(electric cars) aibu to think that this won't work?

[greenacrylicpaint]

currently stuck at a motorways service station.
there is a long queue for the chargers of which a few are not working.

imagine summer holidays. how is that going to work? train long distance and then cars/bikes locally?

YANBU they need to massively increase the charging infrastructure so there are as many charging points as car parking spaces as this is how many people will need them when most people switch to electric.

I have an electric car and it’s great but the public charging network definitely needs improvement as it hasn’t kept pace with car sales.

yanbu.
See also housing estates with no driveway parking.

Actually we need mag-safe charging like Apple products, but for cars, embedded into the roads.

I'm working on a project now using in road charging, but it will be awhile before we see it for pass car in large numbers

More and more recharging availability as the number of electric vehicles on road increases?

I agree. We are about to get an electric car but only because we have a driveway, otherwise we wouldn't even consider it. We have budgeted for rental cars and trains for anything over 100 miles, which is infrequently.

you would need a lot more. there is 9 fast chargers where we are now. 2 not working.
one charge (to 80%) takes us about half an hour.
and the toilets are nasty and the coffee grim

At some.point in the future I'd imagine every parking space at a motorway service station will have a charger

We have found queues at service station. Easier to travel late when possible (we don't have young children)

on the plus side if forces a break every couple of hours.
will be interesting to see if this has an effect on road safety.

but yeah, we already decided to take train & rental car locally next time.

I've got one but only because it's a second car - we use that for daily runarounds and the diesel for longer journeys so only every charge at home. We really want to upgrade the diesel to a second electric but don't feel we can until there's a big improvement in charging stations.

The retail park close to me had 3,000 spaces and only six electric charging bays

My colleague has just got rid of his £50k ID4 after less than a year for a petrol hatchback

It will be a gradual process to introduce ev's to the masses. I'd like one but in maybe ten years

This is my biggest issue with electric cars and why we will wait until the charging takes less time, range is much bigger and there are more public chargers. We do a lot of long distances, for family, for holidays and for work and Im sick of the glib 'solution' to this which is that 'grab a coffee' approach

Firstly we very rarely stop on long journeys apart from a quick wee and very quick fill up, I dont want to buy or drink or stop for copious beverages or stop full stop for half hour here, half hour there because journeys take long enough, when google says a journey is going to be 5 hours, you can bet it ends up being 7 by the time you've encountered traffic and stops for the toilet, I certainly dont want to increase that time

Secondly, the cars that have the sort of range that comes anywhere near my own car (and they dont come anywhere near that) are absolutely out of potential price ranges for us, and once you add on lights, heating, air con etc it decreases dramatically anyway

Thirdly, the times that we build in a lunch stop, these are at out of the way country pubs, I HATE service stations and dont want to spend time at them, we dont eat at them at all, we just use the loos and go.

The numbers of chargers are increasing exponentially though - I remember at one of the services on the M4 when they got their first 7kW charger a few years ago, when we stopped there again earlier this week they had about 20 150+kW chargers and there were still people waiting. We need to get to the point (and we will, eventually) where every space in the carpark has a charger.

I remember when the first public 150kW charger was installed in London - in 2019!! So this stuff is all still very new. Big infrastructure projects take time to roll out but charging will catch up.

At the same time, the capacity of car batteries is also increasing exponentially so you won't have to charge so often with newer models, making an EV more feasible for those with no offstreet parking.

No idea as I don’t really know anything about electric cars. We sometimes do outback runs covering 900km/550miles in a day. My car has a 800km range (diesel), would a large electric car fit for remote roads have the same? How long would it take to recharge that range? Usually there is a toilet (very loose definition) every 300km/185 miles and we would stop for 45min for toilet break and leg stretch, change of driver. Would 45min be enough to charge for the next 200 miles if they put chargers in at these stops? If so, then I’d have no real issue changing over to electric, if not I really can’t see how this would work.

YANBU. My town of around 7k has two public chargers, and at least 75% of houses have no off-road parking.

I remember at one of the services on the M4 when they got their first 7kW charger a few years ago, when we stopped there again earlier this week they had about 20 150+kW chargers and there were still people waiting.

That's 3MW which is a sizable grid connection (and distribution network capacity) - and if that needs to expand to 100+ chargers for that service station that's like a small power station dedicated to that single motorway services. It's not just as simple as plonking another pile of chargers in the carpark - not when talking about 100KW+ each, its the huge distribution network upgrades needed to support them.

It will not be anytime soon that the country can support us all changing over to electric cars

I live in a flat I won’t be buying an electric car. I’m not convince they are massively better in terms of carbon anyway

We have a hybrid which is the best of both worlds. If we can't find a charger we can just use petrol.

I've got an electric car, it has an eco mode so if you drive slightly more carefully you get about 160 miles from a charge. I can't imagine ever driving further further that in one go, I'm mostly short hops within local area, work, clubs, visiting friends etc.
For a long drive I'd factor in charging breaks, but I wouldn't be doing that often, if ever.....I've never needed to use a service station charge point.
EV's will suit some people but not others, we all make choices based on our needs and wants.

Short term yes but in the longer term probably have smart tarmac that charges the car as you drive. Charge pads sunk under asphalt using induction especially at places where you wait like traffic lights, parking bays etc which will charge cars wirelessly. In theory, you should never need to plug in since it will be regularly topped up. The technology is there but obviously installation is disruptive and expensive. Not sure who will pay for that.

My partners commute to work is 160 miles round trip, while he is at work, he is then driving around in the day on visits and the few times he leaves his car somewhere its the odd street here and there where he can find parking

Then the inevitable delays and diversions getting home, certainly over the summer he was diverted a lot due to motorway closures

Theres no way we would risk him having to try to hope that the charge got him to and from work and then stressing about trying to charge it overnight.

I expect there will just be less personal car ownership/ use, less convenience. Holidays and journeys will have to be set up differently. If there is more rental/carpooling there will be fewer cars manufactured but they will be used more of the time. There needs to be time for a shift in behaviour as well as charging technology and other transport options to catch up.

This is because the climate is in an emergency situation you know, not just to inconvenience your preferred loo stop regime on a long journey.

I regularly drive a 440 mile round trip. An electric car won't cut the mustard as I want to get there, not spend hours in a service area charging the car. Range and speed of charging are issues that need addressing urgently.