Charging electric cars on Club sites.

Very good post there R2B and you have hit the nail on the head. 

It appears that some have this idea that they can justify to themselves driving either a MH or caravan using up far more fuel than without such a LV, arrive on site and then connect up to EHU. Somehow that is OK, (isn't that a case of I have paid for my outfit so I'll use it?) but then start to pontificate to others beyond that point?

If these posters maybe give up their high mpg outfits and start cycling and camping (without EHU of course) then perhaps they could be given more credence? 

well I don't see staying in my van for a holiday as any differently to staying in a hotel. I would be very annoyed if I came back to a cold hotel room, why should my van be any different? Now if you are happy with that boot camp approach then by all means carry on, but I'll keep my heating on while I'm out and during the night if necessary. That is not misuse, it is use to enable me to have an enjoyable stay,

btw, you appear to have a motor home so it may be different- I have no idea never had one - but my van keeps toasty warm on the 0.9Kw setting, and of course it has a thermostat as well which means it's not actually using that all the time.

It is unlikely that you'll wait until it's totally empty before you recharge as there would be a risk that you would run out if power before you got back. You would usually recharge once it's down to a quarter and that would only take 6 hours.

When we stayed at Baltic Wharf club site, the site fees averaged over £32 a night. Are you trying to tell me that this is not enough money to cover the cost of an overnight charge for an EV?

They are not subsidising anything because other electric appliances are switched to make power available to charge the EV. On the contrary, EV users are subsidising others who are using their Alde heating, hot water fridge/ freezer, electric kettle etc. etc. on electric.

Not at all! All the power I have used has been within the 16 amp allowed. I cannot use any more than anyone else because if I did the bollard would trip.

That would not be practically feasible. Yes there are many EV charging points off site that let you plug in for free. My car dealer is an example of this. However, it means having to wait around for two and a half hours. So you would have to have time available to do that. Far better to charge from your caravan to save having to spend so much time away that could be used for other things, like catching up on sleep!

If you think that, then perhaps you should be charged £3 a night for using your electric kettle or your electric heating etc.

Yes, Moulesy has met me and so has Oneputt.

It would not be sensible to introduce metering because the site fees cover the cost of the use of electricity up to 16 amps. Many people might perceive a further charge to be unacceptable and perhaps choose to stay elsewhere.

I met an elderly couple the other day who are members of the club but don't use club sites because they cannot afford the cost on their pension. They use CLs and are able to find places to stay for £5 per night.

It is up to the individual to decide on their own needs, not for the individual to dictate others needs

Unfortunately the dictation is already there. As this new usage of electricity increases over the next few years with the enforced swing to electric vehicles (of whatever kind) the sheer amount of electricity required is also going to increase.

The way electricity supply is designed to work, both nationally, on site, and for that matter in your home, there is a limit to the amount that can be physically delivered - regardless of how it is generated and who is paying for it. This design is based on the premise that any given user will not draw the maximum possible all the time (with the exception of certain industrial users with continuously running plant).

The figure used in the design is that any given user will be running at maximum demand for one quarter of the time, which to make the sums simpler can be assumed to be the same as everyone using one quarter of the power all the time.

What we are discussing about the scenario on a caravan site is actually a great small scale model for what will happen nationally before long. It will not be possible to pass these extra thousands of kilowatt hours (let's not confuse further with the technical terms for these big units) through the existing national wiring even if they were made available. There is a safely factor for the rating of any cable, and that could be reduced although that alone will give only about a 10% increase in maximum capacity.

So what the outcome might be is a contentious issue.  Some of us remember the Three Day Week when supplies of electricity had to be shared in a sort of equitable manner as the amount that could be generated was being restricted. Perhaps something similar will be required so that anyone can have their equivalent of the site 16 amps supply - but only for six hours of each day.

As this would be complicated to implement I suspect the alternative of substantially increasing the price per unit to the user will be used to force everyone to self ration their usage. The government (small "g") is not going to sit back and loose the revenue from fuel duty, and the VAT charged on that duty, so could just tax ALL electricity usage instead.

Keep watching the skies.