UK switching to electric vehicles discussion

[trebor79]

I can see how this would work in the right location, but the ability to locate a charger more-or-less anywhere surely negates the need for dedicated charging stations? Not completely of course, but when I think of the three filling stations I regularly use, I'm struggling to see how they'd be viable as charging stations as they're not near a motorway, and there's not much to do when you're there. They're used predominantly by local people who'd have more convenient charging options elsewhere.

These sorts of filling stations do not have a long term future.
We are starting to see car parks with decent provision for destination charging too, just as @Bletchleyite mentions. I stayed overnight in Welwyn Garden City recently and was delighted to find the car park near the station had about 50 11kW charge outlets. Reasonably priced too. So I charged my car whilst I slept and didn't need to charge at all the following day when I went home.

Some filling stations on major routes will survive as EV charge hubs. Most of the wayside traditional petrol stations have numbered days, I suspect.

 

[Bletchleyite]

MFG have got it sussed, they have just announced another big expansion of charging infrastructure on their sites. The existing ones really are very good with usually about 8 150kW or 350kW chargers in a nicely lit area with tyre pump, vacuum and washer water dispensing adjacent. There's usually a couple of hot food options and a seating area in the shop building too. Shell are just playing at it really.

I think a concept that would work quite well on an existing site (subject to planning) would be a building with a small Tesco Express/Sainsburys Local etc on the bottom floor and a Costalottabucks with seating and wifi on top of it, so you could plug in to a fast charger and charge while doing a small shop then having a coffee. These would need to also have a few non-charging bays for faster turnaround as otherwise someone just wanting to pop in for a couple of things from the shop or takeaway might not be able to park. To improve the economics you'd want them in a place they can also be walked to. Typically people would in that case stay for 30-45 minutes which is a good time for a fast charge while making other use of the time too.

Though the other angle is that they might as well just build a block of flats or small supermarket on the site with a couple of chargers rather than making it specifically for that.

 

[trebor79]

I haven't had a charge stop longer than 28 minutes in the Tesla (and that was only because I gamed it by setting the charge limit to 90% to avoid idle fees whilst I finished my meal), and most are less than 20 minutes.
The Niro doesn't charge anywhere as fast, so 40 minutes is more what I'd expect for a charge stop in that car, but really that has a very slow charge curve for a modern EV and 120kW peak is becoming the minimum. That said, I don't think we've DC charged the Niro at all since spring.

Really I'd be happy with a clean toilet and maybe an independent cafe/shop selling food and drink with a small seating area. Exactly the sort of thing that would actually be viable with a block of flats on top.

There's definitely an opportunity for someone to rethink what a "filling" station should look like. MFG has their model, and Gridserve have their Electric Forecoourt concept at Norwich and somewhere in Essex. I've used the Norwich one - quite nice though very confusing as there's M&S, WH Smiths and a couple of other brands upstairs but no demarcation and just one till point was open which appeared to be a Post Office counter but took payment for everything.
Vehicle charge speeds are evolving quickly, and I'm not sure anyone really knows what the driver of the future will want/need. But I'm fairly confident it won't involve somewhere to hang around for three quarters of an hour.

 

[StKeverne1497]

Really I'd be happy with a clean toilet and maybe an independent cafe/shop selling food and drink with a small seating area. Exactly the sort of thing that would actually be viable with a block of flats on top.

Two points immediately spring to mind, the biggest of which is "planning". Converting a contaminated (lots of remediation work to remove the old tanks and clean up the ground required) site to residential use is both fraught with planning potholes and quite a costly undertaking and I think you would in most cases also have to get permission to build above the previous "ridge height" in order to get a second (or third) storey. And then you would have to lose a chunk of your ground-level area to parking for the flats, reducing the space available. On the positive side, the "road works" - making safe access to the site - should be much simpler as it's already in place for the garage and you could use the holes left behind by the fuel tanks for water tanks for the inevitable SUDS scheme that the council will mandate.

The second problem I personally see - and it's common to all not-at-home charging, but the model proposed makes it even worse - is that while you could probably stomach paying £1/kWh for a decent fast charge when you really needed one, you're also talking about adding £5 - £10 for a coffee & cake (y'know what these places are like)! Garage forecourt shops are rarely the cheapest for any kind of groceries either. It's always amazed me how you can have a "Sainsbury's" or "Tesco" concession in a garage, but three miles down the road at the same chain's supermarket the prices are appreciably cheaper. The same is true in general of "Local" versions of the big supermarkets too, though not necessarily of the smaller chains / franchises which specialise in smaller shops; the likes of Nisa, Londis and particularly the Co-Op.

