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A great car made better by infrastructure

I bought a second hand, low range electric car two years ago. I use it mainly for commuting, shopping and local leisure trips. I charge it overnight at home.


For me, with a dedicated private driveway, owning an EV has been a breeze. However, RCT borough is one of the worst places in the UK for public charging. As I write this there are no public rapid chargers in the borough, the only borough in Wales where this is the case, and slower destination charging is very thin on the ground.


We live in a borough with a higher proportion of properties with no off street parking, thanks to when the majority of our housing was built, so public charging is vital to getting more EV drivers.


There are lots of ways the Council can help, here are a few:


1) Insist on public charging points in ALL new commercial premises with car parks as part of the planning process, or any existing commercial premises looking to expand, e.g. supermarket returns. This costs the Council nothing.

2) Put charging points in facilities owned by the Council such as Park and Ride facilities, offices and leisure centres but put them away from the entrance so they are not blocked by by drivers looking for convenient parking. Providers like Instavolt and Osprey will pay the costs if they are given appropriate sites, so again this has the potential to cost the Council nothing.

3) Work with companies such as Connected Kerb to add in slower charging solutions in residential streets which can be used overnight. They also provide fast internet as part of the install, so it benefits residents in more ways than one.

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Coedkernew almost 3 years ago
I ordered my first fully electric car in December 2019 though a salary sacrifice scheme at work with the intention of using it to commute from Ferndale to my workplace in Bridgend.  They have free electric vehicle charging on site as well as being very close to a Tesco that also has free EV charging so I thought it would make sense and save me money.   I don't have any dedicated off-road parking at my home, but I can park outside most of the time, but the intention was to charge at work mainly so there would be no need to worry about home charging anyway.  

Things changed with Covid in that I have been working from home for more than a year now so I haven't done many miles in the car yet but equally, I can't charge at work either.  As an interim measure I have been charging the car up using a slow 3 pin adaptor from the outside plug socket I had fitted last year.  I run the cable across the pavement covered by a highly visible, electric cable protective mat to keep things safe.  This has worked brilliantly and given the near 200 mile range of the car I have only had to top at a rapid charger a few times when on a really long journey.   Ideally I would have liked a proper EV charge point fitted to the front of my house so that I could get faster charging speeds, but grants are only available if you have off road parking unfortunately (could this be looked into by RCT Council?) and the slow charger works for me presently anyway.  If we were to get another EV then I would look at getting one fitted to help keep both cars charged.

Whilst I agree that there is a strong role for local councils to play in helping roll out EV charging solutions to encourage EV take-up I believe that that privately funded charging will be the main driver.  The main thing you hear is "I can't have an EV because I can't park outside my house" and that is a fair point to some extent, however, you don't currently fill your fossil fuel car at home so why does this have to be the case with an EV?  I'd say that it's mainly because of the lack of public charging infrastructure locally.  If EVERY Tesco/Asda/Sainsbury etc supermarket had banks of rapid chargers in their store car parks you could combine your shopping visit with charging the car.  If every McDonalds/KFC etc had a number of rapid chargers you could do the same when popping out for food.  The aim is to be doing something else whilst the car is charging, not hanging around waiting for it to charge.  

Obviously councils are not in control of the private sector in terms of rollout of EV chargers so they would need to have a strategy too but given the lack of finance available I believe that chargers should be rolled out strategically in a way that would mean they can be used in the most efficient manner.  Eg.  There is no point putting 7kw charging points in Park and Ride locations as the chargers will be blocked all day by commuters despite having had their cars filled after a small fraction of the time they are away from their car.  50kw rapid charger hubs should be located in town centres where there are other amenities available for them to use (shopping/coffee shops etc) whist charging, but putting time restrictions to ensure they are not blocked for longer than necessary (with penalties applied to no EV drivers who block the spaces)

I believe that perhaps some kind of focus group where current EV owners are part of the consultations for good site locations would be helpful as as most EV owners in RCT could be considered 'early adopters' they have a keen interest in helping to develop the forward planning of EV infrastructure in the county and tend to have a good deal of experience on how EV charging can and should be done to benefit as many drivers as possible.

