp socket. I’ve so far not found any issues charging my car in neighbouring towns and cities. I am however conscious of taking up a charging space which a full EV could be using when I have a petrol engine to fall back on if necessary. Some cities seem to have embraced the charging network. Milton Keynes for example has considerably more charging stations compared to say Bournemouth. I also find the number of different charging stations mind boggling. I currently have at least four different EV charging apps on my mobile phone and an RFID card in order to use the various charging stations. You also have to consider the connectors supplied with each charging station. Whether your car charges with AC or DC current and which power input (KWh) your car can take. Also why some establishments only offer exclusively Tesla only charging stations. This seems like a blatant attempt excluding drivers of other EV and PHEV manufacturers.
Well said about chargers etc. It’s crazy to offer so many charging points which only accept their specific cards. Why don’t they just accept a normal credit/debit card?
Those Tesla only charging stations have been paid for by Tesla. no other manufacturer does this so why would Tesla make them available to others? The charging network offered by Tesla is one of their key advantages but they have invested an awful lot in building it. I think Nissan does help ecotricity with their network a little though.
If this model of manufactures providing charging points for their own make of car continues, then this would make the life of electric car owners a nightmare. If electric cars are to take off we need one simple standard system for all electric cars. At the moment I would not consider getting a fully electric car and presently drive a hybrid.
There are some main standards but besides Nissan no car manufacturer seems to support the network (they prefer to sell you ICE cars). Tesla has their own property (leased) to install their own chargers. Teslas can also run off other chargers though through adaptors. The network is improving all the time but it isn’t the main way people charge their cars. other good ideas are chargers at work and those in supermarket car parks, shopping centres, etc. I will be able to do a commute over 40 miles each way just relying on my employers chargers.
As I have said elsewhere, a local supermarket has has provided some 1/2 dozen charging points but other drivers park in those bays indiscriminately preventing EPV type vehicles from utilising them
wELL SAID-LOOK HOW LONG IT TOOK FOR THE MANUFACTURERS TO COME ROUND TO STANDARD USB CABLES AND CHARGING LEADS FOR PHONES AND COMPUTER TYPE EQUIPMENT
If you have a hybrid or electric car and are involved in an accident the emergency services cannot rescue you or touch the car until specialist recovery services have nutrailized the car and made it safe even if you are trapped inside and injured requiring immediate medical attention.
Where did you get that information from? I have not seen or read anything about it on the internet or any of the specialist EV sites
Well it just goes to show not enough has been done to check potential problems
With these cars . How long will it be when the government blame the population from using too much electricity
Really? That doesn’t sound right. Can you back that statement up?
Urban myth. The HSE issue guidelines, but they are merely common sense precautions.
Not true. Stop spreading fake news.
I saw on TV a three vehicle accident and one was EV. the Highways people would not touch it and contacted a specialist EV recovery to collect it,
Yes I saw that programme, the fire brigade were unable to extinguish a potential fire until BMW advised them it was safe to use foam/water on the vehicle
the problem then isn’t the cars but lack of adequate training.
Is that fact or supposition?
A1 Britain’s Longest Road, about three months ago BBC 1
Oh, the BBC – must be right, then….
We have driven our Nissan Leaf 30kW 23k miles since March 2017. An excellent daily commuter, economic, realistic range of 85 miles in sub zero temps to 115 miles in summer, without hyper miling. Only once have we had to wait to charge while another car finishes their charge, we waited 10minutes. Considerably easier to live with than we had considered before making the switch from a petrol.
As for London, with its excellent and cheap public transport options how many residents own a car and use it regularly? Many of my London based friends hire a car when they want/need one and use bikes or public transport.
1M electric cars by 2020 sounds very unlikely, and unrealistic. Most of those will be hybrids and the hybrid is much better suited to home charging , why stop.enroute.if you have a working ICE in board?
It is also a problem if you live in a block of flats
It must also be a problem if you park on the street which has a pavement between the car and your house?
I just don’t understand how the government can be pushing for use of electrically charged cars, whilst constantly telling householders to switch off appliances they’re not using – to save the country’s electricity supplies.
Electric vehicles are still more efficient than ICE cars. Waste in the home is still waste. electric vehicles usually encourage you to drive more economically.
