A recent survey by Volvo found that “58 percent of perspective car buyers will avoid electric vehicles (EV’s) due to range anxiety” This signals that the biggest fear for many motorists is running out of range in the middle of nowhere. The range of different models of electric vehicles is quite variable.
This is coupled with perceptions about some areas having a lack of infrastructure in the form of charging points.
In February 2022 an investigation in the ‘I’ newspaper in the U.K. showed that as many as 10 percent of the EV public charging network is offline at any one time. Many EV chargers are broken is that manufacturers are not building them to a reliable standard. One design weakness with many chargers is because high power semiconductors fail from thermal cycle stress.
Speaking to the newspaper, one EV driver told her story of a problematic drive from Nottingham to Shropshire: “We tried five different options on our way, and all of them were faulty, not working, or occupied.”
They finally arrived at a charger in Shrewsbury with six miles left on the battery. “My husband was bricking it,” she said.
The newspaper showed that many chargers that are broken for longer periods are in remoter areas, meaning that when an EV driver with a low battery in more remote areas then they could be in trouble.
Hundreds of EV drivers run out of charge every day and traditional major roadside recovery services are limited as to what they can do. Most roadside recovery companies cannot charge in situ.
However, technological processes are ongoing to find better solutions. One of these was recently tested out at London’s Heathrow airport.
The technology tested was a ZAPME unit, which is mounted into the back of a van or estate car allowing the charger to move to wherever it may be required. The device has been developed by ZPN Energy, and it is a first vehicle mounted EV charger designed release power at the roadside. The device charges EVs either via CCS or CHAdemO charging protocols.
The device provides a charge of up to 50kW which is sufficient to afford a charge of up to 6 miles per minute in the car.
Contacting Digital Journal, James Foster, CEO of ZPN Energy explains the idea: “Roadside recovery operations haven’t caught up with the surge in new EV registrations. They’re missing a trick in not being able to charge them at the roadside the ones that can do it far to slowly what they need is ZAPME.”
