The charging infrastructure really sucks.

[silverelan]

*American (Canada too!) charging infrastructure sucks for non-Teslas. The same can’t really be said in Europe.

European charging networks use different DCFC hardware that seems less prone to breakdowns, like Kempower or Alpitronic. The junk chargers that EA and EVgo use have been ditched already in Europe in favor of better equipment.

You can trust me because I once saw a YouTube video where a Thai-Norwegian man drove an EV across Europe, so now I’m an expert!

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[tuminatr]

*American (Canada too!) charging infrastructure sucks for non-Teslas. The same can’t really be said in Europe.

European charging networks use different DCFC hardware that seems less prone to breakdowns, like Kempower or Alpitronic. The junk chargers that EA and EVgo use have been ditched already in Europe in favor of better equipment.

You can trust me because I once saw a YouTube video where a Thai-Norwegian man drove an EV across Europe, so now I’m an expert!

The unsaid but very important part about Europe is there is a mandated charging standard CCS2. You can't underestimate the benefit to a single charging standard. CCS2 also has locking on the vehicle side rather than the plug side like CCS1. Having the locking mechanism on the vehicle side is a huge plus and eliminates why many chargers don't work here. In the USA we efficiently have two standards NACS and CCS.

 

[azerik]

You should see the cluster that my P&C is. And after attempting to get get my missing 50Kw back I realized theres actually about 120W missing from my BOCN balance. Not that I care much about. the balance but I'm seeing ~20kW just disappear every time I charge. (Maybe it's just a fluke in FP because of the BOCN balance or maybe I'm getting skimmed off the top every time) That's $10 a pop over charge. This Sunday I had 50kW over charge from an EA station. 2 hours so far trying to get anyone to work with me as the finger pointing is all over. NACS can't happen fast enough, but I don't DON"T want to have to use FP -> Tesla -> FP for it. What could go wrong?

 

[21st Century Pony]

As I said, taken as a whole, Americans are much more averse to government-run programs. This is specifically because many Americans think that government is supposed to be run like a business and be profitable. Consequently, they are anti-tax at ANY cost.

Most other parts of the world understand that public programs don't work that way. Programs that benefit everyone are SUPPOSED to cost money. Yes, rail usually needs to be subsidized. I'd be happy to have more of my taxes pay for public transportation.

Note that I said "more of my taxes," not "more taxes." You can grumble all you want about how much of your current taxes are wasted. I'd argue that a massive chunk of them absolutely ARE being wasted, but we'll likely disagree on which programs are the wasteful ones. I say that paying for public transit programs are not among them.

..."some" Americans.

 

[thekat03]

As I said, taken as a whole, Americans are much more averse to government-run programs. This is specifically because many Americans think that government is supposed to be run like a business and be profitable. Consequently, they are anti-tax at ANY cost.

Most other parts of the world understand that public programs don't work that way. Programs that benefit everyone are SUPPOSED to cost money. Yes, rail usually needs to be subsidized. I'd be happy to have more of my taxes pay for public transportation.

Note that I said "more of my taxes," not "more taxes." You can grumble all you want about how much of your current taxes are wasted. I'd argue that a massive chunk of them absolutely ARE being wasted, but we'll likely disagree on which programs are the wasteful ones. I say that paying for public transit programs are not among them.

I work in health care, in central Maine. I so wish that taking away a person's driver's license didn't effectively make them homebound unless someone else can drive them places. This nation needs so mich more public transit availability. Unfortunately it will be a financial loss in rural areas with far more territory to cover and far fewer people to serve, but that doesn't make those people any less deserving of access to transportation options beyond just driving themselves.

 

[Hoovertac]

Yep sure does.

Drove from Tacoma to Santa Barbara - San Diego & back via grapevine last week and got to experience an array of charging experiences that ranged from acceptable to awful.

Long story short, the infrastructure is in its infancy and has a long way to go.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

You can trust me because I once saw a YouTube video where a Thai-Norwegian man drove an EV across Europe, so now I’m an expert!

Yeah, but did you stay at a Holiday Inn Express?

 

[louierx22]

I'm new to this forum so please forgive me for being the Newbie in the room... I agree with your assessment. Just got my Mach-E GT last week and decided to drive from Tallahassee FL to Gulfport MS to show off my new EV to my nephew and thought (?) I had done my homework on where the chargers were... NOT! Barely made it to Pensacola with 17 miles left on my battery (Thank God I have an Extended Battery). Learned my lesson, I used the Ford Pass app on the way back.

Take home message: Plan your trip AND have a back up plan! I still Love this Car!

 

[Billyk24]

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.

Michigan, home of major Auto Industry for many years, has installed a number of 50 and 62.5kW chargers of which many of Chargepoint branded. Most of these are at least partially funded by state of Michigan grants. The chance that these 2020-2022 installed EV chargers get upgraded in the next several years is going to be poor. It isn't just population density when one considers Tesla installs and even upgrades multiple state of the art EV chargers. Better yet, Tesla installs state of the art chargers much quicker than their competition where one can see others installed but wrapped in plastic for several months before going on-line.

 

[tuminatr]

I'm new to this forum so please forgive me for being the Newbie in the room... I agree with your assessment. Just got my Mach-E GT last week and decided to drive from Tallahassee FL to Gulfport MS to show off my new EV to my nephew and thought (?) I had done my homework on where the chargers were... NOT! Barely made it to Pensacola with 17 miles left on my battery (Thank God I have an Extended Battery). Learned my lesson, I used the Ford Pass app on the way back.

Take home message: Plan your trip AND have a back up plan! I still Love this Car!

Exactly, and you may already know about the app/website called A Better Route Planner if not check it out. Same thing with Plugshare great resources for EV drivers

 

[GERChris]

I have to say it's actually not that bad... I wish that more chargers be in more centralized locations in various cities nearby - there are a few but if a parking garage has only two spots the chance of getting one is quite slim.

As European living in the US for the past 3.5 years I gotta say it lacks in some spots but I do see a lot of progress - at least here on the east coast.

 

[TGIF]

The Midwest has a long way to go to be EV friendly.

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