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Articles like that make it all sound so complicated and hard! TBH, the experience of most Tesla owners is just put the dest in the map and charge when needed o

by _ea1k 3y ago

Articles like that make it all sound so complicated and hard! TBH, the experience of most Tesla owners is just put the dest in the map and charge when needed on the way. The one clear problem that is highlighted in that article is that hotel, or more generally destination, charging makes a huge difference. People think it is all about getting there, but it really is the being there that can be tricky. Rental cars magnify this problem, which is why it was so strange that Hertz expanded the fleet so rapidly. Scaling the same move over 3 years would have had very different results(*). (*) Maybe other than maintenance costs. There were odd rental effects in that from the stories that I've heard.

akira2501 3y ago
> of most Tesla owners is just put the dest in the map and charge when needed Do you think that's because it's far easier to charge your car at home while you are sleeping? And that renters who lack this convenience or face difficulty achieving it might be put out by the experience during a possibly expensive and rare vacation?
- _ea1k 3y ago
  I'm sure it happens. We get EV 'reviews' from time to time in some of the ev forums and reddits. I've noticed a common tendency to get this experience, then extrapolate it to the rest of the experiences as well. It isn't always a representative sample, though I understand why it happens. But that's not why I mentioned Tesla. I mentioned them because there's so much weird industry caused complexity that they avoid. Need to charge the car you've just rented? Just find a supercharger and plug in. Not ideal necessarily, but at least it isn't hard. Got a non-Tesla and need to use EVGo or EA? If you're lucky the card reader isn't broken. Then there's a decent chance it times out while communicating, because the order of events isn't intuitive for first timers. Cancelling the session at this point sometimes gets tricky too. Oh, and all of this is assuming the unit itself wasn't broken. If the card reader was broken, now you are downloading an app, tapping in card details, trying to figure out which stall to active, etc. And finally, you find out that the Bolt might require you to hold the cord just right for it to activate. EA used to have a whole video just on this detail. :facepalm It can be a really terrible experience.
- ggreer 3y ago
  It's because Tesla's navigation automatically adds charging stops to the route. Also you add billing info when you set up your Tesla account (which the car is tied to) so you don't do anything besides plug in. While you're driving you can see on your car's screen how busy nearby chargers are, whether any stalls are out of commission (an extremely rare occurrence), and what the maximum charging rate is. I've tried 3rd party chargers a few times and gave up on them. They're often broken or extremely slow. They usually require installing some app, and you don't know whether they're occupied or not until you get there. In contrast, Tesla's chargers are a consistently good experience. Without them, I'd simply never use my EV for road trips.
  - _ea1k 3y ago
    The Tesla supercharger team rarely gets enough credit. They do an amazing job behind the scenes to make all of that a reality. I still use other charging networks from time to time. The best that I can say is that they are usable, but they are often frustrating in various weird ways.

by _ea1k 3y ago

akira2501 3y ago

> of most Tesla owners is just put the dest in the map and charge when needed Do you think that's because it's far easier to charge your car at home while you are sleeping? And that renters who lack this convenience or face difficulty achieving it might be put out by the experience during a possibly expensive and rare vacation?

_ea1k 3y ago
I'm sure it happens. We get EV 'reviews' from time to time in some of the ev forums and reddits. I've noticed a common tendency to get this experience, then extrapolate it to the rest of the experiences as well. It isn't always a representative sample, though I understand why it happens. But that's not why I mentioned Tesla. I mentioned them because there's so much weird industry caused complexity that they avoid. Need to charge the car you've just rented? Just find a supercharger and plug in. Not ideal necessarily, but at least it isn't hard. Got a non-Tesla and need to use EVGo or EA? If you're lucky the card reader isn't broken. Then there's a decent chance it times out while communicating, because the order of events isn't intuitive for first timers. Cancelling the session at this point sometimes gets tricky too. Oh, and all of this is assuming the unit itself wasn't broken. If the card reader was broken, now you are downloading an app, tapping in card details, trying to figure out which stall to active, etc. And finally, you find out that the Bolt might require you to hold the cord just right for it to activate. EA used to have a whole video just on this detail. :facepalm It can be a really terrible experience.
ggreer 3y ago
It's because Tesla's navigation automatically adds charging stops to the route. Also you add billing info when you set up your Tesla account (which the car is tied to) so you don't do anything besides plug in. While you're driving you can see on your car's screen how busy nearby chargers are, whether any stalls are out of commission (an extremely rare occurrence), and what the maximum charging rate is. I've tried 3rd party chargers a few times and gave up on them. They're often broken or extremely slow. They usually require installing some app, and you don't know whether they're occupied or not until you get there. In contrast, Tesla's chargers are a consistently good experience. Without them, I'd simply never use my EV for road trips.
- _ea1k 3y ago
  The Tesla supercharger team rarely gets enough credit. They do an amazing job behind the scenes to make all of that a reality. I still use other charging networks from time to time. The best that I can say is that they are usable, but they are often frustrating in various weird ways.