victorian electric vehicle trial mid-term report - Department of Transport

As further evidence of the uncertaintieswithin the public charging stationbusiness model, the quote belowsourced from the Victorian ElectricVehicle Trial Discussion Boardprovides an interesting insight intoone driver’s reckoning on use of publiccharging outlets:So where’s the line between theconvenience, economy and luxuryof driving to work in an EV and thecommute by public transport?... for usthe economy is the governing factor,followed closely by convenience.The basic maths says if we cancommute in and out on one chargefrom our home or if required anadditional charge from a freecharge point in the CBD, then it’s aneconomical solution, while at least twopeople are traveling.The approx $3 for the full charge athome @ 16kWh x approx $0.20/kWhfor the i-MiEV or approx $0.80 forthe full charge of the Prius and the$15 parking costs is comparable butcheaper than the $22 odd for two allday zone 1&2 myki transactions (wearand tear on the EV plays a part, but inthe interest of simplicity I’ve ignoredthose additional costs).The convenience of the 40 to 50 minutecommute by EV beats the 1 to1.25 hour commute on public transportuntil you add a 20 min walk to workand back to the car if the chargepoint is not conveniently located nearwork, then the two options comefrighteningly close.Victorian Electric Vehicle Trialhousehold participant, 2012Results from more mature marketsin terms of vehicle and charginginfrastructure roll-out provide similarlymixed messages about the viability ofpublicly-accessible charging outlets.Up to September 2012 the largestinfrastructure roll-out taking place inthe United States as part of ‘The EVProject’ had delivered 1,818 publiclyaccessiblecharging stations (ECOtality2012). In the assessment of thecharging activities of the 6,071 vehiclestaking part in the project, a preliminaryassessment is that around 80 per centof private electric vehicle chargingevents typically take place at the home.The remaining 20 per centof charging events take place atpublicly-available and workplacecharging locations. Although theperformance of individual chargingstations has not been reported,it was noted that the presence ofan electric car-share operator inSan Diego resulted in significantincrease in utilisation of the publiccharging stations.5.4.4 Where should publiccharging be available?Parking areas within or nearby toshopping centres and strips should bea priority for public charging facilities.Specific locations should be selectedon the basis of their alignment with theEV driver demographic. Local factorsrelating to existing parking demandor management, along with electricitynetwork configuration and potentialsponsorship opportunities shouldalso be taken into account in order tostreamline the roll-out. Quick chargersshould be strategically placed alongtraffic corridors.The most convenient locations for‘opportunity’ charging are those wherevehicles are most commonly parkedother than home and work (the twomost common locations – refer toFigure 42). Based upon the responsesfrom the household application toparticipate, this means shoppingcentres or strips – refer to Figure 46.This observation is consistent withpublic infrastructure guidance providedelsewhere (US DOE 2012a).Other locations where vehicles maypark regularly and for periods ofseveral hours may also be well suitedto ‘opportunity’ charging of electricvehicles. Hospitality and entertainmentlocations such as restaurants andcinemas, recreation facilities,airports, railway stations and other‘park-and-ride’ locations could allplay a role in a comprehensive publicEV charging network.