How much infrastructure and what type?
As a follow up to my last post, can I look at the 'there is not enough infrastructure' often posted. The respective articles and posts never offer to venture into how many, what and where? I have many times asked a person who has posted the comment saying there is not enough infrastructure, the question; how much is the correct amount? Nobody replies, for the simple reason nobody knows. The Mayor of London has pulled together a Taskforce and a series of workshops to produce an infrastructure implementation plan. This is a robust methodology to ensure London has the correct level of infrastructure for 2025 and beyond. The infrastructure also has to be commercially viable.
The Taskforce covers power: 3/7/22kW (AC) on the street, 50kWDC or higher power, depot charging, home charging, hub charging and what will be the split by inner and outer London? What will be the real number of vehicles on the streets in 2025, what percentage will need public charging, what public charging will the users want and be willing to pay for? What will be the split between slow and rapid charging? What will be the prevailing battery size, will a new battery technology cause a complete numbers rethink?
How do we provide chargers for the growing number of delivery mechanisms, where the concept of a fleet is termed 'Grey', as where the vans live or where they go is not known. Virtual fleets are a major problem where a lease company or head office registers may vehicles but they might actually live hundreds of miles away. How do we cope with police, doctors, care workers etc, who mainly find out where they are working with short notice.
It is easy to say we need more infrastructure, but driver habits are not yet normalised and technology is not fixed, not to mention the lack of vehicles. All the variables have to go into a model with some assumptions. We will get there, but some 180 participants agree that the request to put more in is quite complicated. Will the infrastructure need be the same for 75, 150, 200, 250 mile range on a single charge. Finally how to cope with urban vs rural vs motorway drivers?
If you hear your self say there is not enough infrastructure, ask yourself what should it be or ask the person who says it?
Looking forward to the publishing of the conclusions.
National Accounts & Rental Fleet Manager
5 年Dr Herron, you mentioned in your last post that some numbers regarding the infrastructure would be coming out, do you know what the timescales are likely to be for this information?
Partnerships Manager at Co Wheels
5 年Not disagreeing with any of your points - regardless of mix, type and location after just 24 hours with an EV in Newcastle my plea would be for chargers that actually work. Without Zap Map I would have been totally lost as I wasted two hours on a tour of the city’s chargers finding those that weren’t broken had been removed or didn’t even exist. I now understand the frustrations of EV owners.
Senior Advisor for Global Clean Air at the Ella Roberta Family Foundation; WHO consultant, environmental health solutionist, & researcher.
5 年Shenzhen has an amazing number of charging stations. There are lessons learned to be gained from their experience. Office building parks had the greatest visibility for visitor and fleet cars.
Senior Product Manager at Cosworth
6 年One of the most interesting and relevant studies I can think of, and something I'm also working on. The vehicles of the near future will significantly change the desire and need for high speed charging. 300mile range EVs will allow people to use their vehicles for much longer journeys and need more from the charging infrastructure. I know several Nissan Leaf drivers and none of them have travelled outside the county in their cars. EVs need to become more than a nice 2nd car, or a car for people without a drive, and charging infrastructure needs to change to suit. Forcing employers to implement EV charging should be one suitable ploy.