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> This is utterly ridiculous. I live in the UK and have been renting for many years, I've lived at 15+ addresses and not at a single one could I have powered th

> This is utterly ridiculous. I live in the UK and have been renting for many years, I've lived at 15+ addresses and not at a single one could I have powered the car from home. Not one. Oh boy. I just picture someone from the early 20th century riding a horse and complaining about not being able to tank a car for the lack of gas stations.

barnacled 6y ago
I think you've missed the point here. At none of those could I have charged from the house with a cable, as they either had off-street parking, or I was in an upper storey flat, or there was no parking available at all, etc. I think that kind of dismissive comment is entirely the problem here. You do realise that the entire electrical substation infrastructure needs substantial upgrading for it to even be possible? And that's not an easy problem? And that every single residential street in all of the UK needs to be dug up and have chargers installed? In 9 years' time (or maybe 19 if we say 10 years lifetime of 2nd hand cars)? The whole issue is the govt acts as if all they need to do is ban petrol cars + our CO2 issues are solved, and do not address these serious practical issues. Also on a personal note - this comment came across as somewhat snide and ridiculing, I respectfully refer you to the HN guidelines: "Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community." By all means, disagree with me but you could have made this comment less unkindly.
dazc 6y ago
But you don't have to charge the car from your house, just as you don't need to have your own personal petrol pump. So rather than being utterly ridiculous, it just requires a different mindset and acceptance that many more charging points will be available in the next ten years than there are currently.
- barnacled 6y ago
  Apples and oranges really - the difference in time at pump vs time charging is orders of magnitude. In order for this to work you'd need vast numbers of charging points and the entire electrical grid to be upgraded. This is not something the govt or commentators appear to mention very often. It'd truly be one of the biggest infrastructure projects the UK has ever seen and likely run into the £100's of bns. The disruption would be like nothing ever seen before (you can't just upgrade substations or dig up basically every residential street in the country without disruption). I think many like to comment on this from the position of being one of the few who owns an electric car and has the luxury of finding places to charge. That does not scale without truly colossal infrastructure changes.
  - dazc 6y ago
    I don't own an electric car although I do have space for charging. My office is two miles from home so I could easily manage a week on one charge so a slight inconvenience measured against the 'convenience' of a petrol station would be no big deal for me. I already despise having to fill up with petrol and always delay it until the last minute so that would be an added incentive for me. Also, could not public car parks, workplaces, supermarkets, etc be used as public charging points? In reality, we're talking about no new petrol/diesel cars in 9 years which means second-hand cars will be available for at least 10 years after that. It isn't as if you're being asked to make changes overnight?

barnacled 6y ago

I think you've missed the point here. At none of those could I have charged from the house with a cable, as they either had off-street parking, or I was in an upper storey flat, or there was no parking available at all, etc. I think that kind of dismissive comment is entirely the problem here. You do realise that the entire electrical substation infrastructure needs substantial upgrading for it to even be possible? And that's not an easy problem? And that every single residential street in all of the UK needs to be dug up and have chargers installed? In 9 years' time (or maybe 19 if we say 10 years lifetime of 2nd hand cars)? The whole issue is the govt acts as if all they need to do is ban petrol cars + our CO2 issues are solved, and do not address these serious practical issues. Also on a personal note - this comment came across as somewhat snide and ridiculing, I respectfully refer you to the HN guidelines: "Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community." By all means, disagree with me but you could have made this comment less unkindly.

dazc 6y ago

But you don't have to charge the car from your house, just as you don't need to have your own personal petrol pump. So rather than being utterly ridiculous, it just requires a different mindset and acceptance that many more charging points will be available in the next ten years than there are currently.

barnacled 6y ago
Apples and oranges really - the difference in time at pump vs time charging is orders of magnitude. In order for this to work you'd need vast numbers of charging points and the entire electrical grid to be upgraded. This is not something the govt or commentators appear to mention very often. It'd truly be one of the biggest infrastructure projects the UK has ever seen and likely run into the £100's of bns. The disruption would be like nothing ever seen before (you can't just upgrade substations or dig up basically every residential street in the country without disruption). I think many like to comment on this from the position of being one of the few who owns an electric car and has the luxury of finding places to charge. That does not scale without truly colossal infrastructure changes.
- dazc 6y ago
  I don't own an electric car although I do have space for charging. My office is two miles from home so I could easily manage a week on one charge so a slight inconvenience measured against the 'convenience' of a petrol station would be no big deal for me. I already despise having to fill up with petrol and always delay it until the last minute so that would be an added incentive for me. Also, could not public car parks, workplaces, supermarkets, etc be used as public charging points? In reality, we're talking about no new petrol/diesel cars in 9 years which means second-hand cars will be available for at least 10 years after that. It isn't as if you're being asked to make changes overnight?