# Electric Vehicle critics **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 24, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254 "2019-10-24T20:43:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 23
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/441 "2019-11-06T19:19:30Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > I’m going to take that as equivalent to you saying “EVs are not for you if you’re at all absentminded or ever get distrated”. Like I said in my OP, EV proponents seem to assume some sort of highly regimented lives for people, which isn’t how me or my friends actually live. I know a lot of people who drive ICE vehicles until the needle is on E and run their phones out of charge, acting like it’s a weird edge case to consider the effect of such ordinary behavior doesn’t really help your argument. Absentminded or distracted is usually fine. I’ve forgotten to plug in my EV before. Two days in a row, one time, and I have a ~55 mi overall daily commute. I could have forgotten third day, and I still would have been able to get to work and back. But yeah, if your forgetfulness happens to coincide with a above average daily commute, AND a need to go out to run a whole bunch of errands, AND a need to visit friends a few towns over, AND you don’t have good supercharger/L3 coverage, AND you have a tight schedule where you can’t spend an hour detouring for an L3 or charging on an L2 or borrowing a ride to compensate for your forgetfulness… …well, EV’s aren’t for you. _Yet_, at least, until L3 coverage gets better. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/442 "2019-11-06T19:53:20Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > No, as I’ve pointed out and you and other EV proponents don’t seem to get, I cannot “just stop at a public charger” as they are not “all over the place” according to the website of charger locations posted here. > > It gets worse if I were making a trip to my parent’s house an hour and a half away, as there are no superchargers closer to their house than my house is. This assumption that EV charging infrastructure is common and convenient is not true, and pretending that it is is not going to convince anyone to adopt an EV. > [@Pantastic](#): > > In other words, you’re just going to dismiss real world issues in the discussion. In the “real world”, not everyone is like you, and not everyone lives where you do. Nobody is saying that an EV will work for you, or people like you, or people who live in locations where you do. What we are saying is that EV’s will work for a large segment of the population. And that segment will get larger and larger as EV’s and charging networks improve. So please stop taking your personal circumstances, and assuming that EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. is the same as you. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/443 "2019-11-06T20:16:11Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > I wonder how well EVs will fare after a hurricane - if a lot of people lose power at home for a week (which is a ‘once per 10-20 years’ type event, so not common but not ‘once in a lifetime if you’re unlucky’), getting around is not a big deal with a gas car. I can even take advantage of the car’s battery and engine to charge small electronic devices. On a slightly different note, there is a good amount of talk about how to use your EV to power your house in an emergency. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/444 "2019-11-06T20:34:12Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > I wonder how well EVs will fare after a hurricane - if a lot of people lose power at home for a week (which is a ‘once per 10-20 years’ type event, so not common but not ‘once in a lifetime if you’re unlucky’), getting around is not a big deal with a gas car. I can even take advantage of the car’s battery and engine to charge small electronic devices. Gas stations will be out of commission for a short time, but come back into service fairly quickly in my experience. I’m not sure how well the smaller number of specialized charging stations will do at getting back online, or how long the lines to use them to charge a car while no one can use home power will be. I would be hesitant to make the switch to electric until I’ve seen charging infrastructure bounce back from that kind of emergency. A few points: 1. Gas station pumps run on electricity too, and only seldom (afaik) are they equipped with a working backup generator. 2. Gas station lines are usually crazy before the hurricane, and often sold out. With an EV, you can “top up” at home right until the moment the power shuts off, instead of having to deal with finding an open gas station to replace the ~2 gallons you wasted during hurricane prep the day prior, or deal with filling/toting around/storing extra jugs of gas. 3. After the [tsunami in Japan](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/automobiles/08JAPAN.html), electricity was up fairly quickly, but gas deliveries took much longer due to road conditions and refinery damage. 4. With solar and home batteries (admittedly this isn’t cheap right now but costs are dropping substantially), you wouldn’t even have to worry about your grid coming back online. Ever. 5. EVs can still be charged with a regular 120VAC outlet. Yes, your town’s power may be out, but how far are you really going to have to drive to find a friend with a working 120VAC plug that you can borrow for a few hours/overnight? Sure, its a burden, but is this really going to be that much more difficult than finding a working gas station after a major hurricane? 6. If you do have to evac and get stuck in traffic, an EV is going to last a whole lot longer at idle/stop-and-go than a regular gas vehicle will. An EV’s range roughly doubles traveling at 25mph, regens from braking, and barely uses anything at idle. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/445 "2019-11-06T21:14:22Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > You’ve obviously never filled up at Costco. Or Fred Meyer in parts of the country where they are. And perhaps other retailers I’m unaware of who also have gas pumps. Well that would be true. And I wouldn’t fill up at such a place even if was just a 10 minute wait. I would take my business else ware. I can’t remember the last time I had to wait at all. Even on cross country trips at stations along the highway. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/446 "2019-11-06T21:29:27Z")
