[Drivingforfun]

Apologies for the link to perhaps a rival site, I'll understand if it gets deleted

https://www.pistonheads.com/news/gen...bs-to-go/49232

I can't help but see the quote:

" Ford spoke of the ‘significant disruption’ in the shift towards electrified mobility and the dichotomy between what they’re being asked to make and what people actually want to buy "

And think that's what every manufacturer as well as a lot of the customer base is screaming at the moment??

[olduser]

@Drivingforfun There are two thoughts, motor manufacturers will be trying to get the government to panic and shift the cut off date for IC engines back even further.
The other thought is, the owners of charging points have a virtual monopoly at the moment as there are so few, therefore they can charge a high price for a charge.
What is required is for government to step in and install charging points, and charge a more reasonable price per KWH.

The miles per charge has improved, leaving the uncertainty of their being charging points or charging where people have to park on the street as a major reason for people not buying EV's

[NMNeil]

@olduser This preoccupation with "I won't buy an EV because I can't charge it at home" is nonsense. After all how many houses have their own petrol pumps?
People fill their cars at a petrol station, so they can charge their EV at a charging station.
Here we have the claim that no one is buying EV's, which is partly true, the actual truth is that the main dealerships are refusing to stock them. We have several major dealerships here and not one has any EV's for sale. And when you mention our Governors mandate that all dealerships stock at least 43% of zero emissions vehicles by 2026, they laugh. This mandate has already survived a legal challenge by the Automotive Vehicle Dealers Association, funded by big oil.
https://apnews.com/article/new-mexic...c5e99bdd27ffa2

[Beelzebub]

Originally Posted by NMNeil

@olduser This preoccupation with "I won't buy an EV because I can't charge it at home" is nonsense. After all how many houses have their own petrol pumps?
People fill their cars at a petrol station, so they can charge their EV at a charging station.

I can't charge at home. With my petrol car, I can easily find a filling station, and be in and out in 5 minutes. With an ICE I would have to find a vacant and working charger (not easy, even in London), and leave the car for a long period, during which I've no transport.

How is that nonsense? Am I missing something?

[Rolebama]

I believe it was estimated that 60+% of homes in the UK were in the situation of it not being viable to have fixed parking places for home charging. Some fool in government suggested building charging points en masse for those of us in this position. The only question is - where?

[olduser]

I have seen demonstrated on TV a charging point which goes underground if not in use, or rather the connecting point is pulled up when required (the rest of it stays underground). They showed it mounted at the outer edge of a pavement. This would solve the problem of crossing footpaths with charging cables for those who have to park on the road.

[Rolebama]

The idea is all well and good about underground cables, but. as I see it. you cannot have a designated parking place on a public road. It certainly would not work here as all parking is done on a first-come basis.

[Beelzebub]

Originally Posted by olduser

I have seen demonstrated on TV a charging point which goes underground if not in use, or rather the connecting point is pulled up when required (the rest of it stays underground). They showed it mounted at the outer edge of a pavement. This would solve the problem of crossing footpaths with charging cables for those who have to park on the road.

Burying a power cable under the pavement is decidedly non-trivial, given what might be there already. Electricity, gas, telecomms, water, sewerage, etc. These may or may not be documented.

I can see very expensive searches and permissions needed.

[olduser]

I think the marketing strategy would be to install in partnership with the local authority, say with the LA taking a cut of the profit or just selling the units to the LA, and let them, 'run' them.

The electricity supply, for the chargers in the street would likely be a single three phase cable laid with all the rest of the underground services, in some area there may be capacity in the existing supply cables. (when electricity distribution was in the hands of government owned retail sectors, each area had it's own policy on spare capacity in supply cables)

One of the selling points is, there are no cables crossing pavements above or below ground.

On most domestic supplies, though each house is single phase 240V the supply to the street is most likely 3 phase, often the 3 phase is taken as far as the mains fuse box for that house, then one phase is taken through the fuse (around 60 Amp) then onto the meter.

Thus when a higher current charging point is installed for a house 2 phases can be utilised 480V thus reducing the current per phase and spreading that current across phases.
If you are unfortunate and do not have multiphase to the house, a high capacity charging point will cost more to install.

Ensuring that domestic loads, and industrial loads are evenly distributed across all 3 phases of the supply is always of concern to the supplier.
Unbalanced loads stop the upstream system from operating efficiently raising costs, this applies all the way back to the generators.

[olduser]

Please note, in the above I have implied that two 240V phases in a three phase supply would add up to 480V, this is for simplicity's sake. In fact two phases add to 440V because one phase will be lagging the other by 120 degrees.

[Rolebama]

I always think back to an older post I read about a couple from Gloucester area. Had to drive into London for some reason. Journey in. no problem. Took two hours. Journey home took ten hours because of charging points already in use, closed car parks etc. They ended up being recovered to two closed garages, (which advertised as being operational), and spending hundreds of pounds on recoveries. All because a section of the M4 was closed because of an 'incident'. Unfortunately the section that was closed was where their planned charging stop was located. Every location they tried was at the recommendation of the call centre which was meant to help people find charging points.

[NMNeil]

Originally Posted by Beelzebub

I can't charge at home. With my petrol car, I can easily find a filling station, and be in and out in 5 minutes. With an ICE I would have to find a vacant and working charger (not easy, even in London), and leave the car for a long period, during which I've no transport.

How is that nonsense? Am I missing something?

It's just the anti EV and pro ICE crowd started with "They don't have enough range" Using a middle of the road car, the MG5, this has a range of around 235 miles on a full charge, so that argument has been fixed.
And now it's "But I can't charge it at home".
So to charge the aforementioned MG it will take 15 minutes to charge from 10% to 80% of charge (The industry standard for such calculations) with a 250kW supercharger, 1.5 hours from a 50kW charger, 8.73 hours from a home 7kW charger and a staggering 26.5 hours from your regular home power socket.
So, this "EV's are not for me because I can't charge at home" is just another 'clutching at straws' catch phrase from the anti EV crowd.
https://handyy.co.uk/ev-charging-time-calculator/

[Rolebama]

I am not anti-EV, I just have a multitude of reasons why they are not for me. I live in a cul-de-sac and there are lockups at the top. The area in front of them is used as an overflow car park for other residents of the close. There are a few EVs up there, and it is appreciated that they do not wake us at all hours with blaring exhausts, nor do they wake us in the morning warming up before setting off for work.
I have spoken to the owners and they all have agreements that they can charge them at work.

[Mark07]

I think there are different conversations to take into account.

Personally speaking, I could have a charging point installed at my house. I would happily consider an EV, hybrid or ICE as my next car, I suspect that my main consideration would be related cost. But for others, there's a lot more to take into consideration. Taking finances out of the equation, I can see how the switch the an EV (right now) doesn't make sense for everyone.

The other conversation is a little more objective. EV's look like they'll replace ICE over the next X years. Car manafacturers, governments and more will need to have an eye on the next 10,15, 20 years.

Here lies the challenge. Customers tend to make shorter term decisions, whilst the industry will need to produce cars that will sell short term and develop cars/tech that suit the market in the 10+ years from now.

There have been lots of discussions about a step forward being required in EV's to bring down costs, improve infrastructure and/or moving away from a reliance on lithium based batteries.

Could Mercedes solar paint be that next step?