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We would probably solve that by putting up more charging points at the roadside (there are quite a few of these around already in the UK), with a card reader fo

We would probably solve that by putting up more charging points at the roadside (there are quite a few of these around already in the UK), with a card reader for payment or perhaps a payment chip within the car's charging connector.

skrause 10y ago
Where I live (in a dense German city) there wouldn't even be space at the roadside to install charging points; even the street lights are attachted to the houses because there was no space left. I have the same situation at work, so personally have a difficult time imagining to own an electric car anytime soon.
- dooptroop 10y ago
  Where do the normal cars park?
  - mantas 10y ago
    By the side of the street. In between the street and pedestrians passage. Or between street and bicycle path. Sometimes diagonally. The only possible charging would be some stuff that's underground and comes out of the ground right next to the car. Hopefully attaches to the bottom of the car, so there're no hoses/wires flinging around. And some cars are parked at grey-legal spots blocking other cars. People just leave their phone numbers if someone needs to get out earlier. That is super common when you know people around and can expect to drive away sooner than your neighbour.
    - Tempest1981 10y ago
      Or overhead?
  - skrause 10y ago
    Here is an example of such a street: https://www.google.de/maps/@51.2310008,7.0720156,3a,75y,127.29h,87.72t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1skRl1Fm1VvqV_1uDpmlYDIQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.de/maps/@51.2310008,7.0720156,3a,75y,127.... You bascially park your car somewhere half on the street, half on the curb. The sidewalk is just wide enough for people to walk there.
- Thlom 10y ago
  On the other hand,car ownership in dense urban areas shouldn't be the norm. The future is also in active transport (walking, cycling) and transit, not only electric cars.
  - mantas 10y ago
    So if you want a car for hobbies (e.g. getting to backcountry) or transporting your kids around, you shouldn't live in an urban area?
    - kamjam 10y ago
      When I was living in Montreal for a couple of years I signed up to a community car share scheme. No insurance, no maintenance, no road taxes so it worked out cheaper to "rent a car" just when I needed it: https://www.communauto.com/index_en.html https://www.communauto.com/index_en.html With a good, cheap, reliable public transport system with this as backup I could easily get rid of my car if I lived in an urban area but still needed to get around at the weekends.
      - JoeAltmaier 10y ago
        That's what I don't get about 'car sharing'. Everybody wants the car on the weekend. If the service has to have enough cars for everybody, what's the difference between that and leasing/owning? It doesn't save on cars that's for sure.
        detaro 10y ago
        Do you really want a car every day of most weekends? What for? (I suspect the "good, cheap, reliable public transport" thing the parent mentioned is important)
        kamjam 10y ago
        In my experience of using the service, and Montreal is a much smaller city than London (where I am from), you don't want a car every weekend. I was usually able to find a car for hire as long as I booked in advance (esp for Bank Holiday type weekends) but sometimes it meant going to a different location than the one right next to me. As the system get's more popular and more people use it then they are able to purchase more cars. > It doesn't save on cars that's for sure I disagree. Several of my friends also used the service, just between us that saved having several cars. If you need a car all weekend, every weekend then the service is probably not for you. But if, like me, you needed it every so often then it saved a lot of money over the course of a year.
verytrivial 10y ago
I can't see people liking that. Charging at home works because you can sleep while it happens. Road side charging takes time away from some other part of your waking day. Wikipedia is saying 40 minutes for an 80% super charge for a Tesla. That's a sizable chunk of time to be loitering at some random location.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  I think it would work fine. Parking meters exist for a reason - a lot of people park their cars on the street and go do whatever they came to do. You could upgrade the meters to also support payment for charging.
  - arethuza 10y ago
    Installing roadside charging points is the only approach that I can see working for inner cities - maybe create "charging only" zones where you can only park and charge cars - parking a normal car there getting a ticket. NB I live in central Edinburgh in a flat and there is no way we could have an electric car without some changes to the parking/charging infrastructure.
- hjnilsson 10y ago
  At least here in Oslo, there are charging stations on every other street in the city center ( https://m.ladestasjoner.no/map https://m.ladestasjoner.no/map ). You need to park anyways, and parking beside a charging pole will not take any more time than just street parking in general, as the number of electric vehicles increase I would expect there to be poles everywhere. And if you live outside the center. Where there are no poles, can have a driveway with charging or use your block's parking garage.

