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Just How Many Car Charging Stations Is ‘Enough’?

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When it comes to electric vehicle chargers, the conversation tends to be like a family Thanksgiving political discussion – rehashing the same points over and over without any real change. Every time, the talking point is “there’s not enough infrastructure, there’s not enough infrastructure!

Well all right, then, just what is enough infrastructure?


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The European Union places the preferred ratio at one public charging port for every ten plug-in vehicles sold. According to AutoCar, which tallied up electric cars, low-speed electric vehicles, electric motorcycles, and plug-in commercial vans, the ratio in the UK readily beats that number, with about 8.9 vehicles for every charging point.

On the other hand, based on that suggested ratio, the United States is nowhere close, with the US Department of Energy putting that number at more than 16 vehicles per charging point for the whole country, and in places where there are more electric cars, that ratio gets worse. California, the undisputed electric car capital of the country, with its more than 400,000 electric vehicles, has something more than 25 vehicles per outlet.


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Now, the utility company Pacific Gas and Electric has announced it would support the building of another 7,500 charging stations by 2020, but it seems like it will be very difficult to create an actual estimate, as the ratio could be affected by the installation of private charging ports in homes, car ports and driveways, as the US has far more room than the UK. Also, some even point to the biggest factor now to having “enough” charging infrastructure could depend largely on the locations of new stations, rather than the sheer number available.

No matter what, though, it seems that the answer to our current level of infrastructure is firmly to keep building, and we’ll just have to revisit the question of “enough” chargers at a later date.

News Source: Green Car Reports