3 ms·

I think this highlights the point that we need more charging stations. Ya, I know it sounds obvious but someone is going to get very rich solving this problem.

I think this highlights the point that we need more charging stations. Ya, I know it sounds obvious but someone is going to get very rich solving this problem. There is no question that gas automobiles are going to be replaced by electric ones. The question is, "who is going to get rich replacing gas stations?" Talk about a problem asking to be solved.

rsj_hn 6y ago
I think it would be nice to have a Chinese style removable battery that you can drive to a station and they'll swap it out with a fully charged one. Say enough to give you 50 miles of range and get you home.
cbhl 6y ago
A dual-charger Chargepoint is something like $12k, so for a large tech company it's straightforward to throw in a dozen or so when they're putting up a new building and parking lot/garage. For the bay area, though, I think the major constraint is actually transmission -- how many amps the utility can deliver to your campus. PG&E has some technical debt here, as the public safety power shut-offs and fires of the last few years have shown. $dayjob often has a waitlist of folks waiting for the finite EV chargers; folks with backup gas tanks (plug-in hybrid EVs) and Teslas have to give priority to folks who need to charge to get home. Beyond "just add more chargers" it would be nice to make the apps better reflect ground truth. I'll find chargers that are listed as available in the app but are actually unavailable: Chargers in basement levels that have been closed due to lower COVID-induced parking volumes. In garages that are only open 9-5 M-F. Or ones that are broken and wrapped with caution tape. I think every long-distance-EV-drive story I've seen has at least one case of "just having enough range to make it to a charger" only to find the charger is broken.

3 ms·

I think this highlights the point that we need more charging stations. Ya, I know it sounds obvious but someone is going to get very rich solving this problem.

by WheelsAtLarge 6y ago

rsj_hn 6y ago
I think it would be nice to have a Chinese style removable battery that you can drive to a station and they'll swap it out with a fully charged one. Say enough to give you 50 miles of range and get you home.
cbhl 6y ago
A dual-charger Chargepoint is something like $12k, so for a large tech company it's straightforward to throw in a dozen or so when they're putting up a new building and parking lot/garage. For the bay area, though, I think the major constraint is actually transmission -- how many amps the utility can deliver to your campus. PG&E has some technical debt here, as the public safety power shut-offs and fires of the last few years have shown. $dayjob often has a waitlist of folks waiting for the finite EV chargers; folks with backup gas tanks (plug-in hybrid EVs) and Teslas have to give priority to folks who need to charge to get home. Beyond "just add more chargers" it would be nice to make the apps better reflect ground truth. I'll find chargers that are listed as available in the app but are actually unavailable: Chargers in basement levels that have been closed due to lower COVID-induced parking volumes. In garages that are only open 9-5 M-F. Or ones that are broken and wrapped with caution tape. I think every long-distance-EV-drive story I've seen has at least one case of "just having enough range to make it to a charger" only to find the charger is broken.