In California, Electric Cars Outpace Plugs, and Sparks Fly (2015, lease)

[Exitus Acta Probat]

But the push to make the state greener is creating an unintended side effect: It is making some people meaner.


The bad moods stem from the challenges drivers face finding recharging spots for their battery-powered cars. Unlike gas stations, charging stations are not yet in great supply, and that has led to sharp-elbowed competition. Electric-vehicle owners are unplugging one another’s cars, trading insults, and creating black markets and side deals to trade spots in corporate parking lots. The too-few-outlets problem is a familiar one in crowded cafes and airports, where people want to charge their phones or laptops. But the need can be more acute with cars — will their owners have enough juice to make it home? — and manners often go out the window.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/sc...smtyp=cur&_r=2

[V8 Vega]

Democrats advertise to do your laundry in the evening to save electricity and they want to charge millions of cars?

[EdJS]

Originally Posted by V8 Vega

Democrats advertise to do your laundry in the evening to save electricity and they want to charge millions of cars?

"Democrats"?

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by EdJS

"Democrats"?

They are the party in charge right now. so ................. .

Electric cars cost less to run per mile, about twice as efficient as to cost in CA, but also need more frequent charging which is a real problem for a trip of any length, but for local commuting they have advantages. Hybrids help in this area. However with enough of them, gas taxes will go up a LOT to make up for the loss for road repair as after all they still use the roads, but if the cost of gas goes up, full electric cars will be using (and wearing out) the roads for free as they don't buy gas. Then a new law will be passed, reducing the savings.

[EdJS]

Originally Posted by expatCA

They are the party in charge right now. so ................. .

Electric cars cost less to run per mile, about twice as efficient as to cost in CA, but also need more frequent charging which is a real problem for a trip of any length, but for local commuting they have advantages. Hybrids help in this area. However with enough of them, gas taxes will go up a LOT to make up for the loss for road repair as after all they still use the roads, but if the cost of gas goes up, full electric cars will be using (and wearing out) the roads for free as they don't buy gas. Then a new law will be passed, reducing the savings.

The point is that it wasn't politicians of either party who was telling us to do the laundry in the evening. It was the electric company, e.g. PG&E.

[PNW-type-gal]

Electric cars work really well for people like me who have short commutes and live places where electricity is cheap ($0.11 per kWh). I get between 95-115 miles on a charge but only drive 20-35 miles a day, so "topping off" in the garage at home every couple days makes sense. My car has a charge setting that would allow me to charge it only when the rates drop at night (except we don't have that tier pricing here).

People who can't charge at home or who have a commute that exceeds their range are not really a good target market for electric vehicles at this point. In a few years the range for the average electric car should be a little higher (the Chevy Bolt, supposedly coming out in late 2017/early 2018, should be around 200-250 miles on a charge) and then electric cars start to make sense for more people.

The article also seems to imply that all charging stations are free - that isn't at all true. Sure, for certain people in certain locations (Nissan Leaf owners at a Nissan dealership, Tesla owners at a Tesla Supercharging stations, employees at a business that chooses to provide free charging). Other stations cost to charge and they charge a rate that is 5-50x more than the going electric rate, which is why I choose to charge at home.

The other thing the article misses is that there are three different charging standards - Tesla, CHAdeMo (Nissan, Kia, Mitsubishi), SAE J1772 (Chevrolet, Toyota, BMW, VW/Audi/Porsche). Not all charging stations in all areas have compatible plugs or charging schemes. There are also different stages of charging: L1, L2 and L3 (aka DC fast charge, which, since it uses a 480V supply, is not for home use). Those are mostly different plugs, too, which work with some cars but not others. Once the mfrs get their respective acts together and pick a standard some of the station crunch may ease.

Some of the other problems - people tend to use charging spots (ie: spots right in front of the charging station where the cord can reach) as parking spots, even people with electric cars. If you got your car quite a while back before they were quite so common, that wasn't an issue. In some areas, where there are a lot of people waiting for a station, it is now. It's the equivalent of parking in front of a gas pump at a gas station.

Some of the cars use different indicator systems - on my car, a solid green light means it is charging. On a Leaf, a solid green light means charging is done. So a Leaf owner might get annoyed with me for leaving a "charged" car parked when it isn't actually charged yet. When my car is charged the light does a slow blink (which seems backward to me, too, but I am not an engineer at Chevrolet, lol).

[arleigh]

Build your self a generator or buy one and be done with it.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by EdJS

The point is that it wasn't politicians of either party who was telling us to do the laundry in the evening. It was the electric company, e.g. PG&E.

That is because rates are lower at night, so it is the "best" time to charge. Unless you are low on power and need to get home, then ......

[HyperionGap]

Originally Posted by Exitus Acta Probat

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/sc...smtyp=cur&_r=2

Rofl. This is hilarious.

Bottom line: Humans are dicks.

[shooting4life]

My wife and I just got our first electric car, we will charge only in the evening at home. I would never own an electric car where I had to depend on outside charging stations unless they were dedicated to me or just a few others (like at work).

Electric makes sense because of the reduced costs with the 10k worth of tax incentives. Basically I was able to lease a VW electric golf with 12k miles for $140 a month, which is what I would have paid for gas and bridge toll at $5 instead of $2.50 every month. If the government wasn't giving me others people money to have an electric car I would not own one. They are overpriced and far to many draw backs for their 30k+ price tag.