My next car will probably be an EV, but only because I have a 2019 Civic, and I plan to drive it for at least another decade from now. Hoping gas stations start to add charging stations over the next decade and this problem starts to go away.
this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2023
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Huh. Charging for me is the best thing about an EV. I can overnight add 300 miles of range to my car without leaving the house. And that’s not some fancy exotic solution, all I needed was a 220V breaker and the right outlet. Yes, if you have a low range car like an i3 you’re gonna have a bad time, but for any modern car with a decent battery and high voltage infrastructure charging either at home or on the go really isn’t a problem.
Agreed. Charger in the garage, plug it in overnight, ready to go. It's been a bit frustrating on road trips when I can't find a working charger conveniently close to the route, but a bit of planning beforehand has made it work. 99% of the time it's great.
If I didn't have a garage or other dependable access to a L2 charger overnight, it would be far more challenging. I'm also 15 miles from the closest public charger, which would be a major hassle.
The best way I've heard it described is like waking up to a gas car with a full tank of gas every morning.
Hard agree. I love having an EV. Charging at home is so easy, and the vast majority of my driving is well within half of it's range.
Unless you live in an apartment building and can't dangle meters of electricity cables from your balcony. And the street chargers are all in use already by your neighbours.
But to be fair, this used to be a thing with combustion engines too. Nowadays we have petrol stations all over the place. This didn't use to be the case.
Los Angeles has been turning their streetlights into EV charging stations. So if you need to charge - just park under a lamp and plug in.
The goal is that everywhere in the city will have charging, so presuming you can park near a streetlight you'll be able to charge your car. After all - the streetlight needs power anyway.
That said - I bought my Model 3 when I was still living in an apartment. Charging wasn't too bad. My job gave me free charging in the parking garage as a perk, and on top of that I had a Supercharger I could stop at on the way home if I needed it (which I rarely did). Usually I only used that charger if I was eating in that shopping center anyway, and typically my charging would get done before I finished waiting for my food (so I'd have to rush to move my car before getting idle fees).
The challenging part came when the pandemic started. I didn't commute to work anymore, but my car would slowly die in the parking spot (just like how your phone can die in your pocket).
Every weekend, I had to take it down to charge it. This honestly wasn't so bad. There was a charger by an In-N-Out, so I'd stop by and grab something to eat while I charged. There was a mall across the street with free charging as well, but during the early days of the pandemic they originally blocked a lot of the mall off.
After a couple of months I moved to a place with a garage, and now I charge using a regular wall outlet without any problem. But it really wasn't too bad having to charge while in an apartment, to be honest.
I wish I could say "My next car will be an EV" but there are still 0 charging stations within 50 miles of me, so I guess I still have to wait
Consider charging at home, if you can. If your typical driving patterns consist of driving <100 miles from your home and it's possible to plug in at home (a standard 120V outlet is sufficient typically), then you don't need public charging stations. Just plug your car in at night and it'll be full every morning.