Return to Student Council

Passed Policies and Progress

Find out what Students' Union policies have been passed by students, and more importantly, what is being done about them.

Here you can find a list of all the policies which have been passed by student council. We're working on a live tracker so you can check the progress of each policy, but until we've got that up and running please contact your student president team to ask for an update on policies. You can also check out current ideas and rejected ideas.

Policy Idea

Back to list
  • 2 score
    4 voters

    Electric Vehicle Charging (Paisley)

    Submitted 5 years ago by Paul Morris
    Passed
      7comments
      Expand current EV charging facilities at Paisley campus car park, to encourage users to move to more environmentally friendly vehicles, and allow students to use those chargers.

      Why you think it is important

      The present EV chargers at Paisley have proved popular, and are in need of expansion as EV uptake increases, this would support shorter range second hand EVs, more likely to be owned by those of a lower income.

      Is there anything else you think we should know?

      Two chargers are presently available to the general public at the Lady Lane gate, with 2 further chargers available past the barrier, mostly occupied by UWS EVs, 7kw Type 2 posts should be all that is required, reducing the upfront investment costs, increasing the amount of chargers to be made available.
    Gordon Lawrie
    6:31pm on 31 Jan 20 Hi Paul, I'm another electric car driving student, and I absolutely agree that students are more likely to be driving older and lower range EVs, especially as the second hand market expands. My car has a range of 65-70ish miles in cold weather and a very long commute; I often arrive with the car shouting at me to plug in immediately! I am now based in Paisley but was previously based in Lanarkshire. In Lanarkshire they have 6 Type 2 22Kw points, and after significant cajoling from me have implemented a system where you check in with security when you arrive, so they can contact you to move if someone is desperate for power to get home, you are limited to 3 hours charging at most times and the chargers are located behind barriers to keep them available for staff and student use. As you are aware there are a total of 5 points available at Paisley, the 2 public Type 2 22Kw points on Lady Lane which are available on the ChargePlace Scotland network, one Type 2 point reserved for the fleet beside the security building and two Type 2 points, which I think may be 22KW from the model but am not certain, which is behind the barrier and is reserved for fleet use according to security but is sometimes used by staff. There are three main problems with the current situation in Paisley. 1) The University fleet is predominately Nissan Leafs. Whilst these can rapid charge using CHAdeMO, the University has no rapid charging provision so they are stuck charging from the 22Kw Type 2 units at 6.6Kw with accompanying long charge times. 2) There are no restrictions on dwell time at Paisley, but normal parking spaces are highly contended and on street parking has significant cost. This leads to cars staying plugged in all day, staff members leaving theirs so they don't have to move to a potentially non-existent space, and students and members of the public purely to avoid paying parking charges. 3) The charge points behind the barrier being reserved for the fleet are often idle during the day at the very time when demand on the Lady Lane points is at it's peak. I don't think the solution is just to install more chargers, though that is certainly important! The University needs to take action to better manage the demand on a scarce resource. I would suggest the following as policy. Council notes the University's Sustainability Action Plan and that the University has achieved the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 20% against the 2012/2013 baseline. Council further notes that though the University has a goal of also reducing carbon emissions from it's grey fleet, the impact of student and staff travel to campuses is a significant source of carbon emissions and is not measured. Council congratulates the University on the charging provision available for electric vehicles at the Lanarkshire campus and the management of those charging points which in place to ensure good availability and efficient usage. Council calls on SAUWS to work with the University to ensure better EV charging availability at the Paisley campus. Council acknowledges that parking provision is extremely limited at Paisley and that this contributes to charger blocking. Council asks SAUWS to encourage the University to install more charge points suitable for the University's fleet mix. Council also requests that SAUWS call on the University to reserve parking for staff and student Electric Vehicles which are not currently being charged to encourage reduce charger hogging and encourage more drivers to switch to EVs.
    Gordon Lawrie
    6:35pm on 31 Jan 20 Here is a link to the previous comment in an actually readable format. https://1drv.ms/b/s!AojzcLYrCi3ggatM9b_dTMw1txeH4w?e=xOm0e2
    Paul Morris
    7:49pm on 31 Jan 20 Hi Gordon, Thanks for the input. This is something that had crossed my mind, regarding the length of most type 2 cables. This allows for a single unit to cover 3 spaces, so 4 units could cover 12 cars. If the unit could be set to release the cable, at its end after 3 hours. The three cars could gain a suitable charge throughout the day and not have to move. Maybe the spaces could be marked by time, Morning Midday and Afternoon. So if arrived a 10am to no available units, but i wasn't leaving until after 5pm, I would use the Afternoon space and start my charge around 2pm. Maybe an auto switching multi plug type 2 is on the market, it would make things easier in this case. Unless the University wants to do some product design.
    Gordon Lawrie
    8:08pm on 31 Jan 20 Unfortunately that wouldn't work as some cars, including my Renault Zoe, lock the cable in place at the car end until the driver manually releases it, which would rule out tethered cables. The alternative of units unlocking the cars own cable is also not entirely desirable given the replacement cost. Renault would want nearly £400 to replace mine so the idea of having someone else remove it and leave it on the ground where it could be rained on or driven over is not massively appealing. Unfortunately for now I think the only way for a single unit to be shared is for drivers to co-operate. A policy that you move after a period and the University ensures there is somewhere to move to helps to make sure that that happens! (Just as an aside, the Electrical Vehicle Association (eva.scot) gives out time clocks showing when you expect to be back. They have a shortcode on them a driver you is desperate for a charge can text in order to get you a message asking you to let them in.)
    Paul Morris
    8:34pm on 31 Jan 20 Yeah it would have to be un-tethered for Type 1 users, and I like the dial idea, but who is going to leave a lecture half way through. After asking around some EV users, they know of no auto switching units currently on the market.
    Gordon Lawrie
    8:43pm on 31 Jan 20 Absolutely no one is going to leave a lecture part way through and it wouldn't be reasonable to expect that, however I have moved my car during a break to accommodate someone who was otherwise stuck after they messaged me via the disk. My wee Zoe is generally fully charged from zero on the 22Kw units in under 2 hours, I believe the Leafs would take 3-4 hours to be fully charged. Certainly there is no excuse for the people who are currently plugging in before 8am and leaving the cars plugged in until 5pm. Today that meant I had to spend an hour at the Underwood Road dump before I could get home. :-(
    Paul Morris
    1:05am on 5 Feb 20 Agreed, no excuse to leave it there all day, especially if its a long range tesla, as the carpark behind the multistorey is free for three hours, I'm lucky with my Leaf as I have a 6.6kw charger, so only takes 3 hours, and that's usually the max that I'm in uni at a time.