Using lamp posts to charge EV’s

[DPG]

I think it will be a long time, i.e. for "a few", make that "quite a few" years.
Non-flat panels cost more than flat ones, and I suspect have poorer performance still. So the cost benefit analysis isn't going to favour them for a long time.
And on our drive, they'd produce "not a lot" pretty well any time of year. Out and about, well that will vary.

The efficiency of solar panels is continuously improving and has come on leaps and bounds recently. And once car manufacturers start using them in huge quantities the price will rapidly reduce.
I agree it will take a while, but it will happen.

Not sure I get the difference between a car parked in the open and a car moving as regards sun exposure? My car is parked on my drive all day or at work in a large car park. In both places it receives many hours of daylight.

 

[MJPD29]

I've seen certain groups of people do a similar thing already with their electric caravans.

The creativity never ceases to surprise me. Got to give it to them

 

[Taylortwocities]

My two penn’orth

The smart meter roll out has been going for nearly ten years. The programme is not much more than 30% complete.

In ten years time the sale of new cars will be all electric (plus a transition period for hybrids).

Given this, the chance of an adequate charging infrastructure being in place in ten years is zero.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

you will find that the lamp posts work as a satellite and hub system. each group of say 5 lamps posts will have an allocated capacity of say 100 amps. if 2 cars are charging they each get 32 amps if 5 cars are charging then it might be 20 amps each. a lot of granny chargers plugged into a 13 amp socket only charge at 10amps so you could easily add some of these into lamp posts without much in the way of alterations to the grid.
I think though you will see a mixture of different charge rates depending on local demand on the grid and infrastructure. the things is most people do not need to charge their car to full every day. especially as range of the new evs is getting better every year a bit like computers did in the 90s and early 2000s.

 

[Zerax]

Some of this was considered some time ago. The man who designed Letchworth , the first garden city thought that the town would have about 6 cars which would be shared.

That reminds me of a housing estate that's just being built near me... the official planning documentation stipulated that a notice board be erected at the entrance/exit of the site, to which the local bus timetable be attached. This would then drastically reduce the vehicle traffic in the area.

I can only guess that they have the advantage of a university education...

 

[Zerax]

From what I read/hear... if you don't believe in EVs, you'll find a million and one reasons never to have one and find every single issue with them. On the other hand... if you love 'em, you won't see any of the downsides...

IMHO the reality is somewhere in the middle... currently, EVs are not great for everyone... but would still work for 80% or users. The whole range thing is largely not an issue anymore, as is battery degradation over the lifetime... they've proved the test of time. I think the major problems are lack of second hand vehicles and the high price of new ones... manufacturers seem to be using the 'what the market will bear' pricing model, so they are more pricey than they should be.

The question of charging is not an issue for most people... because if you can't charge at home, there are fast chargers/work chargers etc. and this will only get better as demand grows.

 

[telectrix]

back to lamp post chargers. the local dogs will have a field day. not just a post to pi$$ up but a choice of 4 wheels as well.

 

[pc1966]

The efficiency of solar panels is continuously improving and has come on leaps and bounds recently.

Solar power is 1kW/m^2 which presents a fundamental limit on what you can get, even before you consider sun elevation w.r.t. panels, cloud cover and shadows from buildings, etc., and finally conversion efficiency.

I would love to have solar on my car roof just to stop it going flat if it is unused for a couple of weeks, but it won't make much difference to EV charging.

 

[pc1966]

The question of charging is not an issue for most people... because if you can't charge at home, there are fast chargers/work chargers etc. and this will only get better as demand grows.

I would say the reverse.

For most folk (even if they won't admit it) doing over 100 miles in one journey is rare so range is a minor issue.

For the vast majority without driveways who rely on on-street parking the availability of charging is going to be the #1 issue (avoiding the debate on cost factors that are subject to takes and/or incentives). I don't know of many employers who have car parks that are EV equipped or even could be at any reasonable cost.

A few (like my previous employer, a Scottish university) have a token number of EV locations around campus but I doubt it covers more than 2-5% of those using cars to work there. The majority of them can't park on campus so pi55 off the local residents by parking in the streets near by for around a half mile or more.

 

[stevethesparks]

Solar panels don't have to be flat, they can be made flexible, or to curved shapes.

It doesn't have to give anywhere near a full charge, just a bit of a top up. And it's pretty much for free.

This will become standard in a few years.

