New phenomenon Electric car charging cables

Charging cables across pavements are going to become more and more common as more electric cars are sold. People have to get used to the change. It's part of the price of climate action. Of course it presents an extra hazard for the blind and partially sighted and perhaps other minorities and some form of amelioration is needed but unless the government bans it - highly unlikely - it's here to stay.

Katie59

EVs are the future, get used to it, the lucky ones will be able to charge at home, others will charge at a public charger, chargers are becoming more numerous and cars are able to charge quicker.
The benefits in pollution reduction in cities is immense, battery technology does not seem to be improving, there is no alternative on the horizon so range is not likely to increase

I don't think they are the future, I think they are a step on the way to what will be a more permanent solution. For one thing the recycling of worn out batteries is still an issue. www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56574779

Electric vehicles aren't as clean as thought - they use the roads so particles from the tyres get into the air, as do the particles from the brakes.
Where I live There is very little braking to and from the shops which are 15 miles away on a trunk road, so not much self charging.
Another thing, I don't know of any electric vehicle that are zero weight, so they cause the same wear and tear to the road fabric as a petrol or diesel car. Perhaps they should be 'road taxed' on their weight?

It really infuriates me when people say something is ‘free’! It’s not free, the local council will be paying for that electricity from lampposts and hence the people who pay council tax in that area will inevitably be paying for it in increased council tax bills! Like free lateral flow tests - they’re not free, it’s paid for out of our tax!

Mapleleaf

I do think that there are going to be problems as more and more people buy a plug in electric car. Just where are people going to be able to charge their vehicle if they don’t live in a property that has its own drive and space to have a charging point fitted? People living in terraced housing or flats are going to have difficulties, I think, and there is potentially a hazard if lots of cables are going to be strewn across footpaths in order for people to attach them to their cars. Footpaths are already hazardous for pedestrians at times with vehicles parked half on the path and half on the road, so goodness knows what it will be like with numerous cables trailing all over them - unless I’m missing something and other methods are going to be used.
I know that there are a few charging points scattered about in various places such as pub car parks, but there are nowhere near enough of them if we are all going to go all electric with our cars. I don’t think it’s been thought through very well at all.

I think as housing continues to be built and developed, this will be encompassed. I lived overseas for a while, in a place where almost everyone had an electric moped. Every apartment block had a subterranean garage. Every parking space had a plug socket, where the cable to the moped could be plugged in. There was a payment box attached to each one.

I know this won't solve the issue in older/already existing housing, of course.

Things like trailing cables will have to be sorted out as we move forward into the age of the electric car. I think we have a long way to go with this technology because it is still in its infancy and I don't think that relying on electricity as your source of fuel is so sensible when the price of it is sky high and supply is such a problem.
My daughter's husband is currently spending over £100 a week to get to his job and they ordered an electric vehicle before the energy crisis was further compounded by the Ukraine War.
We have ordered a new car but are sticking to Hybrid until the electric vehicle infrastructure is better and once we have downsized, we will reconsider our transport needs. We will just limit our driving wherever possible until then.

I agree GreenLady102!

come the day when someone/the Government,,will be saying electric cars are no good, everyone should get a ??????
remember diesels were the "beesknees" and on and on,

I prefer horse and carts!

Mapleleaf

I do think that there are going to be problems as more and more people buy a plug in electric car. Just where are people going to be able to charge their vehicle if they don’t live in a property that has its own drive and space to have a charging point fitted? People living in terraced housing or flats are going to have difficulties, I think, and there is potentially a hazard if lots of cables are going to be strewn across footpaths in order for people to attach them to their cars. Footpaths are already hazardous for pedestrians at times with vehicles parked half on the path and half on the road, so goodness knows what it will be like with numerous cables trailing all over them - unless I’m missing something and other methods are going to be used.
I know that there are a few charging points scattered about in various places such as pub car parks, but there are nowhere near enough of them if we are all going to go all electric with our cars. I don’t think it’s been thought through very well at all.

The other thing that few consider is how this new demand for electricity will be satisfied. Solar and wind generated don't touch it.

Esspee
Would you be kind enough to say what car you bought.
We have been looking for ages to get one,but can’t decide
as so few people locally have one it’s hard to choose.We need one with a fairly big boot as it has to take mm DH golf sit on buggy.That reduces our choice.??