I must say, it’s a good thing that there have [never](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis) [ever](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_oil_crisis) been gasoline shortages, and most certainly never will be again. Otherwise there might be long lines at _every_ pump! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/447 "2019-11-07T00:04:05Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > I didn’t explicitly state the length of the trip for going out, but assuming that it’s ‘zero miles’ and not ‘a usual drive to get somewhere’ is absurd. Well, I also assumed “going out” didn’t mean a 2000-mile road trip to Disneyland, either. I guess that makes me the fool. > [@Pantastic](#): > > or that the ‘overnight’ was not a work night You said it was a weekend trip. Forgive me for making the absurd assumption that these weren’t work nights. You apparently live someplace where every point of interest is at least 20 miles from everywhere else, and is so rural that there’s not even a shopping center between any of these points. Fine–there’s a chance that an EV is not for you at the moment. Nevertheless, as noted by myself and others, this 235 mile trip is still perfectly doable with most of the latest batch of EVs. And ones that are \<$40k, maybe even $30k in some cases with discounts. > [@Pantastic](#): > > L2 stations are closer, I think there is one within around 10 minutes, but as you point out they take at least 30 minutes. So going to any of them is going to realistically add another hour to the trip assuming traffic is not bad and there’s not a significant wait at the destination. I don’t know where you get an hour from. In all likelihood, there is an L2 station somewhere along the course of your cited trip and would be only a small diversion. > [@Pantastic](#): > > It gets worse if I were making a trip to my parent’s house an hour and a half away, as there are no superchargers closer to their house than my house is. Well, I make round trips to my parents and back all the time without charging, who live ~130 miles away. This does require a 300+ mile car, not the ~250 that the more entry-level models get. But it’s still perfectly doable. If I had a 250 mile car, I’d just plug in at my parents. Even a standard 120 outlet would top off the car enough to get home. > [@Pantastic](#): > > Like I said in my OP, EV proponents seem to assume some sort of highly regimented lives for people, which isn’t how me or my friends actually live. It’s really quite the opposite. With gas cars, I had to be constantly thinking about my next fillup. Sure, they only took 10 minutes but if I’m going into work or picking up a friend, that 10 minutes is something I had to anticipate and schedule for an earlier time. With an EV, I have 260 miles available every morning. There is no common or even uncommon trip I have that requires that much range. I can visit my parents (or friends in the same area) on a whim, and only think about range until much later. > [@Pantastic](#): > > Are you saying that you leave the cable hanging outdoors in the rain, wind, and snow, and expect it to never ever have any problems that prevent an overnight charge from that? Rain, wind, and snow are all totally fine. Ice can be a problem, but only in circumstances where your door handles might be iced up anyway, or your windshield covered in 1/4" of ice. The charge handle is really the least of your concerns here. > [@Pantastic](#): > > As I said before, I looked up the text that was posted identifying the car in Edmund’s and used their number. Christ. Here’s [the Edmunds link](https://www.edmunds.com/tesla/model-s/). The $133k comes from the “loaded” **P** 100D, not the 100D. Yes, I know the **P** is hard to see but it really matters. It is not the same car. > [@Pantastic](#): > > As I pointed out before, $80k is still more than I’ve spent on cars in my entire life. I’m not sure why you guys don’t get that I have zero interest in buying a vehicle that costs more than five times what my current car does and is much worse, as I’d need to plan my life around it’s needs and expect to routinely add an hour or more to road trips. What are you even talking about? The only reason I cited the car at all was to correct **Pábitel** ’s false claim that “even the best EVs” have only 100 miles of (one-way) range (actually, I’m being generous here: it wasn’t clear that **Pábitel** meant 100 miles one-way or 100 miles total). A Model 3 SR+ costs \<$40k, and has 250 miles range. So even if you’ve forgotten to plug in, it’ll _still_ work fine on your cited trip without any extra stops. There’s no need to plan anything aside from maybe not forgetting to plug in twice in a row. In virtually every other respect, the car is likely better than your current car, from internal comforts to not having to visit gas stations to the low upkeep costs. Not to mention the high performance and generally nice feel of EVs. You’ve exaggerated your case on virtually every axis. The current batch of EVs would almost certainly serve you well and be _more_ convenient than your current vehicle. The $40k Model 3 is still probably more expensive than you’d like, and that’s enough of an argument against in your case. But for people who are looking for cars in that segment (and note that the median vehicle price in the US is around $35k, so it’s not rare), the Model 3 and a few others are an excellent fit. