A moan about electric cars

[sollers]

Once again there have been comments on the poor uptake of electric cars in the UK. Once again, no reference to the big problem:

How would I charge the effing thing at home?

The only practical way so far seems to be in a garage. A vast number of British homes do not have garages. Many houses open directly onto the streert, or have minuscule front gardens, so couldn't even use an outlet going to a driveway. Blocks of flats have parking areas only. The sheer number of homes involved can be seen from the local councils that sell on-street parking permits to residents. There is absolutely no way these people can even contemplate electric cars, no matter what grants are offered. As far as I can see, the only way it would happen would be if the battery was small, light and portable enough to be taken into the house to charge; and even then the inconvenience would be off-putting.

Comments

[neotoma]

How is the uptake in hybrids comparatively? Because if hybrids are going strong, than maybe the powers that be will notice the discrepancy and have the wits to ask why...

[sollers]

No idea. The figures for electrics is based on the uptake of a £5,000 grant towards them: about 800 last year. This is causing concern but it doesn't look as though anybody is looking seriously at why.

[green_knight]

I have a very large front garden (it used to be _the_ garden, while the one at the back used to be a field; the soil conditions bear witness to that). And this being a rental, I don't have a lockable outdoor socket, either.

Nor can I charge it elsewhere, because I don't have a workplace that's corporate enough to install charging stations; if I wanted to charge it when out and about... what am I supposed to do during that time with myself? I can't see half-hour charges at the supermarket work.

And given how hard it ca be to keep a phone charged for when you get out of the door without access to charge points, I don't see it happening with cars, unless you had _two_ battery units.
(AFAIK there's one make that allows swaps at garages - you'd need a network of garages, of course, but if you drove up, swapped them out, and drove off again five minutes later, that would work.) Quality control on them - 'my last battery held its charge for x miles. This one is almost flat after x.' sounds like a nightmare, though.

[sunflowerinrain]

Good point! And I hope you don't mind me butting in.

As with many electrickery-based contraptions, smaller lighter (and cheaper) batteries are urgently required. You could then have a couple on charge, one powering the car, and a spare in the boot, which would double the distance.

Battery tech is where I'd put a large chunk of funding if I were Prime Mistress, because it's about more than making a quick profit selling funky games-and-comms gadgets to the kiddies. Just think how improvements to larger batteries would revolutionise solar power usage, for example. I must admit to a particular interest, because the battery for my electric wheelchair-trike weighs more than I can lift and cost £500!