Let battle commence So where I work there are 6 free charging points for electric cars, this has encouraged people to get one, now the problem will be what happens if there isn't one available and you badly need a charge? I noticed this morning that there were 6 all electric cars in but also 3 BMW plug in hybrids, 4 of the electric cars were plugged in and 2 of the hybrids. We work 2 shifts but i'd say at least half of the electric car owners are not on site at the moment, (I think there were about 15 all electrics around). What will make it more interesting is one of the senior directors who will have to visit other plants (up to 200 miles away) also has an electric car (i pace).
I genuinely think some folks don’t realise that electricity isn’t contained in that , they forget about those big ole power stations
Expect some of the chargers to be re-marked as 'Directors Only'. Can only see this being a huge issue in the future whilst infrastructure (local charging points and regional supply networks) catches up. Maybe the the hybrid vehicle is the best option for now, and prioritise the use of chargers to all electric vehicles for now. A bit like disabled toilets really, anyone can use them if no disabled people are waiting, but hardly anyone ever does.
The sad thing about your situation is that having six chargers is actually a really, really good situation compared to most other employers. My other half works at a University in a major northern city. It has dozens of buildings, parking for many hundreds of cars, employs thousands of people and has zero charging infrastructure with no plan to introduce any. This is a fairly typical approach. Being a market-led roll out, I don't really expect it to improve before it gets really difficult for people. Close to me there are a fair few EVs and a small number of public chargers (like, two) - it is already difficult to find one vacant a lot of the time...
I think the Hybrids will have to be the first to go, I asked about what will happen to one of the early adopters (4 charging points and only 2 EV's) he said they plan on having an e-mail group to let people know when they're charged and swap over the chargers, but knowing human naure it'll get messy. I think you're right @Bob Alatt he company have been good about it and it has encouraged people, but they can't keep adding charging points.
Its why EVs will never catch up, and the value of good petrol cars and self charging hybrids will increase when all the manufacturers are only making EVs. PHEVs are just a tax dodge. Its going to be like when new business development in the countruside arent allowed to build adequate carparking.. so all the roads for half a mile around are jammed with hedges full of desperately parked cars because theres no public transport.
At least you have a slight chance of charging at work. MrsNtfc is about to get a new electric company car and we've had to pay £1300 to have a charging point put in at home as she works for a third party logistics provider and the site she is at doesn't belong to her company One upside is that she'll pay no Benefit in Kind company car tax so the money saved compared to her current Range Rover will pay it back in around 5 months.
^ adds value to your house too our zappi was about 800 i think? advantage of this one vs some of the others is that it takes a direct feed off the solar panels so can put everything that we're generating straight into the car if needed.. or priorise the house, then surplus into the car etc. or just work like a normal charger and juice up the electric car on an off peak tariff overnight.
I hear you but look at what the manufacturers are doing, saying and planning. There aren't that many cars on the road more than 10 years old and loads under three cos of fleet buyers which are the main driver (sorry) of new car sales. There are a few years for infrastructure to catch up but I expect the burden to be borne by us lot in the main. If you have a driveway, expect to be relieved of a grand for a charger as @philntfc says. Although I struggled to pay more than £750 and you get £350 back at the moment...
That's why we have to pay for it ourselves despite her company insisting everyone goes to electric cars now. In theory if they do something that adds value to the house it opens up a real can of worms regarding Benefit in Kind tax
Until they start replacing the reciprocating lumps with ******el engines, then they'll dodge yet more tax and become the vehicle of the future.
Similar situation here, a head office with (usually) over 2000 people in it - 1250ish parking spaces, 6 of which are electric. The issues with parking is one thing, but the company changed fleet provider for company cars last year from Vauxhall only to one that includes the BMW 330e, i3 and i8 (for bigwigs only!). The 330e and i3 are less per month than a 1.2l Corsa would have been, so you can imagine how many there are queuing up at the charging points for free electric! The car park is predominantly empty, but I had to go in last week and there were 18 i3’s parked side by side! mind you, I did get lucky and nabbed a 330e for £52pm so mustn’t grumble too much
Already round here the mains voltage is pinging up and down with EVs plugging in and unplugging. The infrastructure wont take it. A lot of it is a cosy scam to force everybody to buy new cars. Stop building concrete stuff and importing stuff and expecting cheap foreign flying. I think the French idea of blocking internal flights if the train would get you there is a good one.
A lot of things are still in development regarding charging, the French company NAWA Technologies using Ultra-Fast Carbon Electrode, carbon tube nanotechnology can bring EV charging to 80% down to around 11 minutes.
Its easier to push half a megawatt of energy in using a fuel filler hose or say 100kWH , than down wiring. Nothing gets particularly hot. The batteries will take the charge, but what percentage of the charge input goes into heating. May have to provide a coolant loop from the charger so it can cool the batteries and recover some of the energy. At 600 volts, thats 833 amps of current for 11 minutes. Electricians please size up the fat, rather heavy and rather attractively valuable charger lead you have to lug around in the boot or someone nicks it. That charger will need a big battery pack to be able to smoothly load the grid, then rapidly dump energy, and after doing a few thousand fast charges, its own battery pack will need replacing. So maybe each user will have to be pay £1-£10 to the owner of the charger as a premium for the service to pay for the consumables in the charger.
EV batteries already have a battery cooling system that is how the interior heating works, and developments in heat pumps are making it more effient.
Near where I live is an old chalk quarry, with a couple of lakes in it. It’s open access and people go down there to walk dogs, ride bikes, have picnics, sniff glue etc. It’s next to a new housing development. It was very popular last year during the summer lockdown with people being paid to stay at home. One day last year a guy arrived home from work to find a car parked on his drive being charged up using his charger whilst the owner who he didn’t know was over the quarry having a picnic.
