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Sometimes, progress comes in baby steps, tiny improvements that move a whole series of events forward. The European Union has just approved regulations requiring that an electric car charger be included in every new and renovated home and all apartment buildings starting in 2019. Why is that important? Because charging infrastructure is vital to convincing mainstream buyers to switch to an electric car.
The regulations don't specify what type of charger has to be installed. Presumably, it won't be just a Level 1 piece of equipment, which is little more than an extension cord plugged into the nearest wall socket. On the other hand, it won't be a 150 kW charger like the one Porsche says its upcoming Mission E can use.
There are all kinds of stipulations in building codes like setbacks. Should a mandatory electric car charger be among them?
(Score: 2, Informative) by Whoever on Thursday October 20 2016, @01:36AM
I don't think that you understand the state of EV charging today. Just about all modern EVs can use a J1772 plugs (perhaps with an adapter). At 30A/220V, a J1772 charger is as fast as you will ever need for a car. There is no reason that such a charger should not work for many years.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by jmorris on Thursday October 20 2016, @01:58AM
I suspect that if they meant to say outlet instead of charger that somebody along the way from the dweeb who thought up the idea for a new mandate, the lawyers and the industry lobbyists and the NGOs, somebody would have fixed the copy along the way. So it is more reasonable to assume charger means something a hell of a lot more expensive and likely to be useless than merely mandating a hefty power outlet near the parking spot.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by WalksOnDirt on Thursday October 20 2016, @02:40AM
The big news here is the mandate covers apartments. Even if it is just a random plug, and with EU voltage that's sufficient, getting parking spots with plugs for all new apartments is huge.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 20 2016, @08:12AM
I don't see anything about requiring parking spots. In some cities, that would take a lot of demolishing.
Plus, requiring parking spots (that people are going to end up having to pay for, of course) is a pretty big statement of "fuck you and your bicycles, we need to catch up with the US on number of cars".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 20 2016, @01:41PM
When you build new houses inside a city, demolishing the old building that was there before is usually the first step. There are not that many places where you can build something new without first removing something old, and if you've got such a space, then you'll have no problem building a garage.
(Score: 2) by DutchUncle on Thursday October 20 2016, @03:30PM
>>>There is no reason that such a charger should not work for many years.
Just like headphone jacks? ;-) Seriously, the simpler the better, just make sure there's a heavy-duty standard outlet (30A or 40A, like an air conditioner).