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Yes this is my biggest issue with electric vehicles. Charging it overnight to use for day trips is one thing but taking it on a cross country trip or long vacat

Yes this is my biggest issue with electric vehicles. Charging it overnight to use for day trips is one thing but taking it on a cross country trip or long vacation? No thanks. My time is finite and I do not want to spend it waiting around for my EV to charge.

asiachick 5y ago
I agree with you but I have a friend who tends to look on the bright side of things. He bought a Tesla even though he doesn't have a garage to charge it in, meaning he has to take to the local station once in a while and drink a coffee. He also drives from SF to LA about once a month and said it takes 3 stops (so +3 hours?) but the way he put it is "now I arrive much more refreshed because I took breaks on the long drive"
- mfer 5y ago
  It’s wonderful that this works well for your friend. Let’s consider the other end of the spectrum. What about the home of a single mom who needs to get kids off to school, get to work, run errands, and doesn’t have enough time. Also, lives in an apartment. How would this work for her?
  - jlbooker 5y ago
    She would need to visit a local Supercharger station 1-2 times a week (maybe 3, depending on far the errands are), for about 20 minutes each visit. There are people who do this with Teslas. It's of course not the most convenient charging arrangement, but it certainly can be workable (and is for a good number of current Tesla owners). Also, more apartment complexes are adding EV chargers as amenities to attract EV owners. Hopefully charging at an apartment will be less of an issue in the future as these are added.
  - voussoir 5y ago
    In my city, grocery store parking lots seem to be the first places putting in public-use chargers.
- jlbooker 5y ago
  It only takes ~20mins to charge a Tesla from 10% to 85% at a SuperCharger station. For 3 stops, he likely only added ~45 mins. If you round up and add time getting on/off the highway, plugging in and unplugging, he maybe added an hour to the overall trip. Newer Superchargers (v3) are higher power and reduce the charge time further.
  - CountDrewku 5y ago
    You need to add in the detours you'll need to make to find superchargers and 20 minutes is still much longer than you need to fill a gas tank. Additionally, you're going to be charging more often than you'll be filling the tank in a similar sized vehicle. If you're towing anything then EV is just out the window because they're not capable of towing anything for a long enough distance to be practical. Really EV's only seem practical if you want to be environmentally friendly imo and even then there are more eco friendly ways to commute. I bike to work often so I feel like I offset my emissions just as much as anyone who's commuting with an EV.
- CountDrewku 5y ago
  >He also drives from SF to LA about once a month and said it takes 3 stops (so +3 hours?) but the way he put it is "now I arrive much more refreshed because I took breaks on the long drive" I would agree with his sentiment if I had unlimited vacation time but since I don't, I want to arrive at my destination quickly. I suppose you could set it up to give you the option to stop in interesting places while you charge. Either way you're getting less options when you choose to take an EV on a trip currently, which is why I'll still pass on traveling that way for now.

asiachick 5y ago

I agree with you but I have a friend who tends to look on the bright side of things. He bought a Tesla even though he doesn't have a garage to charge it in, meaning he has to take to the local station once in a while and drink a coffee. He also drives from SF to LA about once a month and said it takes 3 stops (so +3 hours?) but the way he put it is "now I arrive much more refreshed because I took breaks on the long drive"

mfer 5y ago
It’s wonderful that this works well for your friend. Let’s consider the other end of the spectrum. What about the home of a single mom who needs to get kids off to school, get to work, run errands, and doesn’t have enough time. Also, lives in an apartment. How would this work for her?
- jlbooker 5y ago
  She would need to visit a local Supercharger station 1-2 times a week (maybe 3, depending on far the errands are), for about 20 minutes each visit. There are people who do this with Teslas. It's of course not the most convenient charging arrangement, but it certainly can be workable (and is for a good number of current Tesla owners). Also, more apartment complexes are adding EV chargers as amenities to attract EV owners. Hopefully charging at an apartment will be less of an issue in the future as these are added.
- voussoir 5y ago
  In my city, grocery store parking lots seem to be the first places putting in public-use chargers.
jlbooker 5y ago
It only takes ~20mins to charge a Tesla from 10% to 85% at a SuperCharger station. For 3 stops, he likely only added ~45 mins. If you round up and add time getting on/off the highway, plugging in and unplugging, he maybe added an hour to the overall trip. Newer Superchargers (v3) are higher power and reduce the charge time further.
- CountDrewku 5y ago
  You need to add in the detours you'll need to make to find superchargers and 20 minutes is still much longer than you need to fill a gas tank. Additionally, you're going to be charging more often than you'll be filling the tank in a similar sized vehicle. If you're towing anything then EV is just out the window because they're not capable of towing anything for a long enough distance to be practical. Really EV's only seem practical if you want to be environmentally friendly imo and even then there are more eco friendly ways to commute. I bike to work often so I feel like I offset my emissions just as much as anyone who's commuting with an EV.
CountDrewku 5y ago
>He also drives from SF to LA about once a month and said it takes 3 stops (so +3 hours?) but the way he put it is "now I arrive much more refreshed because I took breaks on the long drive" I would agree with his sentiment if I had unlimited vacation time but since I don't, I want to arrive at my destination quickly. I suppose you could set it up to give you the option to stop in interesting places while you charge. Either way you're getting less options when you choose to take an EV on a trip currently, which is why I'll still pass on traveling that way for now.