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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

#171

Post by elihu »

azinman2 wrote: post #87
elihu wrote: post #70

I think part of the problem here is that the public and government officials don't treat lack of charging infrastructure and broken chargers as an emergency. If a tree falls across a major road, you can bet there will be work crews showing up within hours to cut it up and move it aside to restore access, because a road with a tree across it doesn't function as a road anymore. We should treat lack of working charging…

Do gas stations get treated the same?

Come to think of it, that's probably going to happen eventually. There's no future for internal combustion ground transportation, and eventually most of those gas stations are going to be closed. I wouldn't be surprised if, when parts of the country begin to be unreachable by ICE vehicles because of lack of gas stations, some irate ICE truck owners block the roads in protest.

It doesn't happen now because petroleum is available basically everywhere. "I had trouble locating an open gas station" is a problem that's happened to me I think once about twenty years ago, and even then we didn't have to go all that far to find an open gas station. (That I remember it at all had to do with the circumstances of the event. I was on a road trip through the deep south, and the police showed up at the second gas station and questioned us because someone apparently thought we were trying to rob the first gas station we stopped at which was closed.)

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

#172

Post by local_crmdgeon »

I get that people want range, but after owning a truck, I'm never road tripping in a car again. A body-on-frame truck is such a superior way to soak up highway miles. My truck isn't great in the city, is absolutely not a sports car, etc. I would never take a Bolt on a roadtrip, but I'd also never take a Camry, Accord, etc. I'm not sure why the ability to roadtrip a family car is so critical.

This is an _endorsement_ of electric cars. I wouldn't use a hatchback/sedan/crossover for roadtripping, and the idea that everyone is always roadtripping is wild. Just fly if you need to go >300 miles, it's a better experience than trying to roadtrip a Bolt, which is a perfect car for >95% of people. No sweating, no exhaustion at the end; just landing and going.

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

#173

Post by iknowstuff »

borski wrote: post #128
iknowstuff wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happy for you, but your experience is not the norm. https://twitter.com/RateYourCharge

That is not necessarily true. The outliers are widely reported, because successful experiences do not generally cause people to post online about how great their experience was. You’re going to hear about the negative experiences because that is what people commiserate about. It’s human nature.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WoQdsHFJbUs

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

#174

Post by degrees57 »

k8sToGo wrote: post #138

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.

I'm quite happy with my PHEV. I charge at night at home, and have even gone a whole month without needing to get gasoline (in town driving only). But when I need to drive a long distance, it's a complete non-issue to find a gas station after 550 miles.

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

#175

Post by sp332 »

kbos87 wrote: post #127
avalys wrote: post #96

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…

I have a Tesla, no home charging, and I can't underscore how much of a non-issue it is. I charge once or twice a week at a shopping plaza I'd be visiting anyway. When I roadtrip (I regularly do 150-250 mile road trips around New England), I'm usually stopping at a supercharger within a mile of the highway at a location equivalent to one I would have stopped anyway. Most times I only need to charge for 20 minutes to f…

My question would be more about availability and waiting. If everyone at the grocery store is using their once-a-week trip to charge the car at the same time, you're going to need a lot more chargers.

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

#176

Post by rzimmerman »

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…

It's hard to explain how much better the Tesla charging experience is to someone that hasn't tried both. As frustrating as the company (and the leadership) can be, the car is great and the charger network is outstanding. There are superchargers everywhere. You can get anywhere in the US without having to worry about it. You type your destination into the car and it plans a route for you. It picks stops strategically to minimize charge time (charging 20%-50% can take less time than charging 20%-80% once). Range on most Teslas is 300 miles + and you're never more than 150 miles from a supercharger, even deep in the desert.

But beyond that, when you pull into a supercharger, you know it's working. If it wasn't working it would say so on the dash. You park, pick up the cable, point it at your port and the port opens. You plug it in. You walk away. Your phone gets a notification when it's time to go. And it charges your card automatically. No goofy app required, no NFC/authorization, no noodling with the charger to make it work, no effort. It's really really nice.

Chargepoint stuff works fine. Stations are often broken (and like the author said, there's no way to know without going there). You have to use an app which thankfully supports an Apple wallet card. Before I figured that out it was super fiddly. I've had stations on other networks that are unusable because they have poor cell service. Then there's a whole "reload your card" thing where you get charged in $20 increments. And adapters, chunky connectors. To be fair I've never tried DC fast charging with anything but a supercharger.

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

#177

Post by borski »

erik_seaberg wrote: post #169
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…

How do destination chargers at hotels work? It seems like only seedy motels have parking spaces right outside the room where you could use its outlets. Are nicer hotels starting to build a few dedicated chargers somewhere in their parking lot? Do you reserve one when you book a room?

It’s almost always first come first serve, and they’re either Tesla wall chargers or Chargepoint or similar wall chargers, usually maxed out at 48 amps or so.

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

#178

Post by lotsoweiners »

Psychlist wrote: post #152
harshaw wrote: post #143

I have an Ioniq 5 and a PHEV pacifica. I love the ioniq5 and do new england road trips with it for skiing. I only have to hunt for fast charging on these longer trips so it's kind of a fun route planning game. I also love having the minivan to take 6 people anywhere and not worry about charging. I have the luxury of picking the right tool for the job. Not everyone else does. After owning an EV I have come to apprecia…

My expectation is that one combustion car owners have to pay more of the cost of that fuel choice they'll change over. Lots of people already drive 20 minutes to save $10 on a tank full, or queue at the gas station ditto. What we're really waiting for is second hand EVs in real numbers, or the political decision that small, electric cars are the only ones allowed on most streets. That would dramatically cut the death…

What I’m waiting for is the 3 row SUV that I already have to be available in an EV. I don’t want dorky “futuristic” styles and model names distinguishing it as an EV just basically what I have already. Then I could use the EV for my day to day and the ICE for emergencies or road-trips.

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

#179

Post by roflchoppa »

So one of the two phases of power that comes into my house went out. I was chatting with the lad that came to fix it from PGE. I wanted to know how much it cost to update my 125amp main panel to 200 amp. He responded , 30-50k after all the trenching work.

At home charging is gonna be a pickle for older homes… esp if you have powerlines that are trenched.

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

#180

Post by lotsoweiners »

gharman wrote: post #49
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.

> 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. I dissent! Just did a 2-day (each way) road trip with young children and those charging breaks are pretty great and well-spaced for letting them run around and blow off steam. It’s not such a bad idea for the adults either…

Maybe but a lot of my family road trips are haul ass to Disneyland or San Diego (from Phoenix) where we leave at 6AM and want that travel day to be usable at our destination. We usually have about a 10 minute stop for gas fill up and snacks or lunch.
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