I agree that most stand-alone garages have had their day in an EV world. I even think that many supermarket garages will probably go, in favour of a larger number of slow chargers in the car park. Converting a petrol station to a combined charging / retail / residential use though isn't something I see happening very often. In many cases investors would probably get a much better return by clearing the whole site for residential use, or possibly mixed residential / retail, and forgetting about commercial charging altogether. The exceptions might be in those parts of the world where there is no offstreet parking. Councils could buy up the sites and rent out parking spaces - with chargers - to local residents in the same way they often rent garages, though I'm struggling to think of many places around here where petrol stations are positioned in convenient locations for that!

Are we facing a future with hundreds of small, abandoned garage sites littering the place? Then again, it has been done before. I suspect this one is listed (Google Streetview link).

 

[Bletchleyite]

Two points immediately spring to mind, the biggest of which is "planning". Converting a contaminated (lots of remediation work to remove the old tanks and clean up the ground required) site to residential use is both fraught with planning potholes and quite a costly undertaking and I think you would in most cases also have to get permission to build above the previous "ridge height" in order to get a second (or third) storey. And then you would have to lose a chunk of your ground-level area to parking for the flats, reducing the space available. On the positive side, the "road works" - making safe access to the site - should be much simpler as it's already in place for the garage and you could use the holes left behind by the fuel tanks for water tanks for the inevitable SUDS scheme that the council will mandate.

It does happen. There's a block of premium flats near me built on an old petrol station site.

But if we consider that selling petrol isn't actually that profitable, and that more profit comes from stuff in the shop, then just replacing it with a small supermarket with parking is likely, and maybe a couple of fast chargers, but again maybe not. I've already known sites redeveloped like that as the supermarkets have slowly taken over a big chunk of the fuel market.

 

[jon0844]

It makes more sense to me to have chargers at places where people will be for some time (so not Tesco Express), meaning you don't bave to rapid charge often.

Yes, you want that ability for rare occasions but it makes more sense to slow charge overnight at your hotel, an airport long stay or railway station, a leisure park (two hour cinema and/or an evening meal) and a town centre car park - like the Apcoa one mentioned above in WGC.

This does mean the traditional fuel station will potentially go out of favour, especially if they charge such a huge premium. I avoid motorway services now so can't imagine I'd want to pay BP or Shell nearly a quid per kW unless desperate. If more people didn't, maybe they'd reduce the prices.

Longer ranges and improved efficiency will reduce mid journey charges further, for all but those supposedly common 2am drives from London to Edinburgh for your sick grandma called into hospital or whatever other mad edge case someone can think of.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yes, you want that ability for rare occasions but it makes more sense to slow charge overnight at your hotel, an airport long stay or railway station, a leisure park (two hour cinema and/or an evening meal) and a town centre car park - like the Apcoa one mentioned above in WGC.

Certainly the idea of having a slow charger (i.e. 13A socket) in maybe a third to 50% of spaces in places people do spend a fair bit of time is quite a solid idea.

 

[DC1989]

I still don't understand why blocks of flats, supermarket car parks, warehouse estate car parks etc aren't having chargers installed. Surely if the companies offer to install them for free and then they will earn money out of people charging their car there all day. Seems like a total no brainer...a win win.

Is there something else stopping this from happening? Just relying on people to install their own chargers at home and installing one charger at a petrol garage means that NO - The UK switching to electric vehicles is not realistic

 

[miklcct]

There is no way for me to buy an electric vehicle unless all parking at places where people spend time, for example, gym rooms, swimming pools, cinemas, hotels, etc., have an enough number of charging facilities. Only by then I will consider buying a car.

I have had bad experience on an electric car which ran from full to empty after it was driven from Eastleigh and Guildford and the swimming pool I went to had parking but not charging facilities.

 

[skyhigh]

Certainly the idea of having a slow charger (i.e. 13A socket) in maybe a third to 50% of spaces in places people do spend a fair bit of time is quite a solid idea.

13A sockets are not a particularly good idea - the charge speed is very slow and at that load % losses are high on a lot of EVs. You also risk people plugging in all kinds of random electronics. It's also worth noting that most EVs don't come with 13A cables as standard now, so a fair amount of owners won't have any use for a household plug socket.

My new EV has an 82kWh battery. On a 3 pin charger allowing for charge losses you'd be looking at 40 hours for a full charge from empty. Even in a hotel you'd be better off driving to a nearby rapid than plugging in at that speed.

