Climate Change

Where will we charge our electric cars?

A child born today may take a driving test in 2040, if the rules don’t change and self driving cars don’t take over. That child may never drive a petrol or diesel car. For today’s drivers the switch to electric draws closer day by day. Although the ban on the sale of new petrol or diesel cars has been put back to 2035, the number on our roads will probably have reduced dramatically as a result of the progressive reduction in the number allowed to be sold. The aim is that 80% of new cars sold by 2030 will be electric.

What if you can’t charge at home?

The Government’s guidance indicates that most cars will be charged at home, but those who can’t will need to charge elsewhere. Technology may bring new solutions, but for the moment we have to plan on what we have available now.

How big is the problem?

The question is already being asked locally and at some point, before we come up with a solution, we need to establish the scale of the potential problem. If most charging will be done at home, then we need to assess the scale and time frame of the need for charging away from home. This means identifying -

• 
  how many homes in the village cannot charge from the domestic supply
  

• how many of these homes have one or more electric vehicles (EV)
  

• how many homes intend to switch to an EV within, say, 1, 3 or 5 years
  

• how many feel that workplace charging, shopping centre or service station charging will not meet their need.

The availability of charging is growing, but some say it is not fast enough. Shell Service Station near County Hall has recently installed EV chargers, and filling stations will no doubt be repurposed to cater for local needs as well as those who are driving long distances beyond their battery capacity. Zap-map.com helps find the nearest public charging points.

Charging is available at some supermarkets, and early indications are that charging at the places we visit ((destination charging) will continue to grow. Since 2017 Lidl has installed rapid chargers at more than 300 stores, our nearest currently being at the Oadby and Wigston branches. In 2020 Aldi partnered with Shell to provide charge points at new stores. Tesco has charging at Hamilton and off Hinckley Road, but has not answered the question about plans for Beaumont Leys. Morrisons started installing EV charging in 2019, but at Glenfield say there is nothing to report yet. Customers at the Co-op at Laundon Way do not spend long enough instore to make it worthwhile, and the Central Co-op HQ have not responded about the Leicester Road store.

Where there is a problem someone will see a marketing opportunity, and for many organisations EV charging is a commercial opportunity. No doubt more solutions will be suggested as deadlines approach.

Kerbside charging may not sound like a good idea because of the limited space, health and safety and trip hazards of charging cables. But here again technology is finding answers and some borough councils have been trialling new kerbside units since 2021. They are effectively sockets in the pavement that are flat and flush to the surface when not in use.

Although some Parish Councils may have car parks where perhaps EV charging could be installed, they are not utility suppliers and in addition there may be good practical reasons why they should not be involved.

Other costs a cause for concern

It isn’t just charging which is of concern to many motorists, it’s the costs currently associated with EV motoring, though in time these may fall. The Guardian reported that some EV owners found that insurance companies would not quote for covering their car. One driver found that his premium jumped from £1200 to more than £5,000. Another had his renewal rise from £447 to £4,661.

This is not typical, and figures from Confused.com show that EV insurance premiums are 72% – or £402 – higher than this time last year, at a typical £959. For petrol and diesel car drivers, the increase is 29% (£848). Analysts say claims costs are 25% higher for electric cars, and that they take about 14% longer to repair.

The cost and availability of parts is a factor, there is also concern around the batteries, and that damage, especially to the underside, can be expensive to fix. Add a skills shortage predicted to be about 16,000 EV qualified mechanics by 2032 and you have the perfect storm. As small garages fall behind in the skills race it is forecast that many will eventually leave the trade.

If you have an EV, recharging on the motorway may be problematic. This month The Sun has reported that wait times for EV chargers are sparking furious rows between angry drivers, with marshals being forced to keep the peace at some motorway service stations to manage “charge rage” between drivers.

The Department for Transport says charging points are far from readily available, with some parts of the country having none at all. The finger of blame is often pointed at the lack of capacity on the power grid.

There’s good news, too

The good news is that one local couple report that they do 12,000 miles a year, charge their car for around £12 a month at home, and recently took a problem free drive to Scotland. Contrary to the scare stories, their insurance is now less than their old petrol car. Electric cars? They love them.

