Quite the opposite. Tesla has 2600 “stations” with 31,000 individual chargers in the US. But the total EV charging stations is 74,000 with 220,000 individual ports.
If you confined the number just to “high speed chargers” which would be a more fair comparison, then there are 12,500 stations and 51,000 ports. Way more than Tesla, which has been true for a couple years. Roughly five times as many non-Tesla locations and twice as many chargers.
But yes, it was brilliant of Musk to put a charging. Network in place; he couldn’t have been as successful without it.
This is no doubt true, but I can say from personal experience that even if one only uses the Tesla network there are few inconveniences. Me and my Model Y have not had any trouble touring the country.
Best car I’ve ever owned and I certainly don’t miss gas stations or oil changes. Simply put, BEV technology is fundamentally superior to ICE.
Interesting. I won’t dispute your numbers, since I don’t know for a fact. Things definitely could have changed in the four years since we bought the ID.4. Our last road trip was two years ago, and back then it was easy to find a Tesla supercharger, but difficult to find an Electrify America or ChargePoint charger (we have accounts for both). I’m surprised Tesla hasn’t opened up their network (last I knew). It would be a significant revenue stream for them.
When I planned that hypothetical trip to Glacier, we could have done it if we had a Tesla. With Electrify America, there was only 1 charger anywhere near the park, and it would have taken about 1/3 of our charge just to get to it from the other side of the park.
Definitely. BEV in some form is the future. For around town, I don’t see why anyone would own an ICE. Doesn’t make sense. Road trips are the only space where an ICE has some advantages, but that’s largely because they’ve had 100 years to build out the infrastructure to support it. And charge time is definitely longer than ICE fueling. But that’s minor, IMO. It’s good to get out and “stretch your legs” on a road trip. Forty minutes isn’t that big of a deal (again, IMO). And that’s just 1% of our driving (or less). The rest is errands locally, and we have a home charger (240V). Easy peasy.
Charging stations are even easier to find … because the car tells you where they are, tells you which one you need, and sometimes even brings you directly to it. Sometimes the car is clever enough to know which charging stations are in use and which have a charger available. I remember when we still had some of those old fashioned gasoline powered cars and would sometimes fill up at Costco and have to wait in a long line of cars before we could actually start filling up. Now it’s so much easier, I just back into my driveway and plug the car in. That’s it. Once or twice a year when I drive far, I stop every 3-4 hours to charge, but we would be stopping anyway to use the bathroom, stretch our legs, get a coffee, and have a snack. Last long trip, I was in line at Dunkin waiting for my coffee and my phone told me that my car would finish charging in 2-3 minutes. I knew I couldn’t get to the car in time because this was a rest stop with the chargers relatively far from the entrance, so to avoid the dreaded idle fees, I bumped the max charge up from 80% to 90%. By the time we got back to the car, it was at 86%. Basically, that time the charging completed before the humans completed!
[NOTE: I typed this reply hours ago, but forgot to click “REPLY” to post it!]
I understand the advantage of built in GPS systems. My Harley has it. I can push a button to locate the nearest Harley shop; it’ll map out the route. If I’m running low on fuel, it’ll bring up a screen asking if I need to find a fueling station, offering to find the nearest one that sells premium. I rarely use either feature because I usually know where things are before I go on a trip. I guess if I ever buy an EV I’ll have to use the GPS to locate a charging station.
GH, if you recall the goal was to find the charging stations without an app. I’ve always been pretty good at locating places with minimal information. Maybe I’m just not as good as I used to be. As far as Hays Kansas. I only ventured about a block away from the interstate interchange. I’m not surprised that Hays has several charging stations. I am surprised that Colby doesn’t have more. Colby would be catering to the long-distance traveler just as Hays does.
It’s not about charging from home; it’s about charging when traveling. Why would any local EV owner use a local public charging station? Aren’t they generally more expensive than home charging?
As for being the last person on earth to drive an EV, I don’t know. I think I can beat @rainphakir.
MR. Charging at home would be nice. My wife could no doubt get by with an EV. At this time, I don’t believe there is an EV truck that can haul what my F250 can. And an EV motorcycle is out of the question. I know they are faster, but I enjoy the sound and vibration.
And back to GH’s comment.
I’m guessing you were being sarcastic, but I’m going to take it sincerely. The town I live in has gone from 7 to 14 traffic lights. Fortunately, the town is growing away from my end.
That was my first thought as well. Let the car plan your trip, including the charging stops. This isn’t rocket science.
