On street vehicle charging points

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simongt

Guru
Location
Norwich
The issue we have with electric cars is that for a decent journey, say 200 miles +, with the typical range of electric cars according to a recent test is 130 miles, we would have to stop somewhere to recharge thus adding time to our journey. Assuuming that there's charger available, what do we do whilst the car is recharging - ? Spend money drinking tea at a service station - ? The GLW's family live in Dundee, a 9 hour journey of 420 miles in a petrol car. Add several hours each way for the recharges plus money spent 'whiling the time away' and it becomes a serious logisitic issue. This is also depending on the make & type of charger you are able to access; they are not all the same by any means. :wacko:
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
Again, I think Tesla would disagree with you:-



https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/02...d-faster-charging-would-unlock-ev-revolution/



https://uk.pcmag.com/infotainment-s...energy-density-to-increase-50-percent-by-2024

At 2020 Tesla Battery day:-



Given the amount of potential demand for EVs and the R&D being put in, we are going to see better batteries.

The internet is littered with the next big thing in batteries which look great on the test bench but are never seen again.

Musk and Tesla have as as good a chance of pulling it off as anyone, but he says his new battery is 'close to working' which could easily mean five or 10 years before it reaches the market, if it ever does.

Only time will tell, but any sensible assessment of battery development so far indicates the electric cars we will be forced to buy in 2031 won't be very different to what we can buy now.
 
The issue we have with electric cars is that for a decent journey, say 200 miles +, with the typical range of electric cars according to a recent test is 130 miles, we would have to stop somewhere to recharge thus adding time to our journey. Assuuming that there's charger available, what do we do whilst the car is recharging - ? Spend money drinking tea at a service station - ? The GLW's family live in Dundee, a 9 hour journey of 420 miles in a petrol car. Add several hours each way for the recharges plus money spent 'whiling the time away' and it becomes a serious logisitic issue. This is also depending on the make & type of charger you are able to access; they are not all the same by any means. :wacko:

Shall we have a real world example?

I've a 40kwh car. That's at the lower end of the range now. Jags have 90 and Tesla's up to 100kwh.

Last summer when we were allowed we went up to the lakes for a week. 150 miles which is about the max range for my car.

We stopped at the services at Tebay for my wife to use the loo and topped up the charge. We were then for 42 minutes according to my Google Timeline.

We added a good 90 miles of range in that stop. Tesla's and co charge even faster.

I can't see where the hours of stops would come from. I'm very sure it's not advisable to drive for 9 hours without any breaks. Do you guys not get hungry, tired or need the loo ? Is this an advantage of ICE cars because I'm always ready for a stretch of the legs after a couple of hours.
 

Glow worm

Legendary Member
Location
Near Newmarket
I visited them in Israel in 2012. The cars were fantastic to drive and the idea seems perfect.
View attachment 576630

There's one of the problems for me there in that pic. If we have to have these things, put the charging points in the road not on pavements. Why do we have to give over yet more public space to bloody cars? Then there's all the wire's draped over the pavements causing more obstruction for peds. Put all this crap in the roads (and not in cycle lanes).
Of course we all know drivers are too dumb not to drive over them within a week but that's their problem. We don't need endless different types of cars but we do need fewer cars.
 
Perhaps a good indication of EV progress is the Lands End to John O Groats time in a Tesla.
80kwh battery.
It's 855 miles.

Any guesses on the time taken and time spent charging ?

And we are still 10 years away from the changeover from petrol and diesel...
 
And of course, there'll be the smartarses on the way home from the pub who'll think it highly amusing to unplug any chargers they see.
They're locked on. You can't unplug them.
 

icowden

Veteran
Location
Surrey
There's one of the problems for me there in that pic. If we have to have these things, put the charging points in the road not on pavements. Why do we have to give over yet more public space to bloody cars? Then there's all the wire's draped over the pavements causing more obstruction for peds. Put all this crap in the roads (and not in cycle lanes).

Where are you going to get all this space from? You want parking for cars, room for the chargers in the parking lane, and a cycle lane and a road for cars?
The best solution as mentioned elsewhere is to try and integrate with existing street furniture (e.g. lamp posts). Where that isn't possible, then having pillars at the edge of the pavement isn't going to take up that much room.
 

Milkfloat

An Peanut
Location
Midlands
The issue we have with electric cars is that for a decent journey, say 200 miles +, with the typical range of electric cars according to a recent test is 130 miles, we would have to stop somewhere to recharge thus adding time to our journey. Assuuming that there's charger available, what do we do whilst the car is recharging - ? Spend money drinking tea at a service station - ? The GLW's family live in Dundee, a 9 hour journey of 420 miles in a petrol car. Add several hours each way for the recharges plus money spent 'whiling the time away' and it becomes a serious logisitic issue. This is also depending on the make & type of charger you are able to access; they are not all the same by any means. :wacko:
If you are driving to Dundee daily then yes I can see it being a bit of a pain, but once or twice a year and I think that the other benefits will outweigh the enforced breaks for 30 minutes rapid charge.

Electric cars will become the norm and by and large people won't moan about them, it will be similar to 4* leaded petrol, life will go on and in fact looking back we will realise that it is actually significantly better.
 

DRM

Guru
Location
West Yorks
Between 150 to 250 miles per day, don’t forget most taxis spend the majority of time sat parked in taxi bays waiting for a fare, even private hire cars sit waiting for jobs so can be parked at a charging point whilst waiting for a job
 

Glow worm

Legendary Member
Location
Near Newmarket
Where are you going to get all this space from? You want parking for cars, room for the chargers in the parking lane, and a cycle lane and a road for cars?
I don't want any of those things apart from more cycling. What I'd really like is fewer cars.

I've just spotted this is a 'motoring' section god help us- I had no idea we had one on here. I'll shut the door on my way out!
 
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