More investment is needed in electric vehicle infrastructure
With the increasing push towards Electric Vehicles I have been speaking more and more with my husband, who has an EV and used to sell EV'S, about the current practicality of everyone changing over.
On a recent trip to drop my son off at the University of Bangor in North Wales, the current state of infrastructure for charging and the costs involved reared it's ugly head on more than one occasion.
Having driven electric cars on numerous journeys before my husband planned the route and downloaded the multitude of apps to connect to all the different charger operators.
With a fully charged car capable of about 200 odd miles if driven sedately we set out.
We made our down the motorway stopping to charge twice so we would have enough charge when we got there.
We arrived in Bangor and started unloading my sons things into his accommodation. We stayed for a couple of days to have a look round the area and get some last minute time with our son before we left him.
After travelling around over the weekend we needed to charge up ready to head back, this is where the current state of non-motorway charging kicked in.
My husband went off, first charger was broken, second one had a queue of three cars and charges nearly 75p per kilowatt (about 3.5 miles of range).
Nearly 40 minutes and 25 odd miles later he found a charger that was not extortionate and only had one car plugged in halfway through a charge. 20 minutes wait followed by 40 minutes charging and we were prepped for the next mornings journey home. Nearly two hours spent for a gain of 175 miles range.
This journey was done in mild weather as EV’S can lose up to 40% of their range in cold weather.
Until there is proper investment in charge point infrastructure, not only on motorways, but in residential areas, the Government’s ideas on getting everyone into an electric car will remain pie in the sky. This is a shame as when used locally our electric car is great.