But but but… What if I want to visit my uncle in Pittsburgh on a whim (have not seen him in 10 years), and I just got home from work and the charger on the way was broken and it’s -30 out? So clearly EV’s are a stupid choice for everyone.
Let’s not forget that the situation is based on the driver forgetting to plug in the night before, and driving from work to his friend’s. What happens if Pantastic forgot his overnight bag? Welp, I guess he swings by home to pick it up. Just like if he forgot a bunch of other things.
That is always the case. I don’t need oil changes or smog checks or spark plugs or even brake pad replacement. I’ll never need a clutch replacement like my old car, or transmission work of any kind. So from my perspective, it’s ICE cars that need constant maintenance that I’ll never have to deal with. I just plug in most nights and the car’s always ready.
Potential EV buyers do need to think about potential gaps in infrastructure. No one in this thread has remotely denied this. And yes, those gaps can usually be traded for time–but it’s important to consider how often these gaps will be encountered, and deduct the time from the savings that the EV provides in other areas.
I live in CA, so EV infrastructure is robust. I have backups upon backups in case anything goes wrong. If I can’t charge at home, I can do so at work. There are several Superchargers on all the routes I care about. The friends and family I visit all have single-family homes, and I can charge there if needed. Just about every shopping center has some L2 chargers, so I can go there in a pinch.
In practice, I’ve needed almost none of these–I’ve charged at work once, and used Superchargers only when on long trips. The other options are still there if I need.
I grant that not every part of the country has it this good. But there’s also nothing really special about it; the infrastructure is easy to install and will follow the EV demand curve. As more people around the country drive them, extra infrastructure will pop up.
This is a big state. My nearest chargers are 20 mountain miles in one direction and 100 in the other. Your voltage may vary.
EV chargers, drone deliveries, and reliable power won’t come to my rustic village for a long time. Oh yes, power cutoffs, the new normal for most of California. I can’t see running a home ICE genny to charge-up an EV; that’s expensive and polluting. EVs need a stable power grid.
When I had an 85 mile range EV, there were several times I had to spend like 10 minutes planning a trip. Like, maybe once a year. I have not planned anything since getting a long range EV. Maybe that will change in the future, who knows.
When I had ICE cars, I spent maybe 20 hours out of the year dealing with oil changes and the like. Why is this huge time suck written off as “not using mental energy?”
I think because it’s new. And people have a really tough time imagining a change to their routines. They can wrap their heads around finding a gas station every couple of weeks, and regularly checking their oil, and remembering to schedule servicing every 6 months for their ICE car… because that’s what they’ve done for decades.
But with an EV, they would have to do things differently. They would have to change. They might have to remember to put a plug into their car. And this WILL NOT STAND.
So, life in general where changes in routine are common. for over a year we had road construction on the highway leading to the only supercharger in my area. Not only is it out of the way for almost every EV owner it added a lot of time during construction. I’ve been watching the charging infrastructure for years as a lead up to my EV purchase. It’s not progressing as fast as needed for the inevitable switch over.
what’s your contingency for loss of electrical power? How much power is stored at charging stations? How does deducting from your proposed time savings scenario work in an emergency? These are questions to ask if you rely on an EV for transportation.
You keep dropping qualifiers in your responses. “routes I care about”. and “just about every shopping center has some L2 chargers”. This is not reality. There’s (1) supercharger and (6) L2 chargers in my town of 1700 sq mi. I looked through Tesla’s map of chargers in California. There are definitely groups of them in hot spots but that is a poor substitute for people who don’t live near shopping centers.
therein lies the criticism of EV’s at this time. Charging infrastructure puts EV’s in the niche category and there is no national thought process in place for the inevitable log jam that’s coming.
You keep acting like people don’t want EV’s. We do.
“finding a gas station”? There is no “finding a gas station”. This in nonsense. They’re everywhere. Unlike charging stations which are few and far between.
No, when batteries and infrastructure catch up we won’t have to do things differently. People who have no place to plug their car into will be able to drive like those who have houses/garages.
