Electric Vehicles facing Safety Concerns

[txaggies07]

This is more anti-EV BS.

There is plenty of room and facilities at many of the retail fuel stations that I have seen all over the USA. There is no reason not to install 4 to 8 DCFC charger stalls at everyone of those retail locations. They have ample lighting at most and food and toilet facilities at most.

The only thing stopping most of them is greed and oil subsidies.

This is much like when the horse and buggy were first introduced. People did not trust them because they could panic and run over people without notice. Same push-back when electric and gas buggies were new. Nobody would adopt the newer technology because it did have 100 years of proof and safety testing.

Bring on more anti-EV excuses!

I would rather not breath in toxic fumes when I drive, from my car or anyone else's. Our lungs are not designed to filter out that crap and it will kill you with enough exposure.

If all EV's were powered by a coal plant it is still locally cleaner than millions of rolling carbon-monoxide generators we have currently in every major city!

Your argument has too much wrong with it and thus makes all your valid points lose effect.

First: gas stations aren’t a part of the oil subsidies that everyone complains about. Gas stations are largely in the convenience store business. I’m not saying there are 0 subsidies, but this isn’t the reason they aren’t installing them. There are lots of EV dcfc subsidies and they aren’t using them. The real reason is that they are not in the business of EVs. They will come around as more drivers switch.

second: there are absolutely legitimate charging concerns with EVs. I have read many posts here about people struggling to charge or getting to a charger and it not working. If I try and drive from here to Dallas and the one DCFC that I can stop at isn’t working then I am screwed. This will get better over time, but this isn’t necessarily people being afraid of change.

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[ManInBlack]

Your argument has too much wrong with it and thus makes all your valid points lose effect.

First: gas stations aren’t a part of the oil subsidies that everyone complains about. Gas stations are largely in the convenience store business. I’m not saying there are 0 subsidies, but this isn’t the reason they aren’t installing them. There are lots of EV dcfc subsidies and they aren’t using them. The real reason is that they are not in the business of EVs. They will come around as more drivers switch.

second: there are absolutely legitimate charging concerns with EVs. I have read many posts here about people struggling to charge or getting to a charger and it not working. If I try and drive from here to Dallas and the one DCFC that I can stop at isn’t working then I am screwed. This will get better over time, but this isn’t necessarily people being afraid of change.

The other notion that 4-8 DCFC can be installed at every gas station is not a valid one. We stopped at EA HQ on the way to VA from PA and talked with a guy installing the newest EA units. He said it takes about 3 weeks to install 4 chargers and usually requires a huge electrical upgrade. You need all sorts of room for the transformers and the EVSEs. There just simply isn't the volume unless you want to entice people to buy your cars (e.g., Tesla). VW was forced to install the stations and Ford just piggybacked. We should see many more stations from Ford once the Ligthning and MME hit full production, but its still such a small percentage of their sales.

 

[Logal727]

I feel like the EA stations being pretty bright and colorful helps. But yeah some more overhead lights would be nice. The Walmart EA station in Daytona is pretty dark.

 

[Logal727]

I don’t know if the person who wrote this knows what a DC fast charger is, how many dealers have a DCFC on property?

 

[Logal727]

Your argument has too much wrong with it and thus makes all your valid points lose effect.

First: gas stations aren’t a part of the oil subsidies that everyone complains about. Gas stations are largely in the convenience store business. I’m not saying there are 0 subsidies, but this isn’t the reason they aren’t installing them. There are lots of EV dcfc subsidies and they aren’t using them. The real reason is that they are not in the business of EVs. They will come around as more drivers switch.

second: there are absolutely legitimate charging concerns with EVs. I have read many posts here about people struggling to charge or getting to a charger and it not working. If I try and drive from here to Dallas and the one DCFC that I can stop at isn’t working then I am screwed. This will get better over time, but this isn’t necessarily people being afraid of change.

There’s a EA station at a Loves stop in Orlando, we need more of those or at Wawas

 

[Neilthepilot]

Yes, this is why government needs to get involved to come up with public charging guidelines. Otherwise, we'll only continue getting more of what we have.

Keep the government out and you will have better results. The 7.5 billion in the passed infostructure bill includes a clause to prioritize putting chargers in underprivileged neighborhoods, because people making less than $30,000/year are huge EV buyers. If EV charging ever becomes profitable then you will have better choices.

 

[Maquis]

Keep the government out and you will have better results. The 7.5 billion in the passed infostructure bill includes a clause to prioritize putting chargers in underprivileged neighborhoods, because people making less than $30,000/year are huge EV buyers. If EV charging ever becomes profitable then you will have better choices.

When I read the part about “underprivileged neighborhoods”, the first thing I envisioned was a DCFC at every video poker hole-in-the-wall in town!

 

[Cptmorgemaker]

https://www.dallasnews.com/business...ge-electric-vehicles-how-to-make-that-happen/

After reading the above article, does anyone out there have concerns on the locations of charging stations?

