EV's and battery damage & other woes means I wont buy one

[Petrol Pete]

There is a pub not far from me (suburban type setting) , I don't go in it very often but I had a chat with the manager the other day and asked him why he had 5 of his (limited) parking spaces dedicated to EV's ?

He said he did not have a clue , one day he got a email from the top saying his pub had been chosen to get EV chargers and they were duly installed without consultation (why would they ask the bloke who has been running the pub for years ?)

In two weeks time that would have been 12 months ago (the install) ....they are still not connected to the grid. I asked him when that would happen , his answer was "Don't know , don't care" None of my customers asked for them .

He has also told his 'Trade' customers to park their van's on the EV spots (that area was always pretty much 'Transit van only' parking for some of his best customers ) and to ignore the 'EV only' signs even if they do eventually go live .

He is of the opinion that in the unlikely event of an EV owner turning up to charge they can always pop in and ask one of the lads to move their van.

My guess is somebody at the top of the pub chain is ticking the boxes and filling the quota's and has already trousered some 'government' money in the way of a green 'grant'

Note : land behind the pub was sold a few years ago and about a 100 houses are being built so one would assume that there must be more than enough grid capacity in the area.

 

[Dryce]

My guess is somebody at the top of the pub chain is ticking the boxes and filling the quota's and has already trousered some 'government' money in the way of a green 'grant'

Maybe they are simply thinking ahead as regards the practicalities of future customer service and assuming that if you have a self-driving car (likely an EV) you can drive it to the pub and the car can drive you back home.

 

[Neiltodd]

Why’s that?

Scared of the mountain passes, or the locals?

Or just frightened of the winter tyre requirements?

I've only done them in the summer months (most of them are closed in the winter as well) so no winter tyres needed and the locals were pretty friendly.

 

[Noitz]

Maybe they are simply thinking ahead as regards the practicalities of future customer service and assuming that if you have a self-driving car (likely an EV) you can drive it to the pub and the car can drive you back home.

Forward planning? I doubt it very much, but I'm happy to be proved wrong.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

There is a pub not far from me (suburban type setting) , I don't go in it very often but I had a chat with the manager the other day and asked him why he had 5 of his (limited) parking spaces dedicated to EV's ?

He said he did not have a clue , one day he got a email from the top saying his pub had been chosen to get EV chargers and they were duly installed without consultation (why would they ask the bloke who has been running the pub for years ?)

In two weeks time that would have been 12 months ago (the install) ....they are still not connected to the grid. I asked him when that would happen , his answer was "Don't know , don't care" None of my customers asked for them .

He has also told his 'Trade' customers to park their van's on the EV spots (that area was always pretty much 'Transit van only' parking for some of his best customers ) and to ignore the 'EV only' signs even if they do eventually go live .

He is of the opinion that in the unlikely event of an EV owner turning up to charge they can always pop in and ask one of the lads to move their van.

My guess is somebody at the top of the pub chain is ticking the boxes and filling the quota's and has already trousered some 'government' money in the way of a green 'grant'

Note : land behind the pub was sold a few years ago and about a 100 houses are being built so one would assume that there must be more than enough grid capacity in the area.

We've got six chargers at my Golf club. Sometimes one of the six is used. The others just sit empty. T'Committee thought they would be a benefit for the members that would generate extra revenue for the Club.

But why would you need one?

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Maybe they are simply thinking ahead as regards the practicalities of future customer service and assuming that if you have a self-driving car (likely an EV) you can drive it to the pub and the car can drive you back home.

And you'd be too drunk to ever connect it cheaply to a charger at home?

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Not until they come up with a new type of battery with a far greater range and faster charging. Or an alternative like hydrogen.
As you pointed out, the other problem is the queues waiting to charge. An average forecourt could probably fill 80 cars / hour. To charge that number of cars per hour, imagine how much space they would need for all those cars sat charging.

Why would people go to a "forecourt" to charge a car?

Cars spend 98% of their life parked.

Why wouldn't you charge your vehicle while parked?

 

[Noitz]

Why would people go to a "forecourt" to charge a car?

Because they 'currently' do so? Perhaps in an attempt to maintain familiarity?

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Because they 'currently' do so? Perhaps in an attempt to maintain familiarity?

Click !! Obviously it's because people go to petrol stations to buy groceries, booze, cigarettes, baked goods and rubbish coffee.

