Finally found a well designed cable protector.

[Lguk]

Another option for kerbside charging:-

View attachment 18220

Honestly can't see that working in a typically terraced housing area. Way too many 'yoofs' that will have a go at swinging on it.

I usually park my car nose in at work, Friday I had to make a stop at a different site so when I arrived I had to take the spot where you have to park nose out or can't get out of the car. I spent the whole day paranoid that a person or vehicle would destroy my charging flap.

 

[johnb80]

Honestly can't see that working in a typically terraced housing area. Way too many 'yoofs' that will have a go at swinging on it.

I never suggested it was a one size fits all solution, just another option that may suit some people.

I usually park my car nose in at work, Friday I had to make a stop at a different site so when I arrived I had to take the spot where you have to park nose out or can't get out of the car. I spent the whole day paranoid that a person or vehicle would destroy my charging flap.

I'm with you on that, I've always thought MG's were great having the charging flap on the front, less pedestrian traffic walking by, I always worry when on the rare public charging sessions for my i3 for that very reason, charging flap getting smashed off.

 

[Rolfe]

Another option for kerbside charging:-

View attachment 18220

I guess it's an option, but it doesn't look nearly as good as the ones where there's a groove in the pavement. It's a substantial installation, I'd expect more expensive, and more to go wrong. Let alone what someone said about kids and louts swinging from it.

 

[Rolfe]

I believe the pic shows enough pavement to show there is a fairly restricted width between the car and the green box (I'd imagine inadequate for a double buggy). And given that on the opposite side of the road there appears to be a strip designed to enable people to park off road, thus leaving at least one lane width of the road free, I don't see the point in parking on the pavement anyway, as I doubt it makes it wide enough for two vehicles to safely pass each other.

I don't have my original post to refer back to but aggression or confrontation wasn't particularly my intention, but please don't confuse this comment with an apology or retraction of my message!!

I don't think he should be on that pavement either. There appear to be no parking restrictions in the road so presumably parking correctly at the kerb is deemed to be acceptable, and I can't see why he isn't doing that, but is rather choosing to obstruct the pavement.

But it's all been said, and this is an interesting thread about charging a car from a mid-terrace house. Maybe we should drop the parking thing and concentrate on that.

Just a thought, but has anyone brought up solutions for people in flats? Or is the only option there to have type 2 chargers in the car park? Maybe a ground floor flat could use the solutions for a terrace house?

 

[Alb]

The parking question (pavement or not) is an extremely relevant part of the charging issue. It's well established that the householder doesn't (generally) own the parking spot adjacent to their own house but unless you have a very long charging lead, that's exactly where you will need to be. Having the perfect arrangement for running a lead under the pavement is no help if someone else's car is parked there!

 

[Rolfe]

I think in many of these streets there is an informal arrangement whereby householders to have first dibs on the space outside their houses. The friend I mentioned who wants an EV mentioned this issue, but I know she can more or less rely on getting her space, because her neighbours all adhere to the "gentleman's agreement". When I visit she always asks me to park on the other side of the road (where there are no houses - it's a park).

On one of these videos someone mentioned neighbours being generally positive about the charging gully, and I think there's a decent chance that the parking space would be respected in many cases. Neighbourhoods vary though, and it's definitely going to be a big problem in places where both sides of the street are lined by small terrace houses and parking is in short supply.

 

[johnb80]

I guess it's an option, but it doesn't look nearly as good as the ones where there's a groove in the pavement. It's a substantial installation, I'd expect more expensive, and more to go wrong. Let alone what someone said about kids and louts swinging from it.

As compared to louts pushing rubbish into the slots in the pavement, and wintertime when theyre covered in snow and ice?

 

[Rolfe]

That's a fair point, but the two groove solutions shown had covers to keep rubbish out, and it probably wouldn't take much to clear a line three feet long.

 

[johnb80]

That's a fair point, but the two groove solutions shown had covers to keep rubbish out, and it probably wouldn't take much to clear a line three feet long.

Just playing devils advocate, low temperatures, groove full of frozen water you wouldnt dig it out. Arrive home and it's raining heavy what a faff putting the lead into the groove. The lead is running along his garden path on the surface - trip hazard, the list goes on. I'm sure it's horses for courses and there are many solutions. I'm just glad to have a driveway where I can charge.

 

[Rolfe]

Oh, it's not ideal for sure. I think it would be better for someone with quite low mileage, who is perhaps not going out a lot in bad weather, and who can then choose which day to charge. If you're only doing fairly short trips you're not going to want to bother with setting it all up every evening, just charge when you drop below maybe 50%.

 

[Gadget Geek]

Lampposts make an ideal solution to on street charging as they already have an electricity supply and every street has them.

