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freedomdwarf1 -> RE: Electric cars (12/8/2012 6:10:18 PM)
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I just had a quick look at the 'Zap Map' for the UK for charging points.
There's quite a few.
However, looking at the other bits on the site, it would still be impractical to own an electric car for most people here.
"For most electric cars, It is expected that most charging will be performed at home, during (off-peak) night time hours when electricity is cheapest and it carbon intensity is lowest. Although a standard single-phase 13 amp three-pin domestic socket is adequate to charge a car in 6-8 hours".
- And -
"The most common method of charging electric vehicles, uses a standard single-phase 13 Amp three-pin plug (BS 1363) and draws 3 kW of power – with a full charge typically taking 6 to 8 hours".
3KW for 6-8 hours??
Sheesh!
That's more KW power than a fast-boil kettle uses!! And for 6-8 hours continuously??
I can foresee many electrical fires happening.
Couple that with "our advice is that a qualified electrician conducts a house survey to ensure that the wiring will safety support the relatively long periods of charging".
That would probably rule out about 80% of UK housing that is more than a decade old - and that's an awful lot of houses!!!
And what about all those that live in high-rise dwellings but not on the ground floor??
And those that have homes where you cannot park your car in your own front driveway because there is only communual parking or you don't have a driveway or a front garden big enough to park your car?? And of course, that's assuming you manage to get permission from your landlord/council to park your car in your front garden!
Again, that's quite a lot of people that just couldn't use such cars.
I think that they need to re-think the charging strategy before it will catch on over here.
It is only going to be 'practical' for the well-off elite class that own their own home in its own grounds where home charging is possible.
As it stands, living in a country where a lot of housing is either very compact (little or no garden/driveway) or multi-storey to accommodate the resident population, it just isn't going to work for a very large majority of UK people.
And for visiting relatives more than about 150 miles away (which would be all of my family and those of the OH), there's no way we could sit and wait 6-8 hours (or even 3-4 hours on a fast charger) just to go see them and get back home again.
Filling up with fossil fuel for 2-3 minutes is about right.
Anything longer than that is just not on to be practical.
It might just work in the US where the average 'house' is 5-10 times the size of those in the UK and a matching proportion of land to go with it.
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