Positives and negatives as with everything. Positive:
On Saturday morning, I set out with my battery about 75% charged and drove 65 miles to the town of Beverley. Arrived there at about 0815 with 40-odd% remaining. Mrs LV426 was entered in the ParkRun at 9. And we were booked to stay in a hotel there on Saturday night; a hotel with a very small car park and no charger. (To be fair they may have had a 13a outlet in one of the outbuildings; many places do; but we never asked). The hotel car park was full at 0815.
Parking in Beverley is fairly plentiful but expensive 0800-1800 Mon-Sat. £5.40 all day - free evenings and Sundays. On-street parking is residents only (or 1 hour) for a large area. Even Blue Badge holders pay the same rates in these car parks.
But: I drove my EV into such a car park near the hotel and plugged it in at one of the two 7kW outlets there. Free parking for EVs while charging - and free "fuel" too. So it stayed there until sometime after 11, completely free, at which time it was full and I moved it over to the (now more empty) hotel car park where it stayed until we left on Monday. Indeed, had I "needed" to remain in the municipal car park for longer (eg for a simple day visit) I could have slowed my car's charge rate such that it would have taken 6 hours to complete; thus giving me 6 hours free parking in effect.
While my car was charging and Mrs LV426 was running, I visited on foot the three other municipal car parks in Beverley and noted that at various times between 0900 and 1100
This was Saturday, which is Market Day - probably the busiest day of the week.
No doubt usage/occupancy (and parking charge concessions) will change as EV takeup increases. But the thing to note is - the network is also changing. All of the outlets in the municipal car parks are new since my last visit a year ago, as is the 50kW outlet at Tesco. And before that, two years ago, there was nothing at all at at Tesco, nor Lidl, nor Morrisons. There were, at that time, only the three in the Multi-Storey. I have no reason to suppose that this growth won't continue alongside EV takeup.
Many years ago, we used to live in Beverley, in a terraced house with no off street parking (and therefore, no at-home charging). If we moved back there right now then I could still be an EV user. I'd simply make use of the chargers described. The friends we visited while there live in a similar property. He commutes daily about 20 miles each way. He could do that in an EV, using solely the public chargers. Yes, it would be "different"; he'd need to plan for a visit to Tesco or Lidl or Morrisons a couple of times a week, say - which is probably likely for most folk anyway. But against that, he'd no longer need a fortnightly special trip to a petrol station.
On Saturday morning, I set out with my battery about 75% charged and drove 65 miles to the town of Beverley. Arrived there at about 0815 with 40-odd% remaining. Mrs LV426 was entered in the ParkRun at 9. And we were booked to stay in a hotel there on Saturday night; a hotel with a very small car park and no charger. (To be fair they may have had a 13a outlet in one of the outbuildings; many places do; but we never asked). The hotel car park was full at 0815.
Parking in Beverley is fairly plentiful but expensive 0800-1800 Mon-Sat. £5.40 all day - free evenings and Sundays. On-street parking is residents only (or 1 hour) for a large area. Even Blue Badge holders pay the same rates in these car parks.
But: I drove my EV into such a car park near the hotel and plugged it in at one of the two 7kW outlets there. Free parking for EVs while charging - and free "fuel" too. So it stayed there until sometime after 11, completely free, at which time it was full and I moved it over to the (now more empty) hotel car park where it stayed until we left on Monday. Indeed, had I "needed" to remain in the municipal car park for longer (eg for a simple day visit) I could have slowed my car's charge rate such that it would have taken 6 hours to complete; thus giving me 6 hours free parking in effect.
While my car was charging and Mrs LV426 was running, I visited on foot the three other municipal car parks in Beverley and noted that at various times between 0900 and 1100
- the other outlet next to mine was now occupied by a Tesla
- in each of the other three locations, there was no occupancy of the chargers. In other words, there were at least six other sockets in municipal car parks I might have used had I been unable to use the one I did. In addition, at the central Tesco, four 7kW outlets, two in use, two vacant, plus one 50kW DC point, also vacant. (3 hours max stay for free at Tesco for any car). And there are three 7 kW outlets in a multi-storey car park that I did not visit. Oh, and a single 50kW unit at a nearby Lidl. And another 50kW at a slightly more distant Morrisons.
This was Saturday, which is Market Day - probably the busiest day of the week.
No doubt usage/occupancy (and parking charge concessions) will change as EV takeup increases. But the thing to note is - the network is also changing. All of the outlets in the municipal car parks are new since my last visit a year ago, as is the 50kW outlet at Tesco. And before that, two years ago, there was nothing at all at at Tesco, nor Lidl, nor Morrisons. There were, at that time, only the three in the Multi-Storey. I have no reason to suppose that this growth won't continue alongside EV takeup.
Many years ago, we used to live in Beverley, in a terraced house with no off street parking (and therefore, no at-home charging). If we moved back there right now then I could still be an EV user. I'd simply make use of the chargers described. The friends we visited while there live in a similar property. He commutes daily about 20 miles each way. He could do that in an EV, using solely the public chargers. Yes, it would be "different"; he'd need to plan for a visit to Tesco or Lidl or Morrisons a couple of times a week, say - which is probably likely for most folk anyway. But against that, he'd no longer need a fortnightly special trip to a petrol station.