There are currently many more EV charging points near me than gas stations. And some of those gas stations are closed now. Which ones? I have no idea.
uh huh.
I do not have a garage. I’ve got two houses: my primary home, in a tiny town on the Pyrenees, and a secondary home in Barcelona. Let’s take a look at my charging possibilities.
At home:
Run a line from my ground-floor room (which I have not set as a garage because doing so would remove two street parking spots and the neighbors would kill me) or from my flat. I would need to remember to take it off before going to bed.
Charging stations nearby: in the city nearby there are multiple public parking areas (those for malls, free) which provide charging stations; every municipal garage has chargers. People are courteous about moving the car after a while.
In Barcelona:
OK, so I lied. It’s not Barnacity, it’s Barnametro; from my door, Barnacity is 300m thataway or 200m thatotherway. My flat is actually on the next town, whose city hall has so far seen no need to provide chichi people with chichi charging stations. And I can’t even park near the house, much less drop a line.
One charging station in Barnacity, same subway stop as my house; two others one subway station away. Three others in parking areas (one for a mall, free; two for hotels) two subway stops away. The mall and hotels are on the same square in which I had my last job in the area.
When I’m in Barcelona I barely use the car. Keeping it charged would be a matter of, when I go to that mall, do so in the car rather than by foot.
This is for areas with low charger penetration.
And congratulations to those of you who never have to worry about finding gas. I did run out of gas once because the station which was the only one open on Sunday on that road within 200km was closed due to a death in the family. I know several other stations with signs on both sides saying things like “no more gas for 70km”. I drove by one of them recently and the signs had gotten brothers saying “we have chargers”.
One of his related videos was a 2000 mile road trip. Granted that’s not an everyday event but he had almost 8 hours of charge time on that trip; much more than an ICE car would be for a similar trip. While they might be good for everyday driving, I sure wouldn’t want to take one on vacation.
Sure, park there, walk home with the kids, then need to bundle them up a few hours later to move your car late at night once it’s charged so that someone else can use it. :rolleyes:
I seriously doubt you were 200 km away from another gas station but If you live in BFE you can put a gas can in your trunk that will easily get you another 200 km. Not something you can do easily in an EV and certainly not something you can do with pocket money.
In 45 years of driving the only time I ran out of gas was in an old car without a low fuel warning light and I was 5 minutes away from a can of gas.
Well, I guess you disbelieve me. That’s fine.
I’m charging my car right now as we speak. It’s past midnight. I literally have no idea where I could go this time of night to get gas.
I filled my car up earlier in the week. No idea how much fuel is left. last night I went to a music venue that was 21 miles away and in the country. I drove past 7 gas stations on the roads I took. If I add a 1/4 mile detour off the direct path that number goes way up. I was out past midnight and away from the metro area.
Number of superchargers along my path with a 5 mile lateral grace distance was zero. number of destination chargers is also zero unless you consider an 8 mile detour. If I needed to add 42 miles round trip plus the 8 mil detour it would have taken an additional hour.
again, if you’re treating an EV like a car with a gas tank (run it until it’s almost empty, then go somewhere to refill it) you are doing it wrong. you plug in overnight and wake up to a “full tank” every morning.
I filled up my EV five times last week that took exactly 45 seconds of my time altogether. I guarantee you that I spend less time fueling than you, and driving 100 miles out of my way on any particular day is a non-event. Why should I care about how many super chargers are on my route to a music venue when I will never need them?
Missed the “open on a Sunday” qualifier, did we? It’s not uncommon in small communities for such services to have fairly restricted hours. In a small town it’s just not worth the labour costs to keep a gas station open 24/7.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve started up my truck to go to work and said “ah shit, I need gas again.”
In our urban and suburban days, we used to drive till the fuel gauge floated just above E, even on longer freeway trips. Now we live in a remote community subject to wildfire evacuations and power cutoffs. When the needle drops toward 1/4 full, it’s definitely time to top off. Failure could be fatal. YMMV.
In my example it was Sunday morning. I only counted stations open 24/7.