Just a hunch, but maybe you’ve noticed there’s a global crisis rumbling right now. Thank goodness the solution to all our problems is being rolled out, as a result of human ingenuity. Certainly, the exponentially rising graphs give hope that the UK is at the forefront of turning the tide on this potential catastrophe.
But do electric charge point providers (which global crisis did you think I meant? Even Covid-19 surely pales into insignificance compared with the potential impact of climate change) get the credit they deserve? Of course they don’t, and while the problems are plentiful, I’m not sure the rap paints a representative picture.
Best estimates suggest that there are 13,709 public charging stations in the UK, up from 1325 a decade ago, and a reassuringly high number in comparison to the 8300 or so fuel stations, 120 or so years after optimisation of life with the combustion-engined car began. Today’s charging stations have 21,588 devices available and 37,471 connectors. Around 150 new devices are being added a week and 1000 connectors a month. Back in 2011, there were 178 fast (7- 22kW) connections. Today, there are 20,455. There were no rapid (25-99kW) or ultra-rapid (100kW-plus) connections, nor any cars capable of being charged by them. Today, there are 8143 and 1333 respectively. And that’s entirely discounting home-charging facilities.
Despite regular headlines about the public charging network’s shortcomings – and there are many, from too many faulty facilities through the complexity of connecting to gross overcharging – the vast majority of EV owners (around 200,000) and plug-in hybrid owners (closing on 500,000) get on with life just fine. You charge from home, find the public chargers that work reliably or aren’t so popular they are blocked, avoid the ones whose app is a pain in the backside and so on. Plenty of people are making it work now. Plenty more will in future.
We’ve reached this point because, some kick-start incentives aside, legislative powers have largely left capitalism to its own devices and mostly it is working. It seems fair to assume that market forces and rising scrutiny will weed the underperformers out to a timeline that matches rising pressure on their services. Amalgamation and opportunity should do the rest.
We all like a moan, but while we may not lead the world on this one, and there’s lots more still to do, the unfashionable truth is that our much-maligned charging network is gunning along pretty well, thank you.
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UK public EV charging provision increases fivefold in five years
Public chargers per EV hits lowest level since records began
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When you always leave home with a full tank, needing a refill is rare. It’s a mindset issue. You look at it differently as a BEV driver. For longer (200m+) journeys, you plan stops but that’s it.
Range anxiety? That’s what ICE owners worry about not BEV owners.
There are lies, damned lies and statistics; then there is this article. It could have been so good.
13,709 public charging stations in the UK. Today’s charging stations have 21,588 devices available and 37,471 connectors
A reassuringly high number in comparison to the 8300 or so fuel stations.
Those fuel stations have 8 - 12 typically and often more connectors. Say 10 each is 83,000 connectors. Oh, but each has at least 3 nozzles so do we treble that?
Each fuel connector is used for 5 minutes. Each charging connector is used for 30-60 minutes per quick charge. Pod-point for example says "For many electric cars, you can add up to 100 miles of range in ~35 minutes with a 50kW rapid charger.".
BUT of course you cannot compare like with like, because you're unlikely to leave home or work with an empty tank, like you could well now. If you're going to compare charging outlets, why not comment on how many private houses have them installed, how many businesses have them installed?
Why not get some data from fuel companies? How many people only put £10 of fuel in - which will only give them a range of 80 miles at the UK average of 36mpg /7.9 mpl.
I also take exception to your saying it has taken 120 years to get to 8300 fuel stations. Which planet have you been on? In your own Web site :
News by Felix Page 2 mins Read 15 August 2019 "The number of fuel stations peaked at 37,539 in 1970".
Feltwalker. I scrolled down to type almost exactly the same! Rarely have I seen an article that fails to grasp the understanding of capacity so perfectly. In fact I might even use it as an example of poor analysis in my next production capacity planning seminar I run! I did check Jims background. Lots of positive comments around social media and publishing strategy though none recommending him for numerical capacity demand planning....
Equally there are curently c30m ICE cars on the road averaging 8k miles/year, thats rougly 1 5min fill per week/car, or 2.5m hrs of fill capacity needed countrywide each week! that means you need every one of those connections, nearly 24/7 utilisation
EV/Plug in have only just exceded 0.5m cars on the road this year, and 150k EV. Say worst case every EV needs to fill away from home 50% of the time, and uses the charger for 1h, thats still only 0.25m hrs of charge capacity needed, so each charger is only being used worst case approx 8hr/day currently ?
eg we have roughly 3x more capacity for charging than petrol/diesel, and more than is needed, as long as the charging infrastructure keeps up with sales, then all should be fine ?
My point was that the journalist author, if he was at all worthy of the title, should have covered such points.
He might be right but his words and figures don't support his conclusions.
I'm not sure you can use averages in that way. The existing fuel pumps aren't all in use 24/7 by ICE cars. I know (from when you could drive around back in 2019) there were chargers in car parks that had the same car parked all day, or at least the whole time while I used the park and rides to go into the town or city centres to shop or sightsee. That creates a need for more outlets, or a way of unhitching fully charged cars. Equally I've seen car parks with several outlets but no EV charging.
as the driver of a traditional petrol/diesel powered vehicel, you are missing one of the big points about "fueling" of an EV, compared to a petrol or diesel carevery one of the petrol/diesel cars currently on the road has to go and visit one of those 8,300 fueling stations on a regular basis, beacuse that is the only way it can get it's fuelmost EV owners plug their car in on their driveway and charge up with cheap rate electricity while they are asleepthe fancy statistics thingy that I have for my car says in the last 11 months and 10,000 miles, three quaters of my electric has been overnight charging at home and only one quarter has been on rapid chargers on my occasional 400 or 500 mile day trip to the other end of the country and backand in the 5 years that the other half has had her "short range city ev", it only ever got charged on a rapid on the motorway services or Ikea a couple of times, just to try it out when she first got it.now it only gets charged at home, becuase that is most convient and cheapest