Standard mix electricty + Transmition loss = Less Efficient
Initial Cost = More expensive
required infrastructure and space = Barriers to entry.
If you stick a 1l common rail turbo diesel in the front and hook it to a generator and electric transmition you will get a lot more for a lot less and the diesel is most efficient on long runs at constant speed
I regularly travel 400+ miles in a day often to very remote areas where charging points are very few (& often out of service). I don’t want to stop every hour to recharge the battery, my diesel does 700-800 on a tank so comfortably would do the journey with only one or two comfort stops!
My present car will be due for replacement in the next 18 months or so, and I have toyed with the idea of an electric. However, with the current infrastructure it would only be viable as a second car, for short trips to the shops. The cost, compared with a similar petrol car, is also a major disincentive. I could buy a lot of petrol for the price premium demanded. For me to buy an electric vehicle as my primary car it would need to cost no more than an equivalent petrol or diesel, it would need a realistic range of 300+ miles and have the abilty to recharge in the time it takes to fill a tank with petrol. Until then electric is a non-starter.
We seem to be in a similar position with electric vehicle infrastructure as we were with petrol cars a century ago. Up until the 1920s, petrol had to be purchased in 2 gallon cans from the chemist or ironmonger; the first petrol station did not open until 1919. Wit the current chicken and egg situation motorists are reluctant to buy an electric car without there being a charging infrastructure in place, and business is reluctant to provide an infrastructure if there is no demand for it.
Serious suggestion Phil – try testing an electric car for your daily use for a week or two if you’re so close to wanting one. You may not need the 300 miles range.
But everyone’s circumstances are different. Perhaps you do regularly travel more than 300 miles in one day. I don’t, but at least you’ve bothered to look into what EVs offer. I’m just suggesting taking the next step and see if you can live with one for a bit.
Has anyone considered what will be used to generate the needed electricity supply to charge these electric cars. If it’s nuclear we will then be left with a load of nuclear waste which is a highly toxic pollutant for many many years or we go back to fossil fuels coal, gas , oil to power generating stations, the very things we are aiming to use less of by buying cars powered by electricity.
Fortunately James, we’re looking forward, not backwards. It’ll be yet more renewables, right? Why didn’t you mention those?
The production of renewables has a great cost and impact on the environment exactly what we are trying to save by using electric cars, it is more viable to develop petrol or diesel engines that have a greater efficiency, producing lower emissions.
They will never be as efficient as an electric vehicle.
You mean inefficient – most of the energy we use to generate electricity is lost in generating losses, transmission losses, transformer losses and losses when charging batteries. Efficient – NO, polluting somewhere else – Yes.
Most renewables are dependant on weather – this is the UK – right!!
The technology for tides is way behind, and will require massive disruption of coastline ecosystems.
There needs to be a base production which meets most of the 27/7 demand – the choice for this is coal, gas or nuclear. All have their pollution problems.
Do you not know that spent nuclear waste is an exportable commodity?
Electricity is used to refine oil into petrol and diesel. With fewer ICE vehicles on the road, it will mean less oil refined, so increased electrical capacity. That’s ignoring the renewable sources that continue to grow.
Renewable sources are not infinite – they repeat day by day, but they are limited in capacity.
Please do some research before blasting electric. They are vastly cheaper to run than ICE cars and in most cases the range is perfectly fine. Sure places like London with lack of off road charging are an issue (for now) but who on earth wants to drive in London anyway? Get solar and a home battery installed and the figures are even more appealing. 13p/kwh= £5.20 for 150-200 miles of range in a 40kw Nissan leaf. Get a smart meter and switch to a tariff with cheap overnight rates and its even cheaper. free charging at work places or solar improve those figures. I will probably shortly be exchanging my very efficient diesel car for a 2018 Nissan leaf. I do have a second ICE family car though which makes it easier.
Just how long does anybody think it will be before the government finds a way to tax the electricity used for transport?
Take advantage of the situation while it lasts. I don’t know about you but I get hacked off knowing that almost £40 of every £50 fill up is tax. I’m creamed enough elsewhere. £4500 grant almost wiping out the VAT on the new Leaf and no road tax to pay also helps.
