| Topic: | Reply | |
| Posted by: | Gordon Southwell | |
| Date/Time: | 18/07/25 15:07:00 |
The problem here is that councils across the country are being heavily incentivised to put in place EV charging infrastructure and are using the money given to try and generate extra revenue share by partnerships with private companies who supply the equipment be it dedicated charging points in parking bays or on lampposts. Energy companies are introducing specialised EV charge rates that mean it can be up to ten times more expensive to charge away from your home as well as much more convenient. However, if everybody was able to use their own supply, council's revenues from EV charging would dwindle to virtually nothing. At the moment, the economics of EV's simply don't work at the high charge rates which can lead to them being almost as expensive to run as conventional vehicles. Factor in the inconvenience, depreciation and lack of range, they aren't an attractive option apart from the tax incentives that may be available particularly to corporate users. This probably isn't an issue at the moment with EV sales largely confined to higher income brackets and many drivers not that worried about how much they pay to charged. However, as lower cost EVs become available and start to be owned by the 'just about managing' there will be a much higher demand for cross pavement charging. Ealing's policy at the moment seems to be to turn a blind eye even to unprotected cables strewn across pavements so we have the worst of both worlds. The notion that a properly installed cable protector presents a trip hazard is a nonsense, you will come across them in shops and offices every day. |