mmm well in impact terms I think the thinking has changed , in part because everyone was thinking the EV would somthing you plugged in and charged overnight , so all the various roadside charging and supermarket chargers were the first to appear , and then range scares changed the thinking to placing them at distances to take this worry away. The energy grid people (and myself a couple of years ago) thought we could only do night time charging and cross our fingers in peak load periods , that main distribution transformers didnt start glowing. 

EVs are still pretty rare but the running costs are attractive , and some people are wary of the battery replacment problem , as it devalues the actual non battery bit so much. 

The battery technology has come along , but no where near the recyclability that is needed , and if thinking about the enviromental problems that the spent batteries coould create , the first car maker that truly cracks the battery problem will see its rivals off , so its abit of race at the moment , high rate chargers damage batteries , as does charging discharging cycles , a charging regieme that makes battery last 3 times longer sooner or later will be a factor , at the moment everyone is thinking it will be 20 min charging , at mostly the supermarket , or seaside parking, and this is perhaps for EV users who dont have a drive to park on , as street charging can (although some loverly designs have been done to charge from lamposts or kerbside) . But and this is big but from a national infrastructure point of view the EV has big problems , AC has to be rectified to DC and unlike the efficiency of modern transformers , rectifiers at the moment have around a 4% energy loss , and that will add up. DC power from a renewbale could make DC charging stations , so a renewable can supply directly , but this AC to DC problem will start to focus on the equipment converstion efficiency in the EV charger , at the moment EV chargers are being rated on useability and easof payment and use , which is fine at this early stage , but the national grid must be thinking somewhere if 23 million people put there car on charge at 6pm on a friday in winter what could happen ??

The EV is new way of thinking and companies are finding solutions , infrastructure if specified wrong or poorly will place a big bill down the line , the batteries are improving , but not from the recycling perspective and its obvious to me that in changing to EVs it has to deliver true green technology over fossil fuel technology , or someone going to do a calculation that a 1 litre petrol engine really is better than 45kwh EV , other problem stats are for high speed running , where car aerodynamics are needed to make the battery go further , at the moment winter/cold weather running is thought to require 15% more electricty than summer temperature running , and high speed 70/80mph really does make range issues a problem as your battery can sudenly (particluary if has lost charge holding efficiency from new ) be less predicatable. 

If we have good batteries that recharge in less than 10 minutes , the whole pattern could change , but my guess is people will charge at home where they have a drive , and people that dont have a drive will charge at the supermarket or resturant or car park or work carpark , so i wouldnt rush on the street charging idea just yet . The right battery comes along and it could all change .

mmm well in impact terms I think the thinking has changed , in part because everyone was thinking the EV would somthing you plugged in and charged overnight , so all the various roadside charging and supermarket chargers were the first to appear , and then range scares changed the thinking to placing them at distances to take this worry away. The energy grid people (and myself a couple of years ago) thought we could only do night time charging and cross our fingers in peak load periods , that main distribution transformers didnt start glowing. 

EVs are still pretty rare but the running costs are attractive , and some people are wary of the battery replacment problem , as it devalues the actual non battery bit so much. 

The battery technology has come along , but no where near the recyclability that is needed , and if thinking about the enviromental problems that the spent batteries coould create , the first car maker that truly cracks the battery problem will see its rivals off , so its abit of race at the moment , high rate chargers damage batteries , as does charging discharging cycles , a charging regieme that makes battery last 3 times longer sooner or later will be a factor , at the moment everyone is thinking it will be 20 min charging , at mostly the supermarket , or seaside parking, and this is perhaps for EV users who dont have a drive to park on , as street charging can (although some loverly designs have been done to charge from lamposts or kerbside) . But and this is big but from a national infrastructure point of view the EV has big problems , AC has to be rectified to DC and unlike the efficiency of modern transformers , rectifiers at the moment have around a 4% energy loss , and that will add up. DC power from a renewbale could make DC charging stations , so a renewable can supply directly , but this AC to DC problem will start to focus on the equipment converstion efficiency in the EV charger , at the moment EV chargers are being rated on useability and easof payment and use , which is fine at this early stage , but the national grid must be thinking somewhere if 23 million people put there car on charge at 6pm on a friday in winter what could happen ??

The EV is new way of thinking and companies are finding solutions , infrastructure if specified wrong or poorly will place a big bill down the line , the batteries are improving , but not from the recycling perspective and its obvious to me that in changing to EVs it has to deliver true green technology over fossil fuel technology , or someone going to do a calculation that a 1 litre petrol engine really is better than 45kwh EV , other problem stats are for high speed running , where car aerodynamics are needed to make the battery go further , at the moment winter/cold weather running is thought to require 15% more electricty than summer temperature running , and high speed 70/80mph really does make range issues a problem as your battery can sudenly (particluary if has lost charge holding efficiency from new ) be less predicatable. 

If we have good batteries that recharge in less than 10 minutes , the whole pattern could change , but my guess is people will charge at home where they have a drive , and people that dont have a drive will charge at the supermarket or resturant or car park or work carpark , so i wouldnt rush on the street charging idea just yet . The right battery comes along and it could all change .