Electric vehicle drivers get candid about charging: 'Logistical nightmare'

[rangerrebew]

Electric vehicle drivers get candid about charging: 'Logistical nightmare'
Charging on the go is neither easy nor fast.

ByMorgan Korn
February 26, 2023, 6:00 AM

 
 
YouTube personality Steve Hammes leased a Hyundai Kona Electric sport utility vehicle for his 17-year-old daughter Maddie for three reasons: it was affordable, practical and allowed Maddie to put her cash toward college, not fuel. Now, the upstate New York resident has a dilemma many EV owners can relate to: finding available charging stations far away from home.

"We're going through the planning process of how easily Maddie can get from Albany to Gettysburg [College] and where she can charge the car," Hammes told ABC News. "It makes me a little nervous. We want fast chargers that take 30 to 40 minutes -- it would not make sense to sit at a Level 2 charger for hours. There isn't a good software tool that helps EV owners plan their trips."

Last week the Biden administration said Tesla would open its Supercharger network to non-Tesla owners by the end of 2024. The plan includes 3,500 Tesla fast chargers and 4,000 of its slower, Level 2 chargers -- a small number in Tesla's sprawling network. Setting up an account on Tesla's app is also required for access.
 
John Voelcker, an industry expert on EVs and the former editor of Green Car Reports, said this arrangement will allow Tesla to learn a lot about U.S. drivers -- "how you charge, where you drive and what car you have." He does not expect Tesla to commit to additional charging stations.

"Tesla does not want its highly reliable and tightly integrated charging network to be clogged with people whose cars can't charge as fast as Teslas," he told ABC News.

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/broken-machines-long-waits-reality-charging-electric-vehicle/story?id=97389275

[mountaineer]

WCVB Boston
EV charging stations along Mass. Pike malfunction during holiday weekend
Mary 26, 2023


Drivers hoping to utilize the electric charging stations located at rest areas along the Massachusetts Turnpike were left disappointed Friday afternoon, with several of the stations unavailable for use.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation confirmed just before 7 p.m. Friday that a total of six electric vehicle charging stations on Interstate 90 at the Lee, Natick, Charlton, and Framingham service plazas were currently unavailable.

The Tesla charging stations at the service plazas in Charlton were working, MassDOT said.

A WCVB reporter confirmed that the chargers located at the Framingham rest area were not working. ...

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said during her inauguration address back in January that it is a goal of hers to put a million electric vehicles on the road by 2030.

As Massachusetts makes a push to get far more electric vehicles on the road, the charging stations located at rest areas have faced issues.  ...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/ev-charging-stations-along-mass-pike-malfunction-during-holiday-weekend/ar-AA1bKso9

[Kamaji]

Get ready for this to happen to all of us, once ICE vehicles are banned, either outright, or for all practical purposes.

[Smokin Joe]

Put a service tank in the pickup and go anywhere...

They might get a million EVs on the road in Mass. Getting them off might be another problem.

[mountaineer]

An older fellow at church today was regaling listeners with his EV experience. He needed to drive from western PA to AZ, and didn't trust his own older car, so he rented a car. The agency gave him an electric one, assuring him that it would get 600 miles per charge. They gave him a map of all the charging stations along his route and wished him well.

Imagine his delight when the car ended up getting only 300 miles per charge. Twice as many stops, twice the expense, and much, much longer trip than planned.

Word to the wise: if you need to rent a car and they try to foist an EV on you, refuse.