Going all electric, watch this video first !

[Mister Towed]

At the dawn of motoring, in addition to electric, steam and gasoline autocarriages, gas powered machines were also quite popular.

In cities and larger towns, unscrupulous Terry Thomas type owners would stop and fill up their gas bags from the streetlights at the city council's expense.

Perhaps we should take a leaf out of their book and install a simple, medium speed charger in every streetlight in the country, with fast chargers built into every streetlight in motorway service areas.

That way there would never be queues for the chargers, people without off-street parking could charge their cars and you would never have far to go if your battery runs low on a long journey and you need a quick top-up to get you to your destination.

City and Town councils could also generate an income stream from the charge, erm charges, which could go towards filling all the potholes which will be made worse by all the heavier EV's using the roads.

It's so simple it might just work...

[Lucky@LeMans]

Naa, that won't work either ! Have you wondered why so many cycle lanes are being built ? Its because the Government knows that all cars will have to be phased out because even the best EV's rely on being charged by an antiquated National Grid that is near breaking point thanks to over demand, even now. They can't rely on cheap imported gas, electric and oil because those exporting are fast becoming our enemies eg Russia, China and France. The future transport network will be a utopian cycle path network, so on your bike !

[peterux]

Originally Posted by Mister Towed

At the dawn of motoring, in addition to electric, steam and gasoline autocarriages, gas powered machines were also quite popular.

In cities and larger towns, unscrupulous Terry Thomas type owners would stop and fill up their gas bags from the streetlights at the city council's expense.

Perhaps we should take a leaf out of their book and install a simple, medium speed charger in every streetlight in the country, with fast chargers built into every streetlight in motorway service areas.

That way there would never be queues for the chargers, people without off-street parking could charge their cars and you would never have far to go if your battery runs low on a long journey and you need a quick top-up to get you to your destination.

City and Town councils could also generate an income stream from the charge, erm charges, which could go towards filling all the potholes which will be made worse by all the heavier EV's using the roads.

It's so simple it might just work...

https://www.ubitricity.com/

According to the website...

Today, there are already more than 4,000 ubitricity charge points installed around the UK, making it the country’s largest public charging network!

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by peterux

https://www.ubitricity.com/

According to the website...

Today, there are already more than 4,000 ubitricity charge points installed around the UK, making it the country’s largest public charging network!

What a good idea, wish I'd thought of it!

The low power output of a lamp-post charger won't be an issue for most people who can leave their car to charge overnight.

The power supply infrastructure is an issue, though. I was looking at home charger options and it said you could have a fast charger installed so long as you had a 32 amp domestic supply, which is the same as you need for a modern electric range cooker. I live in a rural area and our house was built this century (2003).

When we needed a new cooker I prefer electric over gas, so I ordered a SMEG model that required 32 amps, assuming our supply would be suitable. Unfortunately, the electrician who came to install it told us that, even though our circuit breaker board says '32' on the one for the cooker, the network can't actually give us 32 amps*, so it had to go back and be replaced with a cheaper, less powerful model.
*I'm not a leccie so please feel free to explain that to me if you are wise in the ways of wiggly amps.

That also means we won't be able to have a fast charger installed, and definitely not two or three chargers.

As for getting our energy from our enemies, which brainiac thought that one up? Okay, at least the Russians and the Red Chinese are a long way away, but the French, they're right on our doorstep! I do have my suspicions that they may even be digging a tunnel under the channel...

[JG]

I'm not a leccy but not being able to have a 32amp circuit seems a bit daft in this day and age of induction hobs, cookers and leccy showers.

Thought most houses were supplied with 80 or 100 amps. Might want to get that checked out, perhaps the fitter was having a bad day!

With bigger battery EVs a car charger at home would definitely be a bonus. I've just been charging at home on a 3 pin socket as the battery in my EV is only 30kWh so does just fine but would def look at getting a charger installed if I stepped up to 60kWh and above.

[Lucky@LeMans]

Originally Posted by Mister Towed

What a good idea, wish I'd thought of it!

The low power output of a lamp-post charger won't be an issue for most people who can leave their car to charge overnight.

The power supply infrastructure is an issue, though. I was looking at home charger options and it said you could have a fast charger installed so long as you had a 32 amp domestic supply, which is the same as you need for a modern electric range cooker. I live in a rural area and our house was built this century (2003).

When we needed a new cooker I prefer electric over gas, so I ordered a SMEG model that required 32 amps, assuming our supply would be suitable. Unfortunately, the electrician who came to install it told us that, even though our circuit breaker board says '32' on the one for the cooker, the network can't actually give us 32 amps*, so it had to go back and be replaced with a cheaper, less powerful model.
*I'm not a leccie so please feel free to explain that to me if you are wise in the ways of wiggly amps.

That also means we won't be able to have a fast charger installed, and definitely not two or three chargers.

As for getting our energy from our enemies, which brainiac thought that one up? Okay, at least the Russians and the Red Chinese are a long way away, but the French, they're right on our doorstep! I do have my suspicions that they may even be digging a tunnel under the channel...

The French were threatening us only a few weeks ago ! "Ve vill turns off zee lights int Jersey, give uz ze fishing lizenzes now " !!

Sorry if that sounds a bit German , I can't do a French accent !