A recent article in The Times follows that suggests we are wasting money on EV charging points – maybe I am now biased because I am about to buy such a vehicle, but it seems to me that unless the EV infrastructure is in place then they will never become common place and bring the environmental advantage we hope for. What do you think?
Electric car chargers waste parking spaces
Hundreds of subsidised electric car charging units are going unused for long periods and wasting valuable parking spaces, according to research by the RAC Foundation.
Almost two thirds (64 per cent) of the 905 charging units in London were not used at all in June despite a quadrupling in registrations of electric cars.
More than half the units, installed at a cost of more than £9 million to the tax-payer, were not used in either June 2013 or June 2014, according to Transport for London data released under the Freedom of Information Act. The most heavily used units were in the congestion charge zone, in which electric cars are exempt from the £11.50 daily charge.
Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said low usage should prompt a review of plans to install thousands of units. “The medium-term aim should be to encourage home, off-street and workplace charging, not turning valuable kerb space over to probably wealthy electric vehicle drivers,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Boris Johnson said the London mayor wanted to support a shift to ”more environmentally friendly vehicles”, adding that the extra charging points could support fleets of electric taxis and car clubs.
(Source: Ben Webster Environment Editor, The Times, 17/1/2015)