[CMOTD]

Were you aware that many branches of Aldi, Asda  have free charging points for electric cars and all Sainsbury stores have it? LINK I certainly wasn't till recently. Tesco also used to do it but have stopped now. So my grocery spend is now subsidising other peoples' fuel consumption. I doubt they are going to give me free petrol next time I fill up though!

[Savage GT]

I very much doubt there is any subsidising going on, after Tesco pulled the plug  , their prices didn't go down.
I am not sure that Sainsbury's locally is free, I'll have to check next time I go 
Either way, I am blameless because I have only ever charged at home.   Maybe one day there will be a working available free one, but I wont hold my breath !

[Kevan]

Shouldn't be free anywhere, if you can afford an EV then pay to run it yourself.

[dvd3500]

I think it is a bit more complicated and subtle than that.

There are lots of variables:
1. It outright says in the article that sometimes it is only free at certain times.

2. You also have to remember that these level 2 chargers can charge from as slow as 1.8 KW an hour to 22 KW an hour. I didn't check the speeds offered for the "free" rates.

3. There is almost always a time limit, at least here in Germany there usually is. It caries from 30 minutes to 4 hours. On the flip side though, if you know you are getting free charging you might just spend more time there and therefore more money.....


Here in Germany the free charging was only if you were actually shopping at the store. They printed a QR code on your receipt and you had to use that to release the cable. Otherwise it cost money.

I get the feeling the UK is 1-2 years behind the EU when it comes to charging infrastructure.  Since the beginning of last year places offering free charging are pretty much non-existent. 
They were used as, on average, an EV owner was likely wealthier and therefore there was a non-zero chance the person might purchase more.

Whether the stores are baking the cost into the prices of the products is not as straightforward I would think.
Many chargers were installed using some form of government (local or country-wide or in Germany's case EU) support. They might not have cost them hardly anything.
In the summer if they have solar panels (which also may have been supported by some scheme) that might offset the cost as well.

As far as running cost i.e. electricity, yes, there is a chance that that cost might be passed on to the consumer....

Then again, what are all the people who have no cars going to about the millions spent on subsidies for fossil fuel: https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/climate-ch...0Subsidies ?

[Savage GT]

Shouldn't be free anywhere, if you can afford an EV then pay to run it yourself.

I believe it was initially part funded by the gov't it was part of the incentive along with no VED, as they wanted to get people using EVs.
All they have managed to do is de-incentivise by not helping build the infrastructure and then u-turning on the VED and extending the date that fossil fuel vehicles can be sold as new.
Its all baloney anyways, as EV are no "greener" in reality to a modern petrol car when you take into consideration the cost and environmental issues of mining the precious metals for batteries.
But I will have had lower fuel costs (without using public chargers free or otherwise) and no VED to pay for a couple of years before mine goes back, so its a personal win for me.

[Henk]

Not more than 50% of the electricity is generated with eco friendly means, like solar and wind power.
The rest is generated with the use of fossil fuels, what would these people do if this would stop tomorrow? What will happened when their fridge only works 12 hours a day?
It's not that easy to get rid of fossil fuels and to change the whole system requires long term planning. Most people plan per month, i.e. when the salary comes in.

Electrical cars are hugely popular here in parts of Europe but most of them are company cars. Their owners drive them because of financial benefits. For example in Germany you have to add 1% of the cars value to your income, per month so 12% in total. With an electrical car however this is only 0,25% and for a hybrid this is 0,5% (if the car can go more than 50km on the battery). Choices are made on a financial basis, not because of the environment.

All batteries will die out, sooner or later. What will happen when a battery needs to be replaced and how will it be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way?
Or will a complete, still good, car be sacrificed?

I'm not convinced we're heading in the right direction, so for the moment I choose to run my car on petrol.
Despite the fact that we have 14 solar panels on our roof generating more electricy then we need.

[StuBeeDoo]

I was planning on buying an EV for my wife, as she rarely travels more than 20 miles from home - and usually a lot less than that.

We live in a 120-year-old cottage, right in the middle of a terrace of 16.
Problem no.1.......  Our garage is detached, roughly 30mtrs from the back of the property.  It has electricity to it, but just a simple spur off the kitchen ring main.  Not completely insurmountable.
Problem no.2.......  The electricity supply to the terrace is "looped", and our property (and, I suspect, all the others) only has a 60amp main fuse.  Our distribution network operator will provide individual supply to each house with the minimum requirement 100amp main fuse, but the whole terrace would have to be done at a cost of "upwards of £5000 per property".  Do you think all my neighbours are going to want to shell-out £5k just so my wife can conveniently charge her EV at home?..........

We won't be having an EV in our lifetime, then.

From my point of view, I don't travel by car very much these days, but when I do it's usually a minimum 300 mile round trip.  So, until EV range is reliably over 400 miles, an awayday or holiday would be a PITA to organise around available, working, charge points.

At least with our diesels we have range upwards of 450 miles, and when we need to refuel we know (at the time of writing.......) we're never very far from a pump.

[dvd3500]

Total and utter FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt) being posted here...
Try some real valid sources before posting such nonsense:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmen...ctric_cars
https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-...ince-1957/

[Kevan]

I wonder why Ford and GM are closing down EV production lines and laying people off.

[StuBeeDoo]

Total and utter FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt) being posted here...
Try some real valid sources before posting such nonsense:

No nonsense in my post.  The information from my distribution network operator is directly quoted from a telephone conversation with one of their people when I was seriously thinking about buying an EV.  They would only quote a firm price for the upgrade if I made a firm commitment for them to go ahead with the work.  As I also posted they will only do the upgrade on the whole terrace of houses.

.........Or do you not consider my real-world experience when making a genuine enquiry to the people who actually carry-out the necessary infrastructure upgrade to be a "real valid source"?