Charging electric cars 給電動(dòng)汽車充電

Tens of millions of electric cars will soon need charging. Here’s how to do it

第一段：

TAKE THE wheel of an electric vehicle (EV) and prepare to be astounded. The smooth, instant acceleration of battery power makes driving easy and exciting. The latest technology is there, with tablet-like screens instead of old-fashioned switches. Add falling prices which make owning and running many EVs as cheap as fossil-fuel alternatives, and the open road beckons.

來體驗(yàn)一把電動(dòng)汽車駕駛，讓自己大吃一驚吧。電池動(dòng)力使加速平穩(wěn)而快速，駕駛起來既輕松又刺激。車內(nèi)還安裝了最新科技——平板電腦一樣的屏幕，而不是老式開關(guān)。價(jià)格也是一降再降，買輛電動(dòng)汽車再加保養(yǎng)的費(fèi)用和燃油車一樣便宜。陽關(guān)大道在召喚你上路。

第二段：

Except when you look under those sleek exteriors. The tangle of cables in the boot is a reminder of the need to plug in and recharge cars roughly every 250 miles (400km). And when you do find a?public charging point, it is sometimes damaged or inaccessible. Little wonder that one of the main reasons drivers give for not buying an EV is “range anxiety”.

但揭開時(shí)尚的外殼，情況就不同了。后備箱里糾纏的電線提醒我們，每開250英里（400公里）就要充電。就算找到了公共充電站，有時(shí)還是壞的或者不能用。也難怪人們不買電動(dòng)車的主要原因之一就是會(huì)有“里程焦慮”。

第三段：

A society-wide switch from hydrocarbons to electrons is required if the world is to stand a chance of reaching its net-zero emissions targets. However as EVs become more common, the charging problem will become more severe. Today’s mostly wealthy owners can often plug in their EV at home or at work. But many less-well-off EV drivers will not have a drive in front of their house or a space in the executive car park.

如果世界想要有機(jī)會(huì)實(shí)現(xiàn)凈零排放目標(biāo)，就需要在全社會(huì)實(shí)現(xiàn)從碳?xì)浠衔锵螂娮拥霓D(zhuǎn)向。但是，隨著電動(dòng)汽車越來越普及，充電問題也越來越嚴(yán)峻。目前，大多數(shù)富有的車主基本上能在家或公司給車充電。但很多沒那么富裕的車主就享受不到屋前私家車道或停車場(chǎng)內(nèi)的專屬車位。

第四段：

By 2040 around 60% of all charging will need to take place away from home, requiring a vast public network of charging stations. At the end of 2020 the world had just 1.3m of these public chargers. By some estimates, to meet net- zero emissions goals by 2050 will require 200m of the things.

到2040年，在家以外給汽車充電要占到60%的比例，這就需要建造龐大的公共充電站網(wǎng)絡(luò)。2020年底，全世界只有130萬個(gè)公共充電樁。據(jù)估計(jì)，要在2050年實(shí)現(xiàn)凈零排放目標(biāo)，需要2億個(gè)充電樁。

第五段：

Who might install them? Drivers will need a mix of fast “l(fā)ong-distance” chargers installed near motorways that can rapidly add hundreds of miles to battery ranges and slower “top-up” chargers available at kerbsides or in the car parks of shopping centres, restaurants and so on. The private sector, sensing an opportunity to make some money from surging EV ownership, is already showing an interest. Dedicated charging firms and carmakers are investing in infrastructure. Oil companies, with Shell to the fore, are putting chargers in petrol stations and buying charging companies. Utilities, which have plenty of electricity to sell, are also starting to sniff around.

