Image credit: motorwayservices.uk
Net zero chaos: the UK grid just can’t meet current(!) EV requirements at busy travel times. Good luck if such a time happens to be a windless day. Electricity can’t easily be stored at the service station, like liquid fuels – who knew?
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Britain’s biggest motorway service station provider has brought in marshals to police “charge rage” among electric vehicle drivers battling for access to plug-in points, reports The Telegraph.
Moto chief executive Ken McMeikan warned the UK’s motorway service stations are facing growing “public disorder” due to a lack of grid connections preventing him from installing enough car chargers to meet the surge in demand.
It means many motorists are facing long waits, with angry drivers confronting staff and each other over the lack of charging facilities.
Mr McMeikan said the delays made drivers “very angry and stressed” and warned of the growing risk of “charge rage” on Britain’s motorways.
He said: “People need to drive their EV cars around without range anxiety, without long queues and without public disorder but at peak seasonal times we are experiencing all this now.”
Moto, which runs 49 motorway services around the UK, has already introduced marshalls at Exeter, Rugby and Wetherby to manage EV queues and prevent conflicts during busy periods.
Mr McMeikan, 58, who drives an EV himself, said he had told the government of the problem and warned ministers that public disorder incidents would grow.
He told The Telegraph: “I’ve been saying to them that the grid does not have sufficient capacity right now to deliver the power we need at the time we need it.
“If we don’t get that amount of power guaranteed, then in coming years every Christmas, every Easter, every summer holiday and peak bank holiday will be the equivalent of when we have a fuel crisis on petrol and diesel.”
Full report here.
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Telegraph, 9 September: Electric cars powered up by generators as grid delays slow charging point rollout
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
Madness!! We can see how close we are to a total breakdown of society with the toilet-roll shortages in that first year of COVID…
HayDude! that’s not kool!
I thought that all those Greeny people with posh EVs were Very peaceable people. – I mean going to all that lengths to Save the Planet for the grandchildren. Takes a special sort of person to think like that, eh?
Telegraph: The lack of action has forced Moto to seek planning permission for up to 25 solar farms next to its service stations to “guarantee an amount of power that we require for EV drivers,” Mr McMeikan said.
“I’m so frustrated and so concerned.”
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Guarantee? Need storage batteries to have any chance of that. Costs going up and up, someone has to pay.
Hmm so don’t come to MOTO on a dark day ?
John Lewis stops insuring electric cars over repair cost fears
Susceptibility of batteries to damage spurs company to pause EV cover
30 September 2023
Electric cars can be particularly expensive to repair, costing around a quarter more to fix on average, compared to a petrol or diesel vehicle, according to Thatcham Research, the motor industry’s research centre.
Particular worries surround the batteries, which are commonly mounted on the floor of the vehicle. This placement can make it more likely that it will be damaged even in a minor accident such as mounting a kerb.
. . .
Experts also say there is a shortage of technicians with the skills to carry out repairs.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/bills/insurance/john-lewis-stops-insuring-electric-cars/
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Going on a ferry with an EV – or not…
Norwegian Ferry Company Bans Electrified Vehicles From Being Transported on Its Ships
Published: 23 Jan 2023
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/norwegian-ferry-company-bans-electrified-vehicles-from-transport-on-its-ships-208942.html
Bear in mind the difference in energy density by weight between diesel and the best current battery technology is around two orders of magnitude:
Diesel: 44.8MJ/kg, lithium-ion battery: 0.46-0.72MJ/kg.
That means for the same distance a battery weighs 44.8 / 0.72 = 67.8 times as much as a tank of diesel.
That’s before taking into account that a diesel tank run full to empty weighs on average half its weight when full and a battery weighs the same charged or flat.
All the improved battery technology in the known universe isn’t going to compensate for that.
catweazle666 says:
a battery weighs the same charged or flat.
All the improved battery technology in the known universe isn’t going to compensate for that.
Then repeat this about ten times:
for the same distance a battery weighs 44.8 / 0.72 = 67.8 times as much as a tank of diesel
Plan B?
Ferrybridge motorway service station forced to bring in generator to power new EV chargers
March 5, 2021
Moto has had to bring in a generator – fuelled by hydrogenated vegetable oil – to provide the power
. . .
“If we are in this situation now it’s going to be dire, even in a couple of years’ time.”
https://translogistics.net/2023/08/ferrybridge-motorway-service-station-forced-to-bring-in-generator-to-power-new-ev-chargers/
[…] Motorway service stations hiring staff to police surging levels of EV ‘charge rage’ […]
This is nothing compared to the future civil war developing from the less wealthy motorists who will face a pincer movement from very high ICE fuel prices with poor availability, coupled with high per-mile tolls on use of their cars as will be experienced by Battery-electric Cars.
The cause; governments liberating spiralling amounts of hard-earned cash from the cash-strapped motorists struggling to get to work. But hold hard, I have an idea. What about if the government slims down and cuts the crap, becomes more intelligent, plans multi-modal future sources for energy and hires achieving project managers to put in an efficient infrastructure to make it all flow to the consumer?
Is it too much to ask?
Yes it IS too much to ask: ” hires achieving project managers” achieving project managers at the expense of others ( Workers / PRODUCERS ) such as Farmers and those who help / work to keep them going to get the FOOD to your door. etc. Sowing a Seed or two. Yes I know Winter is coming, but some seeds are the better for being cast out this now. GO think about it.
Largest EV Charging Station In World Powered By Diesel Generators
OCT 2, 2023
https://climatechangedispatch.com/largest-ev-charging-station-in-world-powered-by-diesel-generators/
[…] Net zero chaos: the UK grid just can’t meet current(!) EV requirements at busy travel times. Good luck if such a time happens to be a windless day. Electricity can’t easily be stored at the service station, like liquid fuels – who knew? – – – Britain’s biggest motorway service station provider has brought in […]Motorway service stations hiring staff to police surging levels of EV ‘charge rage’ […]
Electric car charging chaos rages on with drivers vowing to ditch EVs and ‘go back to diesel’
03/10/2023
Motorists have claimed that they have been forced to wait for hours to charge their electric cars.
. . .
Ken McMeikan, chief executive of Moto, said people were “very angry and stressed” because of long waits at EV charging stations.
https://www.gbnews.com/lifestyle/electric-car-charging-chaos-ditch-evs-diesel
Yes, I think those types of EV drivers are really, I mean R E A L L Y stupid. Did they manage to read n write enough to pass their driving tests? Not rocket science about how EVs work and that they need charging – which takes a while. Did this all just happen overnight? or have I been away in the backwoods of Scotland & missed something?