1 in 5 electric vehicle owners in California switched back to gas because charging their cars is a hassle, research shows

Yahoo News ^ | July 28,2021 | Dominick Reuter

[Hojczyk]

Roughly 20% of electric vehicle owners in California replaced their cars with gas ones, a study shows.

The main reason drivers said they made the switch was the inconvenience of charging.

The findings suggest new challenges facing the growth of the nascent electric vehicle market

can fill the gas tank of a Ford Mustang and have enough range to go about 300 miles with its V8 engine.

But on a recent 200-mile trip from Boston to New York in the Mustang's electric Mach-E variant, Axios' Dan Primack said he felt "panic" as his battery level dipped below 23% while searching for a compatible charger to complete his trip.

"I was assured that this might be one of the country's easiest EV routes," Primack wrote. "Those assurances were misplaced."

For Bloomberg automotive analyst Kevin Tynan, an hour plugged into his household outlet gave the Mach-E just three miles of range.

"Overnight, we're looking at 36 miles of range," he told Insider. "Before I gave it back to Ford, because I wanted to give it back full, I drove it to the office and plugged in at the charger we have there."

Standard home outlets generally deliver 120 volts, powering what electric vehicle aficionados call "Level 1" charging, while the higher-powered specialty connections at 240 volts are known as "Level 2." By comparison, Tesla's "Superchargers," which can fully charge its cars in a little over an hour, run on 480 volts.

That difference is night and day, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Energy by University of California Davis researchers Scott Hardman and Gil Tal that surveyed Californians who purchased an electric vehicle between 2012 and 2018.

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

Many, many moons ago (a little indian lingo there) I learned that fast charging a battery cuts short the overall life of the battery. As was already stated, I just love POURING gasoline energy into my automobile. Works every time it’s tried!

[Sybeck1]

Just wait till they mandate ambulances to be EV. What could go wrong?

[AZJeep]

The electronic to charge when power is available is doable.
But then, you may wake up, run to appointment, and car is empty, because there were never enough power.
Charging faster - not so much! You need high Voltages (dangerous, expensive insulators) and high currents (expensive, fat coper wires).
That Tesla supercharger is about as fast as anything ever will do.

[Bernard]

220, 221; whatever it takes.

The idea of going full gasoline to full electric is unrealistic and will produce chaos. Going from gas to hybrid, then allowing the infrastructure to catch up and get ahead of the economic curve makes much more sense. BUT, that requires reasonable discussion instead of winner take all periodic election cycles.

Besides, if full electric made more sense than shepherd we are today, the market would be pulling the politicians along the path instead of what we have now.

I live in northern Illinois so 4=wheel drive is a need, not a want. Otherwise, I would still be driving the 2014 Fusion i gave to my son instead of the Escape i have today.

Of course, allowing individuals to make rational decisions is countrary to big government thinking.

[RetiredTexasVet]

The other 80% have lackeys/slaves to do it for them.

[monkeyshine]

There is another car company, can’t recall the name but I think founded by a former Telsa engineer, who claims to have 4x (or something like that) faster charging capacity. Of course, the problem is that most locations don’t or can’t deliver that much electricity. This is supposed to be a more luxurious version of Tesla. High performance, high luxury. When I test drove a Tesla many years ago it was really not a pleasant interior. It had crappy seats and a back bench like a 1940’s Ford truck. Maybe it’s better now.

But if someone is very serious about it, they could install the correct breakers and cables to deliver more than 110v. Where I work all the machines are running on 220v. I think in total the building runs on 800 amps.

[Jamestown1630]

"charging their cars is a hassle"

Ya think?

[Organic Panic]

A customer of mine bragged about his electric car after it took him two days to drive what is usually a 3 hour trip. But he saved so much on gasoline you see.

[chief lee runamok]

"..charging their cars is a hassle.."

Towing my $30,00.00 emergency electric vehicle
charger would ease stress, leading to peace of mind.

[pm me for cash only delivery sales.]

[Jamestown1630]

How do you charge your charger?

[Tell It Right]

I can see an EV for certain situations. I might buy an EV a few years from now if they keep improving. And since I don't buy new cars another requirement is that I could get one that's 2 or 3 years used for about 1/4th of the price with the understanding that I'd have to replace the battery soon (which is expensive).

