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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

#131

Post by DangitBobby »

vegetablepotpie wrote: post #109

> That means mapping out charging stations in a comprehensive, thoughtful way … not leaving it to the whims of the commercial sector, … It will require cities to develop plans for how and where to locate public chargers I spoke at public hearing last year in favor of an EV ordinance that my city passed. I believe that if we are to involve government with EV adoption, which is necessary, we need to be prepared for bac…

Serious question, why is this person bearing the cost? If it's society's problem, why does it seem like it's actually her problem?

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

#132

Post by mkozlows »

vegetablepotpie wrote: post #109

> That means mapping out charging stations in a comprehensive, thoughtful way … not leaving it to the whims of the commercial sector, … It will require cities to develop plans for how and where to locate public chargers I spoke at public hearing last year in favor of an EV ordinance that my city passed. I believe that if we are to involve government with EV adoption, which is necessary, we need to be prepared for bac…

A thing to think about is: Do we in fact need top-down government mandates to do this? People with gas cars have range anxiety, too, and you need to be strategic about placement of gas stations to ensure that they don't get stuck in a place where they can't charge. And yet... this turns out to be a problem that largely solved itself without a centralizing authority, because "people want to buy gas/electricity for their car, and they want to buy it more in certain places, and there is money to be made by serving that demand" is where the market does well.

Market failures are real, the need for regulation is real (there are, quite sensibly, piles of regulations around how you can store the tanks of toxic chemicals needed to fuel a legacy gas car, and there will be regulations around EV charging as well), but in terms of making sure EV charging places exist where needed, this is probably a place where just "get out of the way, and don't let zoning regulations block necessary construction" gets you 90%+ of the way to where you need to be.

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

#133

Post by borski »

tverbeure wrote: post #66
borski wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The implication that Teslas were somehow superior and outside the category of other EVs. I don’t hate Teslas; I just consider them another EV, with some pros (the supercharger network) and some cons. Elon and the FSD nonsense is one such con. I only brought it up because he just promised it again by the end of this year, and it set off a spate of people going “Tesla is the best” when we’ve all seen this story before.…

FSD is a disaster and Elon an AH, but it’s a simple fact that Tesla supercharger are their biggest competitive benefit, and superior to anything else on the market?

Yes. But that lead is dwindling, and soon opening to CCS cars as well. That’s my point.

Tesla needs to start building something new again, or improving their cars in meaningful ways, or their lead will dwindle.

And the cybertruck ain’t it. (I have a reservation for one, but there are better options now)

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

#134

Post by borski »

mangosteenjuice wrote: post #110
borski wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nonsense. Superchargers are packed; while they work, you’re waiting in line for a charge. Meanwhile, while some folks have had issues with EA, I haven’t, and even if I did, I’d just use a Chargepoint, EVGo, Shell Recharge, or any number of other chargers as needed. Not to mention that I can buy a Tesla charger adapter for like $60 that lets me use destination chargers at hotels, and that Tesla is opening up to CCS ch…

Maybe I'm exceedingly lucky, but I've only had to wait in line once. I make frequent trips between Oakland/SF and Los Angeles, and charge at stations nearly exclusively since I live in an apartment.

This is what’s hard about it - personal experiences vary. We need an outside entity somehow keeping track of uptime and availability of chargers, and the infrastructure bill will hopefully help with that.

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

#135

Post by kbos87 »

avalys wrote: post #55
xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently went on a trip where the power was out at our destination for over 24 hours due to a storm. The nearest town was ~20 minutes away and likely did not have any fast charging infrastructure. Even if it did, it's a pretty bad spot to be in, especially if you have young kids. I have been considering getting an electric car but that trip made me realize I'd have to reserve the EV for urban travel only. Otherwise…

If the power is out at your destination you're unlikely to be able to operate the gas pumps either. Who brings emergency gasoline supplies with them on a family trip with young kids? The suggestion is ludicrous. Is your typical vacation, like, traveling to Florida to experience a hurricane making landfall? If you do a lot of travel to remote locations and camping and hiking and things like that, yes, an EV will proba…

I've been in my Tesla on a 2hr road trip with a planned stop at a supercharger along the way. A message popped up on the screen of my Tesla that there was a power outage at the supercharger I had planned to use - I was seamlessly rerouted to a different supercharger. Not an ideal situation, but very well handled by Tesla.

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

#136

Post by borski »

ericd wrote: post #115
borski wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The implication that Teslas were somehow superior and outside the category of other EVs. I don’t hate Teslas; I just consider them another EV, with some pros (the supercharger network) and some cons. Elon and the FSD nonsense is one such con. I only brought it up because he just promised it again by the end of this year, and it set off a spate of people going “Tesla is the best” when we’ve all seen this story before.…

I think their innovations are mostly going towards scaling supply and manufacturing now. They’ve scaled their large-can batteries, they’re finally starting in earnest on Semi and Cybertruck. And FSD has been improving. To your earlier point, I have literally never once had to wait to get a supercharger, the route planner takes number of open stalls into account. The non-Tesla experience, idk, and we only use them on…

FWIW, the Lucid and Ioniq navs also take stall availability into account.

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

#137

Post by kbos87 »

borski wrote: post #38
tgma wrote: post #8

Specifically the author is talking about a non-Tesla EV, one that had the known defect of lack of a proper charging infrastructure at point of purchase. Nothing to see here. [Talking about Teslas and “EVs” as if they are the same category is like talking about Computer Science and “STEM” in a single category. Often disingenuous and draws the wrong conclusion.]

Nonsense. Superchargers are packed; while they work, you’re waiting in line for a charge. Meanwhile, while some folks have had issues with EA, I haven’t, and even if I did, I’d just use a Chargepoint, EVGo, Shell Recharge, or any number of other chargers as needed. Not to mention that I can buy a Tesla charger adapter for like $60 that lets me use destination chargers at hotels, and that Tesla is opening up to CCS ch…

I've had a tesla for over a year, I exclusively charge at superchargers, and I've waited for a stall at a charger a total of one time.

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

#138

Post by k8sToGo »

Yes same happened to me. After about 3 years I went back to a gas car. After the vanity / hobby enthusiasm diminishes, charging and the current limitations become just very frustrating to deal with every day. To be fair I made the frustrating experience mostly in non-Tesla cars. However, Tesla has other things that can be frustrating.

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

#139

Post by borski »

kbos87 wrote: post #137
borski wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nonsense. Superchargers are packed; while they work, you’re waiting in line for a charge. Meanwhile, while some folks have had issues with EA, I haven’t, and even if I did, I’d just use a Chargepoint, EVGo, Shell Recharge, or any number of other chargers as needed. Not to mention that I can buy a Tesla charger adapter for like $60 that lets me use destination chargers at hotels, and that Tesla is opening up to CCS ch…

I've had a tesla for over a year, I exclusively charge at superchargers, and I've waited for a stall at a charger a total of one time.

Cool. I think what this shows (your experience at superchargers vs mine, and my experience at EA vs the article) is that personal experiences vary, and we need better stats.

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

#140

Post by borski »

hn_user2 wrote: post #103
jackmott42 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you aren't doing road trips much you won't. When you don't do road trips you don't need any infrastructure at all except your own house

With most rental cars giving you unlimited miles, I'm very much of the opinion that when you factor in mileage and wear and tear on the car plus vehicle depreciation due to the long miles on the road trip--that renting a car for long trips is the way to go. Especially when compared to owning a second care with an ICE just for the occasional trip.

The catch here is I really like my car, and I have no reason to own an ICE for road trips. I rent when I can’t bring my car (flying, overseas, etc.)
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