It's bad enough at the moment with people nicking catalytic converters in broad daylight, nicking solar panels with just be another nightmare.

 

[telectrix]

nicking solar panels with just be another nightmare.
never thought of that. need to have a word with the lads and source a fence to move them on. easier than bricking up to get the wheels off.

 

[DPG]

It's bad enough at the moment with people nicking catalytic converters in broad daylight, nicking solar panels with just be another nightmare.

They'll be integrated into the roof, not bolted on like on a van, etc.

 

[Simon47]

IMHO the reality is somewhere in the middle

Agreed. IFF they were available within my price range (which they aren't) then they'd be ideal for most of our journeys. And I have the benefit of having my own drive.

The question of charging is not an issue for most people... because if you can't charge at home, there are fast chargers/work chargers etc. and this will only get better as demand grows.

I disagree.
IFF we put the laws of physics aside for a minute, have a look at a typical forecourt when it's not very quiet. Take my local supermarkets - Morrisons has 12 pumps, Asda has 8, Tesco 12 (from memory) - and stand alone filling stations - 4, 6, and 8 pumps each from memory. Yes, they all have quiet times, but they all also have busy times - i.e. when people want to use them. Lets say it typically takes up to 10 minutes between arriving at the pump and driving away. Fast chargers take something like 1/2 hour and don't complete a charge in that time. So immediately 1/3 of the throughput.
No problem you say, plug in and go and do your shopping. Yeah, and how popular will you be with the angry mob waiting to charge when you arrive back in an hour or two's time ?
But I did mention the laws of physics. When multiple cars are charging, I believe many of these fast chargers reduce their power so that the combined load doesn't exceed what the local DNO can provide. So when it's busy, you can forget about that 1/2 hour 80% fill.

And that means you are back to having many dozens of charging points to cater for people going shopping for an hour or two while the car charges. I don't see there being much appetite for that for a while.


And for a bit of a laugh (or cry depending on your viewpoint), someone has worked out that a tesla now costs more to charge than to put petrol in a similar petrol car. https://www.whichcar.com.au/car-news/teslas-now-more-expensive-to-charge-than-petrol-cars So you pay a massive markup for having a lecky car, then if you can't charge at home you pay more than if you were putting petrol in.

 

[DPG]

Agreed. IFF they were available within my price range (which they aren't) then they'd be ideal for most of our journeys. And I have the benefit of having my own drive.

I disagree.
IFF we put the laws of physics aside for a minute, have a look at a typical forecourt when it's not very quiet. Take my local supermarkets - Morrisons has 12 pumps, Asda has 8, Tesco 12 (from memory) - and stand alone filling stations - 4, 6, and 8 pumps each from memory. Yes, they all have quiet times, but they all also have busy times - i.e. when people want to use them. Lets say it typically takes up to 10 minutes between arriving at the pump and driving away. Fast chargers take something like 1/2 hour and don't complete a charge in that time. So immediately 1/3 of the throughput.
No problem you say, plug in and go and do your shopping. Yeah, and how popular will you be with the angry mob waiting to charge when you arrive back in an hour or two's time ?
But I did mention the laws of physics. When multiple cars are charging, I believe many of these fast chargers reduce their power so that the combined load doesn't exceed what the local DNO can provide. So when it's busy, you can forget about that 1/2 hour 80% fill.

And that means you are back to having many dozens of charging points to cater for people going shopping for an hour or two while the car charges. I don't see there being much appetite for that for a while.


And for a bit of a laugh (or cry depending on your viewpoint), someone has worked out that a tesla now costs more to charge than to put petrol in a similar petrol car. https://www.whichcar.com.au/car-news/teslas-now-more-expensive-to-charge-than-petrol-cars So you pay a massive markup for having a lecky car, then if you can't charge at home you pay more than if you were putting petrol in.

I agreed with your point, and Also disagree. I hate life on the fence.

 

[Simon47]

Yeah, spliters in the backside are a PITA

 

[Dartlec]

And of course of the 10000+ houses that have gone up in the nice 'garden village' near me - most have no pavement in front of the house, let alone a drive, but an allocated parking space some way away where it's never going to be possible to install EV charging.

 

[ipf]

back to lamp post chargers. the local dogs will have a field day. not just a post to pi$$ up but a choice of 4 wheels as well.

Wheels?.......... Pi$$ing on bricks, springs to mind.