Perhaps RCT Council should get in contact with private EV charging firms (Instavolt etc)to help them develop their network in the area, they install chargers to MAKE MONEY, so given assistance from the council I'm sure they would be more than willing start installing here, especially given the high proportion of housing with no off road parking meaning that their services would be required even more.

I believe that RCT is currently the ONLY county in the whole of the UK that doesn't have a single Rapid (50+kw) charger within it's boundary.  I realise that there is one opening at Lidl in Porth shortly, and some (as yet unknown) EV charging going into Porth train station car park, but it's still a pretty poor record and this really needs to have some focus put on it now.

As stated earlier, perhaps some kind of focus group that includes current/prospective EV owners would be helpful to help assist RCT with their long term EV strategy?  I'm sure a number of us would be happy to assist.






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Share I ordered my first fully electric car in December 2019 though a salary sacrifice scheme at work with the intention of using it to commute from Ferndale to my workplace in Bridgend.  They have free electric vehicle charging on site as well as being very close to a Tesco that also has free EV charging so I thought it would make sense and save me money.   I don't have any dedicated off-road parking at my home, but I can park outside most of the time, but the intention was to charge at work mainly so there would be no need to worry about home charging anyway.  Things changed with Covid in that I have been working from home for more than a year now so I haven't done many miles in the car yet but equally, I can't charge at work either.  As an interim measure I have been charging the car up using a slow 3 pin adaptor from the outside plug socket I had fitted last year.  I run the cable across the pavement covered by a highly visible, electric cable protective mat to keep things safe.  This has worked brilliantly and given the near 200 mile range of the car I have only had to top at a rapid charger a few times when on a really long journey.   Ideally I would have liked a proper EV charge point fitted to the front of my house so that I could get faster charging speeds, but grants are only available if you have off road parking unfortunately (could this be looked into by RCT Council?) and the slow charger works for me presently anyway.  If we were to get another EV then I would look at getting one fitted to help keep both cars charged.Whilst I agree that there is a strong role for local councils to play in helping roll out EV charging solutions to encourage EV take-up I believe that that privately funded charging will be the main driver.  The main thing you hear is "I can't have an EV because I can't park outside my house" and that is a fair point to some extent, however, you don't currently fill your fossil fuel car at home so why does this have to be the case with an EV?  I'd say that it's mainly because of the lack of public charging infrastructure locally.  If EVERY Tesco/Asda/Sainsbury etc supermarket had banks of rapid chargers in their store car parks you could combine your shopping visit with charging the car.  If every McDonalds/KFC etc had a number of rapid chargers you could do the same when popping out for food.  The aim is to be doing something else whilst the car is charging, not hanging around waiting for it to charge.  Obviously councils are not in control of the private sector in terms of rollout of EV chargers so they would need to have a strategy too but given the lack of finance available I believe that chargers should be rolled out strategically in a way that would mean they can be used in the most efficient manner.  Eg.  There is no point putting 7kw charging points in Park and Ride locations as the chargers will be blocked all day by commuters despite having had their cars filled after a small fraction of the time they are away from their car.  50kw rapid charger hubs should be located in town centres where there are other amenities available for them to use (shopping/coffee shops etc) whist charging, but putting time restrictions to ensure they are not blocked for longer than necessary (with penalties applied to no EV drivers who block the spaces)I believe that perhaps some kind of focus group where current EV owners are part of the consultations for good site locations would be helpful as as most EV owners in RCT could be considered 'early adopters' they have a keen interest in helping to develop the forward planning of EV infrastructure in the county and tend to have a good deal of experience on how EV charging can and should be done to benefit as many drivers as possible.Perhaps RCT Council should get in contact with private EV charging firms (Instavolt etc)to help them develop their network in the area, they install chargers to MAKE MONEY, so given assistance from the council I'm sure they would be more than willing start installing here, especially given the high proportion of housing with no off road parking meaning that their services would be required even more.I believe that RCT is currently the ONLY county in the whole of the UK that doesn't have a single Rapid (50+kw) charger within it's boundary.  