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UK Drivers - Can You Charge an EV from a Lampost?
- Thread starter The Fed
- Start date
I’ve not seen any lamp post EV charge points in my part of the UK, but then I’ve not been looking.
Lamp post charging is seen as a solution to EV charging where the EV owner doesn’t have off street parking / off street charging facilities (e.g. high rise apartments, terraced housing). The lamp posts have charging points integrated into them and I’m assuming there’ll be a payment card reader in the lamp post so users have a means of paying for the electricity they’ve used to charge their vehicles.
However, in the UK not all streets have street lighting, and those that do may have insufficient lamp posts with charge points to meet demand, so it won’t be a complete solution. Those EV owners without their own off street home charging facilities or easy access to on-street lamp post charge point will probably have to use the public charging stations - the electric equivalent of the fuel (gas) station. I’m assuming the public charging stations be the most expensive EV charging option too, as there’d be a need for (expensive) rapid charging to get vehicles charged quickly to free up the charge points for other waiting vehicles.
You can read more about lamp post charging it at the link below. I’ve not read it so if you do, you’ll know more about the subject than me.
https://www.ubitricity.com/
Lamp post charging is seen as a solution to EV charging where the EV owner doesn’t have off street parking / off street charging facilities (e.g. high rise apartments, terraced housing). The lamp posts have charging points integrated into them and I’m assuming there’ll be a payment card reader in the lamp post so users have a means of paying for the electricity they’ve used to charge their vehicles.
However, in the UK not all streets have street lighting, and those that do may have insufficient lamp posts with charge points to meet demand, so it won’t be a complete solution. Those EV owners without their own off street home charging facilities or easy access to on-street lamp post charge point will probably have to use the public charging stations - the electric equivalent of the fuel (gas) station. I’m assuming the public charging stations be the most expensive EV charging option too, as there’d be a need for (expensive) rapid charging to get vehicles charged quickly to free up the charge points for other waiting vehicles.
You can read more about lamp post charging it at the link below. I’ve not read it so if you do, you’ll know more about the subject than me.
https://www.ubitricity.com/
Last edited:
dtfd
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Massachusetts
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- MK7.5 GTI
Also,
And I can't believe this isn't a bigger problem.
If I was a youth, I would go around unplugging everyone's electric car if they were that easily accessible. They get up in the morning to go to work and come out to realize their electric car has been unplugged overnight? That is comedy.
And I can't believe this isn't a bigger problem.
If I was a youth, I would go around unplugging everyone's electric car if they were that easily accessible. They get up in the morning to go to work and come out to realize their electric car has been unplugged overnight? That is comedy.
I think that if the car’s locked, then the charging cable is locked onto the car’s charging point and apparently it’s also locked onto the charging source at the other end of the cable. How that works (i.e. locking onto the charging source) I have no idea. To disconnect the cable from the car while charging requires the car to be unlocked, so if the youth you mention manages to unlock the vehicle, then they could also disconnect the charging cable from the car, but that seems to be a lot of trouble to go to just to disconnect someone’s car ‘for fun’ to stop the battery charging.
What might be more of an issue is breaking off the hinged charge point flap (the equivalent of the petrol filler flap) from the vehicle by intoxicated individuals returning home late after an evening out, because they think it’s a fun thing to do. Alternatively, if the charge point flap is on the ‘wrong side’ of the vehicle (i.e. roadside rather than pavement (sidewalk) side, those flaps might get damaged by passing traffic in a narrow street.
Theft of charging cables for the copper core has been highlighted as a potential issue too.
https://www.askthecarexpert.com/electric-car-charging-cables/