I betcha that EV drivers pass by gas stations nearly every time they go on a drive, reminding them of the costs they no longer have to pay to keep their car moving.
It’s not even the cost, it’s never having to divert from my commute to put fuel in the car because I’ve been putting it off for a week and now it’s both critical and more inconvenient than ever.
I just learnt this in the last few months.
We got a Rav4 Prime and I had only put gas in it for the first time for our normal drive two weeks ago.
What a pain in the ass and it was only a few minutes for the detour.
At the start, then they stop looking at the signs unless the gas prices have been in the news recently.
Until a road trip where they wish chargers were as obvious as gas stations. Enough exist to make the trip, but are not as common and are not on the beaten path so you need an app to find them.
When I make a road trip I’m often traveling on roads I’ve already looked up and I don’t wasn’t that voice yelling at me so I’m not using a GPS most of the time. We still use the gas car for road trips, but I often play the game “it had been 150 miles where is the nearest charger without using an app” I typically don’t find it the next 50. An app would find one in sure but that isn’t something I should need.
For short trips my EV passes them all and like you say I’m glad I’m not paying those prices. Until I pull into a charger because it is there and discover they have weird pricing systems. yesterday has would have been cheaper because I didn’t know I would have to move so fast and so I paid a minimum charge more half hour worth of charge was worth. (The group tour said meet here I thought it was to unload not drive into normally of limits areas.)
this is… an interesting argument. as an EV driver, you’re essentially saying ‘I want giant signs and chargers on every corner’ which is how you’d find them without needing a map. this seems unlikely to really ever happen because we simply have better options now, but I guess we’ll see.
In a lot of European countries, rest stop signs (along the highways) announce what amenities are available at the rest stop. Those signs include symbols for things like toilets, restaurants, gas stations as well as charging stations. Here’s a German example. Pretty solid solution in my opinion.
In the USA most exits have those signs. Most places that target travelers will have a large sign some place. Gas stations though are always right on the end of the ramp so they don’t need a sign.
rest stops are a public good that won’t have gas though.
You might have to worry about that, like at most, once a month, for going places where you wouldn’t already have been familiar with charging places including backups if one is closed.
I’m thinking of yearly trips. My in-laws live far enough away that it is a major trip to visit. Flying the family is expensive so often we make it a two or three day road trip. We try to see something weird everyday so it won’t be the same roads or stops. The general plan is head southwest until we hit i10, about 3 pm we book a hotel that we will arrive at around 6, and use GPS to ensure we do, but otherwise there is no reason for using any particular road.
I just use a better route planner and with ionna building out new good chargers I never worry on trips, I make the same 5 hours trip almost every 2 months and the only time I got worried was when my normal spot was filled and took a chance on a circle k charger and they don’t accept payment on the machine. Thankfully they are getting replaced.
Anecdotally, this is not really the case any more in Sweden. There’s a fully sufficient amount of fast chargers along the road for all the road trips I participate in on a regular enough basis.
Basically this is a problem that goes away as EVs continue to get adopted
I expect the same here, but we haven’t reached that yet. I have no doubt in twenty years finding gas will start to become a similar effort.
BC Hydro has been very good about adding high speed chargers on all the hwy routes and many gas stations also have added chargers. It keeps getting easier to use an EV although 90% of my charging is at home.
I’m old enough to remember when driving long distances in an ICE car had some of the same range anxiety due to low milage and small tanks, which is why there are abandoned gas stations all over the place. Imagine having as many charging stations around as there are, or were, gas stations?Meanwhile in Ontario…the feds put chargers in, Doug Ford rips them out.
I just took a decent trip in mine. It was fine.
Trips are absolutely doable. However they are not as easy.
So you’re telling us that once again the US is behind the times and assuming everywhere else is the same ?
I see the lineups at fuel stations in Russia and think about how happy I am to have solar panels and an EV.
BC Hydro chargers are like Crown Corporation Petro Canada pumps but better.
Around me avast majority of the chargers are at Sheetz. So you go from getting gas at Sheetz. To charging your car there. Same business and location.
EV owner. Can confirm.
The first year is great. Then it becomes the new normal and driving ICEs is only possible with physical discomfort.
I’m on vacation and rented a plug in hybrid. It’s been 4 days and my brain is still not quite grasping that I need to press the brake pedal to make it slow down.
Regenerative braking has to be the best innovation in driving in decades.
Public charging is still annoying as hell, though.
One pedal driving is the tits
gas cars: what companies push on us to suck in our gas and repair money
EVs: what customers really need to go from A to B.
I’ve driven exclusively electric cars at home for the last three years. While they certainly make me happier on a day-to-day basis, longer trips are much more stressful.
I look forward to the day of common 1000 volt architectures and megawatt charging.
Plugin hybrid is great for road trips. Ev only standard days and had for road trips
That said the latest Gen with 80% charging in like 10 minutes is crazy good. Once there are more chargers like that sounds it will make ev only just as quick as gas fill up
I managed to hit some v4 superchargers on my most recent trip, and 20 minutes from 14-78% was refreshing.
I take a 6 hour trip twice a month with my EV. It really isn’t bad because I know where to stop. But the first few times was stressful just because there isn’t the abundance of chargers.
But also there were two times I’ve had to wait for a charger and that really sucka.
I will say, for me, charging speeds are fast enough. Make everything 150+ kw and more of them at each location, and I think thats good enough for 90% of road trips.
Megawatt is so useless doe
Having money does tend to do that.
Must not have a GM without car play support. I made that mistake and constantly hate it. In not playing another subscription for my car.
That’s got nothing with it being an EV though. Buy a gas GM and you still get no car play.
Seems like GM is the actual problem
What do you think will happen to all the gas stations when the ICE vehicles go away?
They just become convenience stores, which is all they are anyway.
Convenience stores are called that because you are already getting gas anyway, so they provide the convenience of grabbing a couple things while you’re stopped
The problem is the gas is what brings people into the convenience stores.
