By electric car in the Czech Republic and not only in Prague. Popular myths have long been invalid
Automobilism is not just about transportation, but it is also a lifestyle for many people. Decades have been characterized by refueling with gasoline or diesel. Electric cars are currently growing as mushrooms after the rain. Their usage is however tied with a number of myths that no longer stand up in the light of data. They are mainly about charging options. In the Czech Republic, there are more charging stations and in Prague, street lamps will be used for charging.
Although it seems that the intention of the union twenty-seven to end the production of new cars with combustion engines by 2035 may not happen, the trend of electromobility has also reached the Czech Republic and is rapidly developing. Once obscure Tesla brand cars are already the standard on the roads and are accompanied by the quiet sound of many other battery electric vehicles (BEV).
Petrol has been a part of cars for long decades and imagining driving without it is a step into the unknown. The approach to fuel can generate mistrust. The Czech Republic has one of the densest networks of petrol stations in Europe. There are 3970 publicly accessible "petrol stations" in the country, so refuelling is not a problem.
Relatively recently, in 2011, there was in Czech Republic only one public charging station for electric cars. However, electromobility is a rapidly changing phenomenon, its aspects are changing almost from day to day. Thus, there are now available 5,733 charging points in the Czech Republic, but it would not be entirely true to say that there are more charging stations than petrol stations. Some charging points stand alone, but there are more at some stations (similar to petrol stations having more fuel dispensers), so the total number of charging stations for electric cars comes to 3,258.
There are significantly fewer electric cars in the Czech Republic than cars with combustion engines, so there are only 5 electric cars per public charger. In practice, this means that from a quantitative point of view, the infrastructure in the Czech Republic is prepared for a much larger number of electric cars on the roads. But the myth of the lack of charging station capacity isn't completely unfounded.
According to the EU's goal in the regulation on alternative drives, a charging bot should be available every 60 kilometers in both directions of travel, which is not yet the case throughout the Czech Republic. However, the number of chargers continues to increase, despite unused capacity and sometimes in an original way.
The Prague company Technology of the capital city of Prague came up with an interesting solution for chargers in urban residential quarters at the largest world fair of smart cities in Barcelona. They integrated the charging station into a street lighting column (see the introductory photo).
"Prague has the ambition to be a modern, responsible, and intelligently managed city. And it was in Barcelona where we showed that innovation can be a natural part of urban infrastructure. Our solution of public lighting poles with integrated charging stations is evidence that a smart city doesn't have to be full of new devices, but primarily smart ideas. In this case, we are utilizing what already exists in the city, i.e. the lighting network, and transforming it into the network of the future. Without unnecessary interventions in space, but with maximum functionality,"
"The Chairman of the Board of THMP, Tomáš Jílek, introduced the exhibited prototypes."
"Indeed, charging an electric vehicle is science. It's not optimal to charge the battery to 100% due to capacity loss, the price at charging stations can vary by multiples up to the alluring possibility of charging with solar energy, where it is then possible to drive completely for free."
"Last year, another innovation appeared in Prague, offering the possibility to drive "for free". The first solar shelter was built here. It combines the advantages of so-called dry parking and allows charging from panels forming the roof. Although such devices exist beyond our borders for public charging, beyond the Moravian border you can see such a one in the border town of Laa an der Thaya. The first Czech one was built by THMP in its service center. Maybe that's what the future of electric charging will look like."
Why, however, experiment with various options for BEV, when there is no doubt that combustion engines work? The electric motor has one fundamental advantage over the combustion one. It has several times higher efficiency. Not to mention that its exhaust can be located at the nearest coal power plant.
"Coal has CZT and an electric motor higher efficiency. On the other hand, you completely ignore oil extraction, transportation and production of diesel fuel. In reality, it is 16% vs. 82% and 6000 people will not die prematurely, because what comes out of the coal cannot be compared with EURO3. And we also have electricity for 14M EV from low-carbon sources,"
He argued with a statistical comparison of engine efficiencies in one of the numerous discussions on X Lukáš Hatas, Director of the Association for Electromobility.
Sources: author's text, TZ, X, MPO, cistadoprava.cz, novinky.cz, SeznamZprávy,cz
