Electric cars are the next big thing in terms of motoring it seems as they are able to save a lot of energy over petrol powered cars. Despite the number of people that currently own electric cars being quite low, the UK has now seen its first implementation of charging stations across the country that have been rolled out by a green energy firm.
The company named Ecotricity has installed 12 of these charging stations across the UK at the moment and they are planning to roll out a lot more. The charging stations are completely free to use if you have an electronic car and they are located at various Welcome Break service stations across the country for ease of access. The company has said that they are planning to roll out a further 17 of the stations by the end of the year which will bring the total to 29. This is great if you own an electronic car as it means that you will have regular points in which to charge your car soon and as well as this, it will be free as opposed to about £1.50 per litre for petrol.
The founder of the company that has implemented the charging bases has said that this is a necessary step to increase the amount of people that are buying electric cars. He said that one of the major reasons that people aren’t buying electric cars is because they are unsure about charging so their scheme hopes to combat this issue. He also said that people aren’t putting charging points across the company because there are not enough people purchasing electric cars.
Usually, charging an electric car will take as long as 12 hours if it is plugged in to a 13A socket. However, the charging bases that are being installed across the country by Ecotricity deliver a higher supply of electricity at 32A. This means that car owners are able to fully charge their car in just an hour or top it up in just 20 minutes. This is unseen as of yet in the electronic car world and it is something that is expected to be rolled out over the next few years more and more.
The time it takes at one of these charging stations means that you can just leave your car, have a cup of coffee and then drive away with a topped up car. It is easier and cheaper than refilling a petrol car.