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In my neighborhood in London (maybe everywhere in London?), most of the lampposts by on-street parking have charging ports [1]. So you just park near a lamppost

In my neighborhood in London (maybe everywhere in London?), most of the lampposts by on-street parking have charging ports [1]. So you just park near a lamppost and plug in at night. There's a QR code you scan, then you click on a web page and it starts charging. Pretty cheap and easy. It's honestly easier than going to a gas station. So in my experience, having an electric car in London is super convenient. There's myriad ways to charge it and increasingly good rapid charging options along major routes. But I'm sure that's not everyone's experience in every neighborhood or city. Hopefully things keep improving as rapidly as they have been. NB: I have seen someone in London string a charging cable up through their non-ground-floor apartment window once, but only once :) [1] https://www.ubitricity.com/charge-points-uk/ https://www.ubitricity.com/charge-points-uk/

kleiba 4y ago
That's the kind of infrastructure that needs to be available everywhere to make EV charging a viable alternative to classic gas stations. I expect this to be commonplace everywhere, bar any ubiquitous underground wireless charging facility. But unlike the UK, the country I currently live in seems to be 10 to 15 years behind in all technical developments, so I don't expect anything like the London experience to materialize around here any time soon. Plus, while what you say is probably feasible for bigger cities, I'm not convinced yet that small to medium sized cities will introduce something similar anytime soon, or is it the case in the UK? Just out of curiosity: how far apart are the lamp posts in London? How difficult is it to actually get a parking spot by one? Can more than one car in the vicinity of a lamp post charge their car or only one per post?