Damn it, it’s stuck again!
< whacks @Jasmine on the side >
The state of Washington is using a lot of federal money to update some of the interstate freeways in the Seattle area. Most of the updates are to install pay as you go carpool lanes. In some areas, like I-405 in Bellevue, the new lanes are not carpool lanes, they are strictly toll lanes. In other areas, you will still be required to purchase a “Good To Go” pass to use carpool toll lanes even if you meet the carpool lane requirements.
Those are the stops on the limited-access toll highways. Pennsylvania has them, and I think Ohio and Indiana as well.
The rest stops along the interstate highways elsewhere are just that - at most, vending machines.
good thoughts on “charging” …
a thing a read is that we are still all pretty much influenced by the old ICE refill-paradigm “drive to the gas station when the yellow light on the dash comes on and fill it up” …
whereas EV charging will be way more “opportunity charging” in the future (akin to charging your cel-phone) … e.g. going to the supermarket - get in at 19% charge and come out 20 min later with 80% charge. I can totally envision (mid-term) a 10% contactless re-charge in the 2 min waiting at a red light and similar scenarios …(car will have your credit-card details stored)
IOW a “gas station” might not be a destination anymore in the future - and you might as well save TIME vs. ICE cars of today… just like you don’t “go” somewhere to charge your cellphone…
That’s already here today for the vast majority of driving. Over a year, I save many hours by never having to detour or wait for a charge except on longer trips. It’s the long road trips that are the exception*, yet that’s what everyone focuses on in the ICE vs EV debates.
The ICE-refill paradigm you mention is normalized for us, so we don’t consider the weekly (or more) detours to the gas station on the way home from work, or the semiannual (or more) waits for an oil change.
*Granted, not worrying about charging day to day is still in the future for those who don’t have the ability to install a home charger or have access to one at work.
I refill my Prius about once a month. If I bought an electric car, today, I’d have to drive a longer distance more often and wait longer to get a charge. I’ve looked for charging stations at the stores closest to me and I don’t see them there, either.
With that little driving, you could charge your car overnight on a standard 110V circuit. You don’t even need the typical 220V home charger.
I doubt that my apartment complex would allow me an extension cord, considering that they sometimes start lawn maintenance pretty early in the morning. (assuming of course that no one messes with it and that it does not produce a dangerous tripping hazard.)
I’m a huge EV proponent, but I agree that it doesn’t make a lot of sense to get one without some type of home charging. (I know one couple that manages it, but I wouldn’t have the energy) With home charging, it’s amazingly liberating to start each day with a “full tank” with no time or effort (and less $$)
Ah yeah, apartment dwellers are screwed if you don’t have access to home or work charging.
With regards to rest stops and my personal habits, I used to be of the opinion that it would be useful to put charging stations at them, (in an ideal world, if you ignore the legal situation). However, the first issue with that is that rest stops are always crowded these days anyway and putting chargers in would exacerbate the situation unless you also create more parking spots.
The other issue is that its popularity and temptation to stay there an extended period of time if they were level 2 chargers would make state enforce their limited stay rules more vigorously. Right now, I occasionally like to drive through the night then, just as dawn is about to break, pull into the next rest stop and sleep in my car for an hour or two. There might be enforcers at the stops to make sure people don’t sleep there overnight in order to charge and then they may as well also police the regular people who are just trying to sleep in their cars.
However, on my recent road trip I did notice a lot of chargers at midrange hotels and truck stops. I re-measured the trip to see how it would look like on a midrange EV getting say 200 miles to the charge (assuming a slight improvement in range over the next few years, but recognizing that I wouldn’t splurge for an expensive Tesla.)
First leg: St Louis: over 1000 miles. Even assuming a full charge at the start, and 1/2 hour charging at level 2 stations at hypothetical rest stops, it would require 3 stops of almost 1/2 hour versus 2 stops of 5 minutes. So a definite negative there even in the best case.
Next 3 legs: between 260 and 310 miles. The last leg would require a recharge stop regardless, but the smaller ones might not, all depending on the availability and speed of chargers at places I stopped at regardless of the need for a refill. So it might have been worse, or better, than gas, depending on how things work out over the next few years.
Next leg: This was a light day, less than 200 miles, but ending in the middle of Allegheny National Forest a couple dozen miles from a place that would reasonably have a charger. So if the places I stopped at during the day had chargers, I could end the day with enough juice to get to one, but would have to refill as soon as possible.
Next leg: 200 miles and I didn’t stop anywhere along the way. I would have had to make one extra stop due to not being able to charge overnight the day previous.
Next leg: 50. I get that one for free.
Next leg: 400 miles. I did stop once at a Target, so if they had a supercharger I might have only had to stop one time, just like I did in actuality, so only losing the difference between a gas stop and an electric stop.
Next leg: 900 miles. I would have had to stop 3 times versus the 2 times I did.
So in short, I would have had to make at least 2 more stops, and take longer making those stops, than with my HEV. And that’s in the best case scenario. However, if I had a house, that would be worth it to experience that twice a year in exchange for rarely stopping to get gas the rest of the year. Outside of the best case scenario, (i.e. if few places I would have stopped at anyway had chargers, and if some of the hotels also did not,) it would have been really annoying and would have put a damper on my vacation. It still might have been worth it, but not having a house, I can’t really say.
Nitpick, you’ll need Level 3 charges to do that. 30 minutes at a Level 2 won’t help you much.
Do you take no time for food breaks? I would think a 1000 mile stretch would require at least one meal break, probably two. Those can be combined with charging.
No time for meal breaks. I sometimes get snacks when I need to go to a convenience store in order to get gas and/or urinate. That increases my total time off of the highway from 5 to sometimes slightly more than 10 minutes, if you combine all three activities. I, very rarely, pull off the interstate to go through a fast food line when I am hungry. I mostly feed on snacks when I am in the middle of a long distance drive.
Even when I get to my destination for the night or an intermediate one, I still rarely sit down to eat inside a restaurant. I mostly get a frozen dinner from the hotel or get takeout/drive thru again. If I’m staying at an actual hotel rather than motel, that’s another story. I will either get room service or go to their restaurant if I can.
Sounds kinda miserable to drive 1000 miles with 10 minutes worth of breaks, but ok.
Still–if you’re getting food at the destination, that’s a meal you could have had earlier. And if it’s frozen/fast-food, it’s not like it matters where you get it. That’s a meal that could have been combined with a charging stop.
yeah - I’d rather have an “enjoyable” 25hrs trip than a completely sacrificial 24 hrs …
but then again I am 40+ and need to hit the loo at least a 5-7 times in 24 hrs, anyway 
If you combine my driving habits with my mom’s frugality then it would also be a more expensive proposition, and cancel out the cost savings of electric versus gas, since she, were she in my stead, would bring along sandwich material in lieu of restaurants. Whereas for me, feasting on snacks is also less expensive than eating at restaurants, but only barely.
When I think that I once drove 14 hours in a day with only one food, gas and toilet break I’m amazed at the bladder capacity I had 30 years ago!
I don’t see how that follows. You can make a 30 minute stop and use that time for assembling sandwiches and eating them. They taste much better when the bread hasn’t absorbed all the moisture from the toppings. You can eat right at the car if you like, which is pleasant since you aren’t soaking in gasoline or exhaust fumes.
yep … Chicago to Jacksonville, FLA in one go and alone in the car … lots of snickers, coke (cola 
) couple of Whopper brakes,… in my early 20ies