Residents with private charging stations are also starting to share their facilities. Services such as Charger Co offering a sort of Airbnb for charging, where drivers can reserve the use of a neighbor’s installation.
Cables under pavements could also help more people access private connection points, particularly on the UK’s many terraced streets, but this is not without challenges.
Chris Richmond, who paid around £2,000 to have a gutter installed in his terraced house in Bounds Green, London, now has access to cheaper charging and no longer needs to rely on nearby public devices, which , according to him, are often busy or down. But using his private charger requires him to park directly in front of his home. “If someone is parked in the two spaces where they work outside your house, you are drunk” he said.
There are grants available for some people wanting to install new chargers, such as people living in apartments and owners of residential and commercial properties, but these are expected to end. in March.
New domestic connection points are also needed to communicate in real time with energy suppliers, allowing companies to offer consumers cheaper prices when supply is plentiful and encouraging motorists to avoid peak times and reduce pressure on the network. “Our R&D is now much more focused on how we help our customers maximize their usage time,” says Melanie Lane, managing director of the home and business charger supplier. Pod point.
Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology is also being developed to allow cars to sell electricity back into the system. A trial by Ovo Energy in 2020 found that drivers could earn an average of £340 a year as a result. Octopus Energy’s new V2G tariff guarantees free charging to drivers who plug in for around six hours per day, allowing the company to optimize their charging, provided they stay below the 333 kWh per month limit , or approximately 19,000 km (12,000 miles). one year.
Despite the progress made in recent years, many drivers still don’t feel confident making the switch. Recent surveys have consistently shown that motorists are concerned about the price, charging and durability of batteries.
“The biggest factor playing into all of this is just perception,” says Ginny Buckley, founder of Electrifying.com, an electric vehicle purchasing company. advice site.
According to a survey of petrol and diesel car drivers carried out in April last year on behalf of the non-profit Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, more than half of those surveyed do not got only two or fewer correct answers out of 10 statements. on electric vehicles.
More needs to be done to combat these public misconceptions, says Max Warburton, chief financial officer of British self-driving car start-up Wayve. “It’s actually very attractive to buy an electric vehicle, so we’re getting to the point where some of the apparent consumer reluctance is almost irrational.” he said.