[sandworm101]

>> What happens when/if there are huge numbers of EV's?

The strange thing is that there is a model for this already. I live in a rather cold part of Canada. My apartment block has AC outlets for each parking spot. So too does my work, and all local hotels. These are meant to power block heaters, something that doesn't really exist in the UK, but in recent years some people have been using them to charge their EV/hybrids. The charging rates are very low but the ubiquity of the outlets make them relevant. Having very small/cheap charging points on literally every parking spot might be the better approach than a few dedicated high capacity "charge bays". These outlets are dirt cheap to install. No IP issues, no electronics, no networks. Just an outlet and a circuit breaker.

(These are also all free to use. Administering a payment system for each outlet would cost more than the power.)

[yarcob]

This is the solution. Power doesn't have to be free, but it should be everywhere.

It's like all the EV charging networks try to replicate gas stations. It's stupid. Nobody wants to take their car to a charging station, pay by the minute, and park their car somewhere else when it's full.

People just want to park their cars wherever, and plug them in when they know they'll stay there for some time, and just pay per kWh, and they definitely don't want to go park their car somewhere else when it's full.

The nice thing about electric is that you could theoretically charge cars pretty much anywhere, outlets would be cheap to install almost anywhere! And cars are parked somewhere 90% of the day anyway. So you don't need fast charging.

I feel like the guys trying to build infrastructure for EVs in most cities are fucking stupid.

You don't need to build 20 fast charging stations. For the same money you could probably install 2000 standard outlets, controlled with a relay and a phone app for payment.

That's something that would actually drive EV adoption.

Right now the only people who buy EVs are people who have a house where they can install an outlet for charging. People who live in appartments are stuck with ICE cars...

[Scoundreller]

Are your outlets continuous?

I’ve heard of ones that cycle through different chunks of the lot, so half (or a third or 2/3) are powered at a time.

[sandworm101]

Some cycle on and off but the ones on my building don't. A 50/50 on/off cycle is still going to keep the engine warm enough.

The truth is that modern engines/oils/batteries do very well in the cold. A battery heater is probably of more use than a block heater. But I like having the conventional outlets whenever I have to work on my car. A Tesla fast charging point cannot power my vacuum cleaner.