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I was just made aware of this challenge on vacation recently. I had to rent a car for just a day, more like 8 hours. I had a choice between a Tesla and a regula

I was just made aware of this challenge on vacation recently. I had to rent a car for just a day, more like 8 hours. I had a choice between a Tesla and a regular car. I didn't feel safe enough with the Tesla to go with that as a rental. I was 90% sure I'd be fine, maybe 98% sure I'd be fine. I wasn't driving far, I'd only have it for 8 hours or less. BUT I was in an unfamiliar city, I had no idea where a charger might be, or if I'd need one. I couldn't take the chance. What if I couldn't get it charged? It was just too scary at the time to try. It made me wonder how often I'd be worried about finding a charger if I owned an EV.

mywittyname 4y ago
> It made me wonder how often I'd be worried about finding a charger if I owned an EV. There are many apps for locating chargers. Including ones that are built into the cars themselves. They include route planners that tell you where to stop and to what capacity you need to charge. The biggest issue I've heard from road trippers is that non-Telsa charging stations are hit-or-miss. They either don't work, take several tries to work, or charge below stated performance. If you're in the USA: https://chargefinder.com/us/search https://chargefinder.com/us/search
- jeffbee 4y ago
  That map is missing all of the high power chargers in the area of Berkeley. I suggest https://www.plugshare.com/ https://www.plugshare.com/
  - porkbeer 4y ago
    Thats Exactly part of the problem. If anyone was serious about ev, charging stations would be easier to find than gas stations. And if was profitable, gas stations would all have charger banks.
    - jeffbee 4y ago
      Well, it's not going to be profitable to install a gigantic transformer and megawatt-scale DC dispensers so some guy can leave his F-150 Lightning parked for an hour. It doesn't matter how many Pringles that guy buys. We are never going to replace all ICE cars with EVs. It simply does not pencil out economically or even geometrically. In reality we need to replace the ICE fleet mostly with bicycles, some buses, and a very small number of EVs, preferably in shared fleets.
    - bryanlarsen 4y ago
      > If anyone was serious about ev, charging stations would be easier to find than gas stations. For most EV's, they are. They're built into the nav, and show up on the nav screen when you get close to one, and will route you through them if you need one to get to a destination.
Tommstein 4y ago
I rented a Tesla a couple years ago, it told me where to find chargers.

mywittyname 4y ago

> It made me wonder how often I'd be worried about finding a charger if I owned an EV. There are many apps for locating chargers. Including ones that are built into the cars themselves. They include route planners that tell you where to stop and to what capacity you need to charge. The biggest issue I've heard from road trippers is that non-Telsa charging stations are hit-or-miss. They either don't work, take several tries to work, or charge below stated performance. If you're in the USA: https://chargefinder.com/us/search https://chargefinder.com/us/search

jeffbee 4y ago
That map is missing all of the high power chargers in the area of Berkeley. I suggest https://www.plugshare.com/ https://www.plugshare.com/
- porkbeer 4y ago
  Thats Exactly part of the problem. If anyone was serious about ev, charging stations would be easier to find than gas stations. And if was profitable, gas stations would all have charger banks.
  - jeffbee 4y ago
    Well, it's not going to be profitable to install a gigantic transformer and megawatt-scale DC dispensers so some guy can leave his F-150 Lightning parked for an hour. It doesn't matter how many Pringles that guy buys. We are never going to replace all ICE cars with EVs. It simply does not pencil out economically or even geometrically. In reality we need to replace the ICE fleet mostly with bicycles, some buses, and a very small number of EVs, preferably in shared fleets.
  - bryanlarsen 4y ago
    > If anyone was serious about ev, charging stations would be easier to find than gas stations. For most EV's, they are. They're built into the nav, and show up on the nav screen when you get close to one, and will route you through them if you need one to get to a destination.

Tommstein 4y ago

I rented a Tesla a couple years ago, it told me where to find chargers.