Charging the City's Vehicles

I discovered an electric car charging station near my flat. It stood out to me because of a bright green light and, most importantly, because it was a tangible demonstration that Londoners value sustainable means of transportation. In addition, they are implementing the technology necessary around the city to facilitate and encourage the use of electric cars.

As I approached the charging station, I noticed that there was only one of these available in the nearby area - this led me to wonder...

1) is it used frequently?

2) if so, would there eventually be a need for other charging stations?

I kept my eye out the following days ....

I am saddened to report that I have only seen the charging station in use once since I first noticed it. However, I think that this could be due to the fact that it is tucked away in quite street, or that I have only passed by it at night.

We are still in the beginning stages of fully adapting electric cars into our society. I assume its due to their high cost and because of the various disadvantages (e.g no immediate charge, expensive battery replacement, plug-in function, scared of running out of energy while on the road).

However, even in a quite neighborhood change is slowly happening - this little discovery near my flat leads me to believe that.

Change is also happening on the larger scale, particularly as car corporations continue to develop the technology. For example, BMW was the first car manufacture to offer wireless charging for electric cars. I think this is critical because it eliminates an extra step from the the user journey of re-charging an electric car.

This could prove of importance because the action of plugging in an electric car can take an average of 3 - 5 minutes, potentially more depending on the circumstances of the driver. This new technology will allow the user to simply leave the car in the garage at night and head straight inside without considering the "plugging-in" part.

In the future, this could potentially increase efficiency and reliability of electric cars. According to the video below, the BMW will be fully charged in 3 to 5 hours - that is extremely fast!

Despite the fact that electric cars are not yet ubiquitous in most advanced cities and charging stations are still few and far between, we can be reassured that development of these technologies is progressing.

My hope is that with growing environmental concerns and sustainability education, advancement and adaptation of sustainable means of transportation will occur at a much quicker rate than in previous decades.