Half an hour?  I'd park at PC world for free and hoof it past TK Max to the Glen, two minute walk.  But then, I'm tight. 

If you are travelling a lot for business and staying at Hotels; how many Hotels have charging points? Given that there are about five different types of charging point, will it match your car?

It is getting a lot better in Scotland in the type of Budget Hotels i use near the airports and near the shopping malls / shopping complexes.

Better than ones i go to down south.

Good enough that i hope to have a EV with over 200 mile range even though doing quite often 500 miles or so in 2 days.

Checked out my usual 450 miles i do in one day and charging is looking all OK where i need to be stopping.

Going to be happy to get shot of the TDI. the 50+MPG is great, the 20-25mpg  MPG and regens / DPF light is a PITA using as a runaround.

Edited 30 March, 20197 yr by Skoffski

3 hours ago, Odin1123 said:

If you are travelling a lot for business and staying at Hotels; how many Hotels have charging points? Given that there are about five different types of charging point, will it match your car?

The charge points (other than tesla) will fit all cars. There are three connector types and 99% of chargers have all 3. Lots of hotels have charge points. Holiday Inn are very good for them but so are premier inn and day's inn. Lots of B&Bs have them too now. 

Edited 30 March, 20197 yr by domhnall

Just spotted more new chargers going in near me.

 

where's that one George? There's another 1500 government ones due this year but there's also a lot more going in , for example the car park at Edinburgh airport now lets me charge up while I'm away in London for the day

 

East Greens Car Park Forfar, near Motech Garage.   

Chargers at the Gulf Filling Station Academy Street as well.  (never spotted the chargers in ASDA New Road, must look closer.)

No sign of the new Filling Station and Chargers at Marstons beside KFC yet, or the new Super Parking Charging Facilities from the Council.

Edited 30 March, 20197 yr by Skoffski

Handy to know, there's quite a lot at Forfar. Think they're building a new hub by the A90 too. 

The way things are going, businesses will be desperate to avoid being the odd one out.

I guess you are lucky to have supportive governments rather than our obstructive one.

@domhnall

The Hub is to be across from the Council offices where 2 chargers are now, and the Hub is next to where the new Marston Hotel is going and the filling station.

Time will tell just how good they have done with drainage because i think a flood is due in that area sometime.

Angus council are supposedly skint, probably court cases and legal fees are not helping, and then parking charges and people staying away from the towns are not going down too well.

The European Funding is not going to be there and they were just too slow compared to Dundee in getting it.

Edited 30 March, 20197 yr by Skoffski

On ‎30‎/‎03‎/‎2019 at 11:06, widdershins said:

I agree cars will be parked up somewhere for hours, but that isn't necessarily either less difficult, or less wasteful.  In a 2030's world where the majority have EV's you would be talking about most parking spaces having a charge point.  That's a whole lot of little chargers to be manufactured, a whole lot of holes to be dug in pavements, and tens of thousands of miles of heavier electric cabling from the local substations to those charge points to support all this new load that wasn't planned for when the streets were originally cabled.  Let's leave aside the maintenance of that lot on an ongoing basis.  Remember all the upset when Virgin was trenching in it's TV cables?  Trees dying from having roots chopped in half, uneven pavements, etc. from cowboy contractors doing a bodgit and scarper job.

There are many lamp post based charger in the works, no need to dig up anything to install a charger, just modify a lamp post.

http://www.rolecserv.com/ev-charging/product/EV-Charging-Street-Light

https://www.thechargingpoint.com/news/articles/electric-car-lamp-post-charging-points-are-heading-to-the-uk/

More: https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=street+lamp+ev+charger&meta=&aq=f&aqi=g3g-s1g6&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&cad=h

 

The point about wastefulness is due to rapid charging takes a lot of power, it generates a huge spike in demand on the grid. You either manufacture more battery to buffer that demand, or you fire up fast reacting fossil fuel power stations. Neither are a good solution to powering EV, considering the EV is parked many hours of the day and the EV's even has ability to assist the grid.

 

The first generation Leaf does have foot operated parking brake. It's no different to a lot of Mercedes. If you are used to driving automatic, it's really no big deal. EV's ought to be compared to automatic cars, but miles better due to no gearbox logic getting in between your foot and putting the power down.

I should imagine some of those uneconomic old liquid fuel stations will convert to EV charging stations and convenience/fast food stores over time.

Do you mean Independent Filling Stations in rural areas that serve the communities in the UK?

Just getting by type places, there were they are needed because there are no Multi National Supermarkets or fancy places with overpriced sweets etc.

Maybe higher prices by a little,

or with a Fuel Subsidy in some Post Code areas thanks to the EU.

6 minutes ago, Skoffski said:

Do you mean Independent Filling Stations in rural areas that serve the communities in the UK?

Just getting by type places, there were they are needed because there are no Multi National Supermarkets or fancy places with overpriced sweets etc.

Maybe higher prices by a little,

or with a Fuel Subsidy in some Post Code areas thanks to the EU.

I should imagine there will be a significant decline in demand for liquid fuel over the next decade and the obvious substitution would be charging stations etc.

When our old ones go out of business they lay idle for years breathing, but perhaps that wouldn’t be necessary if they simply converted their powered pumps to charging instead and served their captured drivers and passengers.

