Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

I kid you not.

(Paywall)

https://www.ft.com/content/7f98ab48-...6-46fc3ad87c65

Re: Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

Non-paywall link

Re: Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

Probably only trickle charge at peak times. :D

Re: Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

Do cabinets really have the kind of high capacity power supply to them that would allow this, and still power the cabinet ? Seems a bit unlikely to me.

Re: Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

Unlikely to you, but they do and it works and has been proven to do so.

The question, and only question, is if it’s commercially viable.

Re: Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

In our area the powered cabinets are every 500 metres or so, & run a load of slave cabinets with no mains.

This will also make any powered cabinet a magnet for car parking. Thankfully our street cab is not mains powered, as it is right adjacent to our driveway.

Conversion of streetlighting columns to charge points is a far better option.

It is also to be seen what the health & safety brigade will make of cables trailling across footpaths & sidewalks to get to these charge points.

Re: Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

I suppose it depends how it's done. It could be that it's simpler to use the cabinet supply as the source and spread out the charging points along the road via the cable ducts.

Doing that is cheaper that running whole new supplies by digging down to the electrical cables and starting from there.[COLOR="Silver"]

I wonder if the move to LED lighting would be an issue there as the supplies to the poles may be lower rated than is needed for cars.

Re: Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

I think this must be what is being proposed. You couldn't actually connect the car directly to the cabinet, because it would mean either trailing cables across the pavement or parking on it.

On the other hand, it could mean there is more spare capacity.

Re: Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

I've seen the guage of cabling to lamp posts when ours were being upgraded. It's pretty low current being about the diameter of a Biro. Of course it can be upsized if needed but that also means digging up the paths.

Re: Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

Charging is 100% usless in my street, we don't have guaranteed parking, we only two street lights.

Re: Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

It is potentially a good use for their existing infrastructure, and potentially a good source of income (even if it's free initially, I shouldn't think for a second it's going to stay free).

That said, while battery technology is better than it was a few years ago, I think people will have to change their attitude toward powering the car.

With a fossil fuel car, you can go into the fuel station with almost no fuel, and have a full tank in a few minutes. That's not feasible with current battery technology, and I don't think it's going to be feasible for a long time. Electric cars apparently work best if you fully charge them over night, then use chargers outside the house to top up the charge, if necessary.

Even Tesla seem to have given up the fight to give electric cars a full charge quickly, and seem to have switched tactics so they are putting superchargers in places where there are things to do, so people won't mind hanging round for hours while the car charges, rather than building service stations all over the country where they swap your empty battery for a fully charged one.

Reading this post again, it appears I am quite anti electric cars. I am not. One of my neighbours has a Tesla Model S, and I think it's an amazing car. I would buy one tomorrow if I could afford it, and I could drive. And yes, my neighbour does charge it overnight, ready for work in the morning, then top up the charge if and when needed.

Re: Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

I suspect that most people will do as they do with their mobile phones and leave their electric car to charge overnight.

I intend to get one when they become self driving (no idea when this will happen though) as i'm not allowed to drive for medical reasons.

Re: Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

Big assumption there. I would suggest, at least, initially, if not for ever, you will need a valid driver’s licence to ‘drive’ a driverless car. Presumably you would need to be able to drive the car manually should the need arise, for whatever reason.

Re: Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

That's a good point actually. I've also heard some people say that driverless cars would enable them to safely drink and 'drive', but this may not be allowed for the same reasons that you outlined above.

Re: Charge your cars on VMs Network
 

Hey, me too!

I think fully-autonomous self-driving cars are a ways off but as pointed out, there's a lot of legal gubbins to sort out with regards to safety and whether or not a qualified legal "driver" needs to be present. They are designing cars without steering wheels so it's definitely on someone's radar, but it remains to be seen how regulation turns out.

All that being said, I suspect self-driving cars will be more like subscription taxi services than a vehicle you just buy outright.