AS an electric car driver I think City of York Council is wise to wait and see before rolling out residential on-street charging (York’s missed boat on electric vehicles, Letters, April 13).
One problem is the lack of standardisation. There are at least five different charging connectors and four charging modes: slow, fast, rapid and soon-to-come ultra-rapid. Which to choose?
The charging points will either take up space on the pavement or occupy road space. The charging bays must be marked out and restricted to electric cars only, but who will enforce this?
If slow chargers are installed, cars will typically recharge overnight. If rapid chargers are provided it takes only about 45 minutes to load a useful charge.
Who will ensure that the car will then move on so someone else can use the charger?
And given that a rapid charger uses as much power as 25 electric kettles boiling continuously there will be many residential streets where the local grid just cannot deliver that much power.
The council has already installed a range of charging points in car parks. This is the best policy until charging systems are standardised.
Anthony Day,
Presenter, The Sustainable Futures Report podcast,
www.sustainablefutures.report blog,
Lastingham Terrace, York
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