As the United Kingdom deals with record floods and extreme heat, it is becoming increasingly clear that climate change is an issue that needs swift action. The UK’s plan of action involves replacing conventional internal combustion engine (“ICE”) vehicles with zero-emission electric vehicles (“EVs”), with the aim of eliminating the sale of new ICE vehicles by 2030. While it is an ambitious goal that could have significant benefits in the long run, EV adoption is still quite low.
A lot of experts and drivers agree that range anxiety has been a significant hindrance to EV adoption. To alleviate this issue, the government has dedicated most of its efforts toward developing a network of public charging stations. However, a new study has found that focusing on home charging infrastructure, especially for individuals without off street parking, would be a much better remedy for range anxiety. Since cars spend a majority of their lifetimes (at least 90%) parked outside their owners’ homes, investing in home chargers is a great way to address deficiencies in EV charging infrastructure.
According to official figures, 18 million to 27.6 million (65%) of British households have, or have the potential to have, enough street parking space for at least one vehicle, either passenger car or van. For the past 20 or so years, the average British vehicle has been on the road for only 4% of its lifetime, says the RAC Foundation, with the rest of the time spent parked either at home (73%) or somewhere else, typically at work (23%). For the 35% of drivers who live in homes that do not have access to off street parking, local authorities will have to find ways to provide home charging infrastructure to encourage them to switch to electric cars.
Regardless of the hurdles such a project will face, this presents a huge opportunity for charging electric vehicles as they become more accessible, says the RAC Foundation. The foundation’s director Steve Gooding says taking advantage of the cars’ “downtime” when they are parked rather than relying on public chargers would also come with cost savings.
Since the vehicle would be parked at home for hours at a time anyway, installing slower, cheaper chargers would be a feasible option. With English drivers consistently driving an average of 1 out of 24 hours since 1995, there would be plenty of time for drivers to charge their EVs, and if drivers only use their vehicles to go to work and run errands, a single charge would probably last at least a couple of days.
The government has invested plenty of resources into developing public charging infrastructure. Such a network would undoubtedly be a godsend for long-distance drivers, but focusing on home chargers would be a much better way of addressing range anxiety and making EV charging more accessible.
Plenty of outside-the-box thinking will be needed to convince more motorists to switch to electrified transport, and the entry of entities such as Net Element (NASDAQ: NETE) into the EV space may provide the fresh pair of eyes needed to spot a solution that will touch the hearts and minds of the motoring public.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Net Element (NASDAQ: NETE) are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/NETE
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