{"id":5214,"date":"2016-05-02T17:07:40","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T17:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/strettonclimatecare.org.uk\/?p=5214"},"modified":"2016-06-07T09:25:54","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T09:25:54","slug":"electric-cars-suffer-amid-chaos-charging-marketplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/strettonclimatecare.org.uk\/2016\/05\/electric-cars-suffer-amid-chaos-charging-marketplace\/","title":{"rendered":"ELECTRIC CARS SUFFER AMID THE CHAOS OF THE CHARGING MARKETPLACE"},"content":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s no longer remarkable to see an electric car on the road. The Tonka toy\/ Milk Float image has long gone and the whisper quiet ride, smooth acceleration and low running costs are common knowledge. However, three major barriers still remain to the universal acceptance of these zero emission vehicles: their initial price; their limited range; and the charging infrastructure.<\/p>\n
The price will soon come down; and the range will go up substantially in the next few years. But the charging network \u2013the equivalent of the network of filling stations across the country \u2013 looks like learning nothing from history. Just like the railways, where private enterprise came up with incompatible train gauges and complicated ticketing arrangements, the emerging electric vehicle market has become a chaotic fairground.<\/a><\/p>\n The government launched the Plugged-in Places scheme to get the market going. It offered local authorities 60% grants on the costs of installing public charging points. It said it \u2018expected\u2019 an infrastructure to be developed. An infrastructure of sorts did indeed develop, but as it was voluntary, it didn\u2019t develop everywhere, and as it was grant \u2013aided, the costs of installation ballooned. We are, when all is said and done, talking about an electric cable and a socket, not the Hadron Collider, but it cost thousands to install a charging point every time.<\/p>\n But the biggest issue was how users paid for their electricity. The obvious solution might have been to use the technology already in use on toll roads and petrol pumps, where the user presented a credit card and Bob\u2019s your uncle. But such technology is apparently very expensive, so most providers developed systems based upon Radio-Frequency Identification , or RFID \u2013 the Oyster card being the most well-known of these.<\/p>\n