(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?

*replacement CAR

I agree. The public network needs improvement and regulation. Our shower of a government won't do that though as they're useless.

But in all honesty, the infrastructure will grow to meet increasing demand, which is slow, given the negativity of people in general. EV's require some planning and people don't like to plan or can't be bothered because life with petrol has been too easy. But we're neglecting that petrol is a finite resource and so we'll be forced into it, either through legislation or it will simply run out.

I think you're missing zapmap though, and a quick glance would show that all those chargers were out of order so you'd make alternative arrangements.

My next closest city is 280 miles away. There is nothing in between except trees and gas stations with no chargers. The closest charger is 240 miles.

Temperatures here are very cold in winter - weeks below -20 and as low as -45 with the wind chill. I can’t see EVs performing well in that.

The simple answer is to not buy one. You may well have died of old age before your only option is to buy an EV. By that time I'm sure they will have improved, or you'll make one fit around your life.

I recently did a 230 mile trip in our electric car with 200 mile range. It was a fucking nightmare and took attempts at 3 motorway services to actually get a charger and even then had to wait for the person already using it to finish as the stupid machines haven't been set up to charge 2 at once. Had to abandon the first services as there was a queue for the chargers but a 2 hour parking limit!

@MooseBeTimeForSnow they are working on alternatives to EVs such as hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for locations that are remote or with extreme temperatures. Even the biggest proponents of zero carbon modes of transport (like me!!) recognise that there are lots of areas which cannot be addressed by EVs, or at least the current battery chemistry we have now.

If you live in Nunavut or the Empty Quarter of Saudi then I wouldn't even think about an EV. But if you live in Berkshire and generally do the school run, a weekly shop and commute to work, it's a completely different use case.

@Xiaoxiong I live in Northern Alberta, so pretty close!

I won't be convinced that EV is a viable option until I see shopping centres where 50% of the parking bays have chargers, holiday camps where every static caravan has a charger, and every fuel station converted so that half of its footage is converted to chargers. That's the level of availtability that is needed to sustain a wholesale switch of propulsion system.

Yes I can understand that EV is good for short, local journeys - if you have a driveway with charger (it's all on-street parking here). Even on-street chargers are no good if there aren't enough to ensure you can get one without having to ask the neighbour from three doors down, who's probably had a drink, to move his car rather than leaving it hooked up overnight.

But I also want to be able to do a 6-8hr journey to take the family on holiday. Without having to extend that journey by 2 hours to allow for charging breaks (no, we don't take long meal breaks at services either). And I want to know that if I have to make a mad dash across the country to visit a dying relative, I don't have to wait hours before setting off because my car isn't charged for a long run; and I don't want to be worrying whether there are chargers available in the hospital car park at their end.

Same, we felt the infrastructure wasn't there yet so decided hybrid was best for us, as our main car, for now. We have a charger on the drive and we do probably 90% of our driving on pure electric but longer distance we don't need to worry about charging up. Record is a couple of months from a full tank of petrol to having to fill up again.

When we eventually need to replace our second car, it's likely to be fully electric.

Electric cars are not suitable for people who do very high or very low milages. If you do high mileages, you will have the inconvenience and risk that comes with charging somewhere other than at home. If you do very low mileages, your emissions and fuel cost are negligible anyway, so the extra cost of an electric car isn't worth it.

The ideal scenario for an electric car is maybe someone who does a daily 100 mile round-trip commute, five days a week, and charges overnight at home.

Why is that hard to believe? It’s about 5 hours, I routinely do this one-way with only a fill up and quick pee, 10 min or so.

some public chargers are at such obscure locations.
we found one at a private air strip. lots of gliders starting and landing whilst we charged.
one was at a luxury car dealership. the teens loved sitting in a 100k sports car...

You sure it was definitely public? My husband's work have a couple of chargers and they were, incorrectly, listed as public ones, so in car computers were directing people to them as the nearest charge point - they had to put a lock on them to stop random people turning up and using them!

Which is why, currently, a car with its own generator ie a hybrid is the best bet for many.
We've got one, and another to replace our second car on order.

You sure it was definitely public? My husband's work have a couple of chargers and they were, incorrectly, listed as public ones, so in car computers were directing people to them as the nearest charge point - they had to put a lock on them to stop random people turning up and using them!

definitely public. with key fob of big electric supplier thingy.
the car salespeople confirmed as well that this was the village's public charger.

This is the situation in Scotland, often lauded as an exemplar of best practice.

The BBC found that a quarter of public chargers faulty.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-63371759

We don't have off-road parking. We won't be buying an electric car.

I think you'll find that Milton Keynes is the benchmark that the rest of the UK needs to follow.

I've driven to Scotland and it's not extraordinary. Zapmap would tend to agree.

I’ve got one, but was under no illusions when I bought it that it didn’t come without downsides.

Range. They just don’t compete with ICE cars, though it’s improving. Mine has a range of 186 miles which by the time I hand it back would expect the norm to be 400 miles, which would be a game changer. Also, motorway driving sees a massive reduction in range.

Charging. The infrastructure is woeful, and can’t be trusted. People without driveways can’t have chargers, which is a huge problem. Where I am, Council have put in 8 fast chargers, which have been pretty much taken over by DPD vans.

We regularly travel a 400 mile return journey and have never had any issues in last 3-4 years. Waited for 2 mins once in the summer. We chose our (second hand) EV based on its charger network. Chargers are increasing all the time! You can also use a granny charger (normal plug socket), which we do when visiting in laws overnight etc.

I am always wary of the petrol industry shills on threads like this - or maybe it’s just people who fear change - as the shared experiences are always so negative and so far from our own and our friends’ experiences driving EVs! They are easier and more convenient.

We have a hybrid and that feels like the best of both worlds to me.

So when we have been holidaying in UK we've checked out the charging facilities, but inevitably at motorway services there are generally 3-4 and they are full. Can't charge at hotels or holiday homes unless we have agreement to do so and ability to plug into a socket within reach.

We have not had a single issue finding somewhere to charge in about 15 months. We do have a Tesla which means we aren’t usually fighting for the normal chargers, although we use those when necessary.

We have to break up long journeys (eg. Cornwall) so just plug in for 20m to top up while we have a wee. That said, the car insists we can make it without stopping, we just wouldn’t have much left on arrival so prefer to top up.

Folk who say ‘oh but I drive so much I’m sticking to fossil fuel’ - I bet that in 10
years you won’t be driving the way you are now. It won’t be economical to drive 400 miles in a day either for work or leisure. So
OP I think you are right, charging DOES need to change, but as part of a wider transformation in travel and transport.

I'm not a petrol chill.
we as family have decided to get rid of the family car and to rent one if we need one.

and I think that's the way we need to go as the infrastructure to charge cars the same way as we fill up petrol/diesel is very complicated to implement and prone to errors.

The more cars bought the better the network will be. It's already improved vastly over the past few years.

When planning a longer journey we know we will need to stop once in the way. But we always used to anyway for a comfort break. The fast chargers only take around 20-30 minutes or so max ime.

We tend to look out for the places we know have a large number of chargers, rather than just one or two. There are more of these around now.

We have apps we can use to tell us if the chargers are being used, etc too. Again I suspect these will improve the more electric cars are bought and used.

We've had electric cars for a few years now and have traveled long journeys throughout and never really had any issues.