Graphic:
how electric stations will work
Is the future of motoring electric? Only if a whole new infrastructure of
charging points is put in place. Even state-of-the-art batteries need to be
topped up after a hundred or so miles of travel, so unless every journey
begins and ends at home, the electric equivalent of a network of filling
stations is required. Evoasis, an American company, plans to build exactly
that.
Evoasis’s designs feature off-street bays for up to 24 cars to recharge at the
same time, with electricity supplied not in the 220-volt form accepted by
most current models of electric vehicle, but at up to 440 volts — powerful
enough to charge a suitably adapted car in about 20 minutes.
Because of the dangers involved with such high voltages, the recharge would be
performed by station staff. Each station would maintain a “tack room” of
cables to ensure that every make of electric car could be catered for (to
get a glimpse of the potential chaos waiting in the future, just think of
the jumble of mobile phone chargers and connectors).
Drivers could wait out the time in their cars, watching television on screens
built into each recharging unit, or retire to the 4,000 sq ft coffee shop
above the station. Fast internet access and computer work stations for hire
are promised.
The first of these sites would be in London, chosen because of its population
density and the fact that it has embraced recharging technology. Westminster
council, for example, has set up 60 “juice points” in the borough, mostly in
car parks but a dozen of them on the street.
Subscribers pay a £75 annual fee for a key to unlock the points and a cable to
connect their vehicle; they subsequently receive a bill for any electricity
used. There are a further 28 points in other London boroughs.
There are drawbacks to the Westminster system, however. The subscription model
means the points are not available to casual users; the voltage supplied is
only the same as you could draw from a domestic plug, giving a G-Wiz car,
for example, a recharging time of several hours; and the idea of leaving
your car unattended for that amount of time with a cable sticking out of it
is one that few drivers will entertain.
Evoasis’s electric filling stations, developed in conjunction with EPR
Architects, could be the solution, and there is no shortage of potential
sites. With petrol stations shutting down across the capital, the company
has a wide choice of locations and — unlike companies looking to build
on-street charging bays — it would not need planning permission, because
technically there is no change in usage.
“Although we will not be able to sell petrol and other fuel because of the
high voltages on site, we hope our stations will offer electricity at
competitive prices because it will be subsidised by our other revenue
streams like refreshments,” said Angus Clark, chief executive officer of
Evoasis. It appears that amid all this change, the 24-hour garage shop will
survive.
Clark said his company is “pretty close” to a decision on several London
locations, and hopes to have as many as six stations open by the end of the
year.
The company is primarily looking at sites next to London’s electric-powered
railway networks, because the substations required to channel large amounts
of power from the national grid are in place there. But there is actually
little specialist hardware needed to get a station working — a similar
system exists in California, although it’s not yet available to private car
drivers.
Almost all of the state’s electric-powered heavy lifters and forklift trucks —
“yellow gear”, in industry parlance — are kept running via a network of
5,000 recharge points on commercial premises, where operators leave their
vehicles charging overnight, with a top-up over lunch.
Evoasis is also looking to enlist car hire firms to offer short-term electric
car hire at its stations. The idea is that you step off a train and hire a
charged-up electric car for your day in town.
The electricity required has to be generated somehow. Evoasis promises to use
green energy wherever possible — Ecotricity, a British wind-generator
company, claims that the country’s entire fleet of cars could be kept
running by just 5,000 wind turbines — topped up by solar panels in the roof
of its stations (a concept that sounds more convincing uttered at the
company’s San Diego headquarters than in gloomy London).
Each station would also build up a bank of old electric car batteries and
charge them overnight using off-peak electricity. Clark claims that even a
technically expired battery still has up to 65% of its storage capacity
intact, giving it many further years of useful life.
Other countries are looking at different charging models. Denmark, for
instance, in January earmarked ¤103m (£95m) to establish an electric
car-charging network.
It has joined up with Better Place, an Israeli company, to set up battery-swap
stations across the country. Every 100 miles or so, drivers of electric cars
will use modified sat nav software to locate the nearest station, pull in,
have their depleted battery swapped for a fully charged one and drive off —
all in the same amount of time it would take to fill a tank with petrol.
The batteries would have been charged with green electricity derived from the
country’s numerous wind-generated power schemes.
In its home country, from next year, Better Place plans to operate a similar
scheme using solar power instead. It has also signed a deal with the
Renault-Nissan alliance to offer electric vehicles for sale and rent from
2011.
It’s no coincidence that countries outside the US are taking the lead in these
holistic schemes — ones that put as much emphasis on where electricity is
generated and how it is stored as on the nature of the cars and their
batteries.
Despite the enthusiasm of its car makers, America is not well suited to
electric vehicles as the technology stands. Average car journeys are too
long and its cities too sprawling to fit well with the limited-capacity
vehicles likely to take to the roads in the near future.
The UK is much better placed to benefit from the electric car revolution. And
London could be where it all starts coming together.
