How to charge an electric car

in one easy lesson?

My cousin T.... lives in central London. He doesn't own a car. He sees no point in it. If he and his partner want to use one then they can hire one.

"They're just a nuisance Cat. The parking is horrendous. There's plenty of public transport."

They also risk their lives on bikes...something which does concern me because I will need to do the same on a tricycle if I ever go back to the London. 

And they risk their lives walking along the streets. "It's like walking through spaghetti in some places...all these people charging their cars..."

Ah yes, yet another problem with all these green, climate change ideas. Is it really just a simple matter of coming home in the evening, parking and plugging in to recharge the battery?

A Twitter user posted this yesterday: "Dear Neighbour, You may have noticed that...... is turning very green. There are now 4EV in the street which is great. 

As we encourage everyone to go green, we have been presented with some challenges in relation to electricity use. In short our infrastructure is from 1822 and our cars are from 2022!

The EV crew all met last night and we were thinking about setting up what we will call a "Roster Ration" basically to enable the charging of our EV's we will roster our charging days times etc, and we ask that during this time you ration your electricity use. Ie: air cons, washers, dryers etc off when we are charging our cars. 

The small sacrifice today will help put an end to global warming and associated issues. all of our contact details on the revers so join the convo so everyone wins

I have no idea whether it is true or not but it does suggest something of a problem. If there is a limited amount of power available then who gets to use it?

There is air conditioning in this house. I don't use it very much. It is much too expensive for just one person. We used it more when the Senior Cat was here. He struggled with the worst of the cold and the heat once he could no longer be active in the garden and the shed. We did not use it all day every day. Instead we put on an extra layer of clothing.

There is a washing machine...well come on. They are a fairly standard item aren't they? I certainly don't use it every day. I recycle the water and the sheets and towels go on a short cycle.

There is a dryer too - but it has not been used since my mother died in 2000. I see no point in it. I have four perfectly good and easy to use "clothes horses". We had one for things which could not go in the dryer (things like "woollies") and then the girl next door gave me three more "because we don't use them". I do use them. It might take a bit longer to get the clothes dry but they work just as well. Most of the time they go out under the back verandah out of the rain but still in the fresh air. If the weather is wild then the house might look a bit like a laundry but it is just me and I can put up with it.

But the idea that I should not do these things because someone else is charging their car is too much. I have not, although I often wanted to, asked the teens next door to stop playing games on their computers because it slows my internet connection to a point where it is almost impossible to send or receive anything. I don't ask the neighbour on the other side to turn off even one of his seven computers. (He makes a living playing the stockmarket when he is not acting as an interpreter at the hospital.) In fact I have never asked anyone to turn their power off for my convenience. 

I would turn it off if there was a limited supply available and somebody needed it for a life-saving medical device. That would be absolutely the right thing to do. Turning it off so that you can just walk a couple of metres to your car in the morning instead of catching the bus or the train? No, I don't think so. If this is about your "feel good green convenience" then think again. If enough people catch the bus or the train that might make a difference. If that's "inconvenient" then perhaps you need to rethink your ideas about saving the environment.