by Toni Griffiths
I do love my car, I bought it cash and it gets me from A to B very well. It is a newish car so emissions are good and road tax is low. Would I switch to an electric car? When the wheels fall off mine potentially but the current costs of an EV are tricky.
For example, I live in a listed house with no chance of PV due to the roof structure, orientation and in a conservation area which extends the whole village. Plus I live in a terrace on the roadside where I can’t always park directly in front of my house, and if I can it is on the opposite side of the road. I food shop online and the village I live in doesn’t even have a petrol station let alone provision for EV charging. Working from home means I can’t charge at work. I can’t be the only one leading this “normal life”?
So I guess I will be one of the 50% they suggest will not be EV by the middle of the century unless some of this issues can be address with future technology.
I do however love the concept of this connected world where your car becomes part of the energy network.
In his recent interview, DNV GL CEO Ditlev Engel said the EV rollout will herald a new era in the generation and storage of electricity around the world, describing them as an “asset” in the energy transition thanks to technologies like vehicle-to-grid storage. “They are an active player,” he said. “A car that is standing the parking lot today, a fossil fuel car, doesn’t do anything apart from stand there, whereas a connected EV all of a sudden provides a lot of opportunities in the energy sector because it becomes a participant.”
What do you think? Will you easily be able to charge your EV in the future?
Additional article: ‘We can afford it’: EV uptake and renewables surge to power ‘massive expansion’ of energy grids