New EV owner here. We charge at home so I don’t need to use them, but stores nearby have chargers. I tried them to see how they work. They are often broken.
One store has a Volta charger (free!). It worked great the first time; the next time I went it was broken.
Walmart has an Electrify America fast charger. The first time I went, 1 of 3 was not working. The next time I went, 1 of 3 was not working, but it was a different one.
Was I unlucky, or are these charging networks unreliable? Has it been getting better or worse over time?
I’m coming up on 2 years of owning an EV, I have charged at two public chargers in that time.
Unless you’re actively road tripping, or don’t have a home charger, the state of the charger network doesn’t really matter.
People don’t understand this at all!!
They balk at the range but when I ask how often they drive a full tank in a day they kind of give a blank star
Don’t get an EV if you can’t home charge. Don’t get an EV if you drive 400 miles a day. Don’t get an EV if you take cross country road trips 5x a year.
Other than those scenarios, you’re going to come out ahead.
I’m an EV owner that takes at least that many 5000+ mile road trips a year with very very little issues. I’ve never once been stranded due to charging problems. I also however used my brain and bought the right car for the job, and right now that is a Tesla. Hopefully in a couple years once NACS becomes more mainstream I can move to another option.
It’s absolutely doable, however, some (most? IDK) people aren’t down for making so many 30-60 minute stops.
I’ve done it in mine as well because I don’t mind… but it’s definitely not for everyone.
What car do you drive where charging stops are that long? My average Supercharging session in my base Model 3 is 9 minutes. That’s barely enough time to go pee and walk my dog.
I strongly prefer road-tripping my EV because the natural breaks mean I arrive more refreshed and less sore.