"I would never want to be stuck waiting for an EV to charge"

[BCondrey]

I had an out and back short road trip yesterday. Richmond VA to Durham NC and back. Stopped once on the way back to charge at RAN in Henderson. 16 minutes total stop which was enough time to pee, and get a snack at Starbucks. Charged at 166 kw average, cost me more in Starbucks than for the charge (42 cents per kwh).

What ICE people don't get about EV charging is that it is the exact opposite of "filling up the tank". I have never charged past 85% at a DCFC. I only charge to the SOC needed to get to the next DCFC, or to home.

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[Thebandit]

My wife and I do a lot of adventuring in places where charging is hard to come by, and we've done 3-4 trips just in the past year that would be much more painful with an EV. It's just the way it is. I will be getting an R2 as soon as I can, but we are going to keep an ICE for the forseeable future.

 

[Thebandit]

When you expect spaghetti squash to taste like spaghetti the pasta, you are going to be sorely disappointed. But when you accept spaghetti squash for what it truly is and quit trying to pretend it is something it is not, it is quite tasty in its own right.

Charging on a road trip is a different experience than fueling up with gas. But, speaking for my family alone, it is in no way an inconvenience. My last big road trip was back at Thanksgiving, about 2500 miles round trip from TX to VA and back. That trip was by far less stressful on me than any time I've driven it in an ICE vehicle.

So I just used ABRP to recreate a road trip my wife and I did last year (with the kids and a canoe and an SUV full of gear).

ABRP says that it would take 9 hours and require 3 charging stops. We actually did it, in the gas guzzler, in a bit over 7 hours with one gas stop. And that's without ABRP factoring in the range lost due to a big boat on the roof.

And once there, we spent 3 days driving around the countryside where charging is hard to come by.

That trip would have been much much more difficult with an EV. It's just the way it is. We will ditch ICE entirely as soon as we can, but it's not there yet.

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

There have always been "low range" vehicles. Just as there have been "high range" vehicles.

My NA Miata has a 12 gallon tank, with nominal EPA 28 MPG highway that was far too generous. Its realistic highway range was ~250 miles. Even my 2004 Prius, once its battery started to lose capacity and the annoying "fuel tank rubber bladder" started to harden was lucky to get 300 miles to a tank by the 200,000 mile mark. Meanwhile my 1996 Ford F-250 7.2L diesel with its dual 21 gallon tanks could get over 600 miles empty. (We never drove it long distances empty - if it was road tripping, it was hauling or towing something that dropped its range closer to 300 miles.)

I had a diesel car once. It never ceased to amaze me how far you could go on a gallon.

 

[SwampNut]

So we’ve learned that DCFCs in some places have long lines, and Costco in some places has short lines.

Before buying our first EV I did a couple of common road trips in our ICE using ABRP to “charge” it. With two people road trip stops were just naturally almost as long as charging. With four people, they are longer, almost every time. If you have a lunch or dinner stop you have a full or nearly full charge before you’re done.

 

[smashweights]

On the topic of changing minds... In my five years of EV ownership, I've seen six friends come over. Their views varied from just "I don't understand it" to literally "fuck EVs, never!" The first one to buy an EV was in between those extremes, and honestly just shocked me with the news one day. He never felt like he was getting info for a decision, he just asked questions and was part of a group that talks cars/motorcycles/etc. One day he just says, "My Tesla is being delivered next week." WTF

The "fuck EVs" guy just came out of the closet about a month or two ago. He's in love. He's actually now a real fanboy, and evangelist. He's also laughing his ass off as the gas prices in his area are in the $7/gallon area suddenly (UK).

My neighbor bought an R1T a short time after me. He was not exactly anti-EV but had no idea what to expect, and a lot of fear from misinformation. Now he's a massive evangelist and would never buy ICE again.

I find the best way to convince people is to take them for a drive. My brother surprised me with a text saying he's getting a TUWC installed at his house this week after I took him for his first ride and showed him launch mode in my R1T.

I bought mine after seeing the Scout Launch and riding in my friend's EV9. If you wanna preach the good word, share the joy!

