Charging Station Congestion

[silverelan]

Big waits and long queues. This is already happening at Tesla Superchargers. Are people seeing this at EA and EVgo?

I was at an EA station on Friday with a Bolt EV charging up when I got there and then two EV6s pulled up.

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[RickMachE]

I have never seen more than 2 other vehicles charging at any EA location I have visited. Often, we are the only ones.

I have been to EA locations in Michigan, Ohio, NY, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.

 

[hybrid2bev]

I just yesterday finished a 2,000 round trip and never had to wait at an EA charger.

I’ve charged at EA about 30 times over my 1+ year of ownership. I’ve only had to wait for charging once (15 minutes) because 2 of the 4 EA chargers were down.

 

[Logal727]

Sounds like a Tesla problem, but will more than likely be an everyone problem in the near future without significant infrastructure upgrades.

 

[snowy_91]

That's not really a thing were I am....Most because there are no charging stations....

 

[Maquis]

Usually, when I DCFC, I wish someone else was there to talk to.

 

[Logal727]

Usually, when I DCFC, I wish someone else was there to talk to.

Are you tired of walking around a Walmart?

 

[Maquis]

Are you tired of walking around a Walmart?

Plus, my wife drops 30 bucks in WalMart on stuff for the grandkids!

 

[JSW]

Definitely seeing more. I was used to being alone with 4-6 charging stations. Lately, they are almost full - mostly with VW, but the variety is increasing as well.

 

[SnBGC]

The only time I have seen the stations in heavy use are during the "free to charge" promotional periods.

 

[mkhuffman]

I have seen an increase but I rarely DCFC. As I complained about in another thread, I believe waiting for a charger will become normal this year and especially around high travel times. Waiting for my car to charge isn't that big a deal to me, but waiting for others to finish will be excruciating. If it becomes a regular occurrence, I will have to start driving my wife's car when I go out of town. I really don't want to do that.

 

[Electric Goat]

That's not really a thing were I am....Most because there are no charging stations....

I'm thrilled that there are a crap ton under construction (according to plug share) in South Dakota. I had hoped that the chargers would be operational in time for some summer road trips but I'm guessing that most of them won't be online until the fall.

 

[RosarioM]

It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Even though a lot of people can charge at home so you don’t expect local traffic at charge stations, more and more you will have people who live in apartments who have no other option but to charge at charge stations. And the fact that most cars today are less than 250 miles of range means they have to visit a charge station frequently. I think the combination of more range, faster charging and infrastructure will make this better in the future but I see this being a major issue for the next 3 years or so maybe even longer since it’s not cheap to build a charge station.

 

[silverelan]

Sounds like a Tesla problem, but will more than likely be an everyone problem in the near future without significant infrastructure upgrades.

These two EV6s were at most, 6 weeks old. If I’m seeing full station usage at stations from cars that are only a month or so old, then I’m thinking it won’t be long before we see some real congestion problems.

 

[RickMachE]

It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Even though a lot of people can charge at home so you don’t expect local traffic at charge stations, more and more you will have people who live in apartments who have no other option but to charge at charge stations. And the fact that most cars today are less than 250 miles of range means they have to visit a charge station frequently. I think the combination of more range, faster charging and infrastructure will make this better in the future but I see this being a major issue for the next 3 years or so maybe even longer since it’s not cheap to build a charge station.

I disagree.

While it may get worse in a few spots like Kalifornuh, and the greater NYC area, I expect very quick utilization of the $7.5B to add more chargers. Then, when local laws and utilities slow things down, I expect state governments to step in and kick some butt.

States that have embraced EVs and technology will come out ahead. Our state has created an Office of Future Mobility and Electrification and named someone to head it. That's the kind of thinking we need.

I think many states will lag, if they don't focus on it.

I've seen this come up from people in California, Washington state, Oregon, NY, and NJ.

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