Featured Americans insist on 300 miles of EV range. They’re right

To be fair, two years ago not many EV drivers were going on long drives, on average, compared to now.
So it could have been just as bad two years ago but we just didn't know it.

Mike

 

Would you accept 97% uptime for any of your utilities? Did you experience 3% downtime for gas in any area over the last few years?

When you have only one provider for EV refueling in a area that you really really need, that 3% really really matters.

I'm right now down to the max range of most EVs in my hybrid and it will be recharged at any one of a dozen stations within 5 miles of where I am with at least 150 pumps. And if electricity is down in one area of town to power the pump, then there are still others to choose from without a long drive worrying about remaining range. Many gas stations have a backup generator. The trip to refuel will include at least 6 other stops.

When every Walmart, Costco, Target and mall has two dozen plugs and every gas station has 4 ....

On a 50 miles up and 50 miles back trip today, I must have seen 50 Teslas, one VW and one other easily identifiable EV. My destination and my origination have large Supercharger stations. But not in the frequency and convenience of gas.

(I want a car that is an EV with the controls of a conventional, a sold metal roof, 250 mile range after 5 years in the 10F or rain and room for 4+1 with 4 golf bags along with 4 men. I'll put in a 240 volt line at home. That would cover 98% of my trips and her hybrid could get 43 MPG to the 2%. I can't put solar, just faces wrong.)

 

Yes, I would. As I understand the statement, if someone connects to a charger that doesn’t work, and then plugs into one 10 feet away that does work, that still counts as a failure.

While I haven’t had this issue with a Tesla charger, I have run into that at a gas pump. I shrugged and moved my car to the next pump.

 

I count that as a minor inconvenience. Not a failure. Failure is inability to get to the next stop 250 miles away after 20 minutes or replenishment.

Yes I pulled up to a gas pump that was out of commission because of a fire on that row. But as your example, there were a dozen others, just had to wait 5 minutes for one to free up.

 

In terms of this piece, they seem to be considering a “failure” as a failure of a single plug.
I’d recommend reading the full article, it is well written and raises some excellent points.

From the article:

Now, if a charging site only has one or two plugs, that can be disastrous. The added redundancy of having 8 or 12 or 40 other plugs means the temporary loss of one plug is simply an inconvenience.

 

that's true ...do you ever get THIS at an EVSE ?












.

 

Yes, but it's usually only dangerous for that one car on fire, there aren't any spreading liquid or gaseous flames.

 

Only when an ICE vehicle parks to block access.

Bob Wilson