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Charge her up: petrol stations to go electric
Mark Prigg, Science Correspondent17.03.09
LONDON'S abandoned petrol stations are to be converted to charge electric cars, it was revealed today.
An American firm is planning to transform dozens of empty stations. They will have airport-style waiting lounges where drivers can buy food or coffee.
Evoasis is setting up the first electric-car garage in Grovesnor Road, Pimlico, where up to 12 bays with high-power outlets will be able to recharge a battery in about 20 minutes.
A further five stations will be established by the end of the year.
Simon Lloyd, spokesman for Evoasis, said the firm would share profits from the scheme with the owners of each site.
The firm is in talks with supermarkets such as Tesco to install charging points for shoppers. It is also discussing installing charging points with Westminster council, which already has 60 - 12 on the street and 48 in car parks.
"If electric cars take off, then a lot of these charging points will be needed," said Richard Barrett of EPR, the architect who designed the stations. "If you are charging at home then it can take up to eight hours. However, these stations can do the job in 20 minutes." When drivers first plug in their cars, an electronic diagnostic system will work out the model and type of battery.
An average electric car such as the G-Wiz, which costs about £8,000 and has a range of 40 miles, will cost about £2 to recharge, Evoasis said.
The firm is also planning to allow drivers to download music and films. "Recent models allow us to access the entertainment system, so from the lounge you could buy music and have it downloaded straight to your car," said Mr Barrett.
Mayor Boris Johnson is considering an electric-car hire plan for London that would require thousands of power points.
The plan mirrors a Paris scheme, Autolib, which will be in place by the end of the year. Modelled on its bicycle-hire scheme, Autolib will see 4,000 electric cars sited across the French capital and its suburbs. Drivers will be able to use them at any time.
Sales of electric cars are small because of a lack of charging points.
In a Commons written answer, transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick said 4,929 battery-powered vehicles had been registered since 2004, and 1,322 took to the UK's roads last year.
Reader views (5)
How long does it take to fill up then, 10 hours?
- Larry Harris, Amsterdam, NL
Excellent news. Gas stations had to start somewhere. And if electric cars are ever going to take off, a large number of electric stations will be needed. This is a serious start to finally getting serious about the huge environmental problems looming.
- Phil Jones, London UK
What a great idea! Anne-Laure - in response to your question - using traditional-engined vehicles (petrol, diesel) - locks us in to only one source of energy - oil from the ground.
You're absolutely spot on that additional electricity will need to be generated - be it from oil, natural gas, nuclear, wind, tidal, or solar. However even in a worst case scenario, where the electricity is going to be generated by oil or gas, nationally you're not really any worse off than if you had petrol cars - but you have reduced some of the inner-city pollution. But the key thing is that having electric-powered cars opens up the possibility to have the electricity generated by renewable sources such as wind or solar - a possibility that simply doesn't exist at the moment with existing cars.
- Mark Lee, Vauxhall
The efficiency of a conventional power station is a lot higher than that of a car engine, so even if the electricity comes from burning fossil fuel, the pollution generated will be reduced.
And it's an enabling step. When the fossil-fuelled power stations are replaced by solar, wind, or nuclear power, the electric cars will be using non-polluting electricity.
- Nigel, London
very good theoretical idea indeed but I have a little question:
what will this electricity be produced from?
if it is in the idea to knock down the greenhouse gazes and the pollution inside the cities by using so-called "voitures propres" because these electric cars haven't carbon emissions when they drive on streets.
If there will be a lot of these cars- as it seems to be planned- we'll need more electricity to make them go on so we need to built more plants to produce electricity. allright there will be more jobs created but what will we put in these plants to make them produce electricity?
- Anne-Laure, geneva switzerland