I never had to worry about this at least for any time soon because there's no big public networks by me at all.

 

[tannerk89]

So this safety concern article has no reference to actual issues but is really an article about people feeling scared when they have to park in a parking lot for a few minutes during road trips that were not planned very well and what could/might/feel like could happen? The majority of people will only use fast charging when on the occasional road trip, which is a rare occurrence that requires planning.

Be aware, be safe, and plan ahead if you’re scared or at risk. Don’t send your kid on a road trip through a bad or unknown area in the middle of the night, for example. There’s plenty of decent places around, especially on the major travel routes in or near gas stations/travel stops.

I guess I have the benefit of being an athletic male, so I won’t have the same experience as many with this concern, but really the easy solution is to not take overnight road trips and avoid the boogeyman that comes out at dark. To me it sounds like there’s a disproportionate amount of rich people that “don’t go to that part of town” so they’re scared of it.

 

[DennisD]

Keep the government out and you will have better results. The 7.5 billion in the passed infostructure bill includes a clause to prioritize putting chargers in underprivileged neighborhoods, because people making less than $30,000/year are huge EV buyers. If EV charging ever becomes profitable then you will have better choices.

With the Govt. mileage standards in place, this usually promotes better technology for your vehicle i.e., electric vehicles through "forced change" of safety and gas mileage.

I guess you have a point, if we didn't have Gov't. involvement we would really not need charging stations placed in poorer neighborhoods. In fact, we really could do without them in all places. (kind of like the last 100 plus years without Govt. involvement in EV Technology).

The Car industry only cares about profit. If the Gov't. wasn't involved, we would not have seatbelts, along with a host of other safety devices along with getting poor milage. The change may happen, but it would be so much slower resulting in more deaths, pollution and mileage.

This forum would not exist if it were left to profits, this topic of discussion would not exist. Just sayin'.......... ?

 

[KevinS]

Anyone thinking charging infrastructure will happen without U.S. Government assistance is not thinking about how road systems in the U.S. developed after WWII. We just used to be willing to pay for infrastructure.

 

[DennisD]

Anyone thinking charging infrastructure will happen without U.S. Government assistance is not thinking about how road systems in the U.S. developed after WWII. We just used to be willing to pay for infrastructure.

Totally agree.

Once again, it's like the Chicken and the egg (which came first).

Without the Gov't. assistance through tax credits, charging station access etc., the EV would be very slow to develop.

Without the tax credit and access to charging stations, the EV may not be profitable for the big companies. Without the big companies making EV's, we would not need charging stations.

I also think it is striking to think that people on this forum don't feel the need to place charging stations in poorer neighborhoods. I guess we could take the gas stations, grocery stores, hospitals etc. out of those places as well? After all, the companies wouldn't make as much money in "those" places as they would in well to do areas?

One final note, I have filled my car up in "poorer" neighborhoods even though I don't live there.

 

[BadgerGreg]

As a civil engineer, I see hundreds of site plans for new developments every year (we review them for our municipal clients). Much of the development we see is "redevelopment", which means the transformation of older sites to a new facility, like ripping out an old strip mall and replacing it with an apartment building, or razing an old gas station and replacing it with a new gas station.

Redevelopment is the perfect opportunity to install chargers (whether Level 2 or 3), as we're ripping up pavement and reconnecting utilities; this is when it is cheapest to install conduits and other infrastructure to make charging work. Unfortunately, most zoning and engineering standards do not (yet) require EV charging. This is a huge lost opportunity.

Even requiring a percentage of Level 2 dedicated parking stalls would be a big improvement; especially at shopping centers and restaurants.

Some cities are starting to do so. My home (Ann Arbor, MI) has an ordinance that requires developers to install EV chargers (Level 2) to accommodate the development (link to ordinance below):

Ann Arbor EV Parking Ordinance

If you live in a city without such an ordinance (most of us live in cities without such an ordinance), pass this on to your councilperson and tell them how important this is to the future of our transportation needs. We can accelerate the adoption of charging infrastructure by targeting site development projects.

 

[KevinS]

If you live in a city without such an ordinance (most of us live in cities without such an ordinance), pass this on to your councilperson and tell them how important this is to the future of our transportation needs. We can accelerate the adoption of charging infrastructure by targeting site development projects.

We also need laws/fines on the books for ICE vehicle drivers that deliberately target EV charging stations to disrupt the ability for people to charge.

Also, "poorer" neighborhoods also translates to rural areas. However, people do travel through rural areas to get from place to place. There's an opportunity there to make a difference.

 

[MotownMachdoc]

https://www.dallasnews.com/business...ge-electric-vehicles-how-to-make-that-happen/

After reading the above article, does anyone out there have concerns on the locations of charging stations?

Since the 90’s, “gas” stations made their profit by selling other things than gas. Charging station models will best be served associated with stores and restaurants that already have secure environments. I never buy gas in the middle of the night and I wouldn’t go to a single charging station at that time. Nothing good happens after midnight.

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