There's a stat somewhere on how much is spent on non-fuel at BP stations....

 

[markjay]

Hmmm storing highly flammable liquids...:

Storing petrol safely: Fire and explosion.

 

[markjay]

The price of electricity from the lamppost chargers in our area is currently 46p per kWh, which isn't particularly cheap. Partly because it includes 20% VAT. But I suspect that the other reason is low usage.

On average, I would say that there's maybe one car plugged in for every 20 lampposts at any given time (and some of these cars have probably finished charging and were just left plugged-in until the next journey).

There are plenty of EVs in our area, but people just don't seem to be charging them that often. I charge my EV every other week or so, and typically add about 30%-40% of battery.

I think that the combination of large batteries on modern EVs and low mileage for city dwellers means that the chargers just aren't getting used much.

Which is a shame, because there's a cost to installing and maintaining the charging infrastructure, and it is currently being paid for by a small number of users. If the chargers were more widely used then possibly the cost per kWh could have been significantly cheaper.

Part of the issue is that most of the parking bays are reserved for cars with Resident Parking Permits, and so only local cars can use them - if the Council allowed all cars to charge at any lampposts then perhaps the chargers would have seen more use.

 

[Noitz]

Hmmm storing highly flammable liquids...:

If used correctly they're no more dangerous than the vehicles plastic petrol tank.

 

[stressd]

Why would people go to a "forecourt" to charge a car?

Cars spend 98% of their life parked.

Why wouldn't you charge your vehicle while parked?

That was based on JHS’s observation that “we pulled into a services near Gloucester, the one everyone uses, and observed several EVs charging and others waiting for a vacant charger.”.
Presumably because they are doing a trip longer than a few miles?

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

That was based on JHS’s observation that “we pulled into a services near Gloucester, the one everyone uses, and observed several EVs charging and others waiting for a vacant charger.”.
Presumably because they are doing a trip longer than a few miles?

Fair point. So on those days that you do more than 300 miles away from home, you “could” go to a “forecourt” at a services near Gloucester.

But wouldn’t most just park in a parking bay, or at a home, or outside someone’s home, or at an office or ….

 

[Connoisseur]

Love these ev disaster threads, usually posted by someone who new a mate who had a mate who saw summat on you tube that said it was all a disaster, ‘and anyway in my day it was all different and you wouldn’t get me spending my old age pension on owt new-fangled you know’

In the real world uk ev are driving ‘000s of miles every day, after charging at home overnight, or charging on the go at hotels, charge hubs or Shell/BP stations.

Did a round trip to Manchester a few days ago in our ev and used a mfg hub which proved quick and easy; so what? The very same type of ev trip is replicated thousands of times all over the uk every day now. Change happens, it is nothing new

 

[clk320x]

Love these ev disaster threads, usually posted by someone who new a mate who had a mate who saw summat on you tube that said it was all a disaster, ‘and anyway in my day it was all different and you wouldn’t get me spending my old age pension on owt new-fangled you know’

In the real world uk ev are driving ‘000s of miles every day, after charging at home overnight, or charging on the go at hotels, charge hubs or Shell/BP stations.

Did a round trip to Manchester a few days ago in our ev and used a mfg hub which proved quick and easy; so what? The very same type of ev trip is replicated thousands of times all over the uk every day now. Change happens, it is nothing new

Yeah, people are obsessed with hating on them. It seems their popularity is scary to some.

I still fail to understand all the hate as no one is currently forcing anyone to buy one.

 

[Mactech]

I still fail to understand all the hate as no one is currently forcing anyone to buy one.

I see what you did there!
You'll find some resistance and re-volt to charging at ohm....

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Yeah, people are obsessed with hating on them. It seems their popularity is scary to some.

I still fail to understand all the hate as no one is currently forcing anyone to buy one.

Protesting so loudly is a strange thing to do. It’s even stranger when you consider that the more EVs there are - and therefore the more miles covered in EVs instead of ICEs - then the more it offsets the ICE mileage of those who really don’t want an EV or for whom a EV isn’t viable.

 

[ToeKnee]

I see what you did there!
You'll find some resistance and re-volt to charging at ohm....

They're just negative and need to be more positive for the future........

 

[Connoisseur]

imho these types are wired to be negative and will charge on regardless until they are blue in the face, green with ev envy and spluttering over their brown corduroy.