Charging electric cars 给电动汽车充电

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.

来体验一把电动汽车驾驶，让自己大吃一惊吧。电池动力使加速平稳而快速，驾驶起来既轻松又刺激。车内还安装了最新科技——平板电脑一样的屏幕，而不是老式开关。价格也是一降再降，买辆电动汽车再加保养的费用和燃油车一样便宜。阳关大道在召唤你上路。

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”.

但揭开时尚的外壳，情况就不同了。后备箱里纠缠的电线提醒我们，每开250英里（400公里）就要充电。就算找到了公共充电站，有时还是坏的或者不能用。也难怪人们不买电动车的主要原因之一就是会有“里程焦虑”。

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.

如果世界想要有机会实现净零排放目标，就需要在全社会实现从碳氢化合物向电子的转向。但是，随着电动汽车越来越普及，充电问题也越来越严峻。目前，大多数富有的车主基本上能在家或公司给车充电。但很多没那么富裕的车主就享受不到屋前私家车道或停车场内的专属车位。

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，在家以外给汽车充电要占到60%的比例，这就需要建造庞大的公共充电站网络。2020年底，全世界只有130万个公共充电桩。据估计，要在2050年实现净零排放目标，需要2亿个充电桩。

第五段：

Who might install them? Drivers will need a mix of fast “long-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.

谁可能会来安装呢？既需要在高速公路旁安装“长途”快速充电桩，能迅速给电池增加几百英里的续航里程，还需要在路边、购物中心的停车场、餐馆等地安装“补充”慢速充电桩。私营企业从激增的电动车购买量中嗅到了商机，对这方面已表现出兴趣。专业充电公司和汽车制造商正在投资基础设施。以壳牌公司为首的石油公司，一边在加油站安装充电桩，一边收购充电公司。公用事业有大把电力待售，也开始蠢蠢欲动。

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.

但充电业务也受困于几个重大问题。第一，如何协调充电桩所有者、充电桩安装地点所有者、规划部门以及电网公司之间的关系。第二是成本。根据一项估算，要在2050年实现净零排放目标，在充电桩上的投入将需要达到1.6万亿美元。首先，充电网络最初的利用率不高，难以有所获利。连带风险就是，充电桩的覆盖面会有缺口。在加利福尼亚安装充电桩是很好的选择，但是，有没有人愿意在内布拉斯加州投资呢？还有不同充电网络间的竞争问题。驾驶者应能在不同充电网之间互相切换，而无需注册所有网络，否则就会特别繁琐。

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.

怎么办？各国政府都是摸着石头过河。除了补贴电动汽车销售，很多政府还向公共充电桩建设拨款。美国的基建法案计划投入75亿美元，到2030年建成50万个充电站。英国计划要求新建建筑必须安装充电桩。但这些资金投入只是杯水车薪，而且如何协调、覆盖率和便利性问题仍然存在。

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.

政府应向电信业学习。大部分国家会面向公司拍卖或发放数量有限的许可证或权利，以运营地区或国家移动网络。作为回报，企业必须按照计划修建电信网，实现全域覆盖，还要互相竞争。监管者制定规则，用户可以在不同网络间漫游。

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. 

这个方法有其缺陷。在欧洲，拍卖规则设计不合理，导致很多企业负债累累。而在美国，竞争已变得不够激烈。但是在过去20年间，全球在电信基础设施上的支出超过了4万亿美元。手机已从富人的闪光小玩意儿变成了人人日常使用之物。执行气候政策的聪明人应该注意到这一点。