Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

[NewcastleFalcon]

Why on earth didn't the Ramsey's wait for the Electric Infrastructure to be developed to such an extent that should you wish to, you could drive from the North Pole to the South Pole in a pretty bog-standard Nissan Ariya. At least it would have given them a chance to have a good attempt at it.

Hang on a second, what was that on the news tonight Looks like they have only just gone and done it.

The FCF as ever were in on the ground floor before they set out

Initial pre-setting out video for those who want to view it

Spoiler: show

https://youtu.be/VwmRwF04WjM

and news that they have finished the journey.

Couple finish pole-to-pole electric car challenge
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51zd0p1j6po

Interesting stunt, and plenty column inches and blogs/videos of the trip lying around the internet if you want the nitty gritty. 10 months and 18,000 miles later they have just completed the journey. As ever though our very own Bargain Basement electric thread goes a little further than that publicity stunt, 4 years and more than twice the Pole-to-Pole distance covered in full here...

Bargain Basement electric
42 pages of inspiring content and counting viewtopic.php?t=63910

Neil

[myglaren]

Had to abandon after a couple of minutes, too hard to listen to. Was attracted by the tower as I have been in it. Jim gets a mention too (or rather Paggers).

[Gibbo2286]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67873890

[Sloppysod]

This was a feature on Sally Bundocs early morning BBC business briefing this morning, sounds interesting and hopefully does not go the same way as other recent uk battery start-ups.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mar ... harge.html

[myglaren]

The BT Group has made good on its promise to repurpose street cabinets into EV charge points by kicking off a pilot to demonstrate the concept actually works.

The first installation location will be in East Lothian, Scotland.

The plan is to retrofit existing cabinets, currently used for providing broadband to households. These are set to be decommissioned during the full-fibre roll-out.

Since they are already hooked up to a power source, the thinking is that engineers can retrofit a device to split the existing power supply, meaning that the current broadband can keep running, and a new charge point can be made available. A battery backup will mean that households shouldn't experience any disruption during installation.

Full article at The Register

[Sloppysod]

The BT Group has made good on its promise to repurpose street cabinets into EV charge points by kicking off a pilot to demonstrate the concept actually works.

Full article at The Register

Good idea in theory, but aren't most BT boxes a distance from the road, like other side of path, and mostly on corners.?

[mickthemaverick]

Good point Stu, during my BT (GPO) apprenticeship I worked on a good many cabinets and pillars and I don't remember a single one that was ideally placed for a vehicle to connect to. Maybe they intend to include a sunken cable with socket alongside the road?

[CitroJim]

And also, do they have the necessary electrical supply capacity to charge an EV? I am of the belief the electrical demands made on the installed equipment in these cabinets is quite low so there will be no huge electrical infrastructure supplying them. It's a bit like the plans to use street lights. They all have mains feeds but their capacity is very low as the lights themselves take a surprisingly small amount of power, even the old sodium ones...

Sounds to me like a good old case of PR spin. Sounds good in theory and good to splash across the media on a slow news day...

In other amazing, earth-shattering news, it's trying to snow here... Shock, horror...

[mickthemaverick]

I was pondering the supply issue Jim but decided that my knowledge of the insides of the cabinets is too ancient to have any relevance. Certainly in the time I was working on them they had no need for mains power at all as their prime purpose was to link main exchange cables and trunk cables carrying telephone circuits together. Thus a 1200 pair main exchange cable could be interlinked to a number of local area distribution pillars to feed various local streets. I daresay the provision of power supplies may have been necessary for the digital age with repeaters etc installed, but like Jim I cannot see them being able to sustain car charging at any decent level without new feeds being installed. That being the case the only use the cabinets offer is as a housing and as Stu pointed out most of them are not placed suitably!!

[myglaren]

Good idea in theory, but aren't most BT boxes a distance from the road, like other side of path, and mostly on corners.?

Certainly all the ones near me are not placed anywhere where they would be useful.

[CitroJim]

Indeed, as suggested, they could be used house the control gear for slim EV charging pillars placed in suitable locations... None I know of locally are positioned in suitable locations but as a central control location suppling a few pillars it could work.

It's still likely a lot of digging up of pavements and roads will be needed to install the mains feeds although they could conceivably drag them through the existing telecomms ducts...

Next, they'll be suggesting old telephone kiosks as they all have power. Yes they do, and as you well know Mick, only of a very small capacity and unmetered, originally to run a light and now, more often than not, to keep a defib. nice and warm.

[myglaren]

There is an abandoned Virgin box at the back of my house that would be ideal for me.
Not that I am ever likely to buy an EV.

[Gibbo2286]

Surprised you think they'll need to dig up footpaths in the day of the mole
Impact Moles
Impact moles are part of the new no digging trench less technology. Moles work by the displacement of soil enabling the installation of service under roads, yards and lawns where digging is not possible or reinstatement cost and the visual appearance of a trench line across a road or yard would not be acceptable.
Impact moles can pull ducts directly in behind them, when ground conditions may collapse behind the mole.
Moles can be fitted with a special ramming cone enabling the pushing of steel ducts under difficult and cohesive soil types. Where the depth of the cover is not suitable for soil displacement.

[CitroJim]

Surprised you think they'll need to dig up footpaths in the day of the mole

Interesting stuff Eric. Clearly not reached these parts as the ongoing installation of our fibre infrastructure is all being done with old-fashioned trenching...

[Gibbo2286]

They've been used around here Jim but also many trenches dug by the fibre company Gigaclear.
This I saw too
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/technol ... r-AA1mCRd6