ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE IN OUR CITIES – IS IT FIT FOR YOUR PURPOSE?
This month’s article looks at the growth in urban e-mobility and public charging infrastructure, to identify some of the key challenges facing urban drivers and fleets needing to switch to electric now or in the future.
TAXIS ~ PHVS AND E-MOBILITY. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM OTHER COUNTRIES?
Some trends and valuable key observations can be learned by looking beyond the UK’s shores and researching some leading EV markets from around the world. This insight can help identify opportunities for our own city authorities to support the continued growth of their charging infrastructure and provide for electric taxi and PHV operators.
FIT FOR PURPOSE?
It is clear from recent first-hand experiences and damning reports from drivers of rapidly evolving, electric taxi and PHV fleets, such as Addison Lee, that the current urban charge point networks in the UK are simply not up to scratch.
HOW MUCH AND WHAT TYPE OF CHARGING DO OTHER COUNTRY’S CITIES HAVE?
This is an area where we can use benchmarks set by comparable cities in other countries to assess and plan locations to help quantify the number and speed of chargers to deploy in our own cities. In Californian cities, there are far fewer public chargers per EVs than in, say, the Netherlands. This can be explained by the high proportion of EV drivers in California with access to home and work parking and private charging. The Netherlands by comparison has a high proportion of multi-dwelling buildings and a lack of driveways, this increases their need for more public chargers, and is reflected by the very large public infrastructure in cities such as Amsterdam. Norway has by far the highest EV take-up in Europe and the World (90.5% new market share in Jan 2022!), it serves to demonstrate the challenges faced by such a rapid transition by potentially becoming a victim of its own EV transition success.
Oslo and Amsterdam have by far the highest density of charging infrastructure in Europe but compared to Chinese cities, such as Beijing, there is a big difference in terms of rapid DC infrastructure. Amsterdam has around 2% DC - Oslo has around 10% DC, while Beijing boasts 33% rapid DC as part of its overall public network.
HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?
A benchmark ratio of well below ten EVs per (public) rapid charger should prevent charging bottlenecks, but Oslo averages c. 24 EVs per charger - Compared to c. four EVs per charger in Amsterdam. Although Oslo does have around five times more rapid DC chargers than Amsterdam. To add further perspective: This should serve as a warning to
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the UK, as we‘re now the second highest in European EV uptake, yet our existing public rapid charging infrastructure, despite increases in new deployment remains mostly dated, slow and unreliable, with huge regional disparities in terms of numbers available, especially in urban and rural locations outside of London. So, what can we learn from all of this?
WELL, OUR KEY TAKEAWAYS ARE THAT:
l A well-planned mix of private and public charging is required for EV adoption to flourish in our cities.
l Cities with a high proportion of multi-dwelling buildings will need more public chargers than those with more private parking.
l Public charging infrastructure shouldn’t be measured just by numbers, but by relevance and effectiveness. The mix of chargers is highly important. Simply reviewing the total number of chargers can lead to poor decisions being made.
l Because the majority of EVs can only charge at 7kW maximum on AC chargers, these types of street chargers are not suitable for high-mileage vehicles without private parking and charging. Fleets of taxis and PHVs will require more ultra-rapid DC charging to do daily top-ups.
l The status quo is constantly evolving: as vehicle technology, battery sizes, and ranges are improving significantly, so too should equivalent improvements to the supporting infrastructure.
l As many new mainstream models have batteries over 60kW, and with most new EVs capable of DC charging speeds of 100kW+ the percentage of ultra-rapid chargers (rapid defines charging above 25kW and ultra-rapid 100kW+), needs to be increased in proportion to the number of commercial on-demand EVs as these will be the heaviest users.
It is now crucial that there is a significant increase of rapid DC chargers, in cities that are well-located and in clusters or hubs. There needs to be strategic planning from central Government through to local authorities, to level-up the huge imbalances of charging infrastructure across the UK’s cities. Coordination with energy networks is paramount: In order to speed up implementation, maximise power scalability and minimise onerous grid up-grade costs. Do you feel your local authority is doing enough to help you in switching to EVs? I ‘d love to know, get in touch either by phone or email using the details below.
Article supplied by Tim Scrafton
THE CONNECT CONSULTANCY CONSULT
DESIGN SUPPLY INSTALL
The UK’s leading independent electric vehicle infrastructure consultancy 0161 635 6553
hello@theconnectconsultancy.com
MARCH 2022
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