So my daughter’s boyfriend has a Tesla. In a recent trip they made between Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs, they took the Tesla. What probably should have been a 8 or 9 hour drive took them about 14. The boyfriend had to plan the drive to schedule charging station stops (I guess there is an app for that) and supposedly they have ‘rapid charge’ at some places, but not everywhere. So one of the stops took a few hours for the recharge because the rapid charge was down. The boyfriend says he gets 300 miles between charges, but I am not sure he can back that up except in the very best driving conditions. Seems really restrictive for making cross country trips.
I think the number of available charging stations works for the relatively small number of electrics on the road today, but it wouldn’t work for a larger fleet.
I am very much against any govt subsidy for this ‘transition’ to electric, and I dont think its possible to not be tax payer subsidized if you get ‘free’ charging enroute. I also think the carbon footprint (energy used) to drive fully electrics is bigger than the gas powered engine, and certainly hybrids, after the grid inefficiencies and losses are accounted for.
One afternoon, about 30 minutes after closing my shop I caught someone sitting their car backed up to the front of my shop. It was a kid plugged in recharging a hybrid, he was stealing power without permission. After hitting him up about it he admitted to me that he was going across country and had been stealing power this way from closed service stations, fast food restaurants, and motels the whole way. So now this lack of range and availability raises to another whole realm of theft in the future.