What would be worthwhile is a satellite system such as the likes of Kempower offer. They have a single charge 'hub' which can be connected to a large number of posts with relatively simple cabling. The hub can adapt the current available to the units based on site supply and occupancy - so, for example, if a site had available power in the region of 150kW it could charge 13 cars at 11kW, 21 at 7kW or 41 at 3.6kW. As the hub features all the management equipment and it's fairly simple cabling to the satellite units it's fairly comparable cost-wise to install a large site this way or using 13A sockets, which would provide a poorer experience. It's also future-proofed if a larger grid supply can be provided in future.

Is there something else stopping this from happening?

It is happening. 8 350kW rapid chargers installed at my local supermarket in the last couple of months. There's a new build block of apartments around the corner from me - every apartment has access to their own chargepoint.

installing one charger at a petrol garage

I can't say I've seen any new installs where the only provision is a single charger in the last couple of years.

The UK switching to electric vehicles is not realistic

Deciding that based on current provision is folly.

 

[Noddy]

Two points immediately spring to mind, the biggest of which is "planning". Converting a contaminated (lots of remediation work to remove the old tanks and clean up the ground required) site to residential use is both fraught with planning potholes and quite a costly undertaking and I think you would in most cases also have to get permission to build above the previous "ridge height" in order to get a second (or third) storey. And then you would have to lose a chunk of your ground-level area to parking for the flats, reducing the space available. On the positive side, the "road works" - making safe access to the site - should be much simpler as it's already in place for the garage and you could use the holes left behind by the fuel tanks for water tanks for the inevitable SUDS scheme that the council will mandate.

But surely the polluter pays for the clean up and remediation… Or are you saying the the fossil fuel industry doesn’t pay its fair share…

 

[Bletchleyite]

What would be worthwhile is a satellite system such as the likes of Kempower offer. They have a single charge 'hub' which can be connected to a large number of posts with relatively simple cabling. The hub can adapt the current available to the units based on site supply and occupancy - so, for example, if a site had available power in the region of 150kW it could charge 13 cars at 11kW, 21 at 7kW or 41 at 3.6kW. As the hub features all the management equipment and it's fairly simple cabling to the satellite units it's fairly comparable cost-wise to install a large site this way or using 13A sockets, which would provide a poorer experience. It's also future-proofed if a larger grid supply can be provided in future.

That's a good idea.

Another thing that might be worth considering where you want the possibility to charge faster at a location with a poor grid connection is a charger containing its own battery which can charge from the grid, and discharge quickly into a car, sort of a bit like camera flashes used to work before it mostly switched to LED. Obviously that would mean several cars in succession would mean the last one got only what the grid could provide, but at places where they were used relatively occasionally it might work.

 

[DC1989]

It is happening. 8 350kW rapid chargers installed at my local supermarket in the last couple of months. There's a new build block of apartments around the corner from me - every apartment has access to their own chargepoint.

New build flats - great. But nothing seems to be happening in older flats? Or indeed very slowly if so. My block is 2013 and the management company have told us - no plans. Consequently there are 0 electric cars

8 chargers in Sainsburys is great, but not enough. I visited a sainsburys in Abbey Wood recently - 10 chargers (608 spaces). It's not anywhere near enough.

 

[skyhigh]

Another thing that might be worth considering where you want the possibility to charge faster at a location with a poor grid connection is a charger containing its own battery which can charge from the grid, and discharge quickly into a car, sort of a bit like camera flashes used to work before it mostly switched to LED. Obviously that would mean several cars in succession would mean the last one got only what the grid could provide, but at places where they were used relatively occasionally it might work.

BP Pulse have chargers that do exactly this. You can tell which ones they are as they're chunky units. The Gridserve hubs do too (they work to supply the grid to manage demand too which is another source of income for them). I'm pretty sure the new motorway service extensions they've built in the past year have battery supply too.

 

[trebor79]

Certainly the idea of having a slow charger (i.e. 13A socket) in maybe a third to 50% of spaces in places people do spend a fair bit of time is quite a solid idea.

I wouldn't pay the prices charge point operators charge for 13A supply. About 50% of the current will be wasted on losses and running the car systems. 11kW has the same losses, but it's a much smaller proportion of the electricity bought. 13A sockets don't have all the electrical safety protections built in, and don't like like Type 2 sockets either so there's a risk of electric shock (albeit remote) and a bigger risk of some idiot unplugging your car for a laugh.