Charging Solutions

ubitricity provide fully funded lamppost, fast and rapid EV charging solutions for local authourities. Expand your EV infrastructure today!

ubitricity.com

I believe the pic shows enough pavement to show there is a fairly restricted width between the car and the green box (I'd imagine inadequate for a double buggy). And given that on the opposite side of the road there appears to be a strip designed to enable people to park off road, thus leaving at least one lane width of the road free, I don't see the point in parking on the pavement anyway, as I doubt it makes it wide enough for two vehicles to safely pass each other.

I don't have my original post to refer back to but aggression or confrontation wasn't particularly my intention, but please don't confuse this comment with an apology or retraction of my message!!

I can here that song from Frozen, Let it go.

 

[johnb80]

Lampposts make an ideal solution to on street charging as they already have an electricity supply and every street has them.

Charging Solutions

ubitricity provide fully funded lamppost, fast and rapid EV charging solutions for local authourities. Expand your EV infrastructure today!

ubitricity.com

Theyre not a bad option but not many would have a 32amp supply available.

 

[Rolfe]

It also becomes a problem when everyone wants the parking space by the lamp post. More of an issue than wanting the space outside your own house, to access your own charger.

 

[smokie]

I can here that song from Frozen, Let it go.

I was happily letting go but felt a response was required to a post from a member called Gadget Geek, who clearly couldn't let it go.

Your mod badge isn't visible btw.

 

[Lguk]

It also becomes a problem when everyone wants the parking space by the lamp post. More of an issue than wanting the space outside your own house, to access your own charger.

There's a guy on here with a 25m cable, specifically because it means he can usually reach a lamppost charger regardless of getting the parking space directly next to it.

 

[Rolfe]

Clever.

I imagine the future will be a mix of all these solutions, with people finding the one that best fits their circumstances.

 

[Stuart Wright]

Over the last few years, I’ve lived in a variety of places, each of which had different charging challenges. Between moving out of and eventually into houses where I could install Zappis, I lived in

• A flat with no possible way of charging. I had to drive to a car park with 8 x 7kw chargers and walk 1.5 miles home, leaving it there most of the day to charge up. Or go to local rapids, but they were few in number and often in use or out of service.
• A flat with a window opening to the shared car park where I could plug the granny charger cable in to the kitchen socket and arrange with neighbours to let me use the nearby parking spot.
• House with off road parking but the landlord refused to consider putting in a charger, so I ran the granny cable out of the lounge window.
• House with off road parking but not staying there long enough to put in a charger, so ran the granny cable under the garage door.

When finding somewhere to live, the ability to charge was a factor. Not being able to plug in at all was so inconvenient that if I didn’t already have the EV, there is no way I’d chose to have one. And it set my beliefs that the UK charging infrastructure is absolutely inadequate.
Having to live with the cable running through a window was a security risk and let cold air in.
Having to charge with a granny cable for several years wasn’t ideal. Only melted one.

This is why it’s so important that this particular issue is addressed well.
It’s ok for us lucky people with a drive and the budget to install a charger. What the hell are people living in terraced houses who compete for parking spaces supposed to do?

Lamppost charging isn’t going to work in many cases because the supplies to the lamp are ok for an LED, but you start pulling 7kw for hours and the underground cable will melt. Even sustained 3kw might fail.
When they put 3 phase in for my house, I got to see the cables running to my neighbours, my house and the nearby pathway lamp. In that case, the lamp supply looked like it was the same sized cable as a house. But it might not be the same in all cases.

Putting a gully from the boundary of a property in the pavement sounds like an ideal solution if the cover can be adequately secured. I wonder how much the council charge. It should be less than dropping a curb, which takes weeks to organise and costs £ hundreds.
You’re still looking at long cables. You’re still looking at cooperation between neighbours. Which shouldn’t be a big deal, but can be.
And if I were using a gully, I’d need to put up a security camera monitoring the car for peace of mind. Actually if I were parking on street, I’d want the camera anyway.
My 2p.

 

[Gomev]

....

Lamppost charging isn’t going to work in many cases because the supplies to the lamp are ok for an LED, but you start pulling 7kw for hours and the underground cable will melt. Even sustained 3kw might fail.
When they put 3 phase in for my house, I got to see the cables running to my neighbours, my house and the nearby pathway lamp. In that case, the lamp supply looked like it was the same sized cable as a house. But it might not be the same in all cases.

...

Theyre not a bad option but not many would have a 32amp supply available.

Many street lamps are direct unmetered supply from the DNO from the same cable that supplies our properties, so should have plenty of power, others are local authority.

Let's not also forget that when most lampposts were put in place they had to provide power to much higher wattage bulbs than the LEDs used now, so there would be excess capacity in those now.

'How are street lights connected?'

How are street lights connected? We take a look at some of the ways the humble street light is powered.

www.wlclighting.co.uk

 

[Rolfe]

When they changed our street lamps to LED they replaced the lamp posts.

 

[Ruislip Resident]

I did see some interesting pop up out if the ground public chargers (as and when required) on a fully charged podcast a while back. Designed by some electrical engineers working in the oil industry in Aberdeen so they have taken account of potential impacts of water on the electrics under ground if it rained heavy.