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Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

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Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#61

Post by ElijahLynn »

a4isms wrote: post #34
bryanlarsen wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd think that a fast charger would be even more valuable. You've got a captive customer for ~20 minutes, should be even easier to sell them stuff. The problem is that it's enough time to walk to the restaurant next door rather than spending money at the gas station store. I'm sure somebody will figure it out. Probably something like the food court model rather than current gas stations which are basically convenie…

Time to rediscover the drive-in restaurant. Only in 2023, it has: 1. Fast charging in every spot; 2. Espresso and high-margin dessert-in-a-cup drinks served right to your vehicle; 3. Free high-speed unlimited WiFi for customers. Why get out of your car to walk to the restaurant next door? Connect to the free WiFi, turn on the charging, and place your order. Then relax in your car and leave a low-effort comment on Hac…

Add a high-tech charging dock or a self inserting charging snake and you don't even have to get out of the car.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#62

Post by natch »

jackmott42 wrote: post #44
tapoxi wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have a pretty poor safety record with regard to Autopilot/FSD, not to mention way too many controls are behind a tablet interface that you should not look at while driving. It also implies I'm endorsing Musk and I'd be embarrassed to drive it. I'd much rather take the pain of CCS with the hope that the infrastructure bill smooths things out or grants supercharger access to CCS vehicles.

All you have to do to avoid the FSD safety issues is spend $10,000 less dollars and not get it. Also I wouldn't count on the CEOs of Hyundai/Ford being less gross than Elon, they just tweet less, which is good.

My understanding is that some of the top VW group (VW / Audi / Porsche) executives can’t even visit the US for fear of being criminally charged for the dieselgate shenanigans. So add them to your list.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#63

Post by helf »

macinjosh wrote: post #36

One often over looked aspect of EVs are their relative fragility compared to a ICE vehicle. I see it as an analog/digital divide. You can get an ICE to temporarily run with all sorts of deficits, incorrect inputs, or hacks. It will still kinda work. EVs are way more digital. If one thing in the chain breaks the bit flips to false and you're done until the tow truck comes and an expert with special, secret knowledge a…

As someone who has literally cut and crimped fuel lines to cut off a cylinder, used JBWeld to temp seal heads and blocks, pulled injectors, disconnected spark plugs etc etc to get something to limp back home.. yep.

My main beef with EVs (and I own a Chevy Volt PHEV that I /adore/) is the fact they are rolling blackboxes. My Volt is the least shadetree mechanic friendly vehicle I have owned other than maybe my VehiCROSS I had for awhile. I know most people don't care, but it irks me. And I will not own a pure EV anytime soon for a host of reasons and that is a big part of it.

This desire manufacturers have of making their vehicles IAP Vehicle-as-a-Service (ICE and EVs) really pisses me off and I plan on driving my Volt (which has the OnStar modules entirely disabled so I have 0 analytics/metrics/tracking happening) forever. I miss my 100% analog 1981 VW Rabbit LS diesel. sniff.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#64

Post by rsync »

russfink wrote: post #6

Gas pumps get periodic state issued inspections. Why not EV chargers?

"Gas pumps get periodic state issued inspections. Why not EV chargers?"

From an infrastructure standpoint a gas pump (and related tubing, tanks, filters, nozzles, etc.) is quite a bit more complicated and fragile than a charging receptacle.

A charging station really shouldn't be much more complicated than a streetlight, minus the UI and billing components.

All of this to say:

I don't know how often electric charge stations should be inspected but I hope it would be quite a bit less often than a gas pumping station ...

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#65

Post by floren »

a4isms wrote: post #34
bryanlarsen wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd think that a fast charger would be even more valuable. You've got a captive customer for ~20 minutes, should be even easier to sell them stuff. The problem is that it's enough time to walk to the restaurant next door rather than spending money at the gas station store. I'm sure somebody will figure it out. Probably something like the food court model rather than current gas stations which are basically convenie…

Time to rediscover the drive-in restaurant. Only in 2023, it has: 1. Fast charging in every spot; 2. Espresso and high-margin dessert-in-a-cup drinks served right to your vehicle; 3. Free high-speed unlimited WiFi for customers. Why get out of your car to walk to the restaurant next door? Connect to the free WiFi, turn on the charging, and place your order. Then relax in your car and leave a low-effort comment on Hac…

I wouldn't mind stopping at a Sonic drive-in for lunch & a charge...

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#66

Post by jhoechtl »

yardie wrote: post #40
jhoechtl wrote: post #23

What is the price per kW at an EV charging station compared to what you pay for power at home? How are home owners subsidizing the EV network?

EA is .40/kw or $.31/kw + $4/mo membership. Our electrical utility in the south is $.13-.17/kw So to fill a Tesla battery from near empty to full ~80kwH is around $25.

You get 250 mileage? Seems like a draw with a diesel car

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#68

Post by phkahler »

Worked in that industry for 2 years making big chargers. The electronic latch that locks the plug into the vehicle is IMHO the single stupidest (even dangerous) thing. Anything unexpected goes wrong and you can't unplug the cable and you are stranded. I have no idea why any vehicle manufacturer would put this on their car.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#69

Post by rootusrootus »

option wrote: post #15
tapoxi wrote: post #8

I will never buy a Tesla, but the CCS network is pretty garbage in the U.S. right now. EA regularly has outages, their newer models (which I have not used) fry vehicles or fail in cold weather, I've only heard bad things about EVGo but never used them. Fortunately I stick to home (Metro Boston) and haven't had any serious problems with ChargePoint stations heading up to Mount Desert Island in Maine, the farthest trip…

for certain large segments of EV buyers, especially in US, Tesla is objectively the best EV right now.

It's a dichotomy. Independent of the charging network, Tesla definitely doesn't make the best EV. But the charging network does matter. I bought my second Tesla in spite of knowing all the random stupidity it would subject me to, because my second EV is a CCS car and I know about that pain. For my use case, reliable fast charging is worth the trade-off.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#70

Post by calciphus »

helf wrote: post #54
tapoxi wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have a pretty poor safety record with regard to Autopilot/FSD, not to mention way too many controls are behind a tablet interface that you should not look at while driving. It also implies I'm endorsing Musk and I'd be embarrassed to drive it. I'd much rather take the pain of CCS with the hope that the infrastructure bill smooths things out or grants supercharger access to CCS vehicles.

The safety crap with Teslas is one of my main gripes.. No haptic feedback /capacitive/ turn signals etc? wtf?

Turn signals, windshield wipers, media controls, cruise control, follow distance...all have physical controls.

Lots of other weird stuff is touch screen only, like re-aiming the A/C vents or taking the headlights off of auto-mode, but the main stuff does.

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