How do you charge an electric car in rural area

[braumeister]

The one thing I never hear mentioned is the fact that owning an EV assumes you have a garage (or at least a driveway adjacent to your house) where you can plug it in at night. Those who live in apartments where they must park out on the street represent an enormous segment of the driving population who are ignored. Until they can be accommodated, EVs will continue to be a niche market IMHO. Maybe someday when battery technology is enormously improved it will be practical (super fast charging) but that day isn't here yet.

[SamCro]

This is a big reason why EV cars have not taken over the world. Once people figure out how inconvenient they are to own (repairs are a PITA, refueling takes time, road trips have to be carefully planned) they generally pass. Tesla will have to figure this out soon to support their stock valuation.

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamCro This is a big reason why EV cars have not taken over the world. Once people figure out how inconvenient they are to own (repairs are a PITA, refueling takes time, road trips have to be carefully planned) they generally pass. Tesla will have to figure this out soon to support their stock valuation.

Or they'll hit a critical mass where repair places are more common, as are charging stations, and technology improves so that batteries last even longer and are quicker to charge.

Those of us who don't have one already know that either those shortcomings or the price keep us from owning. I wouldn't be surprised if these are overcome for me in my driving lifetime.

[Ready]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister The one thing I never hear mentioned is the fact that owning an EV assumes you have a garage (or at least a driveway adjacent to your house) where you can plug it in at night. Those who live in apartments where they must park out on the street represent an enormous segment of the driving population who are ignored. Until they can be accommodated, EVs will continue to be a niche market IMHO. Maybe someday when battery technology is enormously improved it will be practical (super fast charging) but that day isn't here yet.

According to https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles...age-or-carport, 63% of all households have a garage or carport. I would not refer to 63% of the population as a “niche” market.

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister The one thing I never hear mentioned is the fact that owning an EV assumes you have a garage (or at least a driveway adjacent to your house) where you can plug it in at night. Those who live in apartments where they must park out on the street represent an enormous segment of the driving population who are ignored. Until they can be accommodated, EVs will continue to be a niche market IMHO. Maybe someday when battery technology is enormously improved it will be practical (super fast charging) but that day isn't here yet.

I agree with this. DW and I were just talking about it. Couldn’t use an electric car to visit DD#2 because she lives in an apartment, and while a round trip is in the range of the battery, it would leave little room for error or delay.

[explanade]

My lease is coming due next summer and I haven't been able to take all the road trips I've thought about.

Still, I'm planning to look at buying an electric car once I've completed the lease.

It will still be sketchy for me to take long road trips with it though.

I figure I can rent a car if I really want to take road trips.

This columnist talks about taking a road trip from San Francisco to Truckee:

Quote:

However, this second leg would prove to be the most challenging, with the bulk of the 7,000-mile climb between me and my hotel for the evening. It was a nail-biter, but I managed to make it. Unfortunately, the hotel only had Tesla-compatible chargers, so I hopped back in the I-Pace and headed into town, arriving at my second DC fast charger of the day with 15 miles (only 7%) left in the pack. At 122 miles driven, that's a full 24 miles short of where I expected to be thanks to the extreme climb. Once again, I plugged in and, 53 minutes later, was greeted with an 84% charge. After a day playing in the dirt with the TRX, I hopped back into the I-Pace for the journey home. That meant I got to go back down the mountain, arriving at my first charging station after 124 miles with a 42% charge -- 41 miles better than the estimated range. Another plug-in and the I-Pace was at 95% and 218 miles of range. Now on comparatively flat land and with plenty of range to play with, I was less careful with the accelerator for the last 89 miles home. I played with the various drive modes, tested the accelerator and braking and finally arrived with a 48% charge with 105 miles of displayed range remaining.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/review...i-pace-review/

So the Tahoe/Truckee area is a popular destination from the Bay Area, about 200 miles each way, gets cold in the mountains, which should also affect range.

But he doesn't say when he did this trip and even now, it would get around 60 degrees during the day in Sacramento.

So maybe in the 40s when he reached the highest elevation in his trip.

Interesting that his hotel had a Tesla charger but he was able to go to a charging station for the Jaguar in Truckee.

[Mr. Tightwad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister The one thing I never hear mentioned is the fact that owning an EV assumes you have a garage (or at least a driveway adjacent to your house) where you can plug it in at night. Those who live in apartments where they must park out on the street represent an enormous segment of the driving population who are ignored. Until they can be accommodated, EVs will continue to be a niche market IMHO. Maybe someday when battery technology is enormously improved it will be practical (super fast charging) but that day isn't here yet.

Niche market...I guess it depends on one's definition of niche. EV's are 15% of vehicle purchases in Europe (collectively) and also 15% in China. USA will take awhile to get to those numbers.

One's residence is where you usually charge. I know people who rent who have EV's. Where I live there's plenty of places to charge. On your way to dinner you park, plug in, dine (nowadays its to-go food!), and return and drive off. I do it every week. Obviously this is the big city, I know I have options medium and small cities don't have. But just speaking for the millions that reside in SF and LA, there's charging locations aplenty.

If I lived elsewhere I'd have to see what my options are.

[explanade]

There are some apt buildings around here (Bay Area) with some charging stations outside.

I guess maybe only a few residents have EVs.

If all of them had EVs, then the apt. landlords might have to make changes.

In this case, they're all paid chargers, since they're in common areas and not tied to a particular unit's electricity meter.

[MichaelB]

According to the US Census Bureau there are 139.7M housing units in the US, of which 82.4m are single family homes. The other 55M are multi family.

