The road to a greener, cleaner future is paved with many challenges. But it seems as though we’re moving in the right direction. From an EV emoji petition to a Wireless Charging Rank, it’s all taking off, and taking off fast.
Something that the EV agenda seems to be lacking is consistency, and a coherent action plan. I mean, nowadays, finding a charging station isn’t an issue, you’ve got thousands you can find at the touch of a button.
BUT, as we discussed in this article, you may find a fast-charging station, but the charging pin may not be right for your car. In some cases, there isn’t even an adapter for some of the chargers, which leads to endless frustration.
In other cases, it takes forever to fully charge an EV. Meanwhile, sneering petrolheads are in and out within fifteen minutes, all stocked and ready to roll. It seems as though there’s a lot of work to be done to fully realise the electric dream.
EV in the big city
Let’s take the case study of George. George lives in a tiny one-bedroom apartment in Central London. Every day, he drives the two miles to work and back.
There’s a lot of stop-and-go in traffic, which lends itself quite heavily to regenerative braking.
Regenerative braking uses an EV’s engine as a generator to convert much of the kinetic energy lost when decelerating back into stored energy in the vehicle’s battery, which may increase range.
The problem is that George lives above a Tesco, and doesn’t have a designated parking of his own. That means, he has to park on the street, which makes it difficult for him to charge his EV. What a nightmare.
GM’s fast-charging Master Plan
But what’s all the hullabaloo about EVs? In case you’ve been meditating in a cave all this time, the EV agenda is a pretty big deal.
Currently, cities like London are tailoring their urban blueprints to make it conducive for people to have EVs. From increasing congestion charges, to widening bus lanes (which EVs can apparently use), and reducing the number of regular lanes, the wheels are in motion.
And GM are stepping up to the plate with an idea that just might work.
They are targeting city-dwellers with its new fleet of EVs, coupled with their investment in EVgo, a fast charging network, to expand the infrastructure with over 2700 new fast-charging stations in 40 urban cities over the next fives years.
If this succeeds, you can expect to find charging stations at the areas you frequent, like grocery stores, pharmacies, retail outlets, cafes, restaurants, playgrounds, gyms, you name it.
We’ll say this: it’s ambitious. But it’s also a step in the right direction. EVs need some kind of consistency to be effective. Right now, there are so many competing suppliers, so many different apps, and so many different kinds of charging stations, that it all gets way too confusing.
We’ll be watching this joint endeavour closely as we continue down the road to an EV future.
If you want a general overview of EVs, you can read more about them here.
