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...
Overhead trolly wires.
Sure works for trains in Europe.
The average gambler is ALWAYS in the red.
The house takes their cut no matter what.
Tesla/Kia adapter cords
$97.88 on Amazon.
Basic being a flat tire.
Triple AAA did a study on EV’s and cold weather several months ago. It was published on the internet.. Their website may have the research results. The results indicated (as I recall) that cold weather reduced the mileage by half on EV’s in cold weather.
“thieves stealing the cords.”
Funny they don’t steal hoses from gas pumps.
It depends on how fast you want to charge. Level 1 is 120 volt. Level 2 is 240 volt, 4-6 times faster than Level 1 and might be enough for overnight charging. Level 2 chargers cost $600 and another $1,000 to $3,000 in labor to install, so in the ballpark you quoted.
A level 3 DCFC station will run you from $12,000-$35,000 for the charger and associated hardware. That cost makes them impractical for most homeowners to install, and a level 2 station is often more than enough. DCFC home stations usually require substantial remodeling to install the electrical infrastructure necessary to funnel enough power through to your EV for an 80% charge in half an hour—around 480 volts of output.
The big problem is the local legacy distribution system step-down transformer cannot handle more than 3 or 4 EV chargers before the neighborhood dims.
Plus, sometimes the EV’s catch fire.
What moron buys one of these things and then plans a trip longer than 1/3 of the battery capacity. Use the boat rule. 1/3 out. 1/3 back. And 1/3 in reserve
And once there, Gettysburg doesn't exactly have an abundance of chargers.
Forcing shit technology on consumers is a very commie thing to do. The free market SHOULD be allowed to work.
First thing I thought was, some cats must have 10 lives.
Of course, the downside of that, is that you need to sit there just off of MLK Blvd for an hour while the thing charges. I don’t think that is a good recipe for anything.
I wonder if AAA did a survey to find out how hotels and motels feel about having to provide a charging apparatus for every room.
Of course, there will be “free” tax monies to “upgrade” their hotel/motel infrastructure.
But not to worry. They don’t want people to travel long distances anyway, except on public transportation.
And even then, only if your QR code is authorized to travel.
;^)
I foresee a LOT of towing companies emerging with vast charging equipment in a safe location
When 100% of cars manufactured in the US are electric (by definition at least 80% of them WON'T be Teslas), do you think Elon will alow these Chinese cords to work?
One Tesla owner complaint that "the Poors" were clogging his supercharger station with their foreign made junk and Elon flicks the switch.
It isn't like filling a gas car, the Electric Pump even knows the cars serial number (and Owner) and will determine if the owner is "worthy" of getting filled up.
It is what ESG looks like.
LOL...for some reason, reading your post reminded me of “The Great and Powerful Oz” telling the characters near the end of the movie what was in store for them!
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