Agreed, but it sells EV's. So many people can't get past the charging infrastructure issues, even though you tell them you're not going to use them that much. They still think of fast charging stations and gas stations as filling the same need, so it pushes people to buy them that otherwise would not.
So limit it to something like 500 kWh. You get a charging incentive, but at least it has limits so folks will be more likely to ration it to when they need to use it for road trips. It's the unlimited for X-years part that's the problem.
If it works like The Ioniq free charging they have 30 minutes free then are charged for anything over. If they unplug and plug back in before an hour has passed they are charged for that session as well.
Yup. I don't disagree. But once you start adding fine print, you chase away sales. I didn't realize they had a 30 minute limit for VW - they should enforce that and not let you restart for a time period. X kWh doesn't sound nearly enticing as free for X years.
That's because you stay in your vehicle. My local EA station is in Target parking lot. A lot of people, including myself, plug in and then go to Target. I typically monitor the app, so I'm back before it ends... but I've been a few times where others just plug in and seem to forget about the car, while cars are lined up waiting to charge.
Sometimes I stay in, usually I walk around, the estimates for charge time are pretty good and both the Tesla and Rivian app tells me where the charge session is. It is pretty easy to be at the car to disconnect and move it when done for others to have access.
100% agree with people blocking gas pumps. My wife would give me a hard time for moving from the pump to the other parking when I was done pumping gas. It pissed me off if all the pumps were full and people were inside shopping. Not that hard to move your car.
Not everyone received free charging at RAN. I used RAN 3 times when it was free and certainly didn't stay there until 100%. I went to 80 and moved on just like I do everywhere else. No complaints from me on charging - it never should've been free to begin with. Someone has to pay for it, I would prefer the user rather than Rivian or VW subsidizing it. I have the same feeling about the free data connection - give people the choice, but it shouldn't be free as there is a cost associated.
VW isn't subsidizing EA, at least not in the way Rivian is subsidizing RAN. VW is paying a court-ordered penalty, in a stipulated way under guidance of pollution control agencies, for cheating on their diesel exhaust ratings.
I never said it was subsidizing EA. I said it was subsidizing the purchasers of its vehicles through the free energy it's providing. The energy isn't free - regardless of how it's delivered.
Ehh...I used RAN several times, but I was also complaining about free charging the whole time. Glad to see RAN finally charging folks. The longer Rivian goes before allowing anyone to use RAN, the longer it'll be before they can get a piece of the NEVI pie. That said, if they stay Rivian-only for awhile longer, just means I can guarantee I'll be able to charge when one is nearby without waiting long. And yes, I have seen a RAN that was totally full already.
No, but if they want to survive it will force them to figure out how to maintain their equipment.
Most for of the issues I saw with the ID.4 when I had one was related to pack temperatures not being ideal and therefore charging is slower than people would expect. Which then lead people to create conspiracy theories.
The ID.4 plan at least didn't used to get charged for going over 30 minutes, and definitely allowed plugging in right after. This may have been fixed with EA deciding to finally charge idle fees (in theory).
I saw a very small amount of complaining from people when Rivian started charging. RAN stations have also rarely been full prior to pay-to-charge being implemented. I don't remember seeing people talk about going to RAN stations and charging to avoid paying for charging at home either, probably because of the limited number of stations that existed at the time.
