Electric Vehicle Charging Points Are More Important Than Ever

Date: 15/01/24

We’ve written in this blog before about the flexibility and convenience of green energy company Think Hire’s portable electric vehicle charging points. This week, a new report by the RAC has shown just how important having access to your own electric vehicle charging can be.

A missed target

According to the RAC, a major Government target for electric vehicle charging points on the UK’s motorway network has not only been missed, but it has missed by a significant margin. The target was to have at least six rapid chargers at every service station by the end of last year. In the end, only 46 out of 119 stations achieved this goal, which is less than 39%.

More worryingly, four of Britain’s motorway service stations were found to have no electric vehicle charging points whatsoever. These are Tebay (southbound) Leicester Forest (both directions) and Barton Park on the A1(M). This could leave your team seriously stranded as they struggle to recharge their cars and vans on longer journeys.

What’s the problem?

There’s certainly no lack of enthusiasm for electric vehicle charging points, from either the Government or the service stations themselves, and there’s plenty of money available to fund investments. Only recently, the Government announced a further £70million to upgrade ten service stations as part of a pilot scheme.

Unfortunately, the issue in many cases is a lack of the necessary high voltage connection to the National Grid. This involves complex planning applications, extensive groundworks and more, all of which are slowing down the rollout considerably.

Install your own electric vehicle charging points

With green energy company Think Hire, you can install your own electric vehicle charging points on any site, anywhere. This not only helps to power on-site plant and vehicles, but also provides a full charge for company vehicles before they travel between sites.

Unlike their high voltage counterparts, these are not dependent on special connections and do not need any expensive groundworks to install them. This not only makes them cheaper and easier to install, it also makes them so much more flexible, so you can move them around the site as the work progresses.

Putting off drivers

The ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars has been put back from 2030 to 2035, but there were still new quotas introduced this month, requiring 22% of vehicles sold in 2024 to be electric. Unfortunately, the lack of electric vehicle charging points is putting many drivers off making the switch, as RAC Spokesman, Simon Williams, explains:

“The wide availability of ultra-rapid charging is crucial in giving both current and future electronic vehicle drivers confidence to know they can easily make journeys beyond the range of their vehicles in a time-efficient way.” Without that confidence, the growth of the electric vehicle market, and the reduction in greenhouse gasses that comes with it, will inevitably experience a delay. And with the world warming rapidly, that’s a delay we can ill afford.

Renewable energy for electric vehicles

Another issue many drivers have with electric vehicles is where the energy comes from in the first place. Some argue that mains electricity generation from coal or gas power stations produces just as much in emissions as fuelling a car with petrol or diesel.

Naturally, because Think Hire are a green energy company, our electric vehicle charging points are fully compatible with our renewable energy equipment, such as our portable solar power stations and our hybrid battery generators. This makes electric vehicles much more environmentally friendly, delivering cleaner, greener journeys for all your team.

To find out more about green energy company Think Hire, and to see how our portable electric vehicle charging points could power your fleet, get in touch today on 0330 133 2222 or complete our contact form online.

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