Slightly better is www.abetterrouteplanner.com. You tell it which vehicle you have and it routes for you. It is often better than the built-in NAVs systems because ABRP lets you tell it which charging networks you prefer, or despise. It lets you plan a round-trip. You can tell it how much juice you want left after you arrive at the destination. You can choose shortest time, or fewest charging stops. Etc. In other words, more flexible.
But, the built-in NAV system in the car is usually all you need to plan a trip (or even see if that trip is possible).
I’ve only done a few trips in our ZDX that required charging. A few things I learned was to not rely on hotel chargers for over-night charging. What if they are all being used that night? What if a gas car has parked in that spot and mgmt has no idea how to locate them? This means you need options at your destination. (This was difficult for us in Wichita Falls, TX, which is an EV desert. I had to rely on a Cadillac dealership to charge me back up). Another alternative to the hotel is to find an AirBNB with a charger (or a 14-50 outlet) and use that instead. Fingers crossed the charger (or the outlet) works.
Fast charging in the USA is improving and was making strides during the prior administration. The NEVI initiative was taking too long, but when you leave the planning up to the states this can be what happens. But, the system was working and its goals were good. A station must be able to charge ANY car (so any new station Tesla opened up with those funds would have to be able to charge my Acura). A station must take credit cards (so I don’t need an app for every network under the sun). Those are all good things.
There are problems with the charging infrastructure, still. A few weeks back on a one-day round trip to College Station I charged up in a parking garage (didn’t need to, but… Always Be Charging, as they say). The charger had no screen. I was forced to get a new app, open a new account, for a network I’ll probably never use again). This delayed my charging by a good 5 minutes, maybe 7. And it was clumsy. Then there was the time I could not get a SuperCharger to work for me (annoying).
Speaking of SuperChargers, all is not rosy in SC land either. If you have a Tesla, sure, it’s easy. But that network is now open to other makes and models (Elon wanted a share of the NEVI funding after all). But that is where things get murky. There are currently V2, V3 and V4 SuperChargers. V2 units are Tesla-only, period, end of story. The V3 and V4 accept others but only if “officially supported”. It can be difficult to tell what type of charger you are at, so glancing at the app is often the best way to deal with that problem. Clumsy. And you either need plug-and-charge support, or you need an app to start charging, because they don’t have CC/RFID support on the pedestal. And, lest we forget, Tesla fired the team that handles SuperChargers. Brilliant.
Most Electrify America chargers take CC. As do most EVgo and ChargePoint. But not quite 100%. And all those networks have made big strides in reliability as well. The new Ionna network (small, but has big plans to expand fast) are the most intriguing to me. Nice, powerful 800V capable chargers. NACS or CCS support, charge any car. Credit card support, ChargePoint billing support. Covered parking! It’s become my gold standard for what charing stations should be.
And Wal-Mart is stepping up, putting in chargers at many locations, especially ones on major freeways. CostCo and Target are going that direction too. And then there is the legendary Buc-ees, which has been adding EV charging, with some sites having over 50 units (Tesla, and Mercedes-Benz). I’m seeing Pilot Travel centers with chargers now as well. Travel on major highways is not an issue. It’s the smaller towns and routes that can be an issue.
It’s getting better. Let’s hope the current administration, which is trying to tear all this down, doesn’t succeed.
Usually they are more expensive, twice as much or sometimes even close to three times as much. But not always. Last year sometime, the local supercharger was 11 cents/kWh at night. I pay about 15 cents at home, so once every week or two, I’d go there and charge up a bit. Since then, they’ve raised that supercharger to 21 cents/kWh at night.
There isn’t any! If you need F-250 capability, you need an F-250 or equivalent. There are F-150 EVs, called the F-150 Lightning, and they are really very nice. But if you are doing a lot of hauling or pulling a trailer, you might not want the EV version. The diesel version gets A LOT of miles out of a tank.
Tesla has opened their network, at least to some. Hyundai sent me a free dongle which makes Tesla chargers accessible.
But if you’re only looking at Electrify America and ChargePoint you’re missing 90% of the market. I have apps for probably a dozen different providers; yes, slight PITA but it will shake out over time meanwhile I can charge just about anywhere.
But there’s no point in that. There is no “app”. It’s on the dashboard whenever you drive. You don’t have to log in, sign on, or do anything else but push a button on the dash, and a scrolling list of charging stations will appear - along with naming the provider (if you care), showing the distance, and how many of the individual chargers there are and how many are open. More to the point, just touch the name and it will route you to that station, and even pre-condition the battery for faster charging.
People in apartment buildings or condos without a garage. People who park on the streets of a city. That sort of thing. In my case the car came with a year of free charging at EA stations, so that could be a savings, if you cared.