1 hour ago, wyx087 said:

There are many lamp post based charger in the works, no need to dig up anything to install a charger, just modify a lamp post.

Which since many lamp posts are on the non-road side of the pavement (they are in every town I've lived in for the last 60+ years) there will be power cables trailing across the pavement to every EV causing a trip hazard to unwary pedestrians.

 

In the "sue first and think later" society we now live in that is IMHO almost certain to lead to some interesting legal test cases, which insurers won't like.

@Ryeman

Quite possibly in Urban areas, but then the less economical filling stations might well be in rural areas where liquid fuels might well be staying as a requirement.

Tankers have to travel to fill up Farm tanks, heating systems etc.

 

Filling stations might not have much ground unless at where there were garages / dealerships so expansion to be viable with parking etc not possible, 

then cheap migrant labour for food / cafes are going to be a thing of the past.

 

Fast chargers are going to be the requirement.

Substations, better communications in Mobile Phone and Broadband, and even in parts of the UK radio / digital reception.

At least the Government in Scotland is doing things as well as talking about them, the UK Government talk big and do little.

 

 

 

Edited 1 April, 20197 yr by Skoffski

1 minute ago, PetrolDave said:

Which since many lamp posts are on the non-road side of the pavement (they are in every town I've lived in for the last 60+ years) there will be power cables trailing across the pavement to every EV causing a trip hazard to unwary pedestrians.

 

In the "sue first and think later" society we now live in that is IMHO almost certain to lead to some interesting legal test cases, which insurers won't like.

What if the charge source was from the house in the same way as it is sent TO the house?.

9 minutes ago, Ryeman said:

What if the charge source was from the house in the same way as it is sent TO the house?.

Which since most houses (at least in the UK) get their power underground would involve digging up the pavement and erecting a charging post at the roadside - so we're back to the problem of having to dig up the pavement raised by widdershins in an earlier post.

 

Plus the roadside charging posts would be "at risk" from careless parkers (wiping them out while attempting to park but ending up either on the pavement or just swiping the post with the front/rear overhang of the car), or from late night boozed or drugged up pranksters thinking "let's smash some EV charging posts for a laugh and see how many sparks we can create").

 

Even solid concrete posts wouldn't be immune - I've seen a mobile crane totally demolish a concrete rubbish/trash bin while trying to pull into a layby beside the A9 near Perth.

Edited 1 April, 20197 yr by PetrolDave

Charging at home might not be all that necessary as infrastructure ramps up.

That is the expectation.

So BP, Shell and others expending charging networks and facilities, VW in partnership with Tesco, and grants to employers to improve workplace charging.

 

Now the Scottish Government as the UK Government has gives powers to Local Authorities for Work Place Car Parking Taxes.

So one step forward and 2 steps back.

More Park & Ride with EV charging needed and public transport, and Transport Hubs for personal and goods transportation.

 

EV's are not going to reduce congestion in Town and City Roads or road side parking.

Actually silent EV's sitting blocking roads or trundling along will be the future.

Holding up the Diesel HGV's making deliveries and no Stop / Start with those.

Edited 1 April, 20197 yr by Skoffski

Well, my neighbour who had a Leaf had to park it on a footway and half across the extension of our property boundary to get the small power mains cable to reach. She felt badly enough about this to apologise to me for doing so.

6 hours ago, Ryeman said:

Charging at home might not be all that necessary as infrastructure ramps up.

The current charging infrastructure in ALL the car parks and supermarkets we visit in North Devon is ............ precisely ZERO (and no sign of any plans to install charging points) - so charging at home is the only way for the foreseeable future.

 

If EVs are going to be adopted more widely potential purchasers need to SEE the infrastructure in places they visit regularly, otherwise they'll continue to say "not for me".

Edited 1 April, 20197 yr by PetrolDave

@KenONeill   Is she too tight to get an extension?

 

 

 

@PetrolDave

Loads of money down there and always talk of how the Government cut backs are affecting the area,

amazing with all the Council Tax that could be getting paid if there was 200% on Holiday Homes, & also those in Residential Caravans paid Council Tax,

the tax payers can keep paying for the pollution and those that can not have home or workplace charging can keep buying petrol or diesel then.

Keep the economy going.

The Councillors and MP's get their travel paid for so why would they need to bother about anything.

Edited 1 April, 20197 yr by Skoffski

9 minutes ago, Skoffski said:

The Councillors and MP's get their travel paid for so why would they need to bother about anything.

So true  

11 hours ago, Ryeman said:

I should imagine there will be a significant decline in demand for liquid fuel over the next decade and the obvious substitution would be charging stations etc.

When our old ones go out of business they lay idle for years breathing, but perhaps that wouldn’t be necessary if they simply converted their powered pumps to charging instead and served their captured drivers and passengers.

 

it's happening already,  there are places like the green welly cafe at Tyndrum that have EV charge points precisely so they can attract in drivers. While they wait 30 minutes to charge people tend to want something to do and canny retailers will be able to get them to spend some money on food, drink etc

 

we did it on our way to Belfast at Christmas, instead of stopping at the places we usually do we selected alternatives based on them having charge points.  We had just about finished lunch when the car texted me to say it was full so we finished up and headed off. It's basically a change of mindset, you stop thinking about fuelling up as something you have to do and change to it being something that will happen without you while you do something else instead.