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/448 "2019-11-07T00:10:58Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > I wonder how well EVs will fare after a hurricane - if a lot of people lose power at home for a week (which is a ‘once per 10-20 years’ type event, so not common but not ‘once in a lifetime if you’re unlucky’), getting around is not a big deal with a gas car. I can even take advantage of the car’s battery and engine to charge small electronic devices. Gas stations will be out of commission for a short time, but come back into service fairly quickly in my experience. I’m not sure how well the smaller number of specialized charging stations will do at getting back online, or how long the lines to use them to charge a car while no one can use home power will be. I would be hesitant to make the switch to electric until I’ve seen charging infrastructure bounce back from that kind of emergency. What’s telling to me is that there’s a need to come up with these sorts of “once in a decade” situations to explain why NOBODY should have an EV. Again - in MY situation - my city hasn’t had a single power outage in the last 5 years, and I don’t know of any outage (other than localised cuts affecting a few 10s of houses) in my city that in the last 20 years that has lasted beyond 24 hours. At the same time - what I HAVE heard about is diesel fuel being put into a gas station petrol tank (i.e supplier error, not individual driver error) and multiple instances of petrol tank problems, leaks, cuts and more. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/449 "2019-11-07T00:45:44Z")
I’ve charged during rain, and snow where I had to shovel a bit in front of the car after the charge. No problems whatsoever other than I got a bit of snow in the vehicle when I opened the doors. All wheel drive in the snow worked really well too. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/450 "2019-11-07T01:04:00Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Again - in MY situation - my city hasn’t had a single power outage in the last 5 years I live in the Bay Area, where due to power company incompetence, some areas have experienced multi-day blackouts. Also, EVs are a dime a dozen here. You know what I haven’t heard? Anyone at all complaining that their EV has been even a tiny nuisance. Because almost every EV can go for several days on a charge for a typical commute, and even if that’s not enough there are a ton of other options, like charging at work. You know what I have heard? People having to throw out a refrigerator worth of food, or storing their food at a distant friend’s place that does have power. From this I conclude that refrigerators are useless. My straw-packed ice vault, supplied by mule teams with hand-cut blocks from frozen lakes, never had this problem. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/451 "2019-11-07T02:53:11Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > First, your “short” commit is 60 miles round-trip, right? So what would actually happen is you would lose 17 miles of net range a day. By the end of a work week you would be down 85 miles, out of 250 for a decent EV. > > Then you would catch up on the weekend, regaining the lost range by Monday. Supercharge if you have a weekend road trip or keep forgetting to plug in. (Some EVs will text you if you park in the garage but neglect to plug them in) > > Or you just need to increase the voltage. Run a new circuit at 220 volts. Limit the charger to 10-20 amps if necessary and you only have 100 amp service. This would still mean 10 miles of range regained per hour at 220 volts and 15 amps. > > Not a big deal. So to recap, you have to sacrifice your weekend to charge the car, or upgrade your electrical service, or drive out of your way to a super charger station and wait 20+ minutes. VS… driving wherever and whenever you want, 24/7. I think that sums up the current state of things. EV’s are coming along nicely but need a bit more functionality to kill off ICE cars. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/452 "2019-11-07T03:11:16Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > There are places where people routinely wait for a half hour or longer for gasoline. And those places all have multiple gas pumps. And yes, they’re in the US, not some third-world country. In all parts of the US, in fact. Lots of people fill up at these places, which is why the long wait. So I’m not sure why the complaints about equally long charging times. In 46 years of driving I’ve never waited for gas. If a gas station was busy I’d just drive to the next one. They’re everywhere. I have experienced quite a few power outages that would have stranded me with an EV. We just had 14+ tornadoes go through my area earlier this year. many people found themselves with houses too damaged to stay in but they could pack up their cars and relocate despite wide spread power outages. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/453 "2019-11-07T03:44:22Z")
