Range complaint posts ❓

[Jhenson29]

With an ICE car, you spend let's say 5 minutes filling up your tank. Another 5 minutes going into the store to pay the gas. Then you have to take your car out of the pump location and park it again. That takes 2 min. Then you have to go to the bathroom. 5 min including washing your hands. Then you go for the promised coffee. At least another 10 min including paying for it . So total we're talking... 27 minutes?

Nope. Not for me. I timed myself last time I drove home from Dallas (which was 8 days ago). 9 min and 30 sec from pulling off of the highway to back on the highway. Gas, restroom, food. My only stop on the 650 mile trip. This was in a Ford Transit Connect.

5 min to fill up is ridiculous. Most pumps I go to are about 8 gpm. 6 and under feels like a crawl when I get one that slow (not often). One near my house does 12 (even though I think the limit is supposed to be 10).

And it’s pretty rare to come across a gas station in the US that’s so busy you have to move your car when you go inside. I probably do that less than once a year.

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[DCYL725]

My two cents: Owning an EV without being able to charge at home is like owning a cell phone without being able to charge at home.

Or live in city with dc charging within 1 KM radius.
Wont be needing home charging here.

 

[tchavei]

Nope. Not for me. I timed myself last time I drove home from Dallas (which was 8 days ago). 9 min and 30 sec from pulling off of the highway to back on the highway. Gas, restroom, food. My only stop on the 650 mile trip. This was in a Ford Transit Connect.

5 min to fill up is ridiculous. Most pumps I go to are about 8 gpm. 6 and under feels like a crawl when I get one that slow (not often). One near my house does 12 (even though I think the limit is supposed to be 10).

And it’s pretty rare to come across a gas station in the US that’s so busy you have to move your car when you go inside. I probably do that less than once a year.

Different locations, different scenarios. It would be rude here to leave the car hogging up one of their pumps not fueling up. Sometimes even when you just go inside to pay is not acceptable around here.

But the real question here is...

... Did you wash your hands??

9m30s is quick though. I give you that.

 

[tchavei]

Or live in city with dc charging within 1 KM radius.
Wont be needing home charging here.

157m from my apartment ?

 

[Jhenson29]

... Did you wash your hands??

Well, let’s check the tape…

Gas, restroom, food.

? oops. knew I forgot something.

?

 

[McgR]

My two cents: Owning an EV without being able to charge at home is like owning a cell phone without being able to charge at home.

I agree in my situation. I wouldn’t want to own an EV without home charging.

However. My sister and her husband both have an EV and live in the city centre of a major Dutch city. They don’t even have a private parking. Just park on the street. Their daily commute is less than 50 Km. Lots of 22 Kw ac chargers around where they live. They just charge when they need to. For a longer trip they just stop at a DC charger which is always within reasonable range. In 5 years the only charging stress they had was driving to Paris because of a very busy Ionity station. But that is solved now with more chargers between Lille and Paris. I guess every situation is unique and charging infrastructure makes the difference.

 

[f1eng]

People often mention time charging. On a trip, on the highway, you get to a 350kW charger and spend 22 minutes or less charging while you go to the bathroom and drink a coffee.
With an ICE car, you spend let's say 5 minutes filling up your tank. Another 5 minutes going into the store to pay the gas. Then you have to take your car out of the pump location and park it again. That takes 2 min. Then you have to go to the bathroom. 5 min including washing your hands. Then you go for the promised coffee. At least another 10 min including paying for it . So total we're talking... 27 minutes? Hmm ?. Doesn't sound much different to charging an EV except that you have to do things in series instead of parallel.

This is exactly the way I see it too.

 

[tigerbalm]

2. No, I can't charge my car at home. I've explained it already several times on this forum. It just isn't compatible to where I choose to live.

I'm going to guess, is it because you live in an apartment complex ? I do too and had to work hard to get a charger at my parking space.

