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I’m ready to trade in my electric car

latimes.com

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Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#91

Post by bryanlarsen »

shireboy wrote: post #18

This to me is still the weak link. It’s not just chargers, it’s 30+ minute charge time. As great as electric is, an extra hour in the car on a road-trip with 3 kids is a tough sell. More chargers would help but it’s really battery tech and charge times that need a few more innovations before I’d consider for a car I might take a road trip in.

I made 4 3000km trips in a Tesla with young children. (Ottawa to Saskatoon and back, twice). The battery lasts longer than a child's bladder, and a restroom stop with young children requires at least 20 minutes, enough time for a substantial charge.

Only twice in the four trips did we ever have to wait for the car to finish charging. IOW it added 15 minutes to a 3 day trip.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#92

Post by datadeft »

cs702 wrote: post #19

At the moment, ONLY Tesla has decent supercharging (i.e., fast-charging) infrastructure in the US: https://www.tesla.com/findus I regularly go on ~300-mile drives that need only a single charging stop, lasting 15-20 minutes, on my Tesla EV. By the time I've gone to the bathroom and gotten a drink, the supercharger has added 100-150+ miles of range and the EV is ready to go. All the stalls always work. No other EV bra…

I am not sure when the car industry reaches that iteration where you can swap out batteries. It already happened for the electric rollers and it is freakin amazing. I think many of the electric car skeptics would convert if there was a way to "re-charge" the car within 5-10 minutes. The batteries would be also happier.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#93

Post by synaesthesisx »

cs702 wrote: post #19

At the moment, ONLY Tesla has decent supercharging (i.e., fast-charging) infrastructure in the US: https://www.tesla.com/findus I regularly go on ~300-mile drives that need only a single charging stop, lasting 15-20 minutes, on my Tesla EV. By the time I've gone to the bathroom and gotten a drink, the supercharger has added 100-150+ miles of range and the EV is ready to go. All the stalls always work. No other EV bra…

Agreed. I never have issues predictably charging my Tesla on long trips. Range anxiety is non-existent. The supercharger network is glorious.

When I tried to charge my previous EV (a non-Tesla) at public chargers, half they time they didn’t work, or charged at unpredictably slow rates.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#94

Post by iknowstuff »

jmclnx wrote: post #86
iknowstuff wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Charging is more convenient than going to a gas station to get gas. 90% of charging happens at home.

Maybe in Calif, the whole world does not live in Calif. The closest charging station to me is about 20/30 miles away. So EVs are out of the question. And this is true or even worse for many places.

A charger being 20 miles out does not make EVs unviable, because all you need is an outlet at home or at work.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#95

Post by avalys »

jmclnx wrote: post #86
iknowstuff wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Charging is more convenient than going to a gas station to get gas. 90% of charging happens at home.

Maybe in Calif, the whole world does not live in Calif. The closest charging station to me is about 20/30 miles away. So EVs are out of the question. And this is true or even worse for many places.

Charging at home, means charging in your driveway.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#96

Post by avalys »

Yes, electric cars are not viable unless you can charge at home. Meaning, in your garage / driveway.

This means they're not that useful for people who live in apartments, and most people who live in a city like SF and park on the street(*).

They're also not viable for road trips. Teslas can make it work but you still have to be willing for your trip to take 20 - 30% longer than it would with a gas car.

For people who have a garage or driveway, and don't need to take a road trip that often (or can own a second car for that purpose), they're fantastic! A better experience in almost every way compared to a gas car.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#97

Post by TheLoafOfBread »

gumby wrote: post #46

What is the reason for a failing charger? When one fails do all the ones in an installation fail (common failure?) I wonder if the cars could help here: if you plug in and are unable to charge the car could report that à la waze. Though there is a possible false positive if your credit card is declined.

From my experience it is often software incompatibility between charger and a car. I can often see that charging company will charge my debit card for charging credit (20-50EUR) and then charger will refuse to charge my car.

Good luck getting those money back, loser.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#98

Post by cypherpunks01 »

anecdotal1 wrote: post #84
xrd wrote: post #64

Last week found myself in Palm Beach with my hybrid mini. Driving down was almost out of gas but thought, I'll just get there, meet my partner and buy gas later. Next day found a place to charge but only have 17 miles on a good day. But assumed that would be enough to get me to a gas station. But the gas shortages because of flooding in port everglades extended even up to Palm Beach. They only got four inches of rain…

Get a TeslaTap. I used one with my Leaf so I could charge off my Tesla charger at home. http://www.umc-j1772.com/index.php?route=product/product&pro... When I sold my Leaf and moved across the country I gave mine to a guy charging his Leaf near a supercharger. He was so excited

Can he use this at the Supercharger? I didn't think that was possible.
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