We are not set up for electric vehicles in this country

[Pollyannaatemyjelly]

We have an electric vehicle. We tend not to do too many long journeys but today it was inevitable. We have visit a very popular destination via major motorways but there is not one fast charger available on our route. I've just stopped on the M5 on what is supposed to be a dual charger (so more than one vehicle can charge) but it's not working. I've had to wait 20 minutes for the vehicle next to me to charge before I can even begin to charge mine. There is no chance this county can become all electric when the infrastructure is so poor.

This car park collapse thing looks like a total web of bullshit.

I've read the article linked to above, which interviews a 'car park consultant' (ie a guy who makes a living telling councils their car parks could collapse unless they pay him to report on it) saying that older car parks MIGHT not be able to cope with the additional weight of EVs because their construction might not be adequate and they'd need a consultant to sort that out No evidence on this is presented.

I've just had a look at multiple articles on the car park collapses in Wolverhampton (1997) and Luton Airport much more recently. It was thought that Wolverhampton might be due to its type of construction, but it wasn't- it was neglected and nobody bothered to repair it. Luton Airport car park collapsed after a DIESEL vehicle caught fire.

If you actually had an electric car, you would realise this is just a non-issue.

Batteries last way way longer than you think and there are lots of EV's around (Taxis etc) that have gone over 200k miles successfully.

Most people's driving is such that overnight charging or workplace charging is all that's needed.

Yes, there needs to be more infrastructure but at the moment the traditional vehicle industry is trying to hang on as they have realised how much money they will lose if EV's become the norm.

OP, you are correct, which is why I bought a diesel to use until 2030.

At that point if the infrastructure has improved, I will buy an EV, or if not, I will buy the smallest EV I can find as a local runaround, and hire a petrol car/travel by train for the occasional longer journey.

I'll be retired by then so it will be more practical.

There are so many fictional stories out there to put people off EVs, I mostly put it down to fear of change and the unknown.

There is also a strong political aspect to a lot of these stories that have little substance and are designed to worry gullible people.

Take the story of the carparks - it compares the weight of the heaviest EVs with a car that went out of production over 40 years ago! There are many many ICE cars on the road today that are much heavier than my EV.

Yes! I live in a flat in the Netherlands with all of those things! We have shared charging points outside the flats, chargers at work and p&r stations and fast chargers along main roads. We have exactly the same infastructure in minature for electric bikes. The grid is starting to struggle, mostly as a result of domestic solar panels and huge data centres, but there is political will to sort it (partly because rich people who vote have solar panels, electric cars and run businesses reliant on data centres)

Won’t ever get an electric car. Dangerous and we will not be ready for them I live rurally and have no gas so oil and every winter since we mined here have had no electricity for at least two days.

I’m always interested to know who it is the government are hoping will give up car ownership? Those in towns and cities with fairly good transport links and those who work from home/ work in an office/ could car share?

Very unlikely that those of us rurally and who rely on cars for work such as carers and myself a community nurse will be giving up our personal cars and I am a long way off swapping to electric due to no availability of chargers or personal drive, I also live in a tiny village which is literally houses either side of a main road with 2 street lights so unsure how that will work. I am holding out for something else synthetic fuel or such and I only run a 1.2 litre petrol anyway

How will people without a driveway charge their cars? Or those in flats?

There are discussions taking place about converting street lights into charging points that you can plug into. Discussions not actual plans.

But until they sort of thing happens there will be no great increase in electric car usage.

There's also the extra challenges god places like Scotland where so much is rural. We gone even have good broadband coverage yet never mind charging points.

And there is the cost. With electric vehicles so much more expensive they are out of many peoples price range.

We've been electric for nearly 4 years and we've seen a huge difference in that time. There are many more high-speed chargers on regular routes we take (we're in London and mostly stay within the south-east).

No- it's not amazing. But I think for people who have home chargers who don't do a huge amount of long-distance driving, you're mostly okay. (We don't have a home charger so rely on the public charging network and would never go back to petrol).

Totally agree. It will never work.

We live in Canada and there are chargers everywhere

How long do you need? I have a 220m range on my car which is considered on the low end these days. I'm sure there are places in the U.K. where you live a 3 hour drive from anywhere, but that's not going to be a common experience. I can do London to Brighton and back for a day trip and don't need to worry about charge at all.