Our electricity meters are in the same basement as the underground car park – but our apartment itself is many floors up.

Thankfully, after many presentations, getting a survey and hiring an electrician – I did manage to get permission to split the electricity supply after my meter – but before it heads up to our apartment – to run a spur along overhead cable trays to our parking space.

We also ran an ethernet cable to pass energy utilisation to the charger – so that it can ramp down if the apartment and charger combined gets near the maximum import capacity of the main fuse.

That way all the electricity usage is billed against our apartment – and it all runs through the 63A main fuse that our apartment uses.

We have two EV's and I do not think we would have any if we had not managed to get a private charger installed.

From our management companies perspective – the challenge isn't the work – its that the additional wiring (the splitter, dedicated fuse to charger, etc) takes up room on the main distribution board – and it wasn't designed with any of this in mind.

Only about four more chargers can be installed in our complex (of > 500 apartments) and then the distribution board is full and a new breakout board would need to be installed. I think – with current Irish government plans around promoting EVs – that will eventually have to happen.

Any new apartment complex builds – now require a dedicated power line running to each parking space as part of planning regulations. So this is already becoming a "legacy" issue.

We chose a charger with PIN protection – just to make sure that it didn't become a "community charger" when we're not parked there!

 

[Crazymind]

Nope. Not for me. I timed myself last time I drove home from Dallas (which was 8 days ago). 9 min and 30 sec from pulling off of the highway to back on the highway. Gas, restroom, food. My only stop on the 650 mile trip. This was in a Ford Transit Connect.

Most important, why are you doing this to yourself and your body?
Is it necessary? One stop in 650 miles, 10 hours of drive?

 

[anonymouse]

Most important, why are you doing this to yourself and your body?
Is it necessary? One stop in 650 miles, 10 hours of drive?

Very good point. I sometimes remind ICE "mileage heroes" in the UK to read Rule 91 of the Highway Code: "plan your journey to take sufficient breaks. A minimum break of at least 15 minutes after every two hours of driving is recommended". A well planned EV journey does exactly that: when we drive across Europe it's in 140-mile chunks with regular short charging/stretching/loo/food stops.

So with some specific exceptions (taxi drivers, people who commute 200 miles with no charger at destination before returning) there is no absolute need for more than 170 miles range for most drivers. A bit more (as we have in the Taycan) is a useful cushion.

 

[Jhenson29]

Most important, why are you doing this to yourself and your body?

Why am I doing what? I take breaks when I need them. Not “just because”. So, why am I not taking extra breaks that I don’t need? Probably the same reason you don’t take extra breaks you don’t need.

Why don’t you stop every 30-40min?
Why do you do that to yourself?

See?

Is it necessary? One stop in 650 miles, 10 hours of drive?

Yes. One stop is necessary. I couldn’t make it all of the way back without stopping, silly. Transit Connect gas tank is kinda small. Had I been in my 911, well then maybe. ?

I sometimes remind ICE "mileage heroes" in the UK to read Rule 91 of the Highway Code: "plan your journey to take sufficient breaks. A minimum break of at least 15 minutes after every two hours of driving is recommended".

OMG, stopping for 15 min every 2 hours would drive me nuts. No thanks.

 

[anonymouse]

OMG, stopping for 15 min every 2 hours would drive me nuts. No thanks.

Well please don't drive near me as you enter your fourth hour of driving without stopping. You won't be safe. (and that's the judgement of the expert advisors to the Highway Code, not me!)

 

[Jhenson29]

Well please don't drive near me as you enter your fourth hour of driving without stopping. You won't be safe. (and that's the judgement of the expert advisors to the Highway Code, not me!)

K ?

 

[Crazymind]

Eating and digesting in the same place gives me the freak. It’s Hospital life style. Body needs moving!

 

[DCYL725]

157m from my apartment ?

The closest one is about the same distance. And within 1km there is probably, rough guess, 15 or so, avg 4 fast charges per station.

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