skrause 10y ago

Where I live (in a dense German city) there wouldn't even be space at the roadside to install charging points; even the street lights are attachted to the houses because there was no space left. I have the same situation at work, so personally have a difficult time imagining to own an electric car anytime soon.

dooptroop 10y ago
Where do the normal cars park?
- mantas 10y ago
  By the side of the street. In between the street and pedestrians passage. Or between street and bicycle path. Sometimes diagonally. The only possible charging would be some stuff that's underground and comes out of the ground right next to the car. Hopefully attaches to the bottom of the car, so there're no hoses/wires flinging around. And some cars are parked at grey-legal spots blocking other cars. People just leave their phone numbers if someone needs to get out earlier. That is super common when you know people around and can expect to drive away sooner than your neighbour.
  - Tempest1981 10y ago
    Or overhead?
- skrause 10y ago
  Here is an example of such a street: https://www.google.de/maps/@51.2310008,7.0720156,3a,75y,127.29h,87.72t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1skRl1Fm1VvqV_1uDpmlYDIQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.de/maps/@51.2310008,7.0720156,3a,75y,127.... You bascially park your car somewhere half on the street, half on the curb. The sidewalk is just wide enough for people to walk there.
Thlom 10y ago
On the other hand,car ownership in dense urban areas shouldn't be the norm. The future is also in active transport (walking, cycling) and transit, not only electric cars.
- mantas 10y ago
  So if you want a car for hobbies (e.g. getting to backcountry) or transporting your kids around, you shouldn't live in an urban area?
  - kamjam 10y ago
    When I was living in Montreal for a couple of years I signed up to a community car share scheme. No insurance, no maintenance, no road taxes so it worked out cheaper to "rent a car" just when I needed it: https://www.communauto.com/index_en.html https://www.communauto.com/index_en.html With a good, cheap, reliable public transport system with this as backup I could easily get rid of my car if I lived in an urban area but still needed to get around at the weekends.
    - JoeAltmaier 10y ago
      That's what I don't get about 'car sharing'. Everybody wants the car on the weekend. If the service has to have enough cars for everybody, what's the difference between that and leasing/owning? It doesn't save on cars that's for sure.
      - detaro 10y ago
        Do you really want a car every day of most weekends? What for? (I suspect the "good, cheap, reliable public transport" thing the parent mentioned is important)
      - kamjam 10y ago
        In my experience of using the service, and Montreal is a much smaller city than London (where I am from), you don't want a car every weekend. I was usually able to find a car for hire as long as I booked in advance (esp for Bank Holiday type weekends) but sometimes it meant going to a different location than the one right next to me. As the system get's more popular and more people use it then they are able to purchase more cars. > It doesn't save on cars that's for sure I disagree. Several of my friends also used the service, just between us that saved having several cars. If you need a car all weekend, every weekend then the service is probably not for you. But if, like me, you needed it every so often then it saved a lot of money over the course of a year.

verytrivial 10y ago

I can't see people liking that. Charging at home works because you can sleep while it happens. Road side charging takes time away from some other part of your waking day. Wikipedia is saying 40 minutes for an 80% super charge for a Tesla. That's a sizable chunk of time to be loitering at some random location.

TeMPOraL 10y ago
I think it would work fine. Parking meters exist for a reason - a lot of people park their cars on the street and go do whatever they came to do. You could upgrade the meters to also support payment for charging.
- arethuza 10y ago
  Installing roadside charging points is the only approach that I can see working for inner cities - maybe create "charging only" zones where you can only park and charge cars - parking a normal car there getting a ticket. NB I live in central Edinburgh in a flat and there is no way we could have an electric car without some changes to the parking/charging infrastructure.
hjnilsson 10y ago
At least here in Oslo, there are charging stations on every other street in the city center ( https://m.ladestasjoner.no/map https://m.ladestasjoner.no/map ). You need to park anyways, and parking beside a charging pole will not take any more time than just street parking in general, as the number of electric vehicles increase I would expect there to be poles everywhere. And if you live outside the center. Where there are no poles, can have a driveway with charging or use your block's parking garage.