How Will People Charge Electric Cars If They Dont Have A Driveway

[tinfoilhat 11]

3 hours ago, Ant68 said:

My brother has a company car. Its due for renewal. He has 3 choices.

 

1 An electric car

2 A hybrid

3 Choose not to have a company car, and ‘sort yourself out’.

 

Option 1 and 2 are out due to the exact reason the OP brought up. He lives in a rented house, on a terraced street. He’d have to get permission from the property owner to have a charging point installed (at his own cost, his company wont help) but the cable would have to trail across the pavement - thats assuming he can park outside his own house with the congestion on his street.

 

His company have refused to have charging points installed at his workplace, so he can’t even charge it there during the day (he works for a large vehicle rental company, who’s parent company is a well known vehicle manufacturer).

 

So I guess hes left with option 3 - buying a petrol / diesel car.

 

Technology does move on at an alarming rate sometimes, but with things the way they are currently, I’d like to see the solution to the hundreds of cars that currently use every service station on the motorway on a daily basis. Its not a ‘splash and dash’ like we currently have, its a plug and hang about for 20 mins or longer!

 

Not enough thought put into it as usual.......

 

I’ll stop there before my blood pressure gets too high

 

Choose option 2, get the BIK but don't charge it (unless he gets a Toyota that don't need charging).

[Mr Bloke 1,445]

3 minutes ago, tinfoilhat said:

Choose option 2, get the BIK but don't charge it (unless he gets a Toyota that don't need charging).

Hmmm...

... that raises an interesting point.

 

I wonder what happens to warranties if you don't regularly charge the batteries?

[the_bloke 17]

The market for used petrol and diesel cars after 2030 is going to be very strong; I've said it before but I think the depreciation on an electric car after 2030 is going to be horrific. Everyone who wants one will have one, as a lot of people won't want one or have the ability to charge one at home or drive too much for one to make sense. You'll virtually be having to give away your three year old Leaf when you trade it in for a new model. Cars will be like old TVs. You either sell it for peanuts or give it away, or you scrap it.

[the_bloke 17]

Incidentally, I live in a rather nice apartment building; the car park has no numbered bays, has no restrictions to access and members of the public sometimes park there when they visit or go for a walk. I strongly suspect I've got to take the hit to pay for any charging point, and it means the access to the car park then has to be controlled in some way to prevent anyone else parking in my space and using my charging point. I'd also rather my charging point use my home electric, rather than having to pay for the electric differently. Problem with that, is that my electric meter is something like 70 feet away from where I park. It's probably easier just to move than bother with it all.

[Bargepole23 337]

15 hours ago, dave_the_m said:

We only have enough generating capacity if most people charge their cars overnight using a slow charge (so that the car charges slowly from midnight to 6am say rather than quickly from midnight to 1am). There is currently no mechanism to make this happen automatically.

Doesn't seem particularly onerous or technically challenging.

[Jim Hardie 524]

20 hours ago, Mr Bloke said:

Hmmm...

... why not get a portable diesel generator and charge it from that?

... and chain it to the nearest gas lamp or watch over it from a deck chair on the pavement.

[butlers 259]

From a quick read the hydrogen tanks in cars are at a pressure of either 5,000 or 10,000 PSI.

Plus hydrogen mixed with any amount of air is highly explosive.

And hydrogen currently is made from hydrocarbons so not sure how that will help to decarbonize the economy to combat climate change

 

[Baron99 779]

12 minutes ago, butlers said:

From a quick read the hydrogen tanks in cars are at a pressure of either 5,000 or 10,000 PSI.

Plus hydrogen mixed with any amount of air is highly explosive.

And hydrogen currently is made from hydrocarbons so not sure how that will help to decarbonize the economy to combat climate change

 

Boom!  Look's like more than the bearings have gone. 

[butlers 259]

Bit on batteries and hydrogen from a scientist I follow.

Hydrogen bits at 6 min in and more eye widening at 16 mins in

 

 

Edited April 23, 2021 by butlers

[Ravenger 10]

Hydrogen also leaks through everything, so it could build up from leakage from parked cars in poorly ventilated garages and form an explosion risk.  There's also more leakage when hydrogen cars start up. This is not theoretical, it's actually been proven in scientific studies.

[tinfoilhat 11]

2 hours ago, Mr Bloke said:

Hmmm...

... that raises an interesting point.

 

I wonder what happens to warranties if you don't regularly charge the batteries?

8 year i think for BMW. And can they prove you don't regularly charge the batteries?

[butlers 259]

I would imagine the producers will have a record of the entire  charging life.

Would also think if the battery is getting critically and alarm goes off.

I could also imagine the charging points give you an down to the minute expectation of charge time and then penalties if you leave a car hogging the charging station