Electric schemes

In connection with your article (13 February) on half of car chargers never being used, may I enlighten your readers with the perspective of an actual electric vehicle (EV) user?

The majority of EV users charge their vehicles overnight ready for use the next morning. Domestic chargers invariably require up to six hours’ charge so can comfortably be undertaken in that environment.

Public charging stations, or those in private hands available for public use, come in a variety of formats.

There are the fast chargers which can take up to three hours, which I’m sure you’ll agree is not suitable for drivers on the move needing to get from A to B beyond the capacity of the car itself.

Then there are the “rapid chargers” which require only 30 minutes to bring the car back up to 80 per cent capacity.

But here’s the rub: when an EV driver looks for rapid chargers only, then the number of possible charging stations tends to dwindle to about a third of the total chargers available.

I personally find this situation untenable; it prevents me from undertaking long journeys.

Public money has been invested but more is needed to encourage new drivers to buy EV vehicles. Once charging stations are more readily available and more vehicles are seen on our roads then we really will have a win-win situation: zero CO2 emissions, and considerably cheaper running costs per mile.

Brian L Waddell

Maddiston

Falkirk