I realise that there is one opening at Lidl in Porth shortly, and some (as yet unknown) EV charging going into Porth train station car park, but it's still a pretty poor record and this really needs to have some focus put on it now.As stated earlier, perhaps some kind of focus group that includes current/prospective EV owners would be helpful to help assist RCT with their long term EV strategy?  I'm sure a number of us would be happy to assist. on Facebook Share I ordered my first fully electric car in December 2019 though a salary sacrifice scheme at work with the intention of using it to commute from Ferndale to my workplace in Bridgend.  They have free electric vehicle charging on site as well as being very close to a Tesco that also has free EV charging so I thought it would make sense and save me money.   I don't have any dedicated off-road parking at my home, but I can park outside most of the time, but the intention was to charge at work mainly so there would be no need to worry about home charging anyway.  Things changed with Covid in that I have been working from home for more than a year now so I haven't done many miles in the car yet but equally, I can't charge at work either.  As an interim measure I have been charging the car up using a slow 3 pin adaptor from the outside plug socket I had fitted last year.  I run the cable across the pavement covered by a highly visible, electric cable protective mat to keep things safe.  This has worked brilliantly and given the near 200 mile range of the car I have only had to top at a rapid charger a few times when on a really long journey.   Ideally I would have liked a proper EV charge point fitted to the front of my house so that I could get faster charging speeds, but grants are only available if you have off road parking unfortunately (could this be looked into by RCT Council?) and the slow charger works for me presently anyway.  If we were to get another EV then I would look at getting one fitted to help keep both cars charged.Whilst I agree that there is a strong role for local councils to play in helping roll out EV charging solutions to encourage EV take-up I believe that that privately funded charging will be the main driver.  The main thing you hear is "I can't have an EV because I can't park outside my house" and that is a fair point to some extent, however, you don't currently fill your fossil fuel car at home so why does this have to be the case with an EV?  I'd say that it's mainly because of the lack of public charging infrastructure locally.  If EVERY Tesco/Asda/Sainsbury etc supermarket had banks of rapid chargers in their store car parks you could combine your shopping visit with charging the car.  If every McDonalds/KFC etc had a number of rapid chargers you could do the same when popping out for food.  The aim is to be doing something else whilst the car is charging, not hanging around waiting for it to charge.  Obviously councils are not in control of the private sector in terms of rollout of EV chargers so they would need to have a strategy too but given the lack of finance available I believe that chargers should be rolled out strategically in a way that would mean they can be used in the most efficient manner.  Eg.  There is no point putting 7kw charging points in Park and Ride locations as the chargers will be blocked all day by commuters despite having had their cars filled after a small fraction of the time they are away from their car.  50kw rapid charger hubs should be located in town centres where there are other amenities available for them to use (shopping/coffee shops etc) whist charging, but putting time restrictions to ensure they are not blocked for longer than necessary (with penalties applied to no EV drivers who block the spaces)I believe that perhaps some kind of focus group where current EV owners are part of the consultations for good site locations would be helpful as as most EV owners in RCT could be considered 'early adopters' they have a keen interest in helping to develop the forward planning of EV infrastructure in the county and tend to have a good deal of experience on how EV charging can and should be done to benefit as many drivers as possible.Perhaps RCT Council should get in contact with private EV charging firms (Instavolt etc)to help them develop their network in the area, they install chargers to MAKE MONEY, so given assistance from the council I'm sure they would be more than willing start installing here, especially given the high proportion of housing with no off road parking meaning that their services would be required even more.I believe that RCT is currently the ONLY county in the whole of the UK that doesn't have a single Rapid (50+kw) charger within it's boundary.  