How will all the pavement parkers cope with a conglomeration of cables across the footpaths. It's bad enough trying to get past those vehicles without having to avoid cables too.

my not mm

As others here have discovered it is not illegal to have a cable lying over the pavement and if someone did trip over it and injure themselves, suing the cable owner would be tricky.
Cable protectors, which are brightly coloured and stable are suggested but I suspect few use them.
If electric cars do become the future, I imagine that rules will need to be put in place.

grannie7 We have to wait a couple of months, but we have a Peugeot 2008 on order. We had a long test drive and it is a comfortable small SUV type vehicle with good carrying capacity and is easy to get in and out of for DH who has arthritis.
We were advised to lease it as battery capacity will have improved in a few years and the cars will lose value. It has a good range (realistically about 200 miles), though not the best on offer. We will have a charging point installed here.
I think compromise is inevitable, long journeys will be a bit more complicated, but everyday trips will be fine.
It feels the right thing to do for the planet.

If we charge it on the overnight tariff it will cost us about 4€ For a full charge here in France and our electricity is almost all nuclear or hydroelectric.

grannie7

Esspee
Would you be kind enough to say what car you bought.
We have been looking for ages to get one,but can’t decide
as so few people locally have one it’s hard to choose.We need one with a fairly big boot as it has to take mm DH golf sit on buggy.That reduces our choice.??

I have PM’d you with the details grannie7

Several people in our village have electric cars, most of them are able to charge up on their driveways, but one car has to park on the road as you've described. They have a heavy rubber cover (yellow) that sits over the trailing cable to hold it down and make it more visible, it's very low so people can easily step over it, also mobility scooters or buggies. I don't know whether they're supplied by the cable company or separately.

I can foresee lots of annoyance, arguments and possible injuries with these trailing cables. I also think that if the government really really want us to all use electric cars they need to be a LOT cheaper. Each manufacturer should have a budget model priced at no more than £5000 to make them affordable to those on low incomes or pensions. An electric car would suit us just fine. The furthest we can travel in any direction is 24 miles or we're in the sea, but there's no way we could afford even a second hand electric car at current prices, so we'll just have to keep our 12 year old diesel car going somehow.

Apparently the owner of the car is complying with the law, as the cable was yellow and therefore could easily be seen. So he or she is not obliged to do more.

I understand your concern, though, but apart from taking the entire matter up with your local authority, or you MP regarding further safety precautions, there is not much you can do.

Nor can I personally think of anything that would lessen the hazard of people tripping, unless the cable is fixed in place with duct tape.

Certainly, a sign saying "Beware of cable crossing pavement" or the like would help those of us who have reasonable eyesight, but is no help at all to the partially sighted or blind.

In the long term, I imagine it will be illegal to just plug in a flex in your house and run it across the pavement to your car, and that owners of electric or hybrid cars will have to either re-charge them at a parking place that has a power point, or make a driveway onto their property.

So the way forward might be to petition your local council for kerbside electric power points like those you see in marinas. Whilst you are at it, would you mind asking them to provide power-points for electric bikes too? They are in very short supply, I can assure you.

My neighbour has one and charges his car on his drive, I don't see that you could pin it down or cover it as it is larger than a regular hose pipe, more the size of a petrol pump. Agree would not like to have manoeuvre a wheelchair over one.

EV are cheap to run at present for those that can charge at home, others that pay to charge elsewhere don’t save much. Taxation of EVs will increase and road pricing will be brought in to replace fuel tax, on the other side EVs will become cheaper to buy.
Cars will also become more automated, maybe self driving, even speed limiting, much more to come yet, to make transport less polluting and safer too.

How will people manage if they live in a terraced house or high-rise flat, and can't always park in front? Will there be public charging points nearby? It's bad enough trying to find a parking place, without having to find one with a charging point.

Don’t forget to ask how much replacement batteries cost.

Excellent programme on radio4 recently showing that electric cars are iffy in terms of carbon - probably on Sounds.

Some hybrid cars actually only run on battery power and the small petrol engine only charges the battery and cannot power the car - not sure how many companies make this type of car but the one DS works for does/did. They are stopping production of engine based cars in the near future and going over to only EVs.
He tells me that once there is a majority of AI cars the accident rate will decrease. The technology for AI cars is very complicated as it uses many sensors around the car as well as cameras.
When he used an EV for a year - daily use - his petrol bill for the year was less than $10. The distance a battery can power the car is increasing all the time and with luck will reach 1k mark before too long.

With the current batteries there should be no need to replace them; they should last 10-20 years. The technology is not perfect, but however you look at it EVs are far better for the environment than diesel / petrol. Many of the scare stories have come from companies with a vested interest!

Hi esspee would you mind letting me know what type of electric car you’ve bought? I’m struggling with how much the car market has changed!

Some people have NO possibility of having a driveway - terraced town houses, flats, etc. Having to find a vacant charger at a parking lot is a real turn off and street chargers attached to lamp posts will be hogged by those who get home first. Running a clearly marked cable across the pavement is not the end of the world.