Taxi Driver Online

Thought this guy sounded like a right smug barsteward towards the beginning of the article.

But later I'm wondering if he's actually regretting buying an EV, and this is actually a pitch for more charging points, while trying to make the best of it and convince himself he's made the right choice.


Gloucester's only electric private hire driver and his eco friendly Tesla

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/n ... ic-3764848

No more queuing at the pumps for this driver


Image: Gloucestershire Live

You fill your car with fuel, pay and within minutes drive away. It's what motorists have done for decades.

But a wave of new models of electric vehicles are coming to the UK, and more drivers of fuel cars are being asked to make the switch.

EVs, unlike fuel cars, produce none or fewer harmful carbon emissions into the atmosphere, but they can be more expensive than their fuel-dependent counterparts.

And motorists might be afraid they may not be able to find charging points when they need it as their electric vehicles can only travel so far.

But in Gloucester, one man explains why he's "proud" he converted to an EV from a diesel-belching car and why he wishes he "did it years ago".

Zak Jeeva owns the first all-electric vehicle licensed by Gloucester City Council, a Tesla Model 3, for private hire work.

He said: "The way things are today with the air pollution. I've been to India a few times and over there the pollution is so bad, you're coughing and splurting.

"I thought 'we don't want this to come to England and where I live' and I thought 'let's go for these new e-vehicles'.

"To drive an e-car in Gloucester, I feel quite proud in driving it. I'm the only private hire with an e-car which doesn't pollute the air.

"Everytime I go past vehicles or taxi ranks I'm thinking 'they all sit around with their engines running polluting the air', and i'm the only one who hasn't got one."

He added that despite EVs being more expensive, "where it comes to the costs of electricity and diesel, I save a lot of money".

Mr Jeeva however said that there aren't "enough places" to charge his e-car in Gloucester.

The city council's long term plan is that all Hackney carriage and private hire vehicles are carbon neutral by 2030.

"I think the council could do with putting in the infrastructure for charging points before they actually get people to buy cars," Mr Jeeva said.

"That's one of the things which is stopping people from buying e-cars because they need to see something there first before the buy one.

"People will think 'where am I going to charge it?'. They could do with charging points at a lot of places, really.

"I've got a charging point at my house, but it's on-street parking and I've got to make sure there aren't any cars parked outside my house to make sure I can charge it. It can be a struggle."

Mr Jeeva explained an EV takes up to six hours to fully charge on average. In Gloucestershire there is a 'supercharger' which fills up the battery in 45 minutes, but it's at Michaelwood Services on the M5... northbound.

To drive 20 miles from Gloucester on a nearly empty battery, for example, one would have to drive to junction 14 and turn around to effectively charge for less than an hour.

Mr Jeeva said: "I charge the car fully then start my jobs from there onwards. But if I do happen to run low, obviously I cannot do any jobs until I've charged it up again. I tend to go back home because there's space there, but it does take a little while.

"There are a few places in Gloucester but that means I'd have to go there and wait half an hour or one hour before the car can charge up to a certain level.

"If there were lots of places then I wouldn't have to worry about it. There's not enough places."

Gloucester City Council declared a 'climate emergency' last year and committed to become carbon neutral by 2030.

The authority says it will be working with businesses and retailers to support electric vehicle charging plans in Gloucester over the coming years.

Councillor Richard Cook (C, Kingsway), leader of Gloucester City Council and cabinet member for environment, said: “As we address the climate emergency we all need to reject the fossil fuels of the past and embrace a carbon free future.

“To improve the quality of our air and to tackle the climate crisis, Gloucester must move away from petrol and diesel cars, and towards low-emission vehicles.

"Licensing our first all electric vehicle for private hire work is a step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done.”

Was more or less assuming from the start that he would have a home charger, but on-street must be a nightmare at times, as he seems to be saying. You would really need your own driveway or similar, minimum.


No thanks

Anyway, even if there were more public chargers, he'd still have to wait around for it charging, even assuming someone else wasn't hogging it?

And of course just how many jobs can he complete in a day that's a very expensive motor to pay for

_________________
Taxis Are Public Transport too

Join the campaign to get April fools jokes banned for 364 days a year !

B&H are installing 200 lamp post charging points, so that would help. Even though they are trickle (6/7 hour) chargers.

They are also installing 18 super fast (20/30 mins) chargers, which would help solve many EV issues.

_________________
IDFIMH