The new electric London taxi will be taken into use from the end of next year,
manufactured at London Taxi Company’s brand new factory where production will be substantially increased to meet demand from international markets
appliance, with its external cables, can be used for either slow over- night charging or semi-fast charg- ing, from 3.6 to 22 kW, which will likely become the norm in the future. There is no risk of overheating or fire and it has a built-in RCD. Mode 3 can also be used for load balanc- ing and for communication within the electrical installation. This will be especially useful as electricity prices here in Norway will vary on an hourly basis from 2018, with all households being fitted with a new electricity meter for this purpose. If you want to take advantage of all the benefits a modern electrical vehicle can offer, a Mode 2 charger with an ordinary wall socket is no alternative,” says Grav.
CHECK INCOMING The electrical installation in most private homes can support two 3 kW charge points or one 7 kW charge point. Some older properties with lower capacity supplies may require an upgrade to the incoming supply. British utility company Scottish
The rush hour could get replicated on the electricity network if everyone arrives at home at the same time and puts their electric vehicle on charge
might be fine for bursts of, say, half an hour during normal use, it may not be up to prolonged use with high output, such as required for charging a vehicle. This can result in elevated temperatures and a house fire,” warns Per Höjevik at the Swedish National Electrical Safety Board.. “We recommend that a dedicated
charge point is used, installed by a qualified electrician who can check that the wiring is sound all the way back to the fuse board.” Electric vehicles are supplied with
a Mode 2 cable designed to plug directly into a wall socket. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that car
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owners often use extension cables that do not meet the same standards as the charging equipment, even running these through open windows and across pavements. “A Mode 2 cable should be used
without extension leads on a dedi- cated circuit protected by a 10A fuse and a residual current device. The output is restricted to 2.2 kW so charging will be relatively slow,” says Jostein Ween Grav, senior engi- neer at the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection, which counts electrical safety among its duties. “A wall-mounted Mode 3 charger is a far better alternative. The
thinkingcities.com
& Southern Energy (SSE) has high- lighted how local networks may require upgrades due to the effects of clustering, or the tendency of people to be inspired by their neigh- bours. Driving an electric vehicle has many advantages and users tend to become very attached to the concept. If they manage to rouse their neigh- bours’ interest, the reasoning goes, there could be a strong uptake in a particular small area. Such clusters could have a disproportionate impact on parts of the network. Scottish and Southern Energy modelled a scenario where 40 per cent to 70 per cent of homes on an average street would have electric vehicles. If this were to happen, one-third of all low-voltage circuits would need to be upgraded. SSE introduced a solution using
monitoring technology in the substa- tion and at the charge points. This way, the company could control the
Photo courtesy of Transport for London
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