How do I do this in a 4th floor rented flat?
if you have communal parking then chargers can be installed there. if not and you park on the street then new street lights are being fitted that incorporate chargers into them. other options like I mentioned are chargers at work, supermarkets, or wherever there is parking. solutions for MOST people exist.
So where are these street lights, supermarkets etc.? All the public ones here are two at the hospital and they are in a lot of use unless it is 3am.
You need this model EV https://youtu.be/Ywd0yNXmHaA?t=19s
It won’t last, Mark. There will be a critical point where the cost of the EVs comes down and more people are using them. Then, the Chancellor will start loading lots of tax on EVs. And there will be no going back. EV is not a cheaper option, but a greener one. Although where the power comes from is another matter.
my choice was between a Honda civic or Nissan leaf. Probably going for the leaf over the civic as the fuel cost per month is £100 cheaper and no road tax too. And that with the diesel civic being very frugal. Also intending on installing solar with a home battery too so how does gov tax the energy that I produce? its going to take a while before that happens considering the FIT is guaranteed for 20 years
Not everyone has a roof for solar panels or a garden to put them in. I have a flat and a communal area with 2 charging points for 58 flats and no prospect of more. At the moment Electric is not even on my radar until the infrastructure is there and the range is enough that I only need to charge once a week or so.
I’ve just changed my EV and gone back to an ICE car due to lack of reliable chargers in the Kent area!
Where do you get the money from? – or do you lease?
As the article says, irrespective of whether we can install the charging points, the National Grid is not up to the job. In any case we have insufficient renewables capacity so we shall have to continue to be reliant on coal and gas generated electricity, which is less efficient (including transmission losses) than IC engines. Can the government not see that the only practical alternative is to move to hybrids, which generate the electricity efficiently at point of use?
For the record, this is not a rant from a Daily Mail reader, but the considered opinion of a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with a background in vehicle design.
I don’t agree that hybrids generate electricity at the point of use, except when the energy used in braking is recycled into electricity. Petrol is used when the battery is insufficiently charged, or when the driver wants additional power.
More nuclear power stations and wind farms are on the way in remote areas (which is possible due to the National Grid to cope with extra demand for general domestic use, industrial use, the rail network to cope with extra transition from diesel to electric trains as well as more frequent and longer trains, together with the growing number of electric vehicles.
It may take time but as the saying goes-Rome was not built a day and it took God 6 days to create earth-have patience.
Took my Renault Zoe on it’s first long run 2 weeks ago. I have a 140 miles to do with a practical 90 mile range. 20 minutes on rapid charger at 70 miles , all sorted. We actually stopped for half an hour for family lunch etc. I have zero range anxiety. BUT I do worry that there is a working & available charger. Why do I have join a club (Polar in my case) ? Imagine if you were a Shell member & could not fill up at BP ! What is required for making journeys upto about 200 miles is a sufficient number of rapid chargers at the current service stations . Roll up, insert debit/credit card, connect, have a wee, buy a snack, disconnect, go. What’s so hard?
The huge downside to the agument about plug in EV’s is always going to be range. On a journey of 200 miles I really do not want to be scuffing my heels at a charging point for a significant period time 3 times during my journey. assuming circa 20 minutes per stop (assuming no waiting for charging point to be availabe) this adds a minimum of an hour to my journey time. To me this is hugely unacceptable. Both my stomach & bladded can survive perfectly well without attention every hour or so. Hydrogen fuel cell is really were we need to be going, it would be the least environmentally damaging option what with the huge environmental cost of creating & disposing of batteries.
On a 200 miles journey, with any of the current crop of EVs, you’ll only need to stop once. With the next generation, coming in 2019/20, you won’t need to stop at all.
It is not yet feasible if you drive long distances so I believe a petrol/electric hybrid with a battery providing around 100miles in EV mode might be the answer. I got one of those a couple of years ago which was advertised to do 18miles in EV mode but on a good day and driving in town at no more than 40mph it barely achieved 12 miles,so a long way to go
When the infrastructure is there I will go out and buy an electric car. Meanwhile I just ordered a new petrol car.
The organizations who are pushing for renewable energy and to stop using coal/gas/oil for electricity generation are also the ones pushing to stop people using petrol and diesel in cars. These organizations will not be satisfied until only people with a bicycle will be mobile.
The government is, as always, frightened to stand up to these organizations who will pervert facts and figures to frighten the public to achieve their aims.
