POWER TO THE PEOPLE

The EV infrastructure has changed substantially in the past 12 months, but is going electric suitable for your lifestyle? We answer all your questions

WHEN the Nissan Leaf arrived in 2011, it was a huge advance for electric cars. Yet two hurdles ruled it out for all but a small percentage of drivers: the limited range and a lack of places to charge. Things have moved quickly in the six-and-a-half years since then. The Leaf has evolved and has a longer range, but – more importantly – the way electric vehicles are charged has changed drastically.

Firstly, most EV owners still plug in at home, at work, or both. Most cars are parked for hours on end outside houses or offices, and it’s the perfect time to top up the battery so you have a full ‘tank’ whenever you need it. A modern 7kw unit will take a Leaf from flat to full in about four hours, easily achievable during an overnight or working-day charge.

That could make a 200-mile round-trip commute entirely feasible, and will cost only a few pounds in electricity rather than £20 or more in a diesel. The stumbling block is when you need to go further than the Leaf’s range allows in one journey. How can you get a top-up while out and about? There’s good news and bad news. On the positive side, there are now more than 13,000 public charging points where you can top up your batteries – five times more than in 2011. The bad news is that many will now cost you money.

This is the biggest change in the infrastructure since the Leaf arrived, although it wasn’t unexpected. The original system was supported by Nissan, and extra Government funding helped establish a network of chargers. Ecotricity plumbed rapid chargers into 96 per cent of motorway services and every IKEA store, while Chargemaster and others put lower-voltage posts on streets and in car parks.

All were free to use, with only occasional nominal fees needed in some cases to subscribe and receive a special RFID card to allow access. It meant EV owners could top up for nothing when they were out shopping or on a long trip.

Now that plug-in cars have become more popular, however, the networks want some money in exchange for their electricity. While irritating, it does have the effect of discouraging the chargers’ use by anyone who doesn’t need to top up, as it’s much cheaper to plug in at home. So is it worth it? How much do the posts cost to use?

If you want to charge in transit, you’ll almost certainly need a smartphone. Apps have largely replaced old RFID cards, which means you no longer need to wait for anything to be posted to you. You can even download while sat in the car.

Some apps merely ask for your credit or debit card info, and will charge you based on time and power used. The phone sends commands directly to the point, telling it to start and stop, and to open access flaps. Other apps (such as Polar and Podpoint) ask you to pre-load money into your account, much like Transport for London’s Oyster card.

Access and electricity costs vary. Some venues such as hotels and shopping centres give power away for free, but most posts cost around £1.50 per hour. Rapid chargers are generally more expensive, reflecting the fact that they can cram more electricity into the battery in a shorter time. An Ecotricity charger at a motorway service station will cost £3 to connect for up to 45 minutes, plus 17p for each kwh of electric. Ecotricity home-energy customers get a discount. Other rapid chargers, such as those at some Shell stations, simply charge for the electricity. Currently the rate is 25p/ kwh, so adding 60 miles to a Leaf will cost about a fiver.

It makes sense for regular charger users to forget pay-asyou-go and instead pay a monthly subscription to a service such as the Polar network. This speeds up access via an RFID card or keyring fob, and makes use either free or far cheaper. Most will find it’s better value for money if they require a rapid charge more than once a month, or a standard top-up once a week. There are ways to rapid charge for free, though. Nissan dealers will let you use their chargers for free during working hours, and IKEA stores will refund the Ecotricity cost if you spend in store. Don’t get excited by the rows of Tesla points that are popping up, though – they work only with Tesla cars, and not with a Leaf.

Is it worth all the effort? If you have access to charging at home or work, you’ll be able to run a Leaf for a fraction of the cost of a petrol or diesel car. If you charge at public points only, the savings will be far less, and there’s the extra stress of finding a spot. However, if you merely use these chargers for the occasional long trip, the growing network – plus the increased range of EVS such as the Leaf – is making these cars a practical proposition for thousands more motorists.

“Most Electric Vehicle owners still plug in at home, at work, or both”