These days, the decision whether or not to buy an electric vehicle always comes down to the same question: how and when to charge the car. In other words, the charging problem. The fear is that of running ‘dry’ of energy.
Charging electric cars
Charging usually takes place at public charging points. The exception is those who have a garage equipped for the purpose. The ideal would be to have a wallbox, i.e. a fast charging system.
In town the problem is relative, as there are quite a few paid public charging points for charging electric cars. Even so, the network of these stations needs to grow, as demand is definitely always increasing. The obstacle arises once you leave the city. Today, the most modern cars have sat navs that can display a map of the charging points along the route.
There are currently 14,302 charging points in Italy, spread across 7,462 stations. Most of these are in the North. Specifically, 73% are public infrastructure and 27% are on private land (as in the case of supermarkets or shopping centres). Various funding and incentive schemes are under way to expand this infrastructure.
Let's look in particular at a solution designed for those who decide to use an electric car for long-distance travel, so they can charge without any problems.
The initiative for charging on the road
Nicola Carlon, 35, has developed Eviaggio. It is a platform through which travellers can view hotels with charging stations for electric vehicles. This entrepreneur's idea works thanks to the collaboration of users and owners, who report businesses with car charging sockets and their type.
There are currently 1,574 destinations listed, 224 of which are verified. When you open the site you will see the basic information, a map of the location, the name of the property and the type of charging available. Users can then give a rating from one to five stars based on their experience.
EViaggio: the new Android app is here
Since February, the new EViaggio app for Androidhas been available: very fast and lightweight and, above all, it requires no registration or special permissions to download and use. The app contains all the basic features for finding charging points in towns and cities across Italy.
The website EViaggio.it has been online since August 2020: to date, around 1,600 properties have been added, all of which can be found via the app. Owners can claim their properties free of charge and manage the information through a personal showcase, where they can add content such as photos, videos and text. To date, around 220 properties have already been claimed. EViaggio is strictly free of charge and free of any advertising.
[Source] “CHARGING AN ELECTRIC CAR ON THE ROAD”, in AutoMotoElettriche, 2 March 2021, Federica Simonetti, https://automotoelettriche.it/2021/03/02/ricaricare-unauto-elettrica-in-viaggio/
