RANGE ANXIETY: Where am I most likely to find an electric vehicle chargepoint?
Petrol and diesel cars will soon be a thing of the past - whilst we all know it, motorists are still finding it hard to commit to fully electric cars on their drives.
And the time old justification for this? Range anxiety.
The charging network has come a long way since EVs first hit the roads. Electric car charging locations are popping up left, right and centre in most cities across the country and the world - but is it enough to sustain the electric vehicle revolution?
At Lease Fetcher, they decided to investigate where the public charging stations were located across the world, and separately in the UK, to see which locations are most or least likely to host an EV charger.
Looking at the UK specifically, Lease Fetcher did find a similar distribution of charging locations to Europe.
Nearly a third (30.1%) of all UK charging locations are found in car parks. These spots are convenient for a variety of EV motorists, from commuters to people hitting the city centre shops. Whilst you normally have to pay to use the charging points at these locations, they offer the convenience of charging your car while you go about your day, without rerouting to find a suitable spot elsewhere.
Hotels and shops are home to 15.9% and 10.6% of all charging locations respectively.
Hotels and shops are inclined to install chargers as a means to drive customers to their businesses - charging at these locations is sometimes free for customers. After narrowly making it across the highway, EV drivers can rest easy knowing that they are able to power up at their destination.
13.9% of charging locations are on public roads in the UK, making urban driving sustainable for shorter range cars. These locations are convenient for quick top ups.
Knowing that petrol stations will run their course in the next two decades, BP and Shell have big plans to roll out electric car charging stations at existing petrol stations. Currently only 4.8% of EV chargepoints in the UK are found on the forecourts.
By 2025, Shell will install 5,000 charging stations in the UK. This includes 1-2 charging points at each of its 500 petrol stations in addition to other locations.
Another big worry is motorway charging. This poses a real problem, as long-distance motorway driving already presents perhaps the biggest obstacle for electric cars with limited range.
To avoid the horror of grinding to a halt on the highway, EV drivers have to be more tactical about their routes. Rerouting the sat nav to go off track in search of a charging location in the nearest town centre or the cheapest car park is unfortunately second nature to many EV owners.
As long as the number of charging locations on major highways remains low, currently it stands at only 3.2% of available chargepoints, motorists may delay their transition to EVs to avoid riding the highway to range anxiety hell.