Another thing that might be worth considering where you want the possibility to charge faster at a location with a poor grid connection is a charger containing its own battery which can charge from the grid, and discharge quickly into a car, sort of a bit like camera flashes used to work before it mostly switched to LED. Obviously that would mean several cars in succession would mean the last one got only what the grid could provide, but at places where they were used relatively occasionally it might work.

Some charge hubs already have such battery storage to smooth the grid demand and deal with the peaks. The Gridserve site at Norwich is one, and I know some of the motorway service stations do too.

 

[Busaholic]

I still don't understand why blocks of flats, supermarket car parks, warehouse estate car parks etc aren't having chargers installed. Surely if the companies offer to install them for free and then they will earn money out of people charging their car there all day. Seems like a total no brainer...a win win.

Is there something else stopping this from happening? Just relying on people to install their own chargers at home and installing one charger at a petrol garage means that NO - The UK switching to electric vehicles is not realistic

Electric vehicles will for the large part be confined to those able to charge at home and who normally confine their motoring in a day to considerably less than 100 miles. If and when diesel and petrol engined cars get banned, which could well happen if insurance companies refuse to insure them with governments leaning on them, then the bulk of the population will have to use public transport, walk or cycle.

I think the fact of the matter is that the National Grid cannot support the scale of charging which would be required to come anywhere near what is required, even if there was a 'national plan' on the lines you suggest. Being the U.K. there is no national plan, of course, and even if there was it would be a token one.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Electric vehicles will for the large part be confined to those able to charge at home and who normally confine their motoring in a day to considerably less than 100 miles. If and when diesel and petrol engined cars get banned, which could well happen if insurance companies refuse to insure them with governments leaning on them, then the bulk of the population will have to use public transport, walk or cycle.

This is beyond fanciful. Insurance companies won't refuse to insure ICEs, nor will Governments ban them. Increasing ULEZs and ZEZs will ban them from parts of cities, but aside from that they will just slowly be phased out as people stop buying them. But as a car is typically on the road from new for 10-15 years, it'll just take a while for them to fade out.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Yep, and consulting on it growing.

Was in Oxford city yesterday and saw signs for that but was amused by the diesel buses still operating inside the zone

 

[Energy]

Electric vehicles will for the large part be confined to those able to charge at home and who normally confine their motoring in a day to considerably less than 100 miles.

EVs can work for those doing 100+ miles a day, many of them have eaaily 250+ mile ranges, and many longer. If you're regularly using the full range you would want your own charger.

Though the number of people 100+ miles a day regularly is going to be incredibly low.

 

[stuu]

Electric vehicles will for the large part be confined to those able to charge at home and who normally confine their motoring in a day to considerably less than 100 miles. If and when diesel and petrol engined cars get banned, which could well happen if insurance companies refuse to insure them with governments leaning on them, then the bulk of the population will have to use public transport, walk or cycle.

I think the fact of the matter is that the National Grid cannot support the scale of charging which would be required to come anywhere near what is required, even if there was a 'national plan' on the lines you suggest. Being the U.K. there is no national plan, of course, and even if there was it would be a token one.

The average commute by car is 19 miles. It will be fine

National Grid disagree with you, and have sensible numbers to back it up. The problems are very much at the demand end, both in terms of enough chargers and in some places the local distribution network

Can the UK grid cope with the extra demand from electric cars? | National Grid

www.nationalgrid.com

 

[Busaholic]

This is beyond fanciful. Insurance companies won't refuse to insure ICEs, nor will Governments ban them. Increasing ULEZs and ZEZs will ban them from parts of cities, but aside from that they will just slowly be phased out as people stop buying them. But as a car is typically on the road from new for 10-15 years, it'll just take a while for them to fade out.

Not fanciful at all. On the Geoff Buys Cars youtube channel, a recent video entitled 'They're Coming for Your Car - an Insurance Insider Speaks' spells out exactly what European insurance companies are discussing amongst themselves. Apologies, can't provide links through my inadequacy.

Geoff is no conspiracist, and he is obviously dumbfounded about the extensive report. Now, there is a chance the whole thing is a hoax, but if it is, it's an extensive one.

As for old cars just fading away, that is obviously true. I have a 12 year old petrol car with 130,000 miles on the clock that's been marvellous for a car costing me only £5,000 new, but I've just had to spend £2,000 on it with three separate things, the last one to get it through its MOT. Was it worth it? Only for me and the repairer, but if it keeps me going for another year or two I'll be in nu doubt.

