Demand for pool cars is uneven, in that at different times the traffic flows will be in different directions. Morning commutes to work would empty the pools in the suburbs and concentrate cars in commercial/industrial areas. That would leave none for the daytime shoppers and those with appointments at hairdressers, doctors, etc.
Meanwhile, in those commercial/industrial areas, there will be little demand for cars parked there until it's time to go home.
Rental e-scooters in my area are a good analogy. The hire company has vans going round to pick up scooters that have congregated in certain places, then drop them off where there is a shortage of them. Not easy to replicate the logistics of that with cars.
I often see eBikes in London being moved around in vans to move then back to where more demand is expected. Typical place is around Euston station. So there is a dramatic imbalance that is big enough that capacity is not enough in many places to accommodate the normal daily tidal flow.
The Lime bikes do not have docking stations and I have watched a van load get unloaded onto the sloping pavement that is a crossing by Euston !. Goodness knows what an area near a station might look like if hire cars were the vehicles in question. A pity really as for many car usage is quite low so then again not really a regular commuter issue. So it might be bad around Wembley when a big band is playing.
That doesn't really help if someone puts their foot down, which plenty do. If a vehicle is silent but able to move rapidly at any moment then it's hard to predict.
Tell me about it. I was halfway up the stairs on a double deck bus having just got on when BANG off it went leaving me falling backwards down the stairs. I should have given the driver a piece of my mind but I was too busy with my injury.
The EV in question was stationary when my wife & son started to pass it. They were over halfway past when it started to move.
Given this was a supermarket car park, it is not uncommon for there to be somebody sat in a seat just waiting for another member of their party to arrive. I do believe that it is incumbent on the drivers to fully review their surroundings and to be aware that in a car park, that there might be people shorter than the height of their bonnet walking around.
I always check. I even look at the cars when using a crossing controlled by lights incase the driver is making a mistake - common one is looking at their mobile instead of obeying the traffic lights. I have walked off the pavement to get close enough to see the reason they are looking up is from the screen on their lap. But I agree pulling off from stationary gives no clues.
In the real world however it's also incumbent on pedestrians to assume any vehicle with someone in the driving seat may move at any time. No point being right but dead.
Engine noise or fake noise is needed for blind people, but everyone else needs to use their eyes rather than their mobile phone.
How does it work if you are walking along a line of parked cars to your space. Which car do you stand in front of when waiting for an unsuspected move. I often see cars parked with a driver in them (often on the phone). With an engine there is a change of engine note and a slower pull off. Electric Cars are much quicker off the mark and with no clue.
Mind you my nearest misses have been crossing a one way street when an eBike came very fast the wrong way. Plus several close shaves ON the pavement.
As a car driver (better still sitting on the bus upstairs at the front) I do see some absolute suicidal morons on foot and mobile users in cars !.
Choosing whether to have a car should be done taking in suitable parking facilities. In many areas there is an excess of cars chasing a fixed amount of kerb space. Also, 'concreting' the garden over can only be done by reducing the usable kerb space.
I agree but actually you can park across your own dropped curb. So one space in the road that has to be shared could become my own (unshared) three spaces (two on the garden plus one on the road). I learnt from Croydon Council that if you register you car with them or at the address then parking fines are either not issued or (more likely) rescinded upon appeal. Somethijg to that effect. So I would end up with my own personal space on the road AND two spaces for visitors on the garden. The pressure is on to do it before the council "improve" the parking situation by putting in a residents parking scheme !.
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My latest drive to work 'cost' me 1.1 kWh to go 9 miles. You will know the cost of your own electricity - it can be 5p per kWh or 21p at the off peak Supercharger, or 89p at Shell Recharge.
Forgive my chatgpt conversion, I've no idea if it's true, but someone here will.
So my EV (driving style, distance, weather, speed, etc) is exceptionally efficient compared to a petrol car at 332mpg, but it still doesn't help you understand the relative efficiency, compared to other EVs. The measure of that is Wh/mile instead of MPG.
We really need - at todays prices - a cost per mile for each EV and a cost per mile for each ICE. Then we would be comparing like with like.
Obviously the cost per mile for a particular vehicle varies depending on how it is driven BUT figures could be calculated for a standard user.
Fluctuations in fuel prices would cause the figures to need regular updating but I doubt the difference between ICE and EV would vary enough to make petrol/diesel cheaper !.
