Featured Reasons behind the slowness of EVs adoption in US

I've already done that many, many times.

 

Is there reason you can't do it again? In any case, enjoy your vacation anyway you please.

 

I will do it again, but I want to visit other places as well.

 

I'm sorry I missed this.

The above is *exactly* the point that many EV-supporters entirely miss.

My average day in 2017 was around 30 miles, but my longest drive day was 614 miles, which had one 8 minute stop for fuel in a city that had a supercharger (Goodland Kansas) one bathroom break at a rest-stop (Soloman, Kansas) that had no chargers, and one 47 minute stop for lunch at a place next to a supercharger station - the only supercharger station I've ever found that was actually located where I wanted to stop (Hays Kansas).

Now here's the real problem. That was the trip home. On the way out I drove 494 miles which included a stop for lunch where there were no chargers (Burlington, Colorado), a stop for ice-cream where there were no chargers (WaKeeney, Kansas), then a stop for the night where there were no chargers (Hutchinson, Kansas) followed the next day by a 213 mile trip to Overland Park, Kansas, where there are only L2 chargers at parks and no place to charge where I stayed. We were there for a week, never passed a supercharger, and then did the 614 mile drive listed above. In my Prime, this trip required a total of three stops for gas totaling less than 20 minutes. In an EV with a 300 mile range and access to supercharging, it would have taken about 2 extra days to do this trip (and, yes, I can substantiate that).

 

Some people actually do need to take their truck off road, or tow 10k pounds with it.
A Prius won't work for them.
That doesn't mean a Prius won't work for many others.
It is the same situation for BEVs.

 

used to have a Harley Softail. Drove it maybe 10% of the time. When driving in gridlock, it would save an easy ½hour splitting the lane at slow speed. OMG! I need to continually retell it to the world - lane-splitting doesn't doesn't work in a Prius! Yea News flash, everybody has different driving needs - not that again rehearing it - ever gets old.

.

 

I use the Standard Range Model 3 and the trip planner in PlugShare:

• 30 mi/hr - charge rate on L2 with 30-32 A rate
• 130 mi/hr - SuperCharger over 0.5 hrs

For example, driving from Huntsville, AL to Coffeyville, KS, there are two practical approaches:

• SuperCharger Only - 14 hr 12 min, 728 miles
• SuperCharger + 30 A L2 - 14 hr 25 min, 651 miles

Huntsville to Coffeyville SuperCharger Only

1. The slower speeds Little Rock-to-Springfield means the EPA 220 mi range won't be a problem. Slower speeds means longer range.

Huntsville to Coffeyville SuperCharger and L2

1. The slower speeds on the Memphis-to-Springfield route may shorten the L2 charge time from the conservative 30 mi/hr. Happily, it is a free charger.

Bob Wilson

 

What happens if you get to Lesmeister Guesthouse and someone is using the one 80A Tesla charger or, worse, both chargers are in use?

 

We typically leave around sunset which tends to leave ordinary charging resources free. Regardless, I would check with PlugShare to see if anyone reported a problem and give them a call during business hours.

We'd be close to Branson which has an abundance of affordable NEMA 14-50 chargers. FYI, I did not list all of the alternates on PlugShare.com. Worse comes to worse, wait for a dealer to open.<grins>

I did not show the ShorePower.com, 7 charging stations, at Ozark AR because you have to post a successful charge to keep the PlugShare entry open. If (when!) I go to Stillwater or Coffeyville, I will use that route and update the PlugShare map. But today, the rules of PlugShare don't allow me to show this better L2 route.

Bob Wilson

 

If I owned a 300 mile range EV, I'd choose to stay at a place with a destination charger (if there was one in the city I wanted to stay in) and leave it on charge all night.

 

Last hotel we stayed at in the south Nashville area, we arrived around 4 p.m. - where they had four 240V L2"s. We were full, & disconnected at 9 p m. Why be inconsiderate & block a ev guest stall overnight -
I hope Bob is still making the run when we finally get moved into our latest Nashville area home

(last one, our renters burned it down - a year ago) - he can use our HPWC.
I wonder if subsequent M3's will L2 charge faster ....
.

 

I'm reminded of the time I took 4 other people and loads of vacation stuff like chairs, rafts and umbrellas to the beach for a week in my Prius v. The next time I wanted to do that, I rented a minivan and was pleasantly surprised how cheap it was.

So we could make that 300 mile trip in my wife's car if I had an EV. Lucky to be a two car family. Down from 4. House with garage, enough electric capacity for a 15-40.

Only problem they don't make (or at least make available in my town) the EV configuration I want. SUV seat getting in height and practicality of the v. Comfort for 4-5 and room for one NFL linemen. Will the Y carry all my stuff? But it is $20k more and not till 2021 will it be shaken out by the early adopters enough for me to know what it is like. No front or back seat dimensions yet. Will the other makers who say they will have the EV SUVs actually have enough battery making behind them to sell to this little town?

 

Well, the last two places I arrived at where destination charging would have solved the charging problem would have been 277 and 224 miles after a supercharger. So, probably needing between 75 and 90kWh. 90kWh/6.6kW = 13.6 hours. 75kWh/7.2kW = 10.4 hours. So, between those two is the likely charge time.

Both times we arrived after dinner.

 

At least in publik skoool.

 

Lee Jay's unstoppable diet plan. Guaranteed reduction in calories. Only $35,000. Plan includes an electric car.

 

I am different. I like vacations with large CO2 budgets, extra mercury and dolphin in my tuna, pesticides on my vegetables, redheads AND blondes and lots of cash in my pocket.

 

Just an FYI - M3 will pull 9.6kW's off an L2 / hpwc[/QUOTE]

 

I thought 9.6kW chargers were an option, not standard, and that would do no good if you're plugged into a 6.6kW charging station.

But even so, 75kWh/9.6kW = 7.8 hours. Show up at 8:00pm and it's not done until 4:00am.

 

Actually, it takes longer. Don't forget that the vehicle will throttle down the draw as it nears "full" capacity. Also, you won't be starting a recharge until at least 9:00pm. Sooner means not getting a time-of-use discount for many providers. There are conversion losses as well.

 

Yeah, I know. The point is, destination chargers are perfectly reasonable to be used as over-night full-replenishment chargers.

On my New Mexico trip, one of those in Artesia, NM would have probably made that trip possible in an EV. On my Kansas trip a destination charger in Hutchinson, KS would have made that trip possible in an EV. On my southwest-trip, a destination charger in Cortez, CO followed by one in Montrose, CO would have been close, with 301 miles between them including a ton of climbing and descending. That was the one where we got stuck behind a forest fire and turned around, wasting almost 100 miles.

Personally, I think Tesla really messed up on their interstate charger design. The Supercharger stations in rural America are barely used yet they mostly have 6-8 places to charge. They'd have been better off with two places to charge, more of them and way more far-cheaper to install destination chargers.