[Fidel]

Can I run a cable to charge an electric car across the pavement?

Read our guide to charging an EV if you don't have off-street parking, including liability for personal injury claims, the safety implications of using extension cables and how it impacts insurance.

www.thisismoney.co.uk

Interesting read.

 

[Scrooge]

Can I run a cable to charge an electric car across the pavement?

Read our guide to charging an EV if you don't have off-street parking, including liability for personal injury claims, the safety implications of using extension cables and how it impacts insurance.

www.thisismoney.co.uk

Interesting read.

Looking at the article I doubt many would run a 50kW Chademo across the pavement

Sorry, couldn't resist, lol.

 

[Fidel]

thinking that if enough EV owners started doing this, local councils would get fed up with complaints and then start installing road side chargers to stop this from happening

 

[Scrooge]

I would imagine if you used a hi-vis cable guard across the pavement with say a cone you would have taken reasonable steps/care. Nobody seems to take any care with say hose pipes or extension cables when cleaning a car or say window cleaners with hose pipes all over the place.

Edit:The only time I’ve seen a cable across a pavement was to a Council Nissan ENV200, lol. Alright it was in the council offices car park but staff still had to walk that way.

 

[Fidel]

that was what I was thinking, the high vis cable covers are only around £22

 

[RichardH]

We just use a basic cable cover across the "shared" path, although the only other person who uses that stretch of path is the postie!

 

[Fidel]

For me, it would have to be a high visibility one as straight across a pavement

 

[mikeselectricstuff]

"The Electrical Safety First charity last year surveyed 1,500 EV owners and found that three quarters were using domestic multi-socket extension leads to charge their plug-in hybrid of battery electric cars from the mains in their homes. "
I find that figure very hard to believe, unless they meant "1500 EV owners who don't have installed charge points"

 

[Fidel]

I would guess that's what they meant.

 

[mikeselectricstuff]

"The first of these is German tech firm Ubitricity, which has contracts with a number of London boroughs, including Richmond-upon-Thames and Twickenham and Barnes, to turn existing lamp posts into residential charge points,
The conversions, which cost around £1,000, replace old bulbs in the street lighting with energy efficient LEDs and then use the resulting untapped electricity from the grid.
EV owners need purchase a specialist smart cable, which holds all metering and billing information, and regular users can sign up to a subscription to benefit from cheaper charging costs.

That has to be one of the stupidist ideas I've ever seen for on-street charging, having to buy a special cable to use on-street charging.

 

[Fidel]

Looked at those cables, they seem ok

 

[Fidel]

This is the cable

 

[cah197]

That has to be one of the stupidist ideas I've ever seen for on-street charging, having to buy a special cable to use on-street charging.

Not so stupid, they’ve installed quite a few.

What's the alternative option for those with just on-street parking?

I understand their newer systems can be used with just a standard Type 2 and an app.

 

[mikeselectricstuff]

Not so stupid, they’ve installed quite a few.

What's the alternative option for those with just on-street parking?

A type 2 socket with the intelligence built in. No need for a bulky external waterproof enclosure.

I understand their newer systems can be used with just a standard Type 2 and an app.

So why didn't they do that in the first place, instead of introducing unnecessary hardware?

 

[cah197]

A type 2 socket with the intelligence built in. No need for a bulky external waterproof enclosure.

So why didn't they do that in the first place, instead of introducing unnecessary hardware?

How’s your on street charging startup going?

There are people who do and there are people who just talk.

 

[proddick]

A type 2 socket with the intelligence built in. No need for a bulky external waterproof enclosure.

So why didn't they do that in the first place, instead of introducing unnecessary hardware?

The benefits of the dedicated cable and their subscription is that you get monthly billing, access all their points and (partly because they have lower costs) a cheaper per kWh rate. This is usually best option for people who use regularly. It is just "plug in" with no app to faf with - plenty on here moan about apps 😉 It also works as a normal Type 2 cable so some people sold their other cable or didn't buy one if not included with their car, so net cost isn't too bad.

SmartCable - ubitricity

Order your ubitricity SmartCable with the

www.ubitricity.co.uk

They realised that cost some people (who perhaps charge at work) needed only occasional use off, so came up with a new solution based on a PAYG model and standard cable, but kWh costs are higher.

thinking that if enough EV owners started doing this, local councils would get fed up with complaints and then start installing road side chargers to stop this from happening

I am fairly sure we are going to see more enforcement against people trailing cables over footways, even if they use cable protection. Will we see more councils install residential charging? Not sure as despite grants for 75% they would struggle to justify the remainder when budgets are so tight.

 

[idiotzoo]

A type 2 socket with the intelligence built in. No need for a bulky external waterproof enclosure.

So why didn't they do that in the first place, instead of introducing unnecessary hardware?

That one is simple... cost. Street lighting isn’t metered. If you’ve ever tried to power something from street lighting supplies (I have) there a world of painful nonsense you have to go through about power consumption validation or have your own metering. It’s incredibly hard to do. They’ve made it work in a cost effective way by making the metering piece portable. I suspect they’re also doing some load balancing as well.

ideally, yes, putting the smarts in a socket would have made it more compatible but I suspect that made it too expensive to roll out. Better more points than better points? Maybe they made the wrong call.

 

[MassDeduction]

Can I run a cable to charge an electric car across the pavement?

Read our guide to charging an EV if you don't have off-street parking, including liability for personal injury claims, the safety implications of using extension cables and how it impacts insurance.

www.thisismoney.co.uk

Interesting read.

That was an interesting read, thanks for sharing it. I've often read that one should never use an extension cord, but I long suspected that that was an oversimplification of the truth. So a heavy duty all weather extension cord is fine, so long as you don't daisy-chain, and even then only if you use it because you really need to. Check.

 

[KenB]

If i was doing this i would cut a channel in the paving, on a join line, and fit one of those sunken drainage channels which has a grid over the top. No one will ever know and would actually be a solution for many.