But people won't buy electric cars if they're not confident about charging points.

No, they absolutely are plans. Considering mine is currently Charing from a lamppost outside my house as I type 🤔

There's talk of making the bays bigger because of the fire risk too.

Personally I'm yet to be convinced of the environmental benefit due to the cost of manufacture (in environmental terms) for electric cars. Keeping in mind the UK market hasn't yet got a cheap electric city car with four seats.

We did look at replacing mine with an electric two years ago.

The numbers didn't stack up. A low mileage efficient city car was working out comparably to a large electric which I would struggle to drive (I'm tiny and find visibility an issue in most cars which are designed for the average male size). The outlay was more money than we had and we were reluctant to do finance.

There are a couple of new models of electric cars that fit into the cheap city car market that look set to hit the market in the next two years. I think they are ultimately the game changers. The price point will drop enough for people wanting a small runaround as a second car. That will in turn help to improve the infrastructure.

In terms of infrastructure, the government needs reform on charge points. At the moment public ones need planning permission. For each and every one. That adds cost and beaucracy so also makes them unattractive.

I think it will change. But I'd argue that our attitude to cars generally needs changing too. People want these huge SUVs and people carriers - which they just don't need. Or use maybe once or twice for a family trip (it'd be cheaper to rent for one off trips than spend thousands more on a bigger car).

Cars are seen as status symbols not functional devices. That's what needs tackling next.

@Pasithean - no electricity for 2 days isn’t really a problem. Unless you’re doing a huge amount of daily mileage and charging every single night. Our car does over 500km on a single charge, so we only charge 1-2 times a month on average. It only gets extra charge on long holiday trips. Even if you use more, it’s not going to need daily charging.
We live rural, hilly, with minus temperatures for months and never had a problem

that’s why for many it’s fine to just charge at supermarket or shared charger

What do you think is dangerous? Having had various EV's for the last 8 years, I'd say they are very much safer than petrol cars.

Likewise I don't see the problem with no electric occasionally, the car will still drive. What do you think is the problem?

@RedToothBrush - why were you comparing a large suv electric to a small petrol? You could have just got a small electric 2 years ago also, they are around just as easily.

If you don't have access to a charging point at home, it's a bit more complicated than that though.

I assume you don’t have a Tesla as the charging network is much better? I have heard it’s not great otherwise though.

Not in my city.

The council says
"You can submit suggestions to us for suitable locations for electric vehicle charge points across the city.

Locations for charge points must:

• Not be immediately outside residential properties"

Note the part I've bolded.

My street consists of two unbroken rows of terraced houses either side of the road. So we can't have charge points on our handful of lampposts or indeed anywhere on our street.

Still bigger than what I bought by some amount and still about twice the price. The smallest electric two years ago was not a city car it was a small family car.

We didn't want to do finance. We couldn't afford an electric. We didn't want to go second hand (cos of battery life and complications with that). And the models available were still shite.

Until you are getting small city electric cars for under £18k new, it won't change my mind and the market sufficiently. It WILL happen in time but it's not there yet.

I think plug in hybrids are the best option until we have proper infrastructure (though I have a self-charge, not a plug in currently, but next time I replace my car I will get a plug in*).

As for car parks being too weak to take the weight, isn't that because everyone insists on having SUVs these days? If people drove smaller cars, the batteries would be less of an issue. I thought the fact that the batteries were likely to make fires worse (eg Luton airport and the fire in Liverpool a few years ago) was more of a problem for multi-storeys.

*if I can afford one

On a rapid charge our 50Kw car takes under 30 mins. On a slow charge it takes about 6.5 hours (that’s the charge we use at home as it’s 7.5p per KWH)

We'll need more lampposts in our street if they want to install chargers. 25 cars and one lamppost isn't going to work (I counted them). Basically I live in the sort of estate where there'll be punch-ups over this. I hope to have moved by then.

I know someone who works in the industry and they freely admit that the 'marketing has raced ahead of the infrastructure'. It doesn't mean it'll always be this way but that's the situation right now if you want to travel any longer distances.

I think hybrid will be my next choice, at least until the infrastructure catches up.