It’s a terrible situation for those severely disabled or unable to charge at home. The choice of suitable ICE vehicles gets less almost daily and I do wonder what the answer will be for these people. Car manufacturers are hardly likely to design disability friendly vehicles.[/quote Even with high number of EV’s currently available in the scheme, there is still 595 non BEV vehicles available, there stages where there was less then 595 vehicles in total on the scheme.
I suppose it depends what you mean by ‘severely disabled’. Im a paraplegic, unable to walk at all with no core muscles. I can say that it’s been a game changer for me to pull up on my drive, plug in a charger and go inside – never visiting a petrol station is a breath of fresh air. The OHME cable and plug is no heavier or difficult to handle than a garden hose, must easier than a petrol pump. I do concede that I may think differently if I didn’t have a drive way.
Im happy it’s working for you, and the ability to plug in then go indoors and forget the car is amazing, but have you had to charge out in the wild? Rapid cables are big chunks of copper and cooling wrapped in heavy rubber. I’m not saying it’s impossible but I’d be amazed if they weren’t a challenge.
I was going to do a longer reply to your original question, but will continue!
Yes, of course over the three years I’ve had to use many rapid chargers. We go fro Surrey to Northumberland a few times a year with no destination charging, so we have to use rapids.
Rapids are a mixed bag. Some are as easy as petrol pumps, some are harder, some, like IONITY are much easier as they have a helper cable at the top.
I have found that people at the rapid charging areas are very friendly and I’ve had zero issues asking someone to swipe my card and plug me in.
The big issue is accessibility, some are a disaster for wheelchair users, but I know these are changing.
On balance, most of my charging is at home, so for the 90% of time my charging is as simple as it can be and I’ll happily take that compared with the hassle petrol stations have been over the years. Getting spilled diesel fuel on my wheelchair tyres is really not pleasant!
Nothing will ever be as simple for us disabled people, but plugging in at home has been an amazing experience.