I realise that there is one opening at Lidl in Porth shortly, and some (as yet unknown) EV charging going into Porth train station car park, but it's still a pretty poor record and this really needs to have some focus put on it now.As stated earlier, perhaps some kind of focus group that includes current/prospective EV owners would be helpful to help assist RCT with their long term EV strategy?  I'm sure a number of us would be happy to assist. on Twitter Share I ordered my first fully electric car in December 2019 though a salary sacrifice scheme at work with the intention of using it to commute from Ferndale to my workplace in Bridgend.  They have free electric vehicle charging on site as well as being very close to a Tesco that also has free EV charging so I thought it would make sense and save me money.   I don't have any dedicated off-road parking at my home, but I can park outside most of the time, but the intention was to charge at work mainly so there would be no need to worry about home charging anyway.  Things changed with Covid in that I have been working from home for more than a year now so I haven't done many miles in the car yet but equally, I can't charge at work either.  As an interim measure I have been charging the car up using a slow 3 pin adaptor from the outside plug socket I had fitted last year.  I run the cable across the pavement covered by a highly visible, electric cable protective mat to keep things safe.  This has worked brilliantly and given the near 200 mile range of the car I have only had to top at a rapid charger a few times when on a really long journey.   Ideally I would have liked a proper EV charge point fitted to the front of my house so that I could get faster charging speeds, but grants are only available if you have off road parking unfortunately (could this be looked into by RCT Council?) and the slow charger works for me presently anyway.  If we were to get another EV then I would look at getting one fitted to help keep both cars charged.Whilst I agree that there is a strong role for local councils to play in helping roll out EV charging solutions to encourage EV take-up I believe that that privately funded charging will be the main driver.  The main thing you hear is "I can't have an EV because I can't park outside my house" and that is a fair point to some extent, however, you don't currently fill your fossil fuel car at home so why does this have to be the case with an EV?  I'd say that it's mainly because of the lack of public charging infrastructure locally.  If EVERY Tesco/Asda/Sainsbury etc supermarket had banks of rapid chargers in their store car parks you could combine your shopping visit with charging the car.  If every McDonalds/KFC etc had a number of rapid chargers you could do the same when popping out for food.  The aim is to be doing something else whilst the car is charging, not hanging around waiting for it to charge.  Obviously councils are not in control of the private sector in terms of rollout of EV chargers so they would need to have a strategy too but given the lack of finance available I believe that chargers should be rolled out strategically in a way that would mean they can be used in the most efficient manner.  Eg.  There is no point putting 7kw charging points in Park and Ride locations as the chargers will be blocked all day by commuters despite having had their cars filled after a small fraction of the time they are away from their car.  50kw rapid charger hubs should be located in town centres where there are other amenities available for them to use (shopping/coffee shops etc) whist charging, but putting time restrictions to ensure they are not blocked for longer than necessary (with penalties applied to no EV drivers who block the spaces)I believe that perhaps some kind of focus group where current EV owners are part of the consultations for good site locations would be helpful as as most EV owners in RCT could be considered 'early adopters' they have a keen interest in helping to develop the forward planning of EV infrastructure in the county and tend to have a good deal of experience on how EV charging can and should be done to benefit as many drivers as possible.Perhaps RCT Council should get in contact with private EV charging firms (Instavolt etc)to help them develop their network in the area, they install chargers to MAKE MONEY, so given assistance from the council I'm sure they would be more than willing start installing here, especially given the high proportion of housing with no off road parking meaning that their services would be required even more.I believe that RCT is currently the ONLY county in the whole of the UK that doesn't have a single Rapid (50+kw) charger within it's boundary.  