this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2023
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The actual roadblock (sic) to e-cars in Europe and especially Germany is that culturally, people don't live in the urban sprawl (one house one garage per family) but more like Americans do in big cities like NYC: Multi-flat apartments with no reserved parking spots - street parking is the norm, and in bigger cities is very hard to find in the evening. That of course means overnight charging is only possible for those who own a parking space closed off to the public, and can convince the person who they rent from to install a charger. Then you have the further problem of the electric grid in most cities not being able to supply the needed bandwidth for a big number of fast chargers. That'd mean that the whole grid would have to be upgraded, so digging up city streets for the next decades. People in the sticks who own property (single house on a plot of land) are those who can reasonably switch to electric cars for the time being, because let's face it, no amount of chargers at service stations will be enough - if I can't charge my car overnight at home, I won't buy an e-car. I'm not driving to the next service station, wait for a charger to become available, then sit in my car playing Vampire Survivors for 2h until it's charged. Every other day.
I seriously doubt electric cars will take off in Europe due to the lack of the "charging at home" option for the majority of people with no real resolution in sight.
I live in Amsterdam and while we do have a personal parking space, we do not have (nor need) our own charging point. At the end of my short road, there are four public slow-charging points (11/22 kW). There are plans to add 2 more just one road over. Throughout my neighbourhood (all within at most 10 min walking distance) there are probably a few dozen total. We've never had to go farther than the end of the road though. There are many EVs in my neighbourhood.
When we get solar panels, we do intend to install an charging point in our driveway. It's cheaper!
I realize that the Netherlands is good for some 25% of Europe's public charging infrastructure, but this certainly does not resonate with me at all. Besides, the EU is regulating the construction of new public charging infrastructure (through highway charging and working on local charging).
My understanding is that level 2 street charging is growing. They also do things a little differently in that rather than having a cord at each station (prone to theft/vandalism) drivers carry their own cord that plugs into the station and the car.
Another thing to consider is that people driving within the city probably don't cover much distance. Depending on pricing vs gas, 15 minutes at a fast charger every week or two may be enough to get by and worth it.
Housing density and the things it comes with are absolutely a factor. But maybe not an insurmountable one.