It really needs state intervention to organise and standardise EV charging as an essential public service. Atm it’s being left to a multitude of different private companies none of which are working in a joined up manner. I think things are getting better from what I’ve heard with some of them now taking card payments but the entire system just needs a top down approach.
If you don’t have a driveway, you probably shouldn’t get an electric car yet.
I had an electric car for a couple of weeks.. Week one I had Kia Nero, week two I had an WVID3. Both cars were brilliant. The charging network was a complete, utter disaster. Most were broken, others took ages to charge, at weekends they were busy. I just couldn’t live with the disaster of a charging network and that alone was the reason i bought a diesel instead, even though the electric car was better. If Tesla open their charging network at an affordable price or launch their proposed £25k car, I might switch back to electric.
I really don’t know why charging stations don’t let you just pay with credit or debit card, just pre authorise some amount or pre pay a specific amount and then charge.
It’s very annoying dealing with different services you need to sign up for especially in spotty mobile areas.
Cost is still the issue for me. A month or two salary has always got me a family car which lasts 7 years without issues.
At present a 9 year old Nissan Leaf is significantly more than the 4 cars I’ve owned in the 34 years I’ve been motoring.
I like the idea of electric and I’ll be weighing in fuel costs and adding the savings to my buying cost but it’s a hell of a way off for me.
Electric cars just aren’t viable to anyone who has a busy lifestyle, is renting or doesn’t have a driveway. It takes about 2 minutes to fill a car with petrol and be on your way, or over an hour to charge an electric car. If you are renting, it is highly unlikely the landlord is going to let you install a charging point at home. Even if they did, street parking is not going to guarantee you can charge your car whilst parked up.
Please improve the charging infrastructure and I’m sold. My wife’s car lease is up soon and she’s hoping to switch to electric. When I looked at getting a electric golf it was mad pricey. So stuck with a petrol.
It’s going to be really difficult for the UK to upgrade the infrastructure needed to fully support EVs. Mainly because of the bureaucracy. Germany, US, and others made it look easy because their markets welcomed the growing demand/shift and supported. UK has no such demand by comparison.
Roundabouts will be another problem in the future as they require too much driver interpretation and therefore won’t support self-driving vehicles.
Being a shiftworker is perfect. At the moment I’m in between houses so having to use it. In England I know of a few free 50kw superchargers. They were great after nine but even now checking zap map they can be still being used till 11. In Scotland though different story. Around Park and rides there are a lot of 7kw free ones. Plug in. Go to work. Come back full charge and still lots empty. The speed of the uptake of electric cars is very mucb increasing and needs addressing. But obviously this government will be right on it……
Majority of people in UK who can afford to early adopt an EV will have a private drive.
In an average week, they’ll typically use the car to commute to work and the supermarket. The mileage will be so low they won’t even need to charge it most evenings.
They’ll switch to Agile electricity tariffs and charge overnight at 5p a unit, which is drastically cheaper then petrol.
On the rare occassion they drive a few hundred miles, they’ll have to plan a little bit to stop at electric charging points. Trains, planes and coaches will still exist.
Everyone else wont be upgrading until the second hand EV market fills out with affordable options , by which point public charging infrastructure will be much more common.
Hydrogen cars aren’t coming. There’s no energy efficient way to convert electrical energy to hydrogen back to electrical energy.
People refusing to upgrade will be slowly priced out of fossil fuels as the majority convert over to EVs, making petrol/diesel supply chains economically unsustainable and pushing prices up.
12 comments
TL;DR: the charging infrastructure is shit.
I can personally verify this.
It really needs state intervention to organise and standardise EV charging as an essential public service. Atm it’s being left to a multitude of different private companies none of which are working in a joined up manner. I think things are getting better from what I’ve heard with some of them now taking card payments but the entire system just needs a top down approach.
If you don’t have a driveway, you probably shouldn’t get an electric car yet.
I had an electric car for a couple of weeks.. Week one I had Kia Nero, week two I had an WVID3. Both cars were brilliant. The charging network was a complete, utter disaster. Most were broken, others took ages to charge, at weekends they were busy. I just couldn’t live with the disaster of a charging network and that alone was the reason i bought a diesel instead, even though the electric car was better. If Tesla open their charging network at an affordable price or launch their proposed £25k car, I might switch back to electric.
I really don’t know why charging stations don’t let you just pay with credit or debit card, just pre authorise some amount or pre pay a specific amount and then charge.
It’s very annoying dealing with different services you need to sign up for especially in spotty mobile areas.
Cost is still the issue for me. A month or two salary has always got me a family car which lasts 7 years without issues.
At present a 9 year old Nissan Leaf is significantly more than the 4 cars I’ve owned in the 34 years I’ve been motoring.
I like the idea of electric and I’ll be weighing in fuel costs and adding the savings to my buying cost but it’s a hell of a way off for me.
[“Streets ahead” is verbal wildfire.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/79/92/2d/79922d0ca19f29d8023214d7c94eff0c.gif)
Electric cars just aren’t viable to anyone who has a busy lifestyle, is renting or doesn’t have a driveway. It takes about 2 minutes to fill a car with petrol and be on your way, or over an hour to charge an electric car. If you are renting, it is highly unlikely the landlord is going to let you install a charging point at home. Even if they did, street parking is not going to guarantee you can charge your car whilst parked up.
Please improve the charging infrastructure and I’m sold. My wife’s car lease is up soon and she’s hoping to switch to electric. When I looked at getting a electric golf it was mad pricey. So stuck with a petrol.
It’s going to be really difficult for the UK to upgrade the infrastructure needed to fully support EVs. Mainly because of the bureaucracy. Germany, US, and others made it look easy because their markets welcomed the growing demand/shift and supported. UK has no such demand by comparison.
Roundabouts will be another problem in the future as they require too much driver interpretation and therefore won’t support self-driving vehicles.
Being a shiftworker is perfect. At the moment I’m in between houses so having to use it. In England I know of a few free 50kw superchargers. They were great after nine but even now checking zap map they can be still being used till 11. In Scotland though different story. Around Park and rides there are a lot of 7kw free ones. Plug in. Go to work. Come back full charge and still lots empty. The speed of the uptake of electric cars is very mucb increasing and needs addressing. But obviously this government will be right on it……
Majority of people in UK who can afford to early adopt an EV will have a private drive.
In an average week, they’ll typically use the car to commute to work and the supermarket. The mileage will be so low they won’t even need to charge it most evenings.
They’ll switch to Agile electricity tariffs and charge overnight at 5p a unit, which is drastically cheaper then petrol.
On the rare occassion they drive a few hundred miles, they’ll have to plan a little bit to stop at electric charging points. Trains, planes and coaches will still exist.
Everyone else wont be upgrading until the second hand EV market fills out with affordable options , by which point public charging infrastructure will be much more common.
Hydrogen cars aren’t coming. There’s no energy efficient way to convert electrical energy to hydrogen back to electrical energy.
People refusing to upgrade will be slowly priced out of fossil fuels as the majority convert over to EVs, making petrol/diesel supply chains economically unsustainable and pushing prices up.