Public EV points are getting busy. Apparently.

[Goaty]

Hi,

I spoke to someone recently who’s had an EV for nearly a year. He travels around the UK quite a lot and has noticed EV charging points are far busier than they were at the start of the year, and has found he’s having to wait for spaces to become available a lot more now - which can be an added frustration ( he said sometimes over 30 mins wait on top of the 40+ mins he wants to charge his car for ).

Hopefully Boris et al are on top of this (not going to hold my breath) but I think gone are the days of just rolling up to a charger and having a good chance of jumping on straight away.

I wonder what term will be given to the inevitable argy bargy then, when people can’t agree who’s next !! Something more imaginative than just Charge Rage !!

Update: I’m going to coin the phrase “Chargey Bargy”

Any long distance EV drivers here, noticed anything worrying with respect to waiting your turn, recently?

[RichR]

Have a look at what Gridserve and Osprey are doing - they're rolling out sets of at least four where there might have previously only been one Ecotricity charge point at service stations, and putting in big 12 to 20 bay facilities at certain points (eg Rugby, where the M1/M6 meet). There's money and companies actively installing multi-bay charging facilities. It's just down to the planning and electricity connection arrangements that's limiting how quickly they can do it. It's happening - though perhaps not as quickly as people are buying EVs (though the current production slow downs might help!).

Changing people's way of driving so they only charge for 15-20 minutes to get to their next planned stop rather than feeling they have to charge to 80% each stop would be a good thing too. I work on the fact that I can drive about 2-3 hours before I need the toilet or to stretch my legs. On UK motorways that's about 180 miles, which is well under 80% of an Enyaq 80's range. So keep the battery in the 10-60% range where it charges fastest mean less time spent charging, and hence more people get to use the chargers. However if you've been used to filling the petrol tank to the top every time you stop, it's a hard habit to break.

I see in Norway, Shell and others are now actively removing petrol pumps and fitting EV chargers in their place. Maybe the UK will get to that point in a few years

[KrisN]

Agree with all of RichR's points

Also, I have found that even with the current poor provision at old ecotricity sites, as long as you haven't left yourself completely flat, you can always move on to the charger if there isn't one free - you can see availability on one of the apps or it only takes a couple of minutes to drive in and out again. Eg on the popular summer holiday run down the M5 to the West Country, Taunton Deane, Tiverton, Cullompton and Exeter services all give options pretty close together to get some charge before heading to the charging deserts of Cornwall

[Goaty]

Someone would make a fortune if they could develop a portable range extender; something you carry with you in the car and can plug in and charge your EV no matter where you are and perhaps squeeze in 20 miles or so. Would probably need to be the size of a suitcase and weight about 50kgs and cost about a grand but might be enough to get you onto the next station if you’ve absolutely run flat !

Hmmm, When’s Dragons Den returning?

[RichR]

The AA and RAC already carry battery packs with a Type 2 connector to give a boost to EVs that have run out of charge. It's not actually that easy to run out in practice - the car starts whinging at you well before you're in any danger of depleting the battery to the point where it won't move. Unless you're in the Australian Outback or somewhere, you're quite likely to be able to make it to a charge point of some description before that happens.

[Goaty]

/\ I know an AA chap. Will ask him how often he’s had to use it, next time I see him.

[DazAutomatic]

Apparently around 4% of call outs to the AA are because of electric vehicles running out of charge (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/spik ... -vh0j0nr7h).
This feels high, given the relatively small proportion of electric vehicles on the road. But is probable skewed by earlier models with shorter ranges.

[Chris__M]

Apparently around 4% of call outs to the AA are because of electric vehicles running out of charge (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/spik ... -vh0j0nr7h).
This feels high, given the relatively small proportion of electric vehicles on the road. But is probable skewed by earlier models with shorter ranges.

I read that a different way. Split the statement in two, and it becomes clearer.

"The AA calculates that flat batteries account for 4% of all call-outs by owners of electric cars, while empty fuel tanks represent only 0.6% of call-outs for petrol and diesel vehicles."

1. flat batteries account for 4% of all call-outs by owners of electric cars
2. empty fuel tanks represent only 0.6% of call-outs for petrol and diesel vehicles.

It is NOT saying "flat batteries account for 4% of all call-outs".

And the reason for the 4% may well be not that people are more likely to run out of fuel in an EV, but that the rest of the EV - the motors and such - are more reliable that the mechanics of a petrol/diesel car.

[Chris__M]

And this page, from the AA itself, shows that is the case.

https://www.theaa.com/about-us/newsroom ... ic-drivers

* AA predicts more than 40,000 EV breakdowns this year
* EVs account for just 1% of breakdowns and running out of charge is rare
* Top breakdown causes for EVs same as conventionally fuelled cars
* Proportion of out-of-charge EVs reducing despite EV uptake growing

If EVs only account for 1% of breakdowns, then flat EV batteries can't represent 4% of all call-outs.

[DazAutomatic]

I read that a different way. Split the statement in two, and it becomes clearer....
And the reason for the 4% may well be not that people are more likely to run out of fuel in an EV, but that the rest of the EV - the motors and such - are more reliable that the mechanics of a petrol/diesel car.

Ah! You may be right, and if so, your second point makes a lot of sense. What we need is an Oxford comma. Cue more discussion.