Pretty good article, but missed a few things: 1) Households, even with a driveway and a smart tariff, pay a lot more than 8p/kWh because there is £900-£1000 of capex in there. Public charging is an all in cost, for some reason home never is? 2)...next post www.theguardian.com/environment/... - ThreadSky

tomh-analyst.bsky.social • 30 days ago

Pretty good article, but missed a few things:

1) Households, even with a driveway and a smart tariff, pay a lot more than 8p/kWh because there is £900-£1000 of capex in there. Public charging is an all in cost, for some reason home never is?

2)...next post

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/26/a-tax-on-living-greener-how-can-britain-make-charging-evs-cheaper

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unwelcomeguest.bsky.social•29 days ago

Surely it could be made possible for public chargers to be made to serve like free banking cash points and for a small charge charges the user's home energy account at an agreed by the energy company fast charging tariff.
Government may need to bang some industry heads together.

tomh-analyst.bsky.social•29 days ago

There are so many issues with data there, which I won't go into the details of because the sun would die before I finished.

But otherwise, you introduce a big challenge of undercutting all the private finance going into all the proper charging sectors of destination, on route, work etc etc.

unwelcomeguest.bsky.social•29 days ago

Surely if public money is going towards some of them, at least for those, conditions could be made, and let's face it, the big supermarket operators are queuing up to get outlets in their car parks.

lockfarm.bsky.social•30 days ago

All part of the "let them eat cake" element of early EV adopters.

It doesn't help that the technology is still evolving and long term reliability has yet to be established.

jovicu.bsky.social•29 days ago

Here in NI we don't have Smart Meters (there's a pilot) nevermind smart tariffs. As such I didn't bother with a smart charger. Got a 32A charger which can delay the start of the charge to match the economy 7 tariff which is connected via a Commando socket. £320 all in incl. cost for sparky install.

tomh-analyst.bsky.social•29 days ago

Pretty much outlawed in the UK by smart charging regs.

Also, please do look into the fire risks of running kit like that overnight.

jovicu.bsky.social•29 days ago

I did. Both units IP 66/67 rated. We have a 100 amp fuse fitted with a separate isolated mini consumer unit in the garage so I have no concerns.

jovicu.bsky.social•29 days ago

Also much safer (and faster) than using the granny charger. Will upgrade to a smart charger in due course though not holding my breath on that happening any time soon as things move slowly here in NI.

pmholling.bsky.social•29 days ago

Yes, depending on your home’s earthing arrangement that’s perfectly safe, to better than a granny, but still with an earth fault risk.

jovicu.bsky.social•25 days ago

Sparky confirmed PEN protection is built onto the separate mini consumer unit.

tomh-analyst.bsky.social•29 days ago

(Sorry GB, not UK)

tomh-analyst.bsky.social•30 days ago

2) The article mentions grants & public procurement for kerb side EV chargers. It also mentions a few things that are chipping away at the need for kerbside charge points (namely cable channels or floating cables), and more is coming (e.g. retail site & destination charging will rise) which means...

tomh-analyst.bsky.social•30 days ago

Put together that it's only grant funding playing and competition is coming from all angles, it tells you kerbside EV charging infra is uninvestable muck (copyright me).

But I've said this all before, no surprises if you're a regular follower of my moans.

abigaildombey.bsky.social•30 days ago

Surely it totally depends on the price of destination charging?

If I installed an EV charger and cross-pavement solution (ie kerbocharge) which cost me £1k each, then I’d break even in 27 months.

And my neighbours would benefit from the massively reduced charging costs too.

suebeesley.bsky.social•30 days ago

Kerbside EV investors are early-in sorts who take on a range of big risk, big gain opportunities. One or two of these systems will take off and become the default. No idea yet which one, but there will be a winner, and those in early will do very well.

tomh-analyst.bsky.social•30 days ago

I whole heartedly disagree. Anyone who has 'invested' in kerb side infra is farming public money and when that runs out will abandon the units to rot.

There is almost no route to long term profitability so all I see is a hit and run model.

suebeesley.bsky.social•30 days ago

Fair point. What do you suggest as a better strategy? Speaking as someone who has a driveway, solarPV, an electric charger and (between us) 2 EVs, I'm keen to see the kerbside difficulty solved for friends who want to drive electric.

tomh-analyst.bsky.social•30 days ago

Get destination charging kick started via regs if needed. Supermarkets will eventually move big (and move as one, as always) but won't happen until there is enough value (i.e. enough EVs without driveways) to develop retail/EV charging cross sub deals via loyalty cards (so you pay with your data).

flisty.bsky.social•30 days ago

There's a side question of course - why should kerbsides be claimed by homeowners who did not buy homes with driveways. Big public subsidy there. Can I have a free spot for my shed please

flisty.bsky.social•30 days ago

It's ossible to ignore when we're saying it's just leaving a car there, but once you start adding charging, that's a permanent claim to the space.

aldopeeters.bsky.social•29 days ago

For drivers with high mileage, the capex of a home charging station depreciated over 5 years is peanuts.
Drivers with low mileage can use the granny charger, which doesn't require capex at all in most cases.

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