But the only reason I'd consider it is because I have a massive amount of solar on my roof and 44% of the days I achieve full charge on my home batteries. Thus excess solar power not being put to good use. And I work from home one to two days per week -- meaning I'm home a total of 3 days per week (counting weekend) during the daytime with Sunday being a sort of 4th day I'm usually home during the daytime half the day. If I can get 200 "city miles" on one charge (I'd probably get a medium sized truck like the upcoming F-150 Lightning if it's what they make it out to be), and with my work and church being about 30 miles round trip (roughly 120 miles per week), just one or two days per week of free charging from solar is necessary to power me for a routine week. With 44% of the days having fully charged batteries and an average of 3.5 hours fully charged on the days it happens, I ought to be able to find a day or two for that to happen almost all weeks. On the few weeks I can't find a good sunny day for charging I'd just buy it from the grid.

But that's just for me and my unusual situation. And even with that either I or my wife would have a gas car for long trips. I can't stand the Dims' push to require EV's like they're the cure for all of Algore's private jet sins. EV's are definitely not a one size fits all product.

[Political Junkie Too]

For Bloomberg automotive analyst Kevin Tynan, an hour plugged into his household outlet gave the Mach-E just three miles of range. "Overnight, we're looking at 36 miles of range," he told Insider.

Most homes only have enough 240V outlets for their clothes dryer and their A/C. It's an extra cost to have an electrician install an additional 240V circuit in the garage to charge the car overnight for decent local range.

-PJ

[chief lee runamok]

"How do you charge your charger?"

Fortunately, thinking ahead, I included an automotive style alternator to charge the emergency charger's battery.

As a bonus, the emergency charger is capable of charging your electric vehicle as you tow it!

[SaxxonWoods]

“Plus, I’ve even replaced all my electric garden tools with gas ones. I can’t stand how they lose power so quickly.”

I’ve got one exception to that though not quite a garden tool. I have an electric chain saw and it lasts well past when I need a break and recharges fairly quickly. It’s handy on forty acres of Juniper and Pinon pine.

[SaxxonWoods]

“...but since charging stations also require maintenance, don’t blame me if my charging station happened to ‘down for maintenance’ every once in while, particularly when ‘woke’ people took to the road.”

Keep it working, just make it take 15 hours to charge a battery.

[Paal Gulli]

Owning a battery-only EV simply isn’t supportable unless you also own a second car, preferably one that runs on dead dinosaurs.

[MulberryDraw]

I don’t see how hauling around 1,200 pounds of battery is going to help things much if at all.

[PA-RIVER]

I have a BMWi3, with a range extender generator that burns gas. I have a 220 volt 20 amp circuit in the garage. I get a full charge in 12 hours. 2 gallons of gas gets me about 100 miles.

So for me, EV works fine. Every morning, my car is 100 percent charged, ready for 100 plus E miles. Plus the 100 gas miles. I typically only drive 40 or less. If I need to do 300 miles, I just make one stop for two gallons of gas for 6 bucks.

My other car is a ford explorer with a V8 that gets 18 MPG.
When I drive that thing, it kills me watching the gas pump ring up 50 bucks.

I do think EV is the future. Five years ago, I thought they were a stupid libtard joke. This car changed my mind. Its fast as hell, and I spend almost no time or money at gas stations.

[from occupied ga]

EVs are a scam designed to restrict movement of the peons. There is some jackass of FR whose handle I don’t remember who insists that ICE engines are only 10% efficient. The real value for current internal combustion engines is 30-35%.

Just one example of the lies that EV cheerleaders tell. Range is another case where reality falls by the wayside. I can’t determine if they’re so stupid that they think people will believer their lies or they’re so stupid that they believe their own lies.

[from occupied ga]

You can also get an electrician to install a 480v transformer and wiring for about $3000 to $5000 depending on where you live and what capacity and quality transformer you get.

So gas at $3.00 a gallon would be 1000 gallons going with the cheaper transformer. Most modern cars about the size of EVs got at least 25mpg so there’s 25,000 miles of fuel. Not to mention electricity is not free, and most electric companies hit you with a monthly demand charge if you get your house set up to draw more than the standard residential capacity. So in really hot weather you can charge your car or run your air conditioning or pay the electric company more. BTW electric companies really love EVS I used to work for Ga Power and the more EVs people had the better they liked it.