 

[kenyee]

Heavily depends on home charging too.
If you don't have a home garage, live in an apartment or condo, live in an area with cold weather (charging in freezing weather is slowww).... It's not quite ready yet.
With the solid state batteries that will be released in a few years, EVs should work in probably 99% of situations because they'll fast charge in 10min in even cold weather.

EV rentals are also a pain...tried a polestar a few years ago in L.A. lots of chargers but had to stop by 3 to find one that worked and wasted probably an hour driving around

 

[SwampNut]

I find the best way to convince people is to take them for a drive. My brother surprised me with a text saying he's getting a TUWC installed at his house this week after I took him for his first ride and showed him launch mode in my R1T.

I bought mine after seeing the Scout Launch and riding in my friend's EV9. If you wanna preach the good word, share the joy!

Depends on the person. My friend who surprised me with the Tesla order puts zero value on speed and bought the slow short range model. Others vary, and obviously my motorcycle club friends put high value on performance.

 

[Thedude]

And since have solar and charge for free at home, have saved over $25,000 in 7 years. So of course there is FUD out there from oil companies. That's a $25k subscription they aren't getting from me. But the math for the $25k is for a different post sometime.

To be fair, that $25k saved by charging at home with solar is significantly reduced by the cost to have purchased and installed said solar system.

 

[smashweights]

Depends on the person. My friend who surprised me with the Tesla order puts zero value on speed and bought the slow short range model. Others vary, and obviously my motorcycle club friends put high value on performance.

My brother was more into the speed side but I think people seeing folks they know with them helps regardless of the motive. You realize a lot of the incorrect stereotypes are just that. Had a friend who has a Tundra tell me "yeah but you can't pull my horse trailer" but then I showed him I actually have a higher tow rating than him

 

[SwampNut]

Had a friend who has a Tundra tell me "yeah but you can't pull my horse trailer" but then I showed him I actually have a higher tow rating than him

The most popular video I've ever put on Instagram, with hundreds of thousands of views, is me pulling a stump with the Rivian. And old-think morons comment about how their diesel would be better. Some even claim that I trashed my "automatic transmission." None knew about the four motor traction. LOL.

 

[VandalSibs]

Heavily depends on home charging too.
If you don't have a home garage, live in an apartment or condo, live in an area with cold weather (charging in freezing weather is slowww).... It's not quite ready yet.

My sister lives in a condo with her ID.4 and does just fine. She has charging at work which covers her needs. All else fails, she does a DCFC somewhere (this is pretty rare for her, to my knowledge).

I'm also amazed at the total lack of vampire drain with her car... Guess not having a video-based security system has its plusses.

 

[Thedude]

The most popular video I've ever put on Instagram, with hundreds of thousands of views, is me pulling a stump with the Rivian. And old-think morons comment about how their diesel would be better. Some even claim that I trashed my "automatic transmission." None knew about the four motor traction. LOL.

The four motor traction is absolute trash in the mud though. Learned that the hard way trying to help pull a class A RV out of a bad spot - once the wheels start spinning in mud it’s game over in a Gen 1 quad when the traction control decides that’s not what it wants to do. Hooked up a buddies jeep with a traditional rear locker and traction control disabled and it worked perfect.

 

[SANZC02]

To be fair, that $25k saved by charging at home with solar is significantly reduced by the cost to have purchased and installed said solar system.

Depends on what your ROI was to install the solar/batteries without the EV. I live in SoCal, very high electricity rates here. My ROI on solar without an EV was just over 5 years after tax credits without an EV.

Some places that is not the case but in SoCal with plenty of sun and high electricity rates solar was a no brainer for me.

 

[kenyee]

sister lives in a condo with her ID.4 and does just fine. She has charging at work which covers her need

Her work is her "home" for the EV in that case.
The point is you need a charging "home base" you charge at for nearly free with the condo/apt caveat.

Otherwise, it gets more painful...can still be dealt with by doing DCFC (more time/$$) but not as easily as w/ that home base.

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