Making EV charging stations safer for users

 

Photo by Julie May

I drive an electric vehicle (EV) in Australia and am concerned that many charging stations here are in out of the way places that are sometimes difficult to find because they are not easily seen from the road. In addition, many are in locations that are not well-lit and are therefore unsafe; sometimes the chargers are not working; and most do not provide shelter from sun or rain.

Apparently this is also common in other parts of the world as Kate Tyrrell found out while on an EV road trip for work in the UK. She always had around 30 miles of spare battery charge for a trip to the next EV charger. But on one occasion, at night, she went from unsafe charging locations to chargers that were not working and finally crawled to a suitable charger with the battery charge reading zero miles!

Kate works in the energy industry so when she attended the Glasgow Climate Change Conference (COP26) she aired her concerns with colleagues and came up with the plan to start ChargeSafe. 

ChargeSafe will physically inspect and rate UKs charging stations for their location, environment, facilities and accessibility. EV charging site users will also be able to share their own views and rate on how safe the charging stations are. These two ratings will enable ChargeSafe to give an overall definitive rating. The plan is to roll this system out to other countries. For more information please read: ChargeSafe: how one horror story led to safer EV charging. (CleanTechnica).

In addition, many charging stations are out in the open and exposed to the elements. Why not follow Electrify America's initiative to create charging stations with their own solar panel roofs that can provide green energy, lighting, shelter and amenities. For more information please read: Electrify America to build "human-centered" charging plazas. (CleanTechnica).