Article about EV Charging

That's why I have stated tax-credits for vehicles should not get renewed. If there is to be a next batch, let it be for home upgrades.

Keep in mind, most households can just barely support 1 vehicle. So, there's a very real limitation that will holdback market growth later.

 

what we need is more long range tesla competition, so companies will think about fee for charging stations in strategic locations

tesla has ingeniously suppressed charging competition by providing their own network.

by the time someone else makes a decent long range bev, it will be difficult to build out high powered charging stations because tesla drivers won't need them

 

That makes it sound like it was part of the plan, when Tesla just wanted to sell an EV that the established car companies refused to do. They knew a charging network was needed for success, and that they couldn't rely on third parties building it.

They have some commercial advantage over the independent networks, but then they are willing to allow others access to their network, if exchange for those others in helping to support it.

 

I would shop at any business that offers me free gas for my car.

 

Meh, untill EV charging is similar to gas, i.e. couple of minutes yield full tank or something close, it's all very niche. A typical grocery store visit is what, 5-15 mins? - in non-fast charging world, it's few cents/couple of miles, so why bother.

I can see why most of free charges here are seemingly permanently occupied by Teslas/Leafs/Bolts - at least for them it's worth the hassle, given the capacity.

 

You'd have a very different attitude if you actually tried it.

Arriving at the grocery store with an empty battery turns into enough electricity to get home in just 10 minutes.

 

imagine if ford had built out proprietary gas stations with cars in the early years?

i wonder what the landscape would look like now

 

Maybe if you live within walking distance of the store.

 

We'd all be driving coal powered steam cars.

 

How far away do you think local grocery stores are? If you are only spending 10 minutes there, it is clearly not a purchase of many items.

See this real-world example... which appears to not have attached to the post. Anywho, it shows my 8-minute session this weekend delivered 0.43 kWh of electricity. That works out to around 2.2 miles.

 

<popcorn>

 

You know, your arguments remind what I've heard from users of Palm, Blackberry and all those electronic organizers of the 90s. When asked why? they'd always say how easy it was to use them, "you just plug this special cable, wait, type in this uber-complex command code, synchronize, update, reboot...and voila, you've updated someone's phone #!". Oh, and you had to use a $39.99 easy to loose stylus and nothing else.

Cliff notes: the hassle of constant plugging/unplugging is unacceptable for the majority of mankind.

 

That analogy doesn't work, because doing that was a requirement.

For a PHEV, it's not. It's entirely a benefit. If you don't want the bother, you don't have to.

 

And yet the majority of mankind is now plugging and unplugging smart phones that are descendants of those Palms and Blackberries.

 

Mankind has been charging phones since their inception. But it always been a daily (=nightly) affair. Now, imagine you're asking consumers to plug their phones at every store, restaurant, etc., and not just where they are, but walk to a specific location, may be even wait for it to free up, and often pay the tripple of what it cost at home.

 

There's nothing to imagine. No one will ask that. Having the option to recharge at a location is a convenience, something to entice people to stop there. A more appropriate analogy could be Wi-Fi. Originally, it was had a time-restriction or cost/membership of some sort. Now, it's common and usually free. Customers were not required to use it, nor was there any particular enforcement of how or when.

So if you are going to see a movie, eat a meal, or shop for awhile, that choice of plugging in being available could make a difference of where you go. There is no requirement or expectation of charger use.

 

Who is asking people to charge their car at every place they stop? How about I claim people are getting gas everyday. It is all strawmen.

Like phones, cars get just charged once at home.
Like cars, phones sometimes need a charge away from home. There is a wide range of back up batteries for just that. Businesses and public places have also made their outlets available for charging; some even have chargers available. Booster batteries just aren't a practical option for cars.

So what if a public charger costs more. Bottled water, soda, and snacks all cost more at a convenience store than a supermarket. The price of gas can change based on convenience of location; the rest stops on I95 cost more than a station off an exit. A plug in could be fueled with just the cheap electricity at home, while getting cheaper gas could be more of a hassle for other cars.