[Steve Thayne]

Yes...and I think this is something it may be in all of our interests to reflect on as the number of ev's takes off.

If we treat the ev space as though it were an ordinary space there is the danger of bottlenecks. Of people needing a charge not being able to access it despite the infrastructure being available and in use.

Perhaps this looks different from the Milton Keynes perspective where there are numerous chargers compared to places like Shropshire where there are a precious handful.

Sadly I think this will need enforcing ultimately as parking does now. If you are plugged in and your charge has finished AND where your car is stops another car charging then a fine can be levied.

This may be inconvient to the person charging / charged. But there will need to be some management of this finite resource if it is not to be wasted in my opinion

 

[Steve Thayne]

As we move to type 2 charging there is a distinction to be made from 13 amp.

A 30 miles charge in an hour distinction for those in some cars.

So this means that if I arrived at Church Stretton with lbw i could, 45 minutes later, drive home to Telford 22 miles away.

But not if a Mitsubishi Outlander is plugged in with a parking ticket for another 4 hours as happened to me last week. Fortunately I had enough charge. And I was genuinely pleased to see both bays being used....

Had I been needing the charge and the other ev's finished charging but not moved away I would have felt unhappy.

Yes there needs to be more charging infrastructure and there will be.

But if what many of us dream of actually happens and mass adoptiom of ev's happens then there WILL be contention.

And this will need to be managed.

I can see no other way than parking enforcement.

Perhaps we can put off this day by common sense and courtesy, putting ourselves in the other persons shoes when we can.....and if there really is no other choice then fine, plug in at a train station and pick it up when you return.

But sooner or later if a minority fill their boots from a limited resource then we WILL end up with the equivalent of hospital car parking fees....

Or like has happened in Telford this decade where we had free town centre parking....so the office workers left their cars there all day....which led to no spaces free....which led to car park charging to manage the fees...which led to the office workers parking instead at the free train station car park.....which led to the introduction of fees at the train station car park.....

 

[Steve Thayne]

Perhaps there is a different perspective for me living in an area without rapid chargers and with very limited type 2 chargers - the only publc charging in a belt from shropshire, herefordshire, mid wales and (for now) North Wales.

To use an ev as your only car here means if you need a public charging point you may well really need it....and have no options

 

[Steve Thayne]

Yes I agree with destination charging sometimes being a better option then diverting to a rapid. Particularly the 7kw, 30 miles an hour rate of charging. This is good enough to go to the supermarket, whiz round and have enough charge to drive my 17 miles home. No waiting. No break in routine.

There is already a garden centre with rows of these posts. And I can imagine provision becoming commonplace. Like Sky tv in pubs - despite the cost many pubs choose to pay for it for the footfall.

But in the mentime. I hope for all of us charging when we need to, making the resource available when finished, when we can. Or at least leaving contact details.

In the sticks 7kw posts ARE our rapids