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Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

theglobeandmail.com

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Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#21
To me, this seems like a transient problem. As battery technology improves, we may be able to move back towards a "gas station" model for charging. BMW/Porsche already has a charging solution that can do 100 km in 8 minutes [1].

[1] https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/282364-bmw-porsche-demo-...

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#22

Not exactly pertinent to "garage orphans," but i was struck by the picture featured in the article and the design choice of how electric chargers look. They seem to be an exact replica of a traditional gas nozzle. Striking to me how initial conditions matter for human perception and adoption. While EV is an entirely new technology and thus could be built from a cleanslate, the easiest way to drive adoption was to sha…

Electricity and gasoline both travel through tubes, and both are dangerous if they breach insulation.

Handles are convenient for people with hands.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#23

Why does everyone need a place to charge at home? Sure, it is one of the big advantages of an EV, but not everyone can take advantage of it. If the car has a 300-400 mile range, then charge it like you fuel up a gas-powered car. Takes a little bit longer, but that will improve over time.

I imagine the same people who are garage orphans are probably also those who haven't got time to charge their machines for an hour or two. That's already a concern for road trips, but day to day that'll be a nightmare. Just hang around the charging station for an hour while your car recharges.

Put them I supermarket car parks. It can charge while you're shopping.

Anyway, I would dispute there are people that can't find the time, they may not want to spend 2 hours a week filling up the car, but just like you don't find cars abandoned at the side of the road now, because owners can't find to time to fill up, the problem isn't going to be appreciably worse in the future.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#24

I used to run an extension cord out of my 2nd floor window, but I wasn't parking on the street. My space was off the driveway, behind a fence and a gate, but only about 12 feet from the curb. More recently, I had been parking an electric car in my apartment's lot, and running an extension cord from the exercise room, out to the car. Then the apartment decided to close off those outlets. In both cases, the car's batte…

I used 120v exclusively for the first 3 months I owned my Model 3. It took a few days to get back full after a long trip but it worked great for day to day driving.

I did finally put in 240v but only because it was easy since I just had to go through 1 concrete wall. This does speed it up 5x the 120v rate (2x volts @ 2.5x amps) which is nice after you drop down to a low charge but not really noticed in day to day use.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#25
post #13

Where will garage orphans add gasoline to their cars if they must park on the street? If only there was a way to add energy to a vehicle outside of the home. Cars park all over the place. Distributed charging infrastructure doesn't sound too impossible -- parking meters probably already need electricity. Park and rides or business parking lots incentivize people to shop or commute in certain ways for a relatively mod…

parking meters probably already need electricity

Not 50A they don’t. Retrofitting it would be a substantial engineering effort.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine the same people who are garage orphans are probably also those who haven't got time to charge their machines for an hour or two. That's already a concern for road trips, but day to day that'll be a nightmare. Just hang around the charging station for an hour while your car recharges.

Since it does not take an hour to charge for a normal drive, maybe you are the one with bad timing. If a person is driving 30 miles or less a day they only need less than 10 minutes charging to get by.

Yeah, I didn't consider the reduced time required for the short trip. Though that's adding 10 minutes to every electric car owners commute, isn't it? Can you imagine a large portion of the city all trying to charge up every night?

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#28

Why does everyone need a place to charge at home? Sure, it is one of the big advantages of an EV, but not everyone can take advantage of it. If the car has a 300-400 mile range, then charge it like you fuel up a gas-powered car. Takes a little bit longer, but that will improve over time.

I imagine the same people who are garage orphans are probably also those who haven't got time to charge their machines for an hour or two. That's already a concern for road trips, but day to day that'll be a nightmare. Just hang around the charging station for an hour while your car recharges.

The latest generation of cars and chargers don't need an hour to charge. A Tesla Model 3 can already charge at 250 kW, which is over 1000 miles per hour. Practically speaking, that means a decent charge in less than 20 minutes. On a long trip, most stops for gas take around that long anyway by the time you use the restroom, buy supplies, eat, etc.

The newest chargers being installed today go up to 350 kW, so the charging infrastructure is being future-proofed for even faster charging as the cars improve.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#29

I used to run an extension cord out of my 2nd floor window, but I wasn't parking on the street. My space was off the driveway, behind a fence and a gate, but only about 12 feet from the curb. More recently, I had been parking an electric car in my apartment's lot, and running an extension cord from the exercise room, out to the car. Then the apartment decided to close off those outlets. In both cases, the car's batte…

There's a guy with a Tesla around the corner from me, who does this (cable out the 2nd floor window), and he does park on the street. Not sure what he does if he can't get a space close enough. (A neighborhood of row houses with little off-street parking) I think the car makers have to accelerate integrating solar charging into their cars. You probably wouldn't get 100% of your charge that way, but you could get enou…

Leaf had a solar charger as a gimmick. It doesn't work. There isn't enough panel space.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#30
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine the same people who are garage orphans are probably also those who haven't got time to charge their machines for an hour or two. That's already a concern for road trips, but day to day that'll be a nightmare. Just hang around the charging station for an hour while your car recharges.

Put them I supermarket car parks. It can charge while you're shopping. Anyway, I would dispute there are people that can't find the time, they may not want to spend 2 hours a week filling up the car, but just like you don't find cars abandoned at the side of the road now, because owners can't find to time to fill up, the problem isn't going to be appreciably worse in the future.

It's a matter of scale though - filling up with gas is a 5 minute, once every two weeks activity. If you're filling up for 10 minutes every day or an hour a week, that's a hard sell.
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