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I had a driveway where I could install a charger
this made me think - is there any progress in developing decent charging points for on-street parking? or do people have to make do with cables lying across pavements... seems like such a pain point in the adoption of EVs - particularly in populous areas like London, who would undoubtedly benefit most from EVs
swedeee-
It varies wildly by borough.
I'm in Wandsworth right now, Balham. And here there is ubitricity lamp post chargers everywhere. I've parked in multiple places and it's flawless... the easiest charging I've used and incredibly affordable. Because the lamp posts are to the kerb, the cables don't cross the path or obstruct the path in any way... they typically lay in the gutter for the ones I've seen charging.
In Haringey though there are only a few Source London charging points, they are sparsely distributed and so expensive that a fossil fuel car would offer cheaper running costs. I don't see them used at all. Instead I see people running cables out of flat windows to power extensions and then running the charging cable across the path. Not only is there an obstruction but this is trickle charge and so the obstruction is there for hours or overnight. A few people have purchased safety strips, but wheel chair users and prams are going to feel them even if they're not a trip hazard.
So it's wildly inconsistent.
Attached are the Zap Map showing Wandsworth vs Haringey to give an understanding of the difference. There are more charge points in the zoomed in Balham than in the zoomed out Crouch End (one at the bottom, a couple at the top)
Velocio
I love the Polestar 2. I was on the waiting list too and was soooo close to buying it.
Why didn't I? Range anxiety.
The car is perfect, but where the Tesla beats it is the charging network. And even the Tesla I feel I would struggle with as my drives are London to the Lakes or London to the Highlands in single drives. The time Tesla would add to that journey in terms of achieving range by driving moderately, and then the time to charge... it adds hours to a journey.
If 95% of my driving was <200 miles roundtrips and I had a driveway where I could install a charger... the Polestar 2 would've been my car.
But frankly... for the same price I got the Volvo V60 T8 Polestar... I get the pure electric for barely 25 miles, and have no range anxiety because I just fill it with petrol and just drive and drive, top up in 10 minutes and drive some more.
In terms of performance, the V60 and Polestar 2 are almost identical on 0-60, and the acceleration is there throughout the range... but I get to floor it above 70 without any fear of what that is doing to reduce battery range as it's not using the battery at that end.
The only thing the Polestar 2 has that isn't on the V60 Polestar? That large display and Google OS for the entire dashboard. Which I did want, but not enough to bring range anxiety into my life.