It's a jungle out there: where and how to recharge your electric car.

[RobertArthur]

To my surprise I've just been reading an article about the sometimes chaotic way they've organised the public charging system in France. Why surprised? It was a translation on a Dutch government website of a report published already in September this year in 'La Tribune". I'm not reading the French newspapers 24/7.....

Because of the copyright issue only these translations, summing up the chaos in rather neutral language:

' Access to recharging infrastructure therefore remains a concern for electric vehicle drivers. Although 80% of recharging is done at home or at the workplace, the remaining 20% is done at public charging stations and is criticised for its complexity and the unreliability of some networks.

According to a survey conducted by the charging station operator NewMotion, "intelligent recharging" is perceived - by six out of ten drivers - as essential to democratise the adoption of electric cars. Recharging raises a number of issues (multiple charging cards, plug compatibility, pricing methods), which require concrete solutions. '

One of the happy electric car owners is not very pleased at all:

' Stéphane lives in Paris. There he rents an underground car park without charging facilities. So he has to find a public charging point. Problem: that's anything but fun. Between the charging stations that do not work, the spaces already occupied by thermal vehicles or vehicles that are not connected, such as the Zity rental cars, Stéphane has great difficulty finding an available charging station.
There is also competition from the 100% electric taxis that abound in his neighbourhood. Stéphane therefore has to drive a long way, wasting precious electricity. So when he goes to find a charging point, he always takes his computer with him so he can work in a nearby café. He has also discovered that it is better to interrupt your charging session after an hour and then restart it because the price goes up after an hour of charging. '

[niemeyjt]

The ideal solution of running a wire out of your house and into the car is so unsuitable in so many scenarios.

[Hotrodder]

Such a shame I can't post an image on the site anymore.

[Char]

Such a shame I can't post an image on the site anymore.

why can't you post an image on here anymore?

[RobertArthur]

Pictures please: an alternative, no recharging necessary, wind-up cars also appearing on the streets:

[Hotrodder]

Such a shame I can't post an image on the site anymore.

why can't you post an image on here anymore?

I don't really know. I select the image to upload. The jpeg title shows up but there is nothing to click to place it in the dialogue box apart from Delete. And at the end there is a greyed out triangle with an exclamation mark in it. I don't have an image hosting site so I have always just browsed to the image on my hard drive and used it from there. It works on other sites but not this one.

[RobertArthur]

@ Hotrodder, posting photos on the forum.

[Hotrodder]

electric.jpg

[Char]

Scary stuff - I'm glad you managed to upload that, water and leccie don't mix very well do they.

[Hotrodder]

They build new housing estates on flood plains so it follows that they will install chargers in unsuitable places too.