 

[jon0844]

Is that the channel that supports the conspiracy theory that an EV fire at Luton Airport car park was covered up by the fire service, police, all witnesses and the airport staff by faking footage of a diesel Range Rover on fire?

 

[Bald Rick]

In, say, five years there will be more charging points at garages than fuel pumps. Then probably much quicker than we realise, it will be the pumps with the queues and EVs will have sufficient charging stations and range that queues for them are less common.

Changes in ‘fuel’ buying habits are already having an effect. The petrol stations I tend to use (and I suspect you do too, or at least did!) seem to have fewer queues now than they did a couple of years ago. Given that where we live around 8% of all cars are now EVs, and another few % PHEVs, it is logical to think that demand at petrol stations has fallen around 10%.

Electric vehicles will for the large part be confined to those able to charge at home and who normally confine their motoring in a day to considerably less than 100 miles. If and when diesel and petrol engined cars get banned, which could well happen if insurance companies refuse to insure them with governments leaning on them, then the bulk of the population will have to use public transport, walk or cycle.

It never ceases to amaze me how people can make contributions such as this when on this very thread there are multiple examples of people with EVs who do comfortably more than 100 miles a day.

 

[The Ham]

It does happen. There's a block of premium flats near me built on an old petrol station site.

But if we consider that selling petrol isn't actually that profitable, and that more profit comes from stuff in the shop, then just replacing it with a small supermarket with parking is likely, and maybe a couple of fast chargers, but again maybe not. I've already known sites redeveloped like that as the supermarkets have slowly taken over a big chunk of the fuel market.

I'm aware of several similar sites where a petrol station is now flats, the larger sites (ones with car sales and/or car washes) make it easier to build more.

But surely the polluter pays for the clean up and remediation… Or are you saying the the fossil fuel industry doesn’t pay its fair share…

The battle of the land is likely to have the cost of clean up factored in.

New build flats - great. But nothing seems to be happening in older flats? Or indeed very slowly if so. My block is 2013 and the management company have told us - no plans. Consequently there are 0 electric cars

8 chargers in Sainsburys is great, but not enough. I visited a sainsburys in Abbey Wood recently - 10 chargers (608 spaces). It's not anywhere near enough.

10 spaces out of 608 is about 1.6%, given that plug in cars account for 3% (and a lot would be charged at home) that's probably not too far off (although I would add "for now").

Management companies are going to have to do something, otherwise they're going to find themselves maintaining something which few want. It's also quiet finding out when their contract expires and get it as part of their new contract to add in charges. You may well need to get a number of the other residents on board, however even if they never use it it'll make it easier to sell your flats if it's got chargers.

 

[Enthusiast]

Management companies are going to have to do something, otherwise they're going to find themselves maintaining something which few want.

There are not many domestic properties around, especially in large towns or cities, "which few want." The dearth of suitable accommodation in such places means there are multiple applicants for every property that becomes vacant. The last thing many of them will worry about will be the lack of charging facilities for an electric car which they probably can't afford anyway (because of the amount of their income that goes on rent). There will certainly be no contest between a property without a charging point or no property at all.

 

[jon0844]

While there is a shortage of homes, there are still plenty of properties that people are struggling to sell (on the basis that they don't want to drop the prices over and over). If you make your home/flat more desirable then you're likely to get more money.

I can only speak for myself, but if I was moving then I'd be looking to make sure the property has cable or fibre and can offer gigabit connectivity, and I'd also be looking at cellular coverage. I'd certainly see something like having solar panels or EV charging (even though I don't yet own an EV) as more reasons to perhaps pick one property over another, or make an offer nearest to the asking price etc.

Of course there are other factors, like local schools, hospitals and whatever - but the more boxes ticked the better.

Management companies will almost certainly have to invest in EV charging in communal parking areas at some point, or be left in the dark. Given they won't be providing free electricity, there's scope to make money from them anyway. Local residents could get discounts, while visitors pay a bit more for the convenience when visiting residents.

 

[Busaholic]

Is that the channel that supports the conspiracy theory that an EV fire at Luton Airport car park was covered up by the fire service, police, all witnesses and the airport staff by faking footage of a diesel Range Rover on fire?

No, it wasn't.

It never ceases to amaze me how people can make contributions such as this when on this very thread there are multiple examples of people with EVs who do comfortably more than 100 miles a day.

Not all EVs are Teslas, with their own charging networks deliberately inaccessible to other makes. The range of any electric car decreases with usage of the battery, and there is an astronomical cost when the battery needs replacing. Fact= sales of secondhand electric cars have plummeted in value and unsold new EVs are stored in car parks all over the place.

