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Electric vehicle charging – are electric vehicles finally charging ahead?

Published on August 11, 2021

By Ian Wickett, Associate Director, Transport Planning

If youโ€™ve watched any TV adverts lately, you may have noticed that many of the big car manufacturers are now promoting electric and hybrid vehicles over and above their diesel and petrol counterparts. Year-on-year sales for electric and hybrid vehicles are growing fast and last year they accounted for over 10% of all new car sales. This trend is set to continue, which is great news for reducing our carbon emissions. But are we really ready for more electric vehicles (EV) on our roads, and how will we charge them all?

RSK’s webinar series COP26: Green Dialogues will be looking at the questions are being raised about the practicalities and challenges that the shift to EVs will bring.

Advances in technology have already started to address initial fears over the range ofย EVs, with new models boastingย the ability to coverย stretches of over 200 miles,ย a journey very few wouldย want to take without a break.

The nextย bigย challenge is how people will be able to charge theirย zero-emissions car.ย Of course, itโ€™s easy enough if you have a driveway or garage, but what if you live in a terraced house or an apartment?ย Or what if youโ€™re renting and the landlord wonโ€™t provide a charging point? There are practical issues to resolve here: having cables trailing across the pavement is not going to be acceptableย or safe, even more so if youโ€™re parked someย way down the road from your property.

There areย someย solutions already available, such as charging points in lampย posts, while othersย such as wireless charging from under the road surfaceย are being developed.ย However, as with many questions around EVs,ย perhaps we are coming at this from the wrong angleโ€ฆifย we were converting from electricityย to petrol,ย wouldย weย be questioning how the petrol companies wouldย supply fuel to every individual house?ย Perhaps home charging isnโ€™t where we need to be focusing, especially asย the vast majority ofย car journeysย coverย less than 20 miles. Most people donโ€™t refuel their cars with petrol or diesel every day, so why would they need to charge an EV every day?

Customer cost and convenience are the key players hereย and it will be interesting to see how charging patterns emerge in response to these. Many new-build properties now include EV charging points, but points are also being installed at petrol stationsย andย across the country in car parks at supermarkets, retail parks and business parks.ย In fact, there are some 42,000 charging points at 15,500 locationsย across the countryย and demand is set to rise.ย Both options are likely to be necessary to meet growing demand and achieve the shift to EVsย that is needed.

It will initially be more expensive toย chargeย anย EV at a public point rather than at home, but once there is a good network ofย chargingย points,ย competition shouldย push profit margins down toย minimalย levels,ย asย itย currentlyย doesย for petrol.ย Nevertheless,ย EV charging is still significantly cheaper than petrol for driving the same distance, even ifย usingย public chargers.

In terms of convenience, the timeย neededย to recharge is alsoย decreasing. Aย full recharge at home using a 3-kW or 7-kW charger might take most of the night, but ultra-rapid chargers will have a rating in excess of 100ย kW and can chargeย 80% of your battery in just 20 minutes.ย With ever-evolving battery technology, it is possible to chargeย anย EV with sufficient range for your daily journey in just a few minutes, no longer than you might spend at a traditional petrol pump, offering the same convenience but at a fraction of the cost.

The cost of owning an EV over a few years including maintenance costs is already comparable toย owningย a petrol-fuelled car and the cost of the vehicle alone is predicted to be the same as early as 2024, leaving little choiceย forย new buyers.ย No wonder then that electric vehicle sales are up. To make sureย our transport choicesย accelerate the zero-emissions transition,ย we must ensureย sufficient infrastructure is invested in and developed to keep up with demand.

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ARTICLE AUTHOR

Ian Wickett

Associate Transport Planning Director, RSK

More from this author

As an associate transport planning director at RSK, Ian provides a range of services to clients: site due diligence and feasibility, through the planning process, during construction and supporting the operation of a site. He deals with all aspects of traffic, highways and transport on sites in the UK and abroad.

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