Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

JKenH

EVandPV said:

York’s two new electric vehicle charging ‘hyperhubs’ are set to be the largest in the north of England.

https://yorkmix.com/yorks-electric-car-charging-hyperhubs-will-be-the-largest-in-the-north/

I’m not sure this will do a lot to ease car charging issues. 

” The hubs will each have solar panel canopies, battery storage, four rapid chargers and four ultra rapid chargers.”

Martyn1981

VW may have been using tricks to massage 2020 EV sales numbers due to the EU carbon emissions rule. So they needed sales on the books, which is funny when you add in the reluctance of dealerships to sell BEV's (an understandable issue that all legacy automakers will face).
TBF to VW, this may impact 2020 numbers, but will all come out in the wash over time as dealer stocks shift, and I assume as consumers shift to BEV's as they realise they really are better vehicles.

How Many 2020 Volkswagen ID.3 Sales Were Volkswagen Sales To Itself?

It appears that Volkswagen might have been up to some shenanigans as of late — or, at least, the narrative around its EV sales in Europe has been misleading.

The best place to start the story is perhaps with a Greenpeace report late last year, which called out Volkswagen for sluggish ID.3 sales (the report was published in German in December 2020). Among other things, the report indicates that secret shoppers at 50 Volkswagen dealerships should have been perfect customers to sell an ID.3 to, but the secret shoppers were recommended the ID.3 in only 8 conversations, versus a fossil fuel vehicle being recommended 27 times. The report also found that a large portion of the registered (aka “sold”) ID.3 electric cars were still owned by the manufacturer or its dealers — 24% of them across Europe and 35% of them in Germany.

As is well known, Volkswagen was producing as many ID.3s last year as humanly possible due to the new EU carbon emissions rule, and every BEV “sold” saved Volkswagen from over €10,000 in fines. “What they seemed to have done is just moving them to dealerships instead of selling them to customers,” Jessica told me. “I barely see any ID.3 on our roads here in Switzerland, but there are 461 to be found for sale online.”

EVandPV

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

York’s two new electric vehicle charging ‘hyperhubs’ are set to be the largest in the north of England.

https://yorkmix.com/yorks-electric-car-charging-hyperhubs-will-be-the-largest-in-the-north/

I’m not sure this will do a lot to ease car charging issues. 

” The hubs will each have solar panel canopies, battery storage, four rapid chargers and four ultra rapid chargers.”

You don't think 16 rapid chargers in one area is helpful then ?

NigeWick

EVandPV said:

You don't think 16 rapid chargers in one area is helpful then ?

Every little helps. We have to remember that it only took roughly 10 years to go from horse drawn to internal combustion engined vehicles. That included completely new fossil fuel refining, transportation & pumping, and, building roads.

We've already got the roads and electricity generation, so all we need is the installation of charge points.

JKenH

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

York’s two new electric vehicle charging ‘hyperhubs’ are set to be the largest in the north of England.

https://yorkmix.com/yorks-electric-car-charging-hyperhubs-will-be-the-largest-in-the-north/

I’m not sure this will do a lot to ease car charging issues. 

” The hubs will each have solar panel canopies, battery storage, four rapid chargers and four ultra rapid chargers.”

You don't think 16 rapid chargers in one area is helpful then ?

They are both at Park and Rides which serve Central York - a tourist destination where people go for a day out. Is someone going to plug in there for 5 or 6 hours? Fast chargers are the more appropriate charger for Park and Rides. You could probably install ten times as many for the same cost as the 8 rapids. 

There are just 8 chargers at two different locations. If that is perceived as a “hyper hub” and will be  the largest in the north then ambitions are woefully inadequate. Over a year ago Meadowhall shopping centre added around 35 (free) fast chargers to the 2 or 3 rapids already there.

All new chargers are to be welcomed and these will please current EV owners but if the powers that be think that a couple of “hyperhubs” of 8 chargers are going to solve our EV charging problems when the full EV roll out gets under way they are misguided. In fact it is an indication that they are not taking the EV revolution seriously at all. 

What we actually need is more of these 100 bay units as at Exeter.

https://www.insidermedia.com/news/south-west/new-ev-charging-park-unveiled-at-exeter-logistics-park

JKenH

NigeWick said:

EVandPV said:

You don't think 16 rapid chargers in one area is helpful then ?

Every little helps. We have to remember that it only took roughly 10 years to go from horse drawn to internal combustion engined vehicles. That included completely new fossil fuel refining, transportation & pumping, and, building roads.

