Ignore the RAYNET signs and the stuff on the bonnet. Not relelvant to this post. Today we made another London trip. We left home with a 100% battery. Road conditions were atrocious, it was cold so we had to use the heater a fair bit to demist – the heater really eats the battery. When we first got the EV, we would stop at Cobham services to do a recharge, and then we would charge via the 13 amp unit (at 5% per hour approx) it worked fine but it was slow.
We found out that there was a charging station quite near us. We were quite impressed with it. Taking our car from 23% to 81% in about 40 minutes – relatively speaking, not bad ignoring the feelings of petrol envy. I wanted to talk about the infrastructure supporting electric vehicles. When we first got the EV, I was pretty appalled at the lack of infrastructure supporting users. The number of charging stations and those stations being out of service for any extended period of time. I recognise that it cannot be guaranteed that we would turn up at a charging station not have to queue. The quantity and distribution of stations was inadequate. I had read through the Governments strategy for electric vehicles and I have to say it is pretty good. What they need to do is deliver to it.
There are three longish journeys that we undertake – usually, at least once a year – more frequently in some cases. Certainly, in two of these cases the situation has improved dramatically. in one case the number of charging stations that we could use has trebbled, and doubled in another.
We really aren’t fully there yet. But, the situation has improved.
Bills Posts 