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[Richard230]

I know a lot about lampposts and the idea just wouldn't work.  Public street lights use very little electricity, especially now that their lamps are usually LED, so their infrastructure is not very robust. Plus, they are billed (at least in California) via a flat-rate system that charges the city or county a monthly flat rate for each street light, which used to be $75 a month some years ago before they were converted from incandescent, to HPS and then LED lamps. So they have no electric meters to pick up power used for each light. To add insult to injury, many of these street lighting systems go from light to light and are maintained by the local city, were installed by Mickey Mouse as cheaply as possible and have been in the ground or on old wood poles for a great many years.  It would not be a very reliable way to recharge your cell phone, much less your EV.   

[TheRan]

I should note that I'm talking about the UK. The vast majority of our lights used to be sodium before being switched out to LED. I don't exactly how much power that saves but combined with many being on timers now instead of just sensors (they switch off around midnight and back on at 5am) there must be some power left over that some chargers could be added without adding significantly to the load that the lighting system would have seen a decade or two ago.

And yeah I get that it wouldn't be an easy or cheap thing to implement, but it's a possible option that could really help with the widespread adoption of electric vehicles. For funding it wouldn't be that unreasonable to add a separate tax to electric vehicles as they already have a cut compared to ICE ones (bikes for example don't pay any).

[princec]

If you're going to all the trouble of upgrading lampposts - which are not present in anywhere near enough numbers anyway, they are mandated to be up to 200 yards apart remember, you may as well change the laws to allow people to run cables from their properties under the pavement and go for a country-wide designated parking bay scheme. (A lot of people in the UK - like, most of them) don't have a dedicated space on the street that's "just theirs", but that'd probably have to change to allow the large number of people without off-road parking to be guaranteed of a charge when they come home.

Cas

[NEW2elec]

I guess it's just a California way of thinking but "THEY" aren't going to give people electricity.  No one is going to install 110V outlets all around to help people get around.  It's just not how the real world works, sorry.

You've never seen a vending machine that sells a soda can of gasoline for a reason.  Even though it "could" be helpful to someone who is out of gas at a shopping mall.  Smart people fill up their cars and refill them before they are out, at gas stations all at once and real fast.

I predict it will stay the same for electric cars in the future.  Maybe home charging as an option as well but I truly feel our home electricity will go up in price and at a billing type that will punish people for using a large amounts of electricity. 

[Crissa]

I just linked why all charge points do not need 7KW.  Please watch the video.

The vast majority of vehicles sit around 95% of the time.  They just need a place to plug in.

-Crissa

[princec]

That'd be called "home" for most people I reckon. I suspect that the other place a vehicle might spend all its time is "work", but they have no reason to look out for anyone. So the only other viable use-case is long distance travel, which means fast chargers... which is what Tesla got right already years ago. For everyone else... we need a charging solution for homes, specifically homes without off-road parking.

Cas

[TheRan]

If you're going to all the trouble of upgrading lampposts - which are not present in anywhere near enough numbers anyway, they are mandated to be up to 200 yards apart remember, you may as well change the laws to allow people to run cables from their properties under the pavement and go for a country-wide designated parking bay scheme. (A lot of people in the UK - like, most of them) don't have a dedicated space on the street that's "just theirs", but that'd probably have to change to allow the large number of people without off-road parking to be guaranteed of a charge when they come home.

Cas

You're must be thinking of motorways or something because lamp posts on residential roads certainly aren't 200 yards apart (about 180m). Doing some rough measuring on Google maps on my street (because it's not detailed enough to see the lights but I know where they are) they're about 40-50m apart on one side of the road, about half that distance if you count the ones on the opposite side.

Now, you're right that it's no where near enough for everyone to use one, and that's where home charging comes in, but even just a few would be useful. There would need to be something to discourage the same people constantly using the same post right outside their home, a high enough fee to convince them to install an exterior outlet on their house instead but still low enough to be reasonable, but for those people going somewhere where getting access to an outlet wouldn't be possible it would be a huge help.

[Richard230]

The "rule of thumb" for spacing streetlights in the city that I worked for was 180 feet apart and alternating from side-to-side.

[princec]

"It states that: Section 82(1)(a) (of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (RTRA 1984)) defines a restricted road in England and Wales as a road which is provided with "a system of street lighting furnished by means of lamps placed not more than 200 yards apart". So that's your worst case scenario.

Cas

[TheRan]

Sorry, I didn't see the "up to" in your previous post. In practice I don't think many roads have them 200 yards apart. I remembered that 200 yards is also the distance that speed limit repeater signs are meant to be from each other and one article I read said they're typically on every 7th or 8th lamp post.

[Crissa]

Lamps every 200 yards and signs every 200 yards?

That sounds super-annoying.

-Crissa

[princec]

That's only the requirement for "urban" (30mph limits, no mainbeams, etc). They don't actually need to put 30mph repeater signs down (and indeed, they do not) - the existence of the street lighting is enough to mandate the 30mph limit, though they will reinforce this with a sign at the entrance and exit to the zone.

Aaaaanyway, we digress, but even though that's the maximum distance they can be apart, the typical distances are still way, way too far. You need to be within 4m of a lamppost or you'll be carrying 30kg of heavy cable around with you everywhere... I think not. And what was said before about the electrical supply - it's not even remotely rated for the sort of loads envisaged. You may as well start from scratch and install something brand new every 10m along the pavement. Those pop-up devices look interesting but have a fatal flaw in that they ... pop up. And therefore break / jam / get vandalised.

Cas

[NEW2elec]

I've seen a British company that used charging posts that sunk into the ground when not in use.  Also street light-charger combos.  All well and good but they aren't all over the place are they?  For a good reason, they don't make money.
This idea of, give me free power, is just kind of childish.  So moving on if I have to pay for it I want it fast and easy.  That's where the dedicated gas station/charging stations will dominate the market.

"Meet the new boss same as the old boss"  The Who

[princec]

Yep. It'll be stations on long-distance routes that will cash in on fast charging capability. And it'll not be any cheaper than petrol in short order, either, because people first and foremost are paying for time when they drive places. That is, after all, the very essence of the motor vehicle. Would you insist on recharging for £5, and wait 4 hours, or would you pay £40 and be on your way in 15 minutes? Case closed, m'lud.

Cas

[Crissa]

And what was said before about the electrical supply - it's not even remotely rated for the sort of loads envisaged.

Except it is.  There is loads more than we need, and most car charging is at night, anyhow.  Sure, we'll need some scheduling, but that's hardly a fancy thing.

What the network isn't designed for is massive spikes like supercharging, which is why those stations will always be more rare and more expensive than L2 and L1 charging.

We need small chargers everywhere.  Then we can worry about the high-voltage-highwattage chargers needed for road trips.

-Crissa