Electric Cars Are Fine, But...

[RATTER15]

What about the millions of people that have no way of parking near their house, how will they charge their cars. There isnt a car charging point in the town I live in, the nearest is about 2 miles away in a garage.

[-SharonA-]

You should have watched Rip off Britain yesterday. Not enough charging points, car not charged enough to make necessary journeys, constant worry every time you go out that you won't be able to find a charging point and where are they?? The chargers are not universal, so you may find one and it's not suitable to charge your car. Many have gone back to petrol!!

[davebro]

They will have to install millions of charging point in the streets - it will take decades & cost billions. We won't live to see it!

In fact a new model of personal transport may emerge where people don't own cars but draw one from a pool - like the Boris bikes.

[THECORBYLOON]

The Government funds up to 75% of the cost of home charging points, up to £500.

[davebro]

Self-charging petrol/electric hybrids seem like a much more sensible medium-term solution to me. Run on battery in cities reducing urban pollution, petrol on the open road for performance & range.

[vulcan42]

I read recently that it is quite feasible to convert every lamppost to be a charging point.

[douglas9401]

The charging point's the least of your worries if there's no parking.

The technology has a way to go before being of any real use.

[davebro]

20 houses / 3 lamp posts - FIGHT!!!!!!

[vulcan42]

davebro, sorry I should have put charging pointS, this might reduce the fisticuffs. :o)

[THECORBYLOON]

These folk do lamp posts, https://char.gy

[mushroom25]

my colleague lives in a terraced street. he has to work odd hours to guarantee being home before 4pm, after which the nearest he can park to his house is more than half a mile away. he may have a home charging point, or use of a lamppost outside his house, but neither would be any good unless he has a half mile long charging cable and acquiescence of the local authorities to lay it along the street every night (along with everyone else's cable)…..

[dustypuss]

Could this be a solution put these in the road or car parks and standardise all cars to wireless charging

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/electric/what-is-electric-car-wireless-charging-wevc-and-how-does-it-work-/

[TonyV]

My neighbour has dual fuel car, fortunate that he can charge on his drive, but if necessary on long journeys he can switch to petrol/

[Old_Geezer]

I'm still unconvinced they generate enough electricity to cope anyway. It wasn't that long ago the hot topic was how little reserve power we have, and the possibility of blackouts if conditions weren't favourable. Also, do we buy from abroad too ? When they have another half dozen or so nuclear power stations up and running we may be in a position to switch.

[ToraToraTora]

yes as OG says the main problem will be supplying all the lecky in the first place. The national grid struggles with the kettles after Corrie as it is. What's it going to do with a gazillion lecky jam jars plugged in? I like the idea of the hybrids and those that have a small engine that is only there to charge the batteries when no charging is available. I do have a mate with a tesla and that is very good but I do worry about charge points etc as above.

[Hymie]

Although supplying enough power will be issue – this can be solved by building more power stations.

But the grid infrastructure (local sub-stations etc) supplying house-holds will not be able to cope with the demand; even with smart charging built into vehicles. Expect to see many more sub-stations in your local area, plus upgraded supply cabling to the substations to meet demand.

[Ryzen]

Thats why 'smart'meters are being forced upon us...they will 'incentivise' off peak usage.