Electric Vehicle Drivers In The UK Are Risking Death By Charging Their Car From Home’s Powerful Mains Supply, Charity Warns
Consumer protection charity, Electrical Safety First, has warned, that electric car drivers are putting themselves at significant risk, by not using appropriate charging infrastructure at home. The charity surveyed 1,500 EV owners, to include, both pure electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV). In a shocking revelation, 75% of respondents admitted to using ‘daisy-chaining’ extension leads to reach their electric car. Daisy-chaining, is a method of connecting multiple extension boards between the charging point and the electric vehicle. Even worse, EV drivers are extending these leads outside the house, leading to significant increase in electric shock and fire risks. The charity blames the lack of sufficient available public charging points as a primary cause, forcing home owners to adopt unsafe charging practices.
e-zoomed view: we certainly encourage the government to continue to promote policies that will ease the financial burden on electric car owners and increase public charging points for electric cars. EV drivers should take full advantage of the home charging incentive scheme and source an appropriate home charging point and installer. Basic home charging points start from £295. Electric car owners, must do their very best to follow best practices for charging and EV to reduce any risk of shock or fire. If in doubt, always ask!
Electric Revolution: There Are More UK Public Charge Points For Plug-In Vehicles Than Petrol Stations For The First Time Ever
New data from ZAP-MAP shows that there now 8,471 EV charging locations in the UK compared with 8,400 fuelling stations (as of May 2019). This is a ‘first’ for the fast developing electric car revolution in the UK. There are now over 200,000 plug-in cars on UK roads, with a million electric cars forecast for end 2022. In 2013, there were only 3,500 electric cars. Public charging infrastructure has increased by 57% in the past 12 months with nearly 14,000 charge points in these locations. The UK has also seen an increase in the deployment of rapid charging infrastructure, enabling EV drivers to charge within 40 minutes.
e-zoomed view: For all the criticisms about the limited public charging infrastructure in the UK, the overtaking of petrol stations by charging stations, is a significant positive milestone in the adoption of electric vehicles in the UK. Let’s put this in perspective. The first petrol station in England was opened a 100 years ago in 1919. It took a hundred years to install 8,400 petrol and diesel filling stations. In comparison, EV public charging infrastructure has achieved more, in far less than a decade.
Germany Extends 1.2 Bln Euro Electric Car Bonus To 2020
Germany continues its commitment to reducing the country’s carbon footprint. The extension of the electric car incentive is a continuation of the country’s commitment to clean energy and zero emission transportation. Like the UK government Plug-In Grant, the German incentive scheme will be for specific models of plug-in vehicles (pure electric) with buyers getting up to EUR 4,000 and EURO 3,000 for plug-in hybrids (PHEV). Some officials have called for an increase in the government grants from the current levels.