Browsing the map of charging stations, it looks like there’s a Tesla network and an EVgo network. Are the networks interchangeable, or do I have to use the Tesla network if I drive a Tesla and EVgo if I drive something else? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/454 "2019-11-07T03:51:11Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > So to recap, you have to sacrifice your weekend to charge the car, or upgrade your electrical service, or drive out of your way to a super charger station and wait 20+ minutes. > > VS… driving wherever and whenever you want, 24/7. > > I think that sums up the current state of things. EV’s are coming along nicely but need a bit more functionality to kill off ICE cars. Yes that’s right. All owners with EV’s do that. We’re insane. And we are trying to convince you to join us, because we have alien parasites in our brains forcing us to do this. Jesus Christ. If you don’t understand what has been written in this thread, that’s fine. But please don’t comment further. To clarify… NO. You don’t have to 'sacrifice your weekend. This is just silly. NO. Most won’t need to upgrade your service. At MOST, you’ll need to get a 30 amp circuit put in. Not rocket science. NO. You don’t need to drive “out of your way”. This has been made clear. IF you don’t want an EV… DON’T BUY ONE. But don’t make up lame excuses for why the rest of us who can see why they are great cars (FOR US) should not. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/455 "2019-11-07T03:58:52Z")
To sum up: If you live in a ramshackle shack, where you have to decide whether to have an electric stove OR a new fangled clothes drying machine… DO NOT buy an electric vehicle If you commute 200 miles per day through remote country, where the chances of getting attacked by a bear are greater than finding an EV charger …DO NOT buy an electric vehicle If you can only afford a 2003 Toyota Corolla with bald tires… DO NOT buy an electric vehicle If you live on the 40th floor of a downtown apartment block, and there is no parking for 6 miles… DO NOT buy an electric vehicle But for the love of God, stop telling the majority of people that EV’s are a stupid choice because of YOUR PARTICULAR situation. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/456 "2019-11-07T05:29:20Z")
^ Well said. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/457 "2019-11-07T06:12:01Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > To sum up: > > If you live in a ramshackle shack, where you have to decide whether to have an electric stove OR a new fangled clothes drying machine… DO NOT buy an electric vehicle > > If you commute 200 miles per day through remote country, where the chances of getting attacked by a bear are greater than finding an EV charger …DO NOT buy an electric vehicle > > If you can only afford a 2003 Toyota Corolla with bald tires… DO NOT buy an electric vehicle > > If you live on the 40th floor of a downtown apartment block, and there is no parking for 6 miles… DO NOT buy an electric vehicle > > But for the love of God, stop telling the majority of people that EV’s are a stupid choice because of YOUR PARTICULAR situation. > > Thank you. Those first three items come straight from my CV. But I STILL want a Jaguar I-Pace. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/458 "2019-11-07T06:51:16Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > In 46 years of driving I’ve never waited for gas. If a gas station was busy I’d just drive to the next one. They’re everywhere. Good for you, but there’s lots of people who apparently need the best deal on gasoline they can find. So they wait 20 or 30 minutes at Costco, other stores, or gas stations. And they have to stay with their vehicle (usually idling the engine and burning even more gas) because every 5 minutes or so they have to move it up in line. Also they’ll frequently drive some distance out of their way to get to that cheap gas. Which isn’t that much cheaper since they usually only save a couple-three bucks per fillup. Now how is that behavior different than someone travelling and having to stop at a level 3 charger? One diference is that once you hook up to a charger, you can get out of the car and do other things. Secondly, there’s no such thing as idling EVs, you don’t waste any electrons when it’s just sitting there. And it’s usually much cheaper than even the lowest price gas. So all-in-all, it looks like a big win for EVs. BTW, as for gas stations being everywhere, not so much as they used to be and they’re getting less common all the time. This has nothing to do with EVs; there’s been a steady decline in their numbers for something like 30 or more years. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/459 "2019-11-07T14:05:32Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Browsing the map of charging stations, it looks like there’s a Tesla network and an EVgo network. Are the networks interchangeable, or do I have to use the Tesla network if I drive a Tesla and EVgo if I drive something else? [See Post#137 upthread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21942589&postcount=137). From looking at their website, EVGo stations use CHAdeMO and CCS (50kW max), and some J1172 (7.2kW). Most new Tesla supercharger stations are 150kW-250kW max, and cannot be used by other manufacturers (even if they had the hardware to support it), since the car authenticates the vehicle. Teslas can use a CHAdeMO adapter, but it’s expensive. CCS isn’t _currently_ supported for US Tesla models. A J1172 connector comes with the car. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254/460 "2019-11-07T14:24:19Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > So to recap, you have to sacrifice your weekend to charge the car, or upgrade your electrical service, or drive out of your way to a super charger station and wait 20+ minutes. Sacrifice your weekend? I just meant have the car plugged in if you happen to be home. What’s the sacrifice? Upgrade your electrical service? You meant “install a single additional circuit”. You live in a house with 20+ circuits now, right? So now you have N+1. Drive out of your way? Superchargers are becoming extremely common along traveled paths like major interstates, etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-vehicle-critics/842254.md?page=24)