Would you buy an EV?

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No, not for me. I tow a lot of materials to jobsites and the range is zip when towing. Besides the higher cost to buy one to begin with.

Now as far as the availability of charging stations, Buccee's here in Terrell now has 20 chargers and I see them popping up all over Dallas so that's not going to be a big issue at some point.
 
DeckArtist said:
No, not for me. I tow a lot of materials to jobsites and the range is zip when towing. Besides the higher cost to buy one to begin with.

Now as far as the availability of charging stations, Buccee's here in Terrell now has 20 chargers and I see them popping up all over Dallas so that's not going to be a big issue at some point.
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Terrell, Texas! Home town of Eric Bishop aka Jamee Foxx! Talented guy. Nice town.
 
Skookum said:
I was curious, so I looked it up. The US is adding an additional 125 EV chargers, on average, across the nation every single day. 46,000 per year.
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But if they could just spread them out better. They just added a few to Sacramento, CA where they are not at all needed. I wish I could take half of those in Sacramento and install them at places of my choice, where really needed.

BTW, I am now at a Chinese Restaurant on USA Parkway as I am waiting for my 2023 Zero DSR/X to charge up for free after a 90-mile ride. There are Tesla Destination charge stations all over this area and all are free for anybody to use. I always have a Tesla-Tap or two with me.

I am now less than a mile from the Tesla Giga factory.

I saw three Tesla 18-wheelers today on the way here from Carson City on Hwy 50. Maybe four, one I could not get a good look at.

Now I am close to I-80, around 15 miles to home.

-Don- USA Parkway, Sparks, NV
 
Does anyone know how the projected 46,000 new charging stations/year stacks up against the projected rise in EV owners?
 
Tom said:
Does anyone know how the projected 46,000 new charging stations/year stacks up against the projected rise in EV owners?
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Varies greatly by area. I have seen a few places where every charger at a location was used at the same time (Silicon Valley & SF Outlets Mall in Livermore & one time in Placerville at the Target store) . But more common is like today, at USA Parkway. 8 charge stations, only me using one. 7 not used while I was there, as usual. And a couple of other locations like this one, with even more of these charge stations, within two miles of this location. I only rarely see others use any of them. And all 30 (or so) of them are free for anybody to use at any time of day or night).

They do not compare well with gas stations because 90% or so mostly only charge at home (or work).

Only people travelling more than 100 miles (depending on vehicle, could be 250 miles with my LR Tesla) from home will normally use them. Maybe 50 miles on a motorcycle. I did 90 miles before I charged back up today on my bike, but I was down to around ten miles of range left but I had 24 miles to go to get home (9 miles more than I thought in my previous message, when I checked on my GPS)! I rode exactly 114 miles this afternoon according to my bike's trip odometer.

My bike at USA Parkway (same bike, same location, but this photo was taken last month):

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-Don- Reno, NV
 
Tom said:
Does anyone know how the projected 46,000 new charging stations/year stacks up against the projected rise in EV owners?
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1.2 Million EV's were sold in the us in 2023.

There are about ~3 Million EV's currently registered for use on US roads as of 2023.

We could definitely use a few more chargers. There are now ~165k public chargers as of the last stat I saw. Not all of them are fast chargers.
 
Skookum said:
Not all of them are fast chargers.
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I would like to see more of the AC charge stations like I used today. I wish there was at least one at every DCFC location. And especially at Tesla Supercharger locations.

3 out of five of my electric motorcycles can only charge up with AC input. Such as the motorcycle I used today.

AC is simple, more reliable, the biggest EV standard of all. And often free to use, at least in CA & NV. And cheap to install compared to DCFC.

FWIW, I want to hear about new charge locations. Not the number of new chargers and charge stations added to the same old areas where not needed.

Like where I was today. 30 charge stations in a couple of miles. Three there would be more than enough. If we could only move the other 27 to the more needed locations.

-Don- Reno, NV
 
DonTom said:
I would like to see more of the AC charge stations like I used today. I wish there was at least one at every DCFC location. And especially at Tesla