The towns with the longest queue for electric car chargers revealed – is yours on the list?
A LIST of the towns with the longest queues for electric car chargers has been revealed - is yours on it?
New research has shown that drivers in Leeds could face a 31-hour wait to recharge their electric vehicles (EV).
Automotive experts at Car Lease Special Offers analysed the number of EVs per city and public charging points and discovered the wait was longer than originally thought.
They found Leeds had 37 EVs per charging point, forcing up waiting times.
Belfast came in at a distant second with drivers expected to wait 19 hours for a charge point and roughly 23 EVs per refill station.
South-end-on-Sea followed next with 16 hours and 15 minutes then Swansea at 13 hours and 39 minutes, which had 20 and 16 EVs per charging point respectively.
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On the other end of the table was Coventry, where you’d have the shortest waiting times.
There you’d only have to wait 1 hour 30 minutes to charge your EV, with 1.8 EVs per charging point.
If you're one of those unfortunate souls waiting for a recharge in Leeds then you could be spending that time doing other things, the auto experts explain.
In 31 hours, you could run 12 half marathons, watch 82 episodes of The Simpsons, attend 17 football matches, walk the dog 31 times or finish 900 Duolingo lessons if you fly through at two minutes each.
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Though the chances of every owner turning up at every charge point is low, the experts have shared ways to save money and avoid EV charging queues.
One of those is finding free charging points where you can: there are thousands available across the UK in supermarket carparks, shopping centres and hotels and at some service stations.
Fully charging a 60kWh EV at home costs around $15 depending on energy prices while rapid charge points at service stations will set you back £6.50 for a 30 minute charge.
The next is knowing exactly where the closest charge point is so you're not wasting power looking for one.
You can always install a home charger. Thought installing 7kW Pod Point Solo 3 smart home charger costs around £899, it may work out cheaper in the long run.
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Slower chargers are available for a cheaper price if you want to save on the installation costs, with a 3kW charger costing between £250 and £500 to install.
There's also the option of going to public charging station at off-peak times, encouraging your employer to invest in charge points at work and making use of the fastest available charger.