Charging Points For Electric Cars

[naomi24]

In a local village there's a terrace of small houses with a pavement between them and the road.  One of the occupants has an electric car plugged into a charger on the wall of his house and he's put one of those black and yellow box strips over the wire across the pavement to tell pedestrians it's there.  It's most definitely a hazard and I'm not entirely sure he would have been given permission to do it.  So what's going to happen when we're all forced into electric cars?  I'm okay - I have a detached house with plenty of parking space but what about people like him in terraced houses with only the road to park on, or people in flats in tower blocks with little or no parking?   I don't think this rush towards electric cars has really been thought through at all.

[mushroom25]

not too bad for him if he's parked outside his house. but what if he's late back from work one day and the nearest he can park is half a mile away (a common issue on terraced streets)?

[douglas9401]

Excellent recycling work.

[rockyracoon]

Where we live there are many roads of Victorian terraced houses and a large estate where properties front doors are not on the street. Lord knows how they will charge cars. They need to invent a battery that you can take out of the car and charge up indoors. A long way off, I know.

[barry1010]

The council allows channels to be dug across the pavement so that the cable isn't a trip hazard.  The channel has a removable cover to keep it dry and to keep the pavement level

[bhg481]

I honestly believe that the days of electric cars are numbered. Electricity just isn't portable enough - getting close to a charging point can be difficult and you can't carry a reserve can. Once the cost of replacement batteries starts to matter the love of electric cars will disappear and their greenness will be lost in the need to replace the whole vehicle. 

[barry1010]

Like this one

 

[naomi24]

Barry, this cover isn't at pavement level.  It's a long box type thing sticking up across the pavement.

[barry1010]

https://topcharger.co.uk/using-a-cable-gully-to-charge-your-electric-car-at-home/ 

[ToraToraTora]

No one going to be "forced"- ICE cars will be with us forever.

[barry1010]

I was referring to your question about people like him in terraced houses, naomi

[barry1010]

As to the chap in the village:

"

While there is obvious risk, the Local Government Association told us there is 'no legislation that it is aware of' that would make the inconsiderate placing of a charging cable illegal.  

A spokesman told This is Money that if someone was to injure themselves tripping over a charging cable across a pavement, the owner could potentially be liable - though a personal injury lawyer and motor insurer claims this might not be the case (read more below). "
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-8921085/Can-run-cable-charge-electric-car-pavement.html

 

[bhg481]

barry - I wonder just how much the council charges to install such channels. Out of idle curiosity I looked at the cost of having a home charger installed and it was around £1000; that makes a big hole in the advantage of cheap electric fuel. I have seen reports that charging at commercial charging points being more expensive than using petrol/diesel.

[theshedman]

Our council has put in a bank of 8 chargers for electric cars into one of the local car parks but there is no supply powerful enough to be able to use them so not connected.  These have now been there for over 2 years and they are fenced off meaning no one else can use them to park so they have lost the revenue they would have had from these spaces.  Our council knows how to waste money.  Not though through at all.

[barry1010]

You don't need to replace the whole vehicle, the batteries can be replaced. Expensive to do so at the moment but the battery prices are falling year on year.  

[bhg481]

barry - no, you don't but the cost of a replacement battery might make it cheaper to replace the vehicle on a 10-year old car.

[barry1010]

I don't know, bhg, but I bet the cost varies between councils.  If a street of terrace houses had several gullies it would make maintaining the pavement more expensive, too.

[ToraToraTora]

The problem with lecky jam jars is infrastructure but also time it takes to charge. I can fill up in minutes it takes hours to re charge assuming you can find a charger. I'll keep the jaaag for now!

[barry1010]

You could say the same about a petrol or diesel car when it needs a new engine.  I read today that EV batteries are now expected to last 15 years, regardless of mileage.  Time will tell

[New Judge]

"I don't think this rush towards electric cars has really been thought through at all."

I think you're quite right, naomi.

Every poential problem that is raised is dismissed, with those raising them labelled "Luddites".

The particular issue you raise is very pertinent. Whilst it's true that tlarge numbers of people have space for their own charging points, huge numbers of dwellings are simply unable to make that provision. 

This will leve them dependant on public charging facilities and there is nowhere near enough of them outside London and tthe other big cities. Even some of the larger cities and towns  are not well served att all.

The thing that will slow the uptake of EVs considerably is their cost. They are currently beyond the means of many people so for many years yet, petrol and diesel cars will be required. This means that fossil fuels will be required. However, due to a court ruling last week, that decision has been taken out of the hands of politicians and instead has been decided by judges:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cxwwzmn12g9o

This decision means that oil companies are very unlikely to invest in new UK exploration and extraction. What the people raising objections such as the one which succeeded here fail to realise is that these decisions do not mean that fossil fuel consumption will suddenly cease or even reduce as a result. All it means is that the fuel will have to be sourced from elsewhere and the cost (in terms of £££s and the emissions they are trying to see reduced) will be greater. 

The entire issue has been hijacked by a rag-tag collection of environmentalists and professional protesters and is a complete mess. Needless to say, whoever wins the election next week will do nothing about it and the chaos, of which the rollout of EVs is a part, will simply get worse.

 

[barry1010]

I am in no hurry to buy an EV car, although I do have a drive so charging at home wouldn't be a problem. I plan to keep my 14 year old car going as long as possible, which is surely the 'greenest' option. Scrapping a vehicle and making a replacement takes a lot of energy, resources, transportation....