誰可能會(huì)來安裝呢？既需要在高速公路旁安裝“長(zhǎng)途”快速充電樁，能迅速給電池增加幾百英里的續(xù)航里程，還需要在路邊、購(gòu)物中心的停車場(chǎng)、餐館等地安裝“補(bǔ)充”慢速充電樁。私營(yíng)企業(yè)從激增的電動(dòng)車購(gòu)買量中嗅到了商機(jī)，對(duì)這方面已表現(xiàn)出興趣。專業(yè)充電公司和汽車制造商正在投資基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施。以殼牌公司為首的石油公司，一邊在加油站安裝充電樁，一邊收購(gòu)充電公司。公用事業(yè)有大把電力待售，也開始蠢蠢欲動(dòng)。

第六段：

Yet the charging business suffers from big problems. One is how to co-ordinate between the owners of charging points, the owners of the sites where they will be installed, planning authorities and grid firms. Another is the cost. According to one estimate, the bill for the chargers needed to reach net-zero by 2050 will be $1.6trn. To start with, profits may be elusive because the networks will not at first be heavily used. A related risk is that the coverage will have gaps. California is a choice spot for installing chargers, but is anyone keen on investing in Nebraska? And then there is the question of competing networks. Drivers should be able to switch from one to the other without the hassle of having to sign up to them all.

但充電業(yè)務(wù)也受困于幾個(gè)重大問題。第一，如何協(xié)調(diào)充電樁所有者、充電樁安裝地點(diǎn)所有者、規(guī)劃部門以及電網(wǎng)公司之間的關(guān)系。第二是成本。根據(jù)一項(xiàng)估算，要在2050年實(shí)現(xiàn)凈零排放目標(biāo)，在充電樁上的投入將需要達(dá)到1.6萬億美元。首先，充電網(wǎng)絡(luò)最初的利用率不高，難以有所獲利。連帶風(fēng)險(xiǎn)就是，充電樁的覆蓋面會(huì)有缺口。在加利福尼亞安裝充電樁是很好的選擇，但是，有沒有人愿意在內(nèi)布拉斯加州投資呢？還有不同充電網(wǎng)絡(luò)間的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)問題。駕駛者應(yīng)能在不同充電網(wǎng)之間互相切換，而無需注冊(cè)所有網(wǎng)絡(luò)，否則就會(huì)特別繁瑣。

第七段：

What to do? Governments are experimenting. As well as subsidising EV sales many are throwing cash at public chargers. America’s infrastructure law sets aside $7.5bn to create 500,000 public stations by 2030. Britain plans to require new buildings to install chargers. Yet the sums are puny and the problems of co-ordination, coverage and convenience will remain.

怎么辦？各國(guó)政府都是摸著石頭過河。除了補(bǔ)貼電動(dòng)汽車銷售，很多政府還向公共充電樁建設(shè)撥款。美國(guó)的基建法案計(jì)劃投入75億美元，到2030年建成50萬個(gè)充電站。英國(guó)計(jì)劃要求新建建筑必須安裝充電樁。但這些資金投入只是杯水車薪，而且如何協(xié)調(diào)、覆蓋率和便利性問題仍然存在。

第八段：

Governments should learn from telecoms. Most countries auction or issue a limited number of licences or spectrum rights to firms to run regional and national mobile networks. In return the firms have to build networks according to a schedule, offer universal coverage and compete with each other. Regulators set rules to allow roaming between them.

政府應(yīng)向電信業(yè)學(xué)習(xí)。大部分國(guó)家會(huì)面向公司拍賣或發(fā)放數(shù)量有限的許可證或權(quán)利，以運(yùn)營(yíng)地區(qū)或國(guó)家移動(dòng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)。作為回報(bào)，企業(yè)必須按照計(jì)劃修建電信網(wǎng)，實(shí)現(xiàn)全域覆蓋，還要互相競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。監(jiān)管者制定規(guī)則，用戶可以在不同網(wǎng)絡(luò)間漫游。

第九段：

This approach has its flaws. Poorly designed auctions in Europe left firms with too much debt, and competition has become less intense in America. But in the past two decades the world has marshalled over $4trn of spending on telecoms infrastructure. And the mobile phone has turned from a shiny object for rich people into something in everyone’s pocket. The bright sparks running climate policy should take note.?

這個(gè)方法有其缺陷。在歐洲，拍賣規(guī)則設(shè)計(jì)不合理，導(dǎo)致很多企業(yè)負(fù)債累累。而在美國(guó)，競(jìng)爭(zhēng)已變得不夠激烈。但是在過去20年間，全球在電信基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施上的支出超過了4萬億美元。手機(jī)已從富人的閃光小玩意兒變成了人人日常使用之物。執(zhí)行氣候政策的聰明人應(yīng)該注意到這一點(diǎn)。