It is all good that the Uk wants to keep up with zero emissions.
But nobody seems to think about the small people. The people that cannot afford electric cars.
The people that are disabled and are unable to find and then sit while the car charges, are they going to put a charging point outside every Disabled Persons house but I don’t have the luxury of having a garage or a driveway. Am I supposed to drag a cable out to the car everytime I need to charge it (which I am unable to do).
I guarantee that the more electric cars that are on the road the higher the price of electric will go, which will mean pushing people further into fuel poverty.
Whenever people come up with environmental ideas they never think about the people that haven’t got money.
Will there be two different electric rates one for car use and one for home use I doubt it.
Disabled and ” lower class” people need transport too.
In Bristol there are many terraced houses and frequently cannot park outside your house. If you have a car, your wife & children have their own ( company vehicles) are you expected to trail a cables 300 yards along the pavements? Also the energy companies have just increased their prices again!
Well said – where do I (retired) get the cash for a new electric car – personal pension crashed – no help there!!!
apart from initial cost, availability of charging facilities is of most concern. Also if there is a queue of 4 or 5 cars each taking 30 minutes I’m not prepared to wait. No evidence of government planning to provide sufficient power looks like another diesel fiasco in the making.
These cars ARE NOT ZERO EMISSIONS. The cost to the environment is never going to be balanced. The batteries alone cost the environment dearly.UTTER BULL FROM SO CALLED ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTS
EVs emit no exhaust, that’s the point. Everybody knows and accepts that there’s an environmental cost to manufacturing anything – but what we care about is avoiding further polluting the atmosphere. Especially localised pollution caused by vehicles.
exactly – the exhaust is replaced by power station emissions – somewhere else. in England renewables will never meet the demand unless every house and block of flats has solar panels by law and that is just a start on the problem.
I like the idea of electric cars although I couldn’t afford one but my main issue would be long journeys and sufficient charging points. We go to the north of Scotland every year, a trip of about 700 miles and I think that would be very difficult in an electric car at present. As the range gets greater so does the feasibility but its only fairly expensive cars that at present have a long range.
I think electric cars are much more suited to suburban requirements especially as a second vehicle, many of these don’t do more than 50 miles a day and can be charged with off peak power at about 6p per Kwh. When the charging cost concessions end, charging at fast chargers will make the fuel cost similar to that of a petrol vehicle or at least a diesel. Admittedly though servicing costs should be cheaper and they should be more reliable.
Electric cars are also well suited to rural areas where many people have solar panels or wind chargers, but the power requirements of a large fast charging system cold consume the output of a small power station.
I took my 2014 Leaf from Redcar to Kendal, with two rapid charges, at Scotch Corner and Tebay.
“demand for zero-emission electric cars”
The demand is for the subsidies on offer.
“The numbers of electric cars in the capital is booming with over 12,000 models registered”
Total cars registered in London is 2.56 million,
“booming” at 0.46%?
I have travelled around to see where these charging places are, some are not working will others have cars parked in the bay that are not electric cars and neither are they plug-in hybrids. I think there is still a lot to do before I will buy one
Wouldn’t dream of it my relatives are all over 100 miles away so the restrictions when using an e car are just too inconvenient living in the country and e cars just does not go together
Currently 150,000 ev’s, projected to be 1million in two years, that’s 35,416 new registrations every month. Ambitious figures, as they seek to push the electric car on a not too convinced population.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jul/26/national-grid-fossil-fuel-vehicle-ban-electric-cars-is-there-enough-electricity-
Until technology catches up with electric vehicles it’s always going to be a toss up between electric and petrol. A decent petrol car with start stop technology and fuel efficient can be just a cheap to run as an electric.
I recently bought a hybrid car as I wouldn’t trust full electric vehicles as they currently not efficient enough to do long journeys and you don’t want to be stuck on the motorway and run out of charge. You can try plan your journey using existing charge points but what happens if you get stuck in a traffic jam and low on charge. It’s not as if you run out of charge you can leave your car and to local garage for a charge and bring back.
I can see the electric charge points are going to be like the video or satellite revolution. VHS and Betamax, Record, tapes, cd, dvd, blue ray and mp3 and now streaming.
Things need to be standardised so it’s not confusing.
