Electric car charging in Northleach
Electric car adoption is not progressing without hitches at the moment and this is not likely to change in the near future. Last Autumn we saw refuelling costs per mile, at commercial fast chargers, exceed that for diesel. The peak Christmas travel period saw waits of up to three hours at some charging stations. Recent figures show that electric car adoption is increasing, percentage wise, three times as fast as public charger installation. As many car users cannot charge at home, these factors, and the high initial cost, will be show stoppers for a lot of drivers. On top of this, the environmental costs of precious metal mining, including lithium, is coming increasingly under the spotlight.
The charger issue threatens the 2030 deadline for only electric new cars. On the present trajectory the government’s 300,000 charger target will be missed by a decade or more. There are now 30 cars per charger – there were 20 in 2020. DfT figures show only 9,000 installed in 2022. And there are increasing doubts as to the ability of the electricity supply system as a whole (generation, local and national distribution and sub-stations) to support the planned adoption, which is of course on top of the switch away from fossil fuel boilers.
For Northleach, what does this mean? Like many communities, it means looking at local generation, and that means suitable sites for biogas electricity generation, solar and wind. In an AONB blessed with listed buildings there are of course restrictions but careful selection of design (e.g. solar tiles) and site does not mean this is not impossible. Domestic solar is a front-runner in the short term and CDC initiated schemes for bulk discounted installations are being initiated. Watch this space. Finally, note that there is a huge synergy between panels and electric cars. Solar panels do not often generate peak output at the time of peak demand. Storing the excess in dedicated battery banks for later use is expensive (in terms of capital cost) and the sell-back rate, (relevant if you have no batteries) is poor. If you have dedicated parking, drive journeys within your car’s range and an ability to charge in the day, the payback period for panels shrinks hugely and many of the issues above will completely disappear.
Carbon Neutral Northleach
February 2023
