The charging infrastructure really sucks.

[RKinWA]

Must be a US thing.

Don’t know about Europe where I used to live

But the seemingly one thing which is good and works in the UK is the charge point infrastructure; another 400-mile road trip today and no problem finding a charge, no queues

Well when you consider the size of the US compared to Europe, you can understand why there would be gaps.

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[Vulnox]

Well when you consider the size of the US compared to Europe, you can understand why there would be gaps.

Yeah, on Reddit someone from the UK was asking about things to do/see in Michigan (my home state) and some of the responses were about how they would easily find things to do, but to prepare for the extra driving time to get to them compared to what they are used to. I haven't yet been to Europe, we had a huge trip planned and paid for and were supposed to go April 2020... but... that had to be canceled.

Anyway, I looked up Michigan's area compared to all of England, and Michigan has almost twice the area ( 250,487 sq KM for Michigan vs 132,930 sq KM for England). That really put the size into perspective. I knew England isn't enormous, but was surprised how just one US state can be so much larger.

I still think we can do a lot better than we have, but appreciate it's a tougher issue at times in the US.

 

[RKinWA]

Yeah, on Reddit someone from the UK was asking about things to do/see in Michigan (my home state) and some of the responses were about how they would easily find things to do, but to prepare for the extra driving time to get to them compared to what they are used to. I haven't yet been to Europe, we had a huge trip planned and paid for and were supposed to go April 2020... but... that had to be canceled.

Anyway, I looked up Michigan's area compared to all of England, and Michigan has almost twice the area ( 250,487 sq KM for Michigan vs 132,930 sq KM for England). That really put the size into perspective. I knew England isn't enormous, but was surprised how just one US state can be so much larger.

I still think we can do a lot better than we have, but appreciate it's a tougher issue at times in the US.

Yeah it's crazy. In my state (WA) everywhere I want to go on a weekend is 3-6 hrs away. Makes for a tough day trip when you spend most of it driving to the destination and back

 

[Nikos]

I've been saying for almost a year and a half that the charging infrastructure is mediocre on this forum. In 2021, when the first Mach E were showing up, like mine, the EA, EV GO, ChargePoint, etc, were more than adequate. Pandemic or not, now we have a lot more EVs offered by almost every legacy and luxury automakers.
Now, the infrastructure is strained, outdated, no meaningful investments to upgrade other than poorly maintain it. Now is derated, poorly functional and basically a pain in the posterior in all of us who have to travel somewhere.
Tesla will be our only solution to this debacle. Now, how long is going to take is just a guess. I don't feel that Tesla is moving quickly into adapting CCS into their NACS standard. Early next year could become late next year, judging of how Tesla promises develop lately and the last couple years.
So hang in there, take your time, burn more fossil fuels and try to keep your cool when you pull up to a fast charger to get a trickle of a charge.
Good luck folks.

 

[Blue highway]

Yeah, on Reddit someone from the UK was asking about things to do/see in Michigan (my home state) and some of the responses were about how they would easily find things to do, but to prepare for the extra driving time to get to them compared to what they are used to. I haven't yet been to Europe, we had a huge trip planned and paid for and were supposed to go April 2020... but... that had to be canceled.

Anyway, I looked up Michigan's area compared to all of England, and Michigan has almost twice the area ( 250,487 sq KM for Michigan vs 132,930 sq KM for England). That really put the size into perspective. I knew England isn't enormous, but was surprised how just one US state can be so much larger.

I still think we can do a lot better than we have, but appreciate it's a tougher issue at times in the US.

it's not just area, it's population density. Michigan has ~10M people. England has ~56M people. More people to build and support infrastructure.

high density and short distances are broadly why passenger railroads work in Europe and not in the US.

 

[Teslaeata]

Well when you consider the size of the US compared to Europe, you can understand why there would be gaps.

This is true, not sure how you’ll get the coverage over there, good luck!

 

[Vulnox]

it's not just area, it's population density. Michigan has ~10M people. England has ~56M people. More people to build and support infrastructure.

high density and short distances are broadly why passenger railroads work in Europe and not in the US.

Also a great point. And while not one of the highest population states, I have to imagine as you get more into central US, they are also pretty large and possibly even lower density.

 

[Guss-E 2021]

The built in nav has radar, but not wind. I have a weather app on my phone that provides wind data.

I'll have to do some paying around the next time I'm in the car.

 

[bigredx86]

We still plan all road trips, sadly there isn't a GPS that I haven't had issues with when comparing to my planned route and already researched chargers.

We had a situation where the GPS wanted us to charge but we were close enough to home I knew to ignore it and just drive home but the problem was the charger it was having me drive towards was a dealer charger so (level 2) and I know for a fact they turn it off outside of business hours which I believe is ridiculous. The larger problem here though is, if I didn't know and didn't plan and I drove out of our way to go to that charger and it was off, we would most likely be out of range from any other option due to the area and terrain we were in.

Thats scary imo, as the normal user doesn't want to plan all the time and want to rely in their navigation apps or infotainment systems which provide a false sense of security. Plugshare to me is a life line, its the only reason we don't really ever run into problems.

 

[Thunderanger]

It's the de-rating that really gets me. There are 150kW Chargepoint DCFCs all over Missouri, but you'd be lucky to get 70 out of any of them, and there's a better than zero chance you'll be hanging out below 30. Made my very first road trip in my MME way more hassle than it needed to be. My NACS adapter can't get here soon enough.

As a fellow Missourian, I feel your pain. KC is the WORST!!!

 

[Maquis]

As a fellow Missourian, I feel your pain. KC is the WORST!!!

FWIW, the EA in Booneville is the best DCFC I’ve used.

 

[Thunderanger]

That's great to know. We like the one at Shangrila near Columbia and there are several in the St Louis area that seem to be fine.

 

[PharaohHound138]

Must be a US thing.

Don’t know about Europe where I used to live

But the seemingly one thing which is good and works in the UK is the charge point infrastructure; another 400-mile road trip today and no problem finding a charge, no queues

It is easy to say “I never have a problem” when your country is the size of a state

 

[superdave80]

And his 5 hour road trip would have been 10 hours in a EV.

I've made about a dozen six-hour road trips, and zero of them took 10 hours...

 

[Teslaeata]

It is easy to say “I never have a problem” when your country is the size of a state

It is, dead easy

And I’m not moving just so I can feel somebody else’s pain and complain

It’s where I live and really is my experience as fairly frequent DCFC user

Especially poignant when I am constantly being told by the ICE-man and his propagandist press I can’t get a charge anywhere

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