We need more Investment in electric vehicles so we’re not so reliant on fossil fuels as we are already seeing a shortage of oil and the increase in prices. This will only get worse as the oils companies have a hold over us and can charge what they like for a barrel of oil. If their profits drop by a few million they stop producing and put the prices up.
There needs to be a uniform fixings for the electric point in cars around the world . who do you see to get an electric point outside your house with no driveway or garage.
What would offset the need for charge points is if the car makes would embrace solar technology and put solar panels on their cars so the cars can charge themselves. Even on a dull day you still get some charge from solar panels. The roof and bonnet could be covered in panels and charge the car up therefore the car would be more efficient.
Why have the electric car manufactures not thought of this and implemented it in their car? You could even use solar panels in charging points which could store the unused electric in batteries under or near the point. If you use solar panels electric cars would be truly green.
Hi Norman,I agree with you that all EV’s should have solar panels which would trickle charge the battery during daylight hours.I also think that All new houses should have charging points and solar panels fitted as a building regulation,the cost of which would be negligible.I have had 14 solar panels on my south facing roof since Sept 2011 which have generated 22,000 Kwh. FIT = £10,000. I could potentially run an EV for £0,it is just the high cost of an EV that is putting me off.
You should do some research too.
I have a 10kW array on my house. Peak in a day that is really really sunny is 60-80kWh
Scale that down to one panel of 40 which is a realistic car coverage that would be 1.5-2kWh.
That’s a very optimistic calculation. In short not worth it for the extra cost and complexity- you want EVs to be cheaper right? 😉
Hi Norman – there are versions of the Prius which do have solar roofs – certainly in Japan if not within Europe . . .
For that reason I bought a hybrid self charging car.
I get in 73+ on a run,the bigger the distance,the better economy.
Town driving,around 65 mpg.
Maybe in 5 years,when a upgrade is due,I go for a plugin version,we will see.
Definitely the best choice when bought,very happy.
No way electric cars will be viable or sensible until they have an average 500 mile range between an 8 hour overnight charge on a normal domestic supplied house or street charger.. This should be the standard, and that will convince 95% of the car driving population to switch – so battery/fuel cell developers get weaving, you’ll save us all.
Cannot disagree. What’s the point of a car being unable to be filled up as a petrol/diesel car is? 400/500 mile range is surely the expectation for us all from a full charge. Or should we forget todays technology and look forward to developments in the next 20 years which will render an electric car as much yesterdays technology as a Stanley Steamer.
What happens when there is a power-cut on the grid in your area lasting more than a couple of hours. Those cars plugged into charging points will not charge so will have to stay there until power is resumed and those waiting to be charged will be going nowhere. Bit like an airport which is snow bound
The biggest problem that EV’s currently face is that of convenience. Currently an ICE powered vehicle can go to any charging point (petrol station) on the planet, refuel and be on it’s way within a few minutes. Until EV’s can match this there won’t be wide scale take up of them.
A simple solution is for all manufacturers of EV’s to use a common battery, with a quick change system, whether it’s a single cell in a commuter vehicle or multiples for higher performance or longer range. It’s then a simple matter for the vehicle to be taken to a filling station (probably on the same site as current petrol stations) and have the flat battery swapped out for a full one, pay a fee and go on your way.
The government could then tax battery swaps to make up for the lost revenue from fuel tax !
its not quite that simple. A battery in a tesla, for example, weighs over 500KGs – even if you can get round the dangers of messing with a high voltage battery, its not going to be a quick and easy task to swap out a 500KG battery every time it needs a charge.
Range is my main concern. Also lack of charging points when I am staying away from home. Fast charging shortens the life of batteries, so I would expect to find overnight slow charging facilities at night rates of electricity at hotels and the like.
(1) I drive a Mitsubushi Outlander PHEV – it is supposed to give 30+ miles on electric but in reality 15/18 is what I see
(2) There are chargers at most motorway service stations, the Ecotricity network – but if you drive a PHEV they are a totally uneconomic solution – £6 for a 30 minute charge (so, £6 for about 15 miles in my case) – they were installed using EC money and charging was either free or at economic rate (I don’t remember), great I thought, as I drive around the country I can charge my car at every service station – then it changed to £6 a go, Ecotricity don’t want to offer alternatives for PHEV’s and fully electric vehicles – when did you last see one of their chargers in use ? . . .
