christmasoompa

I live rurally in the UK, and we have had two EV's for years. Granted, we have a charger on our driveway but I rarely use it anyway, and I can't see why most people would need to make a special trip to recharge. I tend to do it when I'm running around in my daily life and most of it is for free - charge at school whilst waiting to pick kids up, charge at supermarket whilst doing the weekly shop etc. Yesterday I charged at Ikea whilst I bought shelves. Hubby charges whilst at work or at the train station.

There are more car chargers in the UK than petrol stations, it's really not an issue here.

R I C H

Most? There are 80+ houses on my street, roughly 60-40 split terraced-detached. Twelve have off-street parking.

R I C H

Comparing charger numbers to petrol stations isn't very useful - I can re-fuel in under 5 minutes, waiting in line isn't problematic.

Those of us that don't commute to urban areas have no option but to make special trips to recharge - that's inconvenient and burns electricity just for the sake of recharging with more electricity.

christmasoompa

I often had to wait in line to refuel at our local petrol station. Or I'd get to it and find I couldn't refuel at all because the tankers were in it and it was closed, causing an absolute panic as we have no other petrol stations near us. It's actually been easier for me to charge my car than to refuel it. If you live rurally (I personally don't think 80+ houses on a street is rural, surely that's at least a village if not a town?), then I don't see how an EV would be any more problematic with petrol stations generally gathered around towns or major roads.

I don't commute, and I don't ever need to make a special trip to recharge. Most people drive somewhere (otherwise, why would they need a car!), so why can't they just charge whilst shopping, taking kids to activities, etc etc? The only time I ever need to go to an actual charging station is when I'm driving hundreds of miles, otherwise it's just part of my daily running around.

If you're looking at just charging stations then you might think it would be a problem, but what about all the chargers at shops, schools, sports clubs, etc, etc - not to mention people's driveways. So many people let others use their driveway charger (including us) that not having your own driveway isn't necessarily an issue.

OrangeMango

A Diesel car produces considerably less CO2. A lot of people tend to forget that. Plus there is also the particle mass filter.

R I C H

Waiting in line at a petrol station means a few minutes of inconvenience, not potentially hours. Comparing the 2 experiences and processes isn't very logical. The village I live in has around 800 residents, it's located rurally, as many villages are - that's not an unusual situation.


I do, and I'd have to. Different circumstances require different choices. An EV for me would be inconvenient and impractical.

Because not everyone has the same lifestyle you're representing. I don't have kids - the local school doesn't have any parking, so a charging point's hardly likely to appear. This week I'm driving to Scotland, Wiltshire and Kent. It'll mean one refill of diesel after 600 miles, so perhaps 10 minutes required. An EV would need hours out of my working day and reduce productivity.

No chargers at any local shops near to me. It's hardly convenient to recharge at a neighbour's overnight, when the likelihood is they're recharging themselves. None of these issues address the purchase cost of and EV either - far more expensive than a regular vehicle, and that reason alone is enought to disuade me from buying one.

christmasoompa

Why is it not logical? For me comparing the two is logical, because for me it's actually more convenient (and quicker) to charge a car than refuel it. I don't wait whilst charging, I just do it whilst I get on with my day and it takes me maybe 15 seconds to plug in, so quicker than refuelling and queueing up to pay would be.

You're right, but not everybody has your lifestyle either. I thought we were just amicably exchanging views based on our own personal circumstances? My guess is that most people would have a lifestyle similar to mine i.e. lots of shorter journeys to places where they can charge (often for free) whilst they run their errands, rather than driving hundreds of miles every week and not wanting to stop.

Hours out of your day? Charging doesn't take hours, particularly if you're at motorway services with rapid chargers. And with ultra rapid chargers starting to be rolled out now, that 10 minutes will be equalled anyway.

Exactly, different strokes for different folks and all that. You obviously live somewhere very unusual with no chargers nearby (I'll get Mr EV on it!). For me it's far more convenient and quicker than a petrol/diesel. And much cheaper too, my old diesel used to cost me £500 a month just in fuel, plus another small fortune in tax, now my running costs now are pretty much zero. That wiped out any additional cost in buying the car pretty quickly.

okonumiyaki

80 house on a street, 60% terraced, doesn't sound rural!

Piff Poff

According to the charge station map thingamajig, there are 18 public charging stations in Red Deer. Each one of them would be a trip out of my way to use. They according to the links I have managed to find cost on average $15 an hour to charge ( level 3). It's currently costing me about 12 bucks a week to run my mini. It will do about 550 kms to a tank. So far it makes zero sense to go the ev route.

christmasoompa

That is rubbish. Do they not have free community type chargers in places like shopping centre car parks etc like they do in the UK? I guess it's just such a massive country that putting the infrastructure in place is a nightmare, but seems odd that they're planning on banning ICE's by 2035 without at least a half decent system already.

dbd33

There are many charging stations in small town Ontario, libraries and public car parks are common spots. If the government would like to push things along then a tax break for employers to provide free charging to staff might be a way to go, especially if it was targeted at places with large numbers of on site staff; factories, hospitals and the like.

Piff Poff

I got the info about charging stations from charge hub.

Ones I have personally noticed are the 4 Tesla ones at one of the big hotels and there is one at the slightly bigger mall. None of the supermarkets have them. There is another bank of Tesla ones on Gas Alley that I have driven past. Add in the lack of trains it makes it really hard to get on the green transport band wagon.

Piff Poff

https://www.castanet.net/news/Writer...ehicle-skeptic

This just showed up on the Red Deer News and Area page. I havevonly glanced at it as I'm supposed to be walking my doggy.

R I C H

What do I know, I only live here The nearest small town for shopping/groceries etc is 17 miles away. There's no other amenities for 8 miles. What's your definition of rural UK life?

R I C H

Terrific if you frequent urban areas with those amenities, but here are my local free options - I've neither the time, inclination or incentive to start driving miles out of my way to think an EV is viable. My road tax is £30, I get 60mpg and I've not had to finance a purchase:



EV's are an imperfect interim solution to solving vehicular pollution. Tail pipe emissions may be greener, but battery/electricity manufacture and supply isn't currently sustainable to replace the world's ICE fleet. Purchase costs are too high for the majority too - at 20 months old, with 18,000 miles driven, an EV costs £25,000 as an average sale price. That's well over £10k more than the average equivalent used ICE vehicle that's sold off a dealer's lot. The gap between what somebody has to pay for an EV or even a hybrid equivalent and a petrol or diesel car is currently so vast it's hard to see things changing quickly.

FWIW my job's in the automotive world, and global manufacturers don't see the situation above any differently - they produce EVs because of legislation and incentives, not necessarily because they're seen as the holy grail to help solve climate change. Hydrogen paste and synfuels are equally important areas of research to them.