We've already got the roads and electricity generation, so all we need is the installation of charge points.

Every little should help but the roll out of chargers needs to be far more ambitious. These are the wrong type of charger for the location. Installing rapids at Park and Rides to the exclusion of fast chargers makes no sense at all. 

We need rapid hyperhubs where people can stop on a long journey for a quick top up without having to go out of their way, I.e. on the main highway network not tucked away in the suburbs.

I have often driven miles out of my way to find a rapid at some health club or other suburban location when I actually want one on a main route. 

EVandPV

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

York’s two new electric vehicle charging ‘hyperhubs’ are set to be the largest in the north of England.

https://yorkmix.com/yorks-electric-car-charging-hyperhubs-will-be-the-largest-in-the-north/

I’m not sure this will do a lot to ease car charging issues. 

” The hubs will each have solar panel canopies, battery storage, four rapid chargers and four ultra rapid chargers.”

You don't think 16 rapid chargers in one area is helpful then ?

They are both at Park and Rides which serve Central York - a tourist destination where people go for a day out. Is someone going to plug in there for 5 or 6 hours? Fast chargers are the more appropriate charger for Park and Rides. You could probably install ten times as many for the same cost as the 8 rapids. 

Fair point, "hyperhub" is maybe stretching it a bit.
I was certainly surprised there was no mention of any fast chargers. 
Our local park & ride has 6 rapids and 14 fast chargers which were free until the council introduced fees last year. 

JKenH

Scots councils plan EV charging tariffs

More councils in central Scotland are preparing to introduce tariffs for electric vehicle drivers using public chargepoints. As well as reducing the authority’s own electricity costs, the councils hope charges will encourage the private sector to install more chargepoints.  

West Lothian’s tariff for rapid (over 43kW) chargers will be: £1 minimum charge, £0.30 unit rate/kWh, maximum stay limit of 45 minutes, and an overstay charge of £1/minute.

For fast and standard chargers (7-22kW), the tariffs will be: £1 minimum charge, £0.16 unit rate/kWh, no maximum stay.

https://www.transportxtra.com/publications/local-transport-today/news/68123/scots-councils-plan-ev-charging-tariffs/

EVandPV

JKenH said:

Scots councils plan EV charging tariffs

More councils in central Scotland are preparing to introduce tariffs for electric vehicle drivers using public chargepoints. As well as reducing the authority’s own electricity costs, the councils hope charges will encourage the private sector to install more chargepoints.  

West Lothian’s tariff for rapid (over 43kW) chargers will be: £1 minimum charge, £0.30 unit rate/kWh, maximum stay limit of 45 minutes, and an overstay charge of £1/minute.

For fast and standard chargers (7-22kW), the tariffs will be: £1 minimum charge, £0.16 unit rate/kWh, no maximum stay.

https://www.transportxtra.com/publications/local-transport-today/news/68123/scots-councils-plan-ev-charging-tariffs/

Yup, it was nice while it lasted but it had to come. Maybe a little bit too soon though, imho. Could have perhaps done with another year or 2 without fees to help with the uptake of EV's.
Personally, I haven't used a public charger in over a year since we got a home charger. We don't do particularly high mileage so home charging is all we tend to need. Probably a good percentage of the population in the same boat.

ASavvyBuyer

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

Scots councils plan EV charging tariffs

More councils in central Scotland are preparing to introduce tariffs for electric vehicle drivers using public chargepoints. As well as reducing the authority’s own electricity costs, the councils hope charges will encourage the private sector to install more chargepoints.  

West Lothian’s tariff for rapid (over 43kW) chargers will be: £1 minimum charge, £0.30 unit rate/kWh, maximum stay limit of 45 minutes, and an overstay charge of £1/minute.

For fast and standard chargers (7-22kW), the tariffs will be: £1 minimum charge, £0.16 unit rate/kWh, no maximum stay.

https://www.transportxtra.com/publications/local-transport-today/news/68123/scots-councils-plan-ev-charging-tariffs/

Yup, it was nice while it lasted but it had to come. Maybe a little bit too soon though, imho. Could have perhaps done with another year or 2 without fees to help with the uptake of EV's.
Personally, I haven't used a public charger in over a year since we got a home charger. We don't do particularly high mileage so home charging is all we tend to need. Probably a good percentage of the population in the same boat.

Those charges look quite reasonable compared with some other companies.

It will also mean the chargers are available for those that need to use them, rather than people using them when they don't need to, just because they are free.

The overstay charge, by the minute, should also help to stop charger hogging.