I grew up as a big believer in electrically driven traction, with Southern Electric on my local railway line, no diesels or steam to be seen,there was even a double decker train. In Eltham we had the very last of the first generation London trams and, down the road, my absolute favourite the trolleybus. I helped the milkman on his electric milk float and saw battery Harrods delivery vans wizzing about. So all my predilections were in favour of electric cars when they were introduced, clean and quiet etc etc. I might even have described myself as an EVangelical! It's both the way they've been introduced in this country and the truth about lithium extraction that first started raising red flags with me, with the rich and powerful being given huge financial incentives that were unwarranted imo. Of course, the sight of Elon Musk being such an advocate was a warning sign too as I've never believed a word he's said. In Cornwall, relying on an electric car, even if you have home charging, is problematic with so few public charging points and a return drive from Penzance to the Devon border being almost 150 miles. I've no doubt that in large cities the infrastructure is much better, but not everyone lives there. Besides, even the cheapest EVs are way too expensive for so many to buy, so the number of cars on the road will decrease a lot more in poorer areas over the next decade.

 

[jon0844]

@Busaholic

His YouTube channel, along with all the comments, as well as on X are full of people claiming it was an EV, and that even if it wasn't it has killed the EV market anyway because people still don't believe the official line. They've convinced themselves EVs are more likely to catch fire and won't change their view despite the stats (from the insurance industry, who settle the claims) showing EVs are less likely to catch fire. Most of the risk is when charging, which is of course still something to be mindful of, but ICE fires are more likely when the vehicle is in motion. Which would you prefer?

He's backstepped quite a bit recently when it has become clear it WAS a diesel Range Rover, and not even a hybrid, and people have proven that - yes - diesel can catch fire (not sure how anyone ever believed it couldn't, just by seeing someone put a match in diesel and it not exploding).

As for the nonsense about range. There is a recent videos of an MG owner who reached 105,000 miles - with just the third set of tyres installed and the battery at 95% health. That thing will probably do another 105,000 with ease. It won't ever need a new battery because something else will break before then to make it uneconomical. If it did need a 'new' battery, they'd buy a second hand one not new. Who fits a brand new engine to a car that's 5 or 10 years old, unless it's under warranty or a particularly special vehicle?

I had a holiday in Cornwall and my hotel had chargers. I could have done a whole week using that charger alone, as every day would start me on 100% charge. We didn't go there to drive all day, so probably did 40-50 miles a day at most. The longest drive was London to Cornwall, but most cars could do that in one go - but we stopped twice for food/rest breaks anyway. I'd sooner park, plug in, go indoors for food than park, go indoors for food, return to car, drive to petrol station, fill up, go in and queue to pay, then drive out.

If you're not solely going for fuel, EV charging is quicker than fuelling.

 

[Energy]

Not all EVs are Teslas, with their own charging networks deliberately inaccessible to other makes.

You can do 100+ miles a day with at-home charging...

And Tesla is opening up their network.

The range of any electric car decreases with usage of the battery

It does but not that quickly. There are Teslas (and a few other brands) with hundreds of thousands of miles and the range lost isn't that much.

Fact= sales of secondhand electric cars have plummeted in value and unsold new EVs are stored in car parks all over the place.

This needs a bit more context.

For example, the Vauxhall Corsa Electric has come down a lot in price, however, the original selling price was far higher than what dealers were selling them for towards the end of the last generation's life. The Corsa has also been affected by a lot of them coming off lease around now. And with cheaper EVs (the Citreon e-C3 and Dacia Spring) being released its pushing the prices down.

The Porsche Taycan is also decreasing a lot, its also affected by a lot coming off lease (the business tax incentives for EVs a few years ago were great) but it also suffers from EVs advancing a lot in technology in a few years, nobody wants to spend a lot of money on a Porsche for it to be very last gen.

The used EV market is still maturing and both are affected by the used car market being slow right now as cost-of-living and whatnot affects private car buyers more.

 

[Bald Rick]

Not all EVs are Teslas, with their own charging networks deliberately inaccessible to other makes.

Just as well. Plenty of people out there doing well over 100 miles a day in non Teslas. Or is my best mate who does at least 150 miles a day in his Skoda Enyiaq making it up?

The range of any electric car decreases with usage of the battery

Some stats would help your point here.

and there is an astronomical cost when the battery needs replacing

and again. How many people do you know with EVs that have had to replace their battery?

Fact= sales of secondhand electric cars have plummeted in value

same for all cars, AIUI.