I realise that there is one opening at Lidl in Porth shortly, and some (as yet unknown) EV charging going into Porth train station car park, but it's still a pretty poor record and this really needs to have some focus put on it now.As stated earlier, perhaps some kind of focus group that includes current/prospective EV owners would be helpful to help assist RCT with their long term EV strategy?  I'm sure a number of us would be happy to assist. on Linkedin Email I ordered my first fully electric car in December 2019 though a salary sacrifice scheme at work with the intention of using it to commute from Ferndale to my workplace in Bridgend.  They have free electric vehicle charging on site as well as being very close to a Tesco that also has free EV charging so I thought it would make sense and save me money.   I don't have any dedicated off-road parking at my home, but I can park outside most of the time, but the intention was to charge at work mainly so there would be no need to worry about home charging anyway.  Things changed with Covid in that I have been working from home for more than a year now so I haven't done many miles in the car yet but equally, I can't charge at work either.  As an interim measure I have been charging the car up using a slow 3 pin adaptor from the outside plug socket I had fitted last year.  I run the cable across the pavement covered by a highly visible, electric cable protective mat to keep things safe.  This has worked brilliantly and given the near 200 mile range of the car I have only had to top at a rapid charger a few times when on a really long journey.   Ideally I would have liked a proper EV charge point fitted to the front of my house so that I could get faster charging speeds, but grants are only available if you have off road parking unfortunately (could this be looked into by RCT Council?) and the slow charger works for me presently anyway.  If we were to get another EV then I would look at getting one fitted to help keep both cars charged.Whilst I agree that there is a strong role for local councils to play in helping roll out EV charging solutions to encourage EV take-up I believe that that privately funded charging will be the main driver.  The main thing you hear is "I can't have an EV because I can't park outside my house" and that is a fair point to some extent, however, you don't currently fill your fossil fuel car at home so why does this have to be the case with an EV?  I'd say that it's mainly because of the lack of public charging infrastructure locally.  If EVERY Tesco/Asda/Sainsbury etc supermarket had banks of rapid chargers in their store car parks you could combine your shopping visit with charging the car.  If every McDonalds/KFC etc had a number of rapid chargers you could do the same when popping out for food.  The aim is to be doing something else whilst the car is charging, not hanging around waiting for it to charge.  Obviously councils are not in control of the private sector in terms of rollout of EV chargers so they would need to have a strategy too but given the lack of finance available I believe that chargers should be rolled out strategically in a way that would mean they can be used in the most efficient manner.  Eg.  There is no point putting 7kw charging points in Park and Ride locations as the chargers will be blocked all day by commuters despite having had their cars filled after a small fraction of the time they are away from their car.  50kw rapid charger hubs should be located in town centres where there are other amenities available for them to use (shopping/coffee shops etc) whist charging, but putting time restrictions to ensure they are not blocked for longer than necessary (with penalties applied to no EV drivers who block the spaces)I believe that perhaps some kind of focus group where current EV owners are part of the consultations for good site locations would be helpful as as most EV owners in RCT could be considered 'early adopters' they have a keen interest in helping to develop the forward planning of EV infrastructure in the county and tend to have a good deal of experience on how EV charging can and should be done to benefit as many drivers as possible.Perhaps RCT Council should get in contact with private EV charging firms (Instavolt etc)to help them develop their network in the area, they install chargers to MAKE MONEY, so given assistance from the council I'm sure they would be more than willing start installing here, especially given the high proportion of housing with no off road parking meaning that their services would be required even more.I believe that RCT is currently the ONLY county in the whole of the UK that doesn't have a single Rapid (50+kw) charger within it's boundary.  I realise that there is one opening at Lidl in Porth shortly, and some (as yet unknown) EV charging going into Porth train station car park, but it's still a pretty poor record and this really needs to have some focus put on it now.As stated earlier, perhaps some kind of focus group that includes current/prospective EV owners would be helpful to help assist RCT with their long term EV strategy?  I'm sure a number of us would be happy to assist. link