Carports usually don’t usually have electric power. Some garages are used for other than parking an auto. IMO it’s safe to assume about half of all people in the US don’t have all night on premise access to electricity.

This clearly is a limitation for the EV auto market. It’s not a showstopper but widespread EV ownership requires easy and convenient access to charging, and that doesn’t look simple for half the population.

[Zathras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamCro This is a big reason why EV cars have not taken over the world. Once people figure out how inconvenient they are to own (repairs are a PITA, refueling takes time, road trips have to be carefully planned) they generally pass. Tesla will have to figure this out soon to support their stock valuation.

No, the reason is production capacity combined with the large companies not wanting the change.
Most PHEV & BEV owners I have spoken to are never going back. For many, the EV is far more convenient to own than a gas powered car.

[REWahoo]

Mods, maybe these Car Wars threads should be given series titles similar to the Star Wars movies. This one could be "Car Wars - the Grid Strikes Back".

[RAE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready But keep in mind that for day to day driving you will never use a supercharger. You just plug in at night and have a fresh charge each morning. So when you calculate the number of minutes you will sit at a supercharger on long trips, don’t forget to subtract the number of hours you will no longer spend going to gas stations for your day to day driving. In the end you will spend far less time “refilling” an EV than an ICE vehicle.

Yes, I understand that. But my day-to-day driving trips are usually 30 minutes or less (go to town and back, for example), and I really don't mind adding another 5 minutes (once every couple weeks or so) to a short trip like that, to get gas. On the other hand, when I am on a long road trip, and driving 9+ hours per day, I really do not want to be spending any extra time getting fuel, because the trip is long enough already, and I just want to get to my destination for the night, get some dinner, and relax. Maybe I'm odd, but that's the way I look at it. I do enough of these longer trips each year that an EV does not make sense for me, at least not yet.

[Scubamax]

Well put. The way I look at it is right now I can hop in my car for a trip to visit family or friends (let's pretend no pandemic), and I can start driving and not even THINK about where I want to fill up on gas as over the course of say 7 hours of time behind the wheel there will be HUNDREDS of choices say between Northern VA and NY/NJ for fuel, and no planning is required for this process.

I like that way of life, and while I would love the concept of an electric vehicle, until the reality becomes a lot closer to the convenience of ICE refueling (which over time it probably will), I don't see the attraction for me. For others it might be the best thing since sliced bread and that is great for them. I respect their desire to plan which charger station to stop at make sure it is compatible with theirs etc.

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAE when I am on a long road trip, and driving 9+ hours per day, I really do not want to be spending any extra time getting fuel, because the trip is long enough already

My view is exactly the same as yours. I consider a normal day's drive on a road trip to be 500-600 miles, so if an EV had a battery range of 700-750 miles I would definitely consider it. We're not there yet.

But the EV super boosters here don't seem willing to acknowledge this as a reasonable concern, so I'm afraid we'll remain unreconciled for the foreseeable future. They will certainly have their day; I'm just not as sanguine as they are that the day will come soon.

[CRLLS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready According to https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles...age-or-carport, 63% of all households have a garage or carport. I would not refer to 63% of the population as a “niche” market.

While I am in that 63%, my cars currently do not reside in the garage. Haven't for years. Yeah, I'm one of "those" neighbors. The garage space is reserved for my "workshop" use.

[Ready]

I’ve never attempted to convince anyone they should buy an EV. If they say things about EVs that I have not experienced I will share my experiences with them.

I’ve always been a sedan person. I never had any interest in a van, minivan, SUV, crossover, roadster, pickup truck, or convertible. But there are plenty of those cars on the road because other people find them desirable. If an EV is not desirable to you for a variety of reasons, that’s perfectly fine with me.

[Ready]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRLLS While I am in that 63%, my cars currently do not reside in the garage. Haven't for years. Yeah, I'm one of "those" neighbors. The garage space is reserved for my "workshop" use.

Well, at least you use it as a workshop. Most of my neighbors use their garage as a storage utility for a lot of junk they will likely never use again for the rest of their lives, while their cars sit outside in the driveway, blocking the alley as I try to get out of my house.

[RAE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready I’ve never attempted to convince anyone they should buy an EV. If they say things about EVs that I have not experienced I will share my experiences with them.

Yep, and I appreciate your perspective, Ready. I was also just trying to explain why, for me, an EV does not make sense at this time. With advancing technology, at some point they probably will.

[RobbieB]

Solar roof carport.

[mountainsoft]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAE my day-to-day driving trips are usually 30 minutes or less (go to town and back, for example), and I really don't mind adding another 5 minutes (once every couple weeks or so) to a short trip like that, to get gas. On the other hand, when I am on a long road trip, and driving 9+ hours per day, I really do not want to be spending any extra time getting fuel, because the trip is long enough already, and I just want to get to my destination for the night, get some dinner, and relax.

Electric cars are simply way out of my price range, so unfortunately I will be driving ICE cars for the foreseeable future.

That said, even with a 9+ hour road trip, you probably make stops for food or bathroom breaks. At least here in SW Washington, most of the rest areas have chargers (you could charge while the family takes a bathroom break), and chargers are available within walking distance of most restaurants (where you'll be sitting 30+ minutes anyway). While I'm sure many parts of the country are not as well covered, it's probably less of an issue on major routes.

However, I understand your view and probably wouldn't feel comfortable taking a long trip in an EV yet either. Of course, most homes probably have more than one vehicle. You could use the EV around town and have a second ICE car for the rare long trips (or rent an ICE car if you only have an EV).