Want To Buy An EV? Warning: Charging Stations Are (Often) Broken

https://www.forbes.com ^ | 1/15/2023 | Brooke Crothers

[RomanSoldier19]

I’m an EV proponent. The more EVs on the road the better. There’s a hitch, though. The more EVs that hit the road, the worse charging infrastructure reliability seems to get.

Electrify America had a great buildout but bad follow-through I’ve been driving an EV since the dawn of commercial electric cars. That’s actually not a long time. A little more than 10 years. But it’s plenty of time to become an expert on the charging infrastructure in a city (and state) with high EV adoption. That would be Los Angeles.

Electrify America has been building out its charging network across California and Los Angeles at a furious pace. It’s now the public Level 3 fast-charging station of choice for the majority of non-Tesla EV owners in Los Angeles. And I presume the U.S. as a whole.

[RomanSoldier19]

Can we evacuate from hurricanes with electric vehicles?

EV Evacuations Emergency (good luck to you)

href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920920306453">ev linkious politicus

[Theoria]

Sounds like the mcdonald’s ice cream machine.

[dangus]

>> Imagine if every time you went to the gas station, it was a 50-50 proposition that the pump would work. <<

This is EXACTLY my experience. Is this odd, or just a Northeastern/Mid Atlantic/Virginia thing?

[Carriage Hill]

“I’ve been driving an EV since the dawn of commercial electric cars.”

That was Duryea Motor Co in 1895, and the fad died out in 1915, eclipsed by steam and ICE.

[Secret Agent Man]

Gas stations get inspections regularly. Owners/employees are there everyday monitoring their gas station and such.

No similar system with the public ev charging areas. Tragedyof the Commons is occurring, no surprise.

[Jeff Chandler]

Sounds like the mcdonald’s ice cream machine

[frank ballenger]

First lie I spotted: the dawn of the electric car 10 years ago.

History article:
By 1900, electric cars were so popular that New York City had a fleet of electric taxis, and electric cars accounted for a third of all vehicles ....

Before Tesla: Why everyone wanted an electric car in 1905https://archive.curbed.com › electric-car-history

[iontheball]

Who has got time if they are actually trying to make a living to sit around and wait for a charge-up? The entire idea is asinine, borne on the minds of those who don't have to work for a living.

[George from New England]

Just as we have Gas Buddy for ICE.

There should be a website to see times, chargers working, etc for E.V.

[Paladin2]

The ABCs of living with batteries:

Always Be Charging.

[RomanSoldier19]

[technically right]

I predict that thefts of the charging cable will be rampant, particularly in urban areas that have a large Amish populations. It only takes a few seconds for a crew to pull up, get out with bolt chops, whack off the cable and disable half a dozen charging stations and be gone before the attendant can call the cops. It will be even worse for those unattended charging stations located in remote areas. Mark my work it will happen.

[Mark]

AAA —Have generator, will travel.(Pallid...)

[immadashell]

Can we evacuate from hurricanes with electric vehicles?

If you can’t evacuate don’t leave the EV in the garage. They may burn your house down even if it (your house) is flooded.

[Ex gun maker.]

Every once in a while some ‘Tard tries that around here but the target is the 220v 3ph. cable running to farmers well pumps.
They are usually found, fried, by the farmer in a day or two.

I expect the volts/amps to a fast charger are about the same.

[Olog-hai]

The more EVs on the road the better. ...

The better for what?

[ridesthemiles]

A common problem in LA & other cities is that thieves Steel the cords for the copper.

[dangus]

>> Gas stations get inspections regularly. Owners/employees are there everyday monitoring their gas station and such... No similar system with the public ev charging areas. Tragedy of the Commons is occurring, no surprise. <<

I don’t thing the “Tragedy of the Commons” is what you think it is. It’s the proto-Communist notion that only Big Government can protect people from their own stupid, selfish actions. EV stations aren’t some “commons.” Whether owned by corporations specializing in “public” charging, like ChargePoint, or by businesses focused on something else but leasing charging stations to draw customers, they are often government-contracted but privately owned and lose business if people don’t/can’t use them.

[RomanSoldier19]

[Arkansas Toothpick]

This is a feature, not a flaw. Joe Biden doesn’t want you to drive an electric car so that you can move about freely; he wants you to drive an electric car so that he can hinder you from doing so.