Electric Vehicles are Currently Non-starters in Chiswick
A local owner describes the challenges of green motoring in the area
Local resident Mervyn Passmore describes some of the issues surrounding the use of an Electric Vehicle in Chiswick that anyone contemplating buying an EV should read.
I recently replaced the petrol car I'd had for ages with a new Hybrid Electric Vehicle. Before buying it I did some research to be sure that charging one in Chiswick shouldn’t be a problem. Searching online using sites like zap-map.com showed me there were several charging possibilities within 5 to 10 minutes’ walk from my flat near Gunnersbury Station. Although the car I was buying could be charged from a 13amp socket in a private driveway, I live in a block of flats so this isn't an option for me. I found there was a charging point in Chiswick Business Park, two public charging bays beyond Turnham Green Church, and two chargers in Sainsbury's car park.
Another electric car being charged on a Chiswick street
I quickly discovered that the charger in Chiswick Business Park was not publicly accessible after all and was only available to users of Building 4. The two bays by Turnham Green Church were almost continuously occupied by vehicles that were not being charged. It seems that traffic wardens have no control over who parks in these bays. Often the vehicles parked in them are indeed electric, but not plugged in. Many of Chiswick's green EV owners seem only concerned with saving their own part of our planet and are happy to use these bays as free parking spaces while forcing other EV owners to use petrol. This left me with the two in Sainsbury's car park. However the maximum stay is two hours provided you spend £10 in store. I don't have a problem with the £10 but the chargers only provide 16 amps. Two hours at 16A will not charge up an electric vehicle. One of the chargers has been non-operational since I bought the car and Sainsbury's tell me the chargers are not their property and that they have no control over whether they work or not. If I am lucky enough to find an unoccupied working bay in Sainsbury's car park and spend £10 in the store, I can top up the battery enough to drive several miles. If I don't remove the car within 2 hours I will be fined more than the cost of a full tank of petrol.
None of these solutions worked for me, but I came across a scheme supported by TFL & Hounslow Council that allows you to apply for and pay a contribution towards a charging point on a lamppost near your home. The system works by linking your home energy bill to an EV socket in the street. I carried out the required survey of lamp posts and provided them with the serial numbers of the most convenient ones. Street lamps on yellow lines are no use and those with Pay & Display machines or inadequate wiring capacity cannot be used. Three were selected as being suitable for a socket and I agreed to pay the £500 fee of which £250 is refundable when I return the equipment. I was told there would be around 6 week's further delay for the installation of the socket. That was 8 weeks ago. I've now been told that the person responsible for the project has left the Council and it seems the six weeks delay will now restart, no doubt increased by the extra backlog due to the temporary cessation of installations. The lease runs out on our flat in the spring. If it cannot be renewed and I move to another street, the installation will be more expensive than the potential saving on petrol I'd make bearing in mind I have to pay for the electricity.
It looks as if I'm going to have to continue driving my hybrid electric zero-emissions car around Chiswick using its 2,000cc auxiliary petrol engine. A greener, cleaner, quieter and less polluted Chiswick looks to be a long way off.
Mervyn Passmore
December 2, 2017