Borough Council climate performance analysed

February 2020 A Friends of the Earth (FOE) website will be of interest to those who want to know more about how well local authorities are working towards lowering emissions. FOE analysed how different local authority areas across England and Wales are taking action to cut greenhouse gases, and compared local authority areas with other similar areas.

They believe Hinckley and Bosworth's (HBBC) performance on climate change, though better than many others, is nevertheless poor compared to some similar local authority areas. They argue that all local authorities, even the best performing, need to do much more if climate catastrophe is to be averted. Hinckley and Bosworth particularly needs to do much better on increasing the use of public transport, cycling, and walking, and improving home insulation. In Hinckley and Bosworth 35% of emissions come from housing, 33% from transport, and 31% are industrial and commercial emissions.

There are different estimates of how fast the UK should reduce greenhouse gas emissions if it’s to do its fair share in combating climate change, ranging from around 7% to over 25% per year. Researchers at the Tyndall Centre in Manchester University say that Hinckley and Bosworth should reduce emissions by at least 14% per year.

The FOE analysis is, of course, based on historical data but shows the challenging situation that faces the Borough, The incoming Lib Dem administration last May will no doubt argue that the analysis shows that it was right to declare a Climate Emergency, and to pledge to work towards making the Council carbon neutral by 2030. It also said it would call on Westminster to provide the powers and resources necessary for the Council to achieve the target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, and to implement best practice methods to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius.

FOE agrees with HBBC that the government needs to provide local authorities with the powers and resources to do more, and says it needs to do much more itself. All local authorities should adopt an ambitious local climate action plan, like the one that HBBC is preparing, and should declare a climate emergency as a sign of political intent.

The action plan being prepared will detail the leadership role HBBC will take in promoting community, public, business and other council partnerships to achieve this carbon neutral 2030 commitment throughout the borough. The action plan will also outline the staff time and resources required to undertake the actions to achieve the targets. All possible sources of external funding and match funding to support this commitment will be investigated.

Executive Member for Climate Change Cllr Martin Cartwright said: “We recognise the role the council has to play with officers and members working together on the Borough Council's plan, but this is something we cannot do alone. Everyone has to play their part and we will be working with local organisations and businesses to ensure collectively we can work towards meeting the targets declared in the climate change emergency. We are under no illusions that there will be some difficult choices that we all need to make that is why we are developing our plans over a number of months to make sure we consider the impacts of our decisions. The full official Climate Emergency Plan will be published in due course.”

The suggested targets

The people most vulnerable to climate change are often those on lower incomes, despite having done the least to cause it because of their lower levels of consumption. For example, people with lower incomes are less able to replace and repair damage from flooding or insure against it.

Researchers have identified over 10,000 neighbourhoods across the UK where people are particularly vulnerable to flooding due to their location and factors such as income. HBBC has 3 of these neighbourhoods with high social flood risk for surface flooding, taking account a range of vulnerability factors. FOE says the local authority needs to target these areas for support in order to help people living there prepare for extreme weather and respond and recover when it occurs. It also suggests targets for a range of other activities -

• • Cease supporting or promoting new high carbon infrastructure, such as roads or airports

  • Annual emissions reductions – 14%

  • Insulate 2,638 homes per year

  • Fit 1,572 eco-heating systems, such as heat pumps, each year

  • Increase to 49% by 2030 the proportion of commuters walking, cycling or using public transport

  • Aim to have 40% of staff who travel to work by car doing so by lift-sharing

  • Have at least 64 electric vehicle charging stations by 2030

  • Have at least 82MW renewable energy

  • Aim to double tree cover

  • Increase household waste reuse, recycling and composting to 70% by 2025

  • Reduce investment in fossil fuel companies to zero as soon as possible.

How the Councils compared

The best performing council in the FOE September 2019 climate-friendly test is Wiltshire (92%). Hinckley and Bosworth scored 56% and other local councils scored -

• • Harborough 52%

  • Blaby 52%

  • Oadby and Wigston 52%

  • Melton 56%

  • Leicester City 64%

  • North West Leicestershire 72%

  • Charnwood 72%

Using their online post code search may give slightly different results to these figures which are taken from the published FOE table “Performance on climate change by local authority area in England and Wales”. The website address is very long but if you google Grobylinx you'll find a shortcut. There's also lots more information linked from https://friendsoftheearth.uk/climate-friendly-communities