Government Subsidies
The ideas behind EV ownership are, as far as I could establish, fairly sound. The government want to cut carbon emissions, motoring is the main culprit for these, electric vehicles are an up-and-coming technology and the global world is investing in this technology. Although EVs range significantly, both in price and in battery range, there are appealing government subsidies to benefit from at whichever level you engage with:- Firstly, the government will give you a grant which counts towards the cost of your new EV. This can be used against new EVs only, but does help to make a dent in the cost.
- Secondly, the government will provide a grant for you to have a Domestic Electric Charging Point installed at your home.
- Finally, should you be unable to charge your car on your own property, you can apply to your local council for them to install a public charging point near your home.
- A small note, I am in England and I understand that there are slight differences for Wales, NI and Scotland. However, as far as I understand, the grants available are similar and there are perhaps more options in other parts of the UK.
In my case, I work between different sites and, while one of my regular sites has an EV charging point, the others do not and I will need to charge my car at home most of the time. I have applied for a Domestic Charging Point to be installed at my home, but this won't be until 20th/21st November. Until then, I will have to rely upon either public charging points or a trickle charge. For those who do not know: trickle charging is when you use a standard 3 pin plug to charge your car, it has the benefit of being able to charge anywhere there is a plug. The draw back is that it takes about 13-14 hours for a full charge.
New Car, New Excitement, First Attempted Charge
Having collected EV from Renault with 85% battery charge, and picked the kids up from school, the three of us decided upon the obligatory 'new car' test drive, which in this case also included our first attempt at using a public battery charging point.
The nearest rapid charge point to me is Ikea Bristol, which is an Ecotricity charging point. We were prepared and took the smooth, quiet and almost ethereal drive to Ikea armed with our Ecotricity card ready for charging.
The kids loved playing with the gadgets on the Zoe, we now have three different profiles, a list of favourite places in the Tom-Tom, a purple car directing us... the list goes on. My eldest, in particular, is a bit of a techie enthusiast (gets it from his Grandad) and the thought of plugging in a giant Scalextric car to charge up was very appealing.
It took us a while to locate the EV car charging spaces because they are not signposted and once located the space for a type 2 charger took a little bit of manoeuvring into; there is a pillar on one side and metal posts protecting the charging unit on the other, which means that you have to go against the direction of the traffic in order to be able to drive your car into the space. Despite these little inconveniences we remained positive, bright eyed, bushy tailed and ready to charge.
This charging unit has a lead attached to it. My son was poised in anticipation of being able to plug the EV in and watch as the dashboard changed. I swiped my card against the charging point... 'unable to read card'. Hmmmm ok, it's fine we'll call the number on the point and speak to Ecotricity. No answer. Went into Ikea for a drink. Came back, tried again: 'unable to read card'. Tried calling Ecotricity again, no answer. That was when littleun noticed the icons in the top right of the screen of the charging unit.
The unit didn't appear to be online. With no answer at Ecotricity HQ and no interest by the scarce Ikea staff, we returned home, battery down and more than a little despondent. Hopefully tomorrow's experiences will be better.
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