I’m the proud owner of a Tesla Model 3 SR+ and live in the Bundaberg area. Often on a weekend, I will stop at the Childers charging site which is one of the Chargefox 50kW outlets (part of the Qld electric superhighway).
There are slower AC chargers (that take a few hours to top up a battery) there too but I won’t bother with them.
Recently I found the charger occupied by an Outlander PHEV (plug-in hybrid.) The owner had not ‘done this before’ and wasn’t even aware of the need to join Chargefox before plugging in.
You can imagine the pfaffing about just to start charging. Then the fellow was completely oblivious to the fact there was someone else waiting to use the charger. It just didn’t occur to him this might be a nuisance. So charging starts and off he wanders to get some lunch.
Plug-in hybrids using fast-chargers ties up infrastructure
Basically, this is the same as being ICE’d (a term that means a combustion engine car is parked in an EV charging spot). A vehicle with a fossil-fuelled engine is occupying the only available charging outlet.
The fact the car has a tiny battery that gets about 35km range and can be plugged in is, in this instance, irrelevant.
As there is little benefit gained by the PHEV compared to the inconvenience impact on a BEV, charging at public outlets should be restricted to fully BEV only.
See also: What is an ‘EV’? | What is a battery electric vehicle? | What are the different types – and speeds – of EV charging? | What do I need to know as a first time electric car driver?
Two plugs does not mean there are two available
The Chargefox box sitting in the carpark has two big cables coming out of it yet it is only capable of charging one car at a time.
This, I suspect, was the reason for the PHEV fellow’s nonchalance – clearly there was another plug to be utilised.
This also tricked me up the first time I pulled into the charger and found the CHAdeMO plug being used by a Leaf.
No problem, I thought, there is the CCS plug free. But no, on checking the App when charging failed to start I discovered that the plug was ‘unavailable’.
Now, it took a while for the reality to sink in that these chargers were designed to work that way: only one plug at a time.
Apart from the total lack of communication about this, er, feature, either on the Chargefox App or on the physical charger outlet this situation is completely ridiculous and can’t continue.
Maybe it was adequate five years ago but with the rapid uptake in EVs since then these outlets are worse than obsolete, they will send a signal to the public that we are not ready for mass adoption of EVs and act as a brake on the necessary switch to EVs.
See also: What is CCS charging? | What is CHAdeMO charging? | Where can you charge a Tesla or other electric car for free? | What happens when an EV charger is out of order?
There’s a big learning curve for those new to EVs
Ignorance. Other than the few of us EV advocates who are familiar with the exigencies of EV adoption there is complete ignorance in the general community about EVs.
My work colleagues are aware that I don’t need to buy petrol for the car and are somewhat envious when the price of fuel spikes but other than this basic fact there is no understanding of how my car operates.
When I mention there is no servicing required they are incredulous and suspect I’m not telling the full truth.
How can it be so? All cars need servicing, right?
They struggle to comprehend that marvellous benefit called regenerative braking not because they are stupid but because they have little to no exposure to information or entertainment about EVs so it all sounds somewhat fantastical and removed from reality.
Well, we know that this reality is rapidly bearing down on us and I fear there is a danger of many people being left behind in terms of feeling sufficiently informed to consider buying an EV.
This ignorance will be fertile ground for unscrupulous politicians, fossil fuel vested interests, and shock jocks who will profit from either a slow and/or chaotic transition to EVs.
See also: How much does does charging an EV really cost, and do they save on emissions?
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