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.

Anyone here with an Audi Etron Q4? On average how much does it cost for a full charge at a public charge point? I’m on the verge of making the switch but I can’t quite work out if it’ll be cost effective for the long drives i occasionally have to do up north.

@FairyMaclary
The car park issue isn't an EV issue as much as a cars are getting bigger generally - this is known by the industry and is allowed for, not really an issue except in a few very old car parks and they have other issues like aging structures and updated regulations so need updating anyway.

Our electric suv car weighed pretty much the same as the suv it replaced .

We got a plug in hybrid to test the waters as we have no way of charging at home so didn't want to go full electric. We drive relatively little; no one commutes by car and several days a week car is unused. The plan was to charge at the supermarket when kids are in an class nearby and charge here and there when out. The supermarket I go to is the only place with a decent amount of chargers (10). But slowly they are breaking and not being replaced and often they are full. 2 other places I occasionally visit have had all theirs out of action long term. It seems places either aren't renewing contracts or aren't willing to repair broken ones. So far from the infrastructure growing, it seems to be shrinking near me.

Then there is the pain of them all running off different apps, so when you come across a new one for the first time you invariably spend half an hour trying to set it up. And the other major annoyance is massive car parks advertising they have charge points but giving no indication where they are. And when you finally find them, they have 2 in a car park for thousands.

We don't have a single one within 2 miles. And we live in a town..

It’s the car parks issue that really bothers me, are we heading for a disaster scene one day?

Lovely I'm sure but there are not enough on street parking spaces in our street for the residents. We are near the high street and often have to park in a road 150 yards away The only space for mass charging is a paying car park. Will we get free spaces? Will we heck.

Until there's an even spread of charging infrastructure, I will stick with my trusty diesel. It's old but well maintained. And where I live, as long as there are tractors there will be fuel stations.

Leafy Home Counties 19k population town here, not a sausage in terms of public provision. Literally nothing.

No wonder you made such a smug and condescending dig at people for whom an electric car won't work (and yes, we have looked into it and are not simply stupid sheep or dinosaurs).
I could have bought every car I have ever owned put together (and I'm 62) for 65k. Many, many of us just Do. Not. Have. That. Kind. Of. Money. To. Spend. On. A. Car. And no local public charging infrastructure either. Zilch. You know, because we've actually looked. No plans by our council to put one in either.

That is a fact, and all your airy "just get with the programme, plebs" won't change that.

Ours works fine and we’ve never had a problem - there are superchargers everywhere and we’ve travelled all over the UK and Europe, including remote parts. I am deeply suspicious of the anti-EV stuff everywhere in the press, which in no way reflects our experience in the last 5 years of EV ownership and which feels like the fossil fuel industry trying to delay the inevitable.

Do you worry about all the Range Rovers parked there too?

My car cost £1800 IN TOTAL. It can travel 500 miles plus between fill ups. When electric cars are that cheap and have that range between fill ups taking less than 10 minutes I will be able to afford one. I can’t now.

In parts of Liverpool they have fitted charging points to lamp posts. Curbside charging is also fairly easy to set up. There are plenty of ways to support a switch to electric, just no political will.

Yes it is a good point, if there are more big cars than historically the car parks were designed for.

So it’s not an EV issue then.

This thread is about EV and there is an issue with their heaviness not being anticipated when the car parks were built. So a smaller EV is heavier than the smaller regular vehicle it is replacing

The owners of the car parks need to maintain them.
I don’t see people worrying about SUVs in car parks. Many of them are heavier than EVs.

I live rurally but 5 mins from village - it’s has three different, very reliable, fast charging points. Better than the city we moved from. We have a drive so charge at home overnight.

The motorway chargers are the worst in my experience. We tend to come off the motorways and find chargers at nice locations where there is a nice cafe or a nice walk. We turn it into a nice bit of the journey.

In case anyone hasn’t suggested it, Zap Map can be useful but less up to date now.

Although it’s trickier if we have to do a very long journey quickly, most of the time it’s fine. But even then we would be stopping anyway.

Things will iron out. We have to stop using oil anyway, to lower carbon, but also because it is rapidly running out!

I live in North Yorkshire and my family lives in Devon. It's over 300 miles.

I have a self-charging hybrid and that’s as far as I’m going, life is too short for range anxiety!

The apps thing is the thing that would drive me mad.

Its bad enough for parking at various spots throughout the country, usually with terrible signal, various attempts at creating an account and then another bloody password, and it doesnt like this password or that password, takes bloody ages

'They'? Who are 'they'?

Well you might just have to get used to it

Quite....those bloody things must weigh an absolute ton

With an electric car you need to plan in your charging stops, expecting to leave the motorway and find a charging station with multiple chargers a little way off the motorway

More mental load and stress then