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Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

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

#171

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

Reason077 wrote: post #79
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article is about how people can't charge while they are at sleep. There's going to be a huge portion of people who can't charge at work. I guess you have to charge at groceries, which you'll need to go to every day. Though the grocery store will need to be dramatically refitted to support that, and will need to justify having a power grid the size of their parking lot increasing their power bill just because it's…

The grocery store won't be giving away the electricity for free. Maybe they'll subsidise it a bit if they realise that offering charging brings more traffic to their store. But it won't be free any more than gas stations give away free gas! The electricity grid already extends to most workplaces, most urban streets, most parking lots. Destination charging, where you're plugging in for hours rather than minutes, doesn…

I wonder how much capacity it takes to power a parking lot full of street lights vs a parking lot full of Teslas. I imagine it's a wide gap - each Tesla draws about 1.4 kW[1], while each streetlight draws 80 watts[2].

[1] https://www.pluglesspower.com/learn/tesla-model-s-charging-h... [2] https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2004/MarinaAvetisyan.shtml

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

#172

Post by samcheng »

dmitrygr wrote: post #77
AshleyGrant wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A) It doesn't take an hour to charge an EV unless you're charging past 90%, which isn't typically done as it hurts the battery. B) You're bored b/c you have to stand next to the pump waiting for it to finish. This isn't a problem with EV charging. Go get a coffee or read a book.

Not everyone has time to "get a coffee or read a book" when the car runs empty. Some people live years without a free hour to "just go read a book", for example: anyone with young kids.

I've found that those same young kids also don't tolerate long periods in the car very well. The periodic stops to charge work pretty well - you stop, plug in the car, then take them to grab a bite to eat and blow off some steam.

(Then you end up having to go unplug the fully-charged car long before they finish eating!)

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

#173

Post by Retra »

Finnucane wrote: post #107
duskwuff wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, keep in mind my numbers are assuming a large, perfectly efficient solar panel under ideal conditions. Realistic numbers will be much worse. For example, most commercially available solar panels are 20-25% efficient.

Then you get not all of you charge from the solar panel, but a quarter to a half. So what? That's still good. If the car basically had 20 free miles a day, that would mean much less reliance on plugging in.

You are probably going to spend more energy than that just lugging around solar panels.

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

#174

Post by cestith »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #61
Reason077 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Charging an EV is not really like filling up with gas. You need a slightly different mindset. You're not going to be waiting around constantly for your car to finish charging. In reality, you're charging at night while you're sleeping. Or charging at work while you're working. Or charging at the supermarket while you buy your groceries.

The article is about how people can't charge while they are at sleep. There's going to be a huge portion of people who can't charge at work. I guess you have to charge at groceries, which you'll need to go to every day. Though the grocery store will need to be dramatically refitted to support that, and will need to justify having a power grid the size of their parking lot increasing their power bill just because it's…

Some city dwellers live near only dodegas, convenience stores, and fast food shops. The corner pantry isn't going to install a parking lot in some cases, let alone car chargers.

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

#175

Post by fwip »

Pfhreak wrote: 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 need electricity"

The vast majority are mechanical or solar-powered.

If you find some that are wired, good luck running hundreds of kilowatts through the wiring built for delivering 10 watts.

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

#176

Post by kelnos »

trilila wrote: post #139

I think this points out the elephant in the room: why are so many people in supposedly high income cities not able to buy properties? This is an issue that needs to be solved hand in hand with pollution: less travel, less need for a car, and more living outside overcrowded cities means more living space. So how can we move more jobs to suburbs, where people can work at nearby or home locations and can afford more liv…

This is somewhat orthogonal. In my building (where people generally own their condo units, though I'm renting), there's no access to charging in the building's garage.

Yes, theoretically people could get the HOA to install charging stations or do something to make the situation better, but... well, there is still no way to charge an EV in my building's garage. Either the demand isn't there, or the HOA has refused to pay for any upgrades.

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

#177

Post by chc »

kennywinker wrote: post #140
ryanmercer wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>can't a public fast charger be used once or twice a week instead? It takes me less than 2 minutes to fill up my tank and pay, now you want me to sit 1-4 hours at a fast charger a week twiddling my thumbs? Never mind the fact a Tesla Model 3 starts at my annual salary.

Not sitting twidding your thumbs. If they are near somewhere you want to be recreationally, you’re set. The gym, the grocery store, the movies, a hiking trail, spending 1-4 hours at one of these once a week would likely enhance your life not take away from it.

If your solution to the difficulty of finding an EV charger is "put EV chargers literally everywhere," that would hypothetically solve the problem, but how do you propose to make that happen? That's what the question here is.

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

#178

Post by michaelbuckbee »

mattlondon wrote: post #129

It is certainly holding me back at the moment. I have allocated off-street parking under my apartment that is actually owned by us as part of the lease, but I doubt the building management will let me install a charger, and I don't think the law in the UK means I can force them to let me. In London there are a few public chargers dotted around, but they are fairly infrequent. I don't have any data but it feels like t…

I've seen a few listings where EV charging parking spots are listed as a perk. You might be surprised how willingly your landlord is keen to go with you paying to upgrade their building.

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

#179

Post by kelnos »

oh_hello wrote: post #114

I always thought this was a big problem for EVs, but recently came to think nightly charging might not matter so much for these drivers. If an urban apartment dweller has an EV with 200+ miles of range, can't a public fast charger be used once or twice a week instead? I lived in an apartment with a ~200 mile range ICE car and filled it less than once a week.

That might work for urbanites who drive to work and work in the same city where they live.

But I know quite a few people whose daily commute is 40+ miles each way. They'd be visiting the charger every other day. That's unfortunately very common for people who live in San Francisco and work outside the city, and vice versa.

(I have a different problem: I walk or take transit to work, and have a car mainly for longer trips outside the city. I also have no charging station in my building's garage, so I've stuck with an ICE car for now.)

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

#180

Post by pjc50 »

gist wrote: post #88
stcredzero wrote: post #4

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 to run an extension cord out of my 2nd floor window > 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. Won't even get to what I am sure others have raised about safety issues. My question is why do you go to this effort? What in you makes you want to go to this…

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