Posted on 02/26/2023 4:02:24 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Owners of electric vehicles are finally admitting that recharging away from home is a total "logistical nightmare," between finding charging stations, and the fact that in the best case scenarios it takes 30 to 40 minutes, and up to two hours, to recharge.
"We're going through the planning process of how easily Maddie can get from Albany to Gettysburg [College] and where she can charge the car," said YouTube personality Steve Hammes, who leased a Hyunday Kona Electric SUV for his 17-year-old daughter, Maddie.
"It makes me a little nervous. We want fast chargers that take 30 to 40 minutes -- it would not make sense to sit at a Level 2 charger for hours. There isn't a good software tool that helps EV owners plan their trips," he told ABC News.
The report comes on the heels of the Biden administration's announcement that Tesla would open its Supercharger network to non-Tesla owners by the end of next year - a plan which includes 3,500 Tesla fast chargers and 4,000 of the slower, Level 2 chargers.
John Voelcker, an industry expert on EVs and the former editor of Green Car Reports, said this arrangement will allow Tesla to learn a lot about U.S. drivers -- "how you charge, where you drive and what car you have." He does not expect Tesla to commit to additional charging stations.
"Tesla does not want its highly reliable and tightly integrated charging network to be clogged with people whose cars can't charge as fast as Teslas," he told ABC News. -ABC News
To try and cope with an increase in EVs, the Biden administration's 2021 infrastructure law has a goal of installing 500,000 new chargers across the country - as well as dramatically boosting EV sales, by 2030.
That said, Voelcker hasn't seen much improvement in the nation's recharging infrastructure over the past four years, and says he's heard a food of complaints over dead chargers and 'sticky cables.'
"The incentive right now is to get stations in the ground," he said. "It's not making sure they actually work."
Car and Driver editor-in-chief Tony Quiroga, says he's now been forced to wander around a local Walmart in Burbank, California while his Tesla recharges. He's also become a regular at a Mohave, California Mexican restaurant, where a Telsa charger is located.
"I imagine an ecosystem will be built around charging stations eventually," he told ABC News. "Longer trips bring up flaws with EVs. People are leery of taking them on long trips -- that's why older EVs don't have 40,000 miles on them."
Last March Swedish automaker Volvo and Starbucks said they were teaming up to install as many as 60 DC fast chargers at 15 Starbucks stores along a 1,350-mile route that spans from Seattle to Denver.
Quiroga's sister, who lives in Northern California, takes her internal combustion car -- not her Tesla Model S -- when she needs to drive across the state. Even Quiroga's team of reporters has to carefully plan and calculate how far EV charging stations are when they conduct comparison tests among manufacturers. -ABC News
"These comparisons tests are a logistical nightmare. We plan meals around recharging the vehicles," said Quiroga. "We need to have the battery at 100% or close to it to test a vehicle's performance. We have to time everything -- it requires more work."
What's more, the range of EVs plummets in the cold, or if you use things like the heater.
Sharon Bragg of Clifton Park, New York, has to charge her Ford Mustang Mach-E GT more frequently in the winter months. The GT's EPA rating is 270 miles on a full charge. Bragg said it's closer to 200 in the colder weather. Last December a Level 2 charging plug got stuck in her Mach-E and would not budge. After multiple failed attempts by bystanders, she called an electrician, who blew hot air on the plug for 20 minutes to release it.
"The whole process took two hours," she told ABC News. "I was in the parking lot from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. It was a cold day."
That said, Quiroga of Car and Driver calls these inconveniences "teething pains," which he says have greatly improved over the years.
"Where we are now versus 10 years ago -- it's radically different," he said. "Range has tripled, even quintupled. Look at the Lucid Air -- it gets over 500 miles of range in a single charge."
Now if states like California could only provide an infrastructure robust enough to handle EV demand legislated over the next 10-15 years...
Tow a trailer with a generator and fuel tank.
Exactly
Starve 80% of the population by not manufacturing fertilizer and voila!, problem solved.
“Not a manned gas station” — and those are bad enough, these days, with carjackings, creeps reaching in from the passenger side to swipe your purse or phone, etc.
Enjoy your 100k con…
In a few years the gangs of feral utes that now carjack people will switch to doing robberies at late night charging stations. You are immobilized at a lonely spot with freeway access and will look like an ATM on the hoof to them.
They are welcome to my cat...
RE: Enjoy your 100K con...
Hey, I thought it was much cheaper than that now.... Can’t you get one for as low as $45,000 today?
Wondering what the scrap value of copper connecting cable at charging stations are. Asking for a druggie friend...
I just fear for my children’s future the next 50 years or so and their children (Not electric cars, just methods “our betters” plan on managing scarcity which they have no idea where the decision making process will lead to since everything is heavily manipulated).
Article:
“200 in the colder weather” (miles per charge)
I want to see the numbers for temperatures below ten degrees.
I have not seen them published anywhere.
In the northern tier in the coldest winter months these electric vehicles are going to get a lot of folks stranded—at the worst possible time to be stranded.
Some lessons are best learned the hard way.
rxh4n1 wrote: “There will be plenty there. The Biden Admin, in the name of their new equity policy will mandate that many of their 500,000 charging stations must be built in “underserved communities”.”
Reminds me of Jimmy Carter’s ill-fated attempt to revitalize the downtown areas by requiring federal offices to relocate there believing that would force their customers to travel into the downtown areas.
Quite similar in fact. This would increase the equity in those underserved communities since this would provide the underserved opportunities to improve their wealth.
“”And fast charging EVs is great! Each and every time you do it, you shorten the life of battery pack and reduce the EV range!””
I’ve been saying the above for a few years. Finland announced a 15-minute super charging station. They did not bother to mention the damage to battery itself, and, the damage to the longevity of the battery. So many battery manuals state that trickle charging is best. These manuals also recommend not running the batteries down below 20%
AND not charging past 80%. I do not know if the major dealerships inform the EV buyers about this.
Also, much has been mentioned about the soon-to-be burgeoning used EV market. Will the charging history of the EV be available. How many times did the previous owner subject the battery to damaging, fast charging? Hmmmm?
“But what parent would subject their 17 year old daughter to having to hang out in a parking lot for hours for her car to charge?”
Good point. Even in a “good” area you’re eventually going to run into trouble.
Poor little thing.. prolly doesn’t even have 9 lives.
I also point out often that all of us are paying part of the cost of each EV (subsidies, tax breaks, etc.). Each and every taxpayer is funding what is mostly a second auto for people with more money.
As Rush used to say, if we were to go to several neighbors and demand money for something we want, the answer would be quite different. Confiscation of earnings (the income tax system) is the only way to ‘get’ people to fund this stuff.
“charging stations must be built in “underserved communities”.””
This is gonna be fun—watching the “virtue signal” crowd getting mugged in the hood while they get off the highway to pull up to the charging station.
People from out of town who don’t know the local areas will be easy pickings....
The ICE vs EV vehicles argument was settled by 1920. EV’s lost.
“that’s why older EVs don’t have 40,000 miles on them”
Same strategy with lowering crime numbers. Make crimes no longer crimes and crimes are not to be prosecuted so there’s no record to count.
Force behavioral changes of EV owners to pad the numbers of how many years they last.
Batteries are improving much faster that internal combustion engines. Today, for daily driving EVs might be cheaper and more convenient if you have a garage where you can recharge daily.
For road trips, not so much.
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