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Charging has gotten pretty decent in the last couple of years. I used to be annoyed that signs for highway services don't show which ones have chargers, but th

by pornel 2y ago

Charging has gotten pretty decent in the last couple of years. I used to be annoyed that signs for highway services don't show which ones have chargers, but they've fixed that by installing chargers at every one of them (at least along my routes). It's even better in western Europe, where Ionity and Fastned have a pretty dense coverage of 300kW chargers. I've been road tripping around the UK and Europe for the last three summers, and it's been easy peasy. Hyundai has a universal charging card that works with the majority of minor crappy charging networks, which solves the pain of having to install seventeen different charging apps.

Rinzler89 2y ago
>It's even better in western Europe Where? Because here in Austria public EV charging infrastructure is next to non existent. Ironically it's best in Vienna where car ownership is lowest due to excellent public transportation but next to no existing in the other smaller cities where car ownership is highest. It's bonkers.
- pornel 2y ago
  I have first hand good experience from France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany. I've also driven across Poland, and that was where I had to start planning charging, rather than just go wherever, which is why I say west Europe, not just EU. Austria looks less dense than Germany and Switzerland, but still good – DC fast chargers along highways, and over 100 fast chargers in Vienna. Austrian Alps have poorer coverage, but that's not surprising — there aren't many roads there either, but still there are enough chargers to cross them in an EV, so at least as a tourist I don't think I'd have major difficulty. https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ https://abetterrouteplanner.com/
  - Rinzler89 2y ago
    To be fair Benelux and the Nordics are far ahead in terms of EV infrastructure that the rest of "western Europe" whatever that term means if it's geographical, political or economicall. And what's the point of highly dense cities like Vienna having much better EV charging infrastructure, when most of the people there usually use the excellent public transportation so car ownership is low anyway. EV infrastructure Investments should happen precisely in the places with lesser density where cars are a necessity but those are the ones with the lest EV infrastructure precisely as you pointed out.
mnw21cam 2y ago
The whole paying for charging thing needs to die a painful and fiery death. I have a universal (money) charging card in my wallet - it was issued by my bank. There should be nothing else required to pay for charging a car up. Same with parking. Most car parks around here accept only coins (and I stopped carrying coins about 5 years ago) or pay-by-phone, which always charges more than the advertised parking price and is usually conveniently located in a mobile phone dead spot. Parking meters used to accept contactless card payments - what gives?

by pornel 2y ago

Rinzler89 2y ago

>It's even better in western Europe Where? Because here in Austria public EV charging infrastructure is next to non existent. Ironically it's best in Vienna where car ownership is lowest due to excellent public transportation but next to no existing in the other smaller cities where car ownership is highest. It's bonkers.

pornel 2y ago
I have first hand good experience from France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany. I've also driven across Poland, and that was where I had to start planning charging, rather than just go wherever, which is why I say west Europe, not just EU. Austria looks less dense than Germany and Switzerland, but still good – DC fast chargers along highways, and over 100 fast chargers in Vienna. Austrian Alps have poorer coverage, but that's not surprising — there aren't many roads there either, but still there are enough chargers to cross them in an EV, so at least as a tourist I don't think I'd have major difficulty. https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ https://abetterrouteplanner.com/
- Rinzler89 2y ago
  To be fair Benelux and the Nordics are far ahead in terms of EV infrastructure that the rest of "western Europe" whatever that term means if it's geographical, political or economicall. And what's the point of highly dense cities like Vienna having much better EV charging infrastructure, when most of the people there usually use the excellent public transportation so car ownership is low anyway. EV infrastructure Investments should happen precisely in the places with lesser density where cars are a necessity but those are the ones with the lest EV infrastructure precisely as you pointed out.

mnw21cam 2y ago

The whole paying for charging thing needs to die a painful and fiery death. I have a universal (money) charging card in my wallet - it was issued by my bank. There should be nothing else required to pay for charging a car up. Same with parking. Most car parks around here accept only coins (and I stopped carrying coins about 5 years ago) or pay-by-phone, which always charges more than the advertised parking price and is usually conveniently located in a mobile phone dead spot. Parking meters used to accept contactless card payments - what gives?