(3) The Ecotricity chargers may be sensible if you drive a Tesla or a Leaf or a Zoe, otherwise they are waste of space
(4) I share the pain regarding so many different systems – Milton Keynes is mostly Polar – but at Heathrow I need POD point – elsewhere in London SourceLondon – this needs to be fixed to encourage take up of PHEV’s and fully electric vehicles
I won’t be buying an electric car as where we live their isn’t any charge points, and home charge is a no no as we don’t have road access
How does an electric vehicle handle interior car heating and windows demisting on freezing winter conditions? They currently have difficulty just propelling themselves with their limited battery capacity.
Do you seriously think turning on the demister is going to effect the range of the car? LOL.
Phil, A Battery Pack can only hold a certain amount of energy which deteriorates at a rate dependent on load put upon it. Keith has a very valid point, batteries discharge faster in cold weather if not kept at an ambient temperature even when not in use. The performance mileage claimed by EV’s manufactures doe’s seem to be a little vague and should give more information as to expected mileage in various situations ie. Day, Night, Summer, Winter as well as Motorway and Urban. All we seem to get at the moment is claimed mileage.
We all know that fossil fuel engines use fuel at different rates dependant on the conditions and use more than manufacturers claim, so the same must apply to EV’s
Its useless. Living on the umpteenth floor and having to find an empty parking space is bad enough after a typical 300mile jaunt, I just cannot see the benefits with financial aspects.
The pollutions aspect of old batteries has not had much discussion at the end of life which I may well be corrected is every four to five years.
It just does not seem well thought out.
Might be worth saying why I have a PHEV – its a company car and the cost to me in tax is about 1/4 of that of my previous diesel car – honestly, its that simple – my monthly tax bill went from around £400 to around £100 (but its now climbing back up !) – as a company car, a PHEV is a no brainer ! – even if you never plug it in to charge . . .
A bit blinkered by government and pro- electric fans.
Hybrid electric is the way to go whilst charging points are built. Also the range at present is around 200 miles which is really good.
My problem is that the media want electric cars to have the same performance as petrol cars.
Further to my earlier comments electricity has to be produced so solar powered cars are a possibility, not in this country because of the weather. Bio fuels and gas can also be used as hybrid with electric.
I suppose time and development will sort things out.
The government will have to tax electric for income to run the country.
Problem is government spend money in the wrong places. Population increases in major cities is another future problem.
I was shocked by the high insurance rating for e-cars, eg 26e for a Leaf. As well as missing chargers this is another disincentive, IMO.
The shared car park for my local Aldi and B&M stores has several electric charging points but every time I go there I have not seen anyone charge their car there simply because diesel or petrol car owners park in those bays indiscriminately. Sadly nobody has the power to stop it. I sympathise with electric car drivers since my wife is a blue badge holder and non blue badge holders do park in such bays in private car parks where no one has power to stop it.
If car park owners provide facilities for vehicle charging, people with children and blue badge holders the the law needs to change so that abusers can be prosecuted as the can on the street.
Having read the comments on this topic why has nobody considered the far better solution that is the Honda Hydrogen/elec vehicle? In my opion by far the most sensible and practical solution.
Not considered one at all. Might once the range of such cars has been extended a fair bit.
i wondered whether there was a possibility that electric cars could come with a very small petrol engine or generator, one that could be left running, and whose only function would be to charge the electric batteries. You park up, away from people preferably, start the mini engine/generator and leave the car to go shopping, whatever. The system shuts down automatically once charging is completed, and you return to the car and drive off electrically. How efficient might such a system be I wonder? Possible…or unrealistic?
[…] prices reported back in May that the infrastructure isn’t in place to cope with demand, and while it’s true that updates […]
[…] As we wrote about in May 2018, the UK is simply not ready for electric vehicles on a mass scale, with the required infrastructure being required to charge millions of electric cars at the same time. National Grid anticipates that there will be 11m electric vehicles within the next 12 years. As it currently stands, there won’t be, sufficient charging points, with energy analysts predicting that electric cars will account for around 3% of the total energy demand and the requirement for an additional 400,000 charging points which would come at the cost of £30bn to the taxpayer. […]