Yeah, it was a joke. EVs are definitely spreading from the mid-size cities out and up. Huge urbans like NYC will take a while, and seriously rurals likewise, mostly because of infrastructure. It’ll get there. For most of the country it already is.
A few months ago I was on a trip to Maryland. I rented a car and stayed the first night in a Baltimore hotel. Oh, did I mention my flight was delayed 3 times so I got in very late.
When I arrived at the hotel they said I could park in the basement…a large multilevel basement with hundreds of spaces, mostly vacant.
But to “park” they didn’t accept credit cards. There was no attendant. There was no screen. I had to install some app, open an account for a parking network I’ll probably never use again. This delayed my bedtime by a good 5 minutes, maybe 7 because I wasted so much time trying to figure out if there was a simpler way. It was clumsy.
Note: I was going to just not pay. But good thing I did. In the morning there were hundreds of cars and I saw a car driving around with a roof camera, scanning every license plate for a valid match via the app.
Could you name a few of your favorites? When we bought this, we didn’t worry too much because it came with 3 years of free charging with EA. We seldom used the home charger as a result. Well, the three years are up, and we use the home charger exclusively (barring road trips).
So I am not surprised that I may have missed some reliable providers in the interim. A few names to look into would be appreciated. I’d love to take this to Glacier and Yellowstone. City to city is not bad, but detour off into national parks, and charging becomes more spotty.
Here is a list that I signed onto. Silly that most require an app sign up. There are some that just take a credit card and i dont know the names. Flo is Canadian I think, but I saw a few in New England.
There are lors of others around Level 2s for free. Whole Foods, our local municipal garage, hotels, etc. Not good for a quick highway charge but free. No brand name associated.
Fast chargers coming to all Walmarts and Costcos and others too. The dashboard updates regularly without prompting so the list is always up to date.
EV apps
ElectrifyAmerica
Blink
Flo
PlugShare
ChargePoint
EVGo
Shell Recharge
BPPulse
Siemens
Tesla
EV Box
EV connect
Probably others Ive missed. Don’t reccomend any because they all depend on local elec rates etc
Thanks for the list. According to a quick search, EA and CP are among the biggest, with EVGo rounding out the top 3. I should probably investigate EVGo, and open an account with them. The ID.4 accepts Type 2 and CCS connections, and it came with an adapter that allows me to plug into a standard 120V outlet (which I actually used a couple of times).
Sure, but “total stations” isn’t the only story. When I was in New England I ran into a lot of “Flo”, and even though they’re a small player (Canadian, maybe bigger up there?) when in Massachusetts and Vt they were well represented, at least where I was driving.
Anyway I was pretty agnostic about which to use, it depended on “ease of downloading the app”, “ease of setting up the account”, and then “price”. After that I really didn’t care much. Having so many vendors all demanding you use their app is silly, and I assume that will shake out as the field consolidates. It’s like “power cords for phones & tablets & GPS & doorbells & stuff.” Crazy at first, eventually rational.
I hate trip planning. I just want to drive, and so far (with the possible exception of eastern Kentucky a couple years ago) have not had any trouble finding a charger.
Visiting a friend in middle Kentucky, just two years ago there was one place (at a WalMart) halfway there. Now there are three, one of which is a Buc-ees with about 20 Tesla chargers and 20 of my chargers (I can use either, so…) And there are another dozen in Lexington, which is about 10 miles away from his house, so the deployment has come on fast and furious over the past couple years.
Anyway, I don’t “plan”. I go where I need to go, and when I’m at about 40% I punch the dash button and see what’s up ahead. One of the options is “near me”, another is “at the destination”, and the third is “along the route.” I’m never at a worry spot, at least so far.
Out here, it sort of is, and sort of isn’t. You’re back east. There is a high density of chargers out there. EVGo has a lot. CA has a lot of EVGo. But in the open road in the west, it turns out they’re pretty useless. Back to my hypothetical trip to Glacier, they have zero chargers in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. They have a total of 2 in SLC, and 8 in Phoenix, and nothing between.
I still have an account now, but didn’t download the app simply because I won’t be needing it unless I go to CA (where I might actually use it).
Being agnostic makes sense. I’ll continue to check the list you posted for options that may be more relevant to me. I’m almost certainly not doing a road trip to KY. I’ll fly instead.
This would be a business opportunity for someone. I’m not a coder, or a lawyer, but an all-in-one app that allowed you to use anyone’s charger would be really cool. You pay whomever, and they pay whichever charger you used.
There’s also a relatively new entrant into the charging business called Ionna, and reportedly they have very good and fast chargers (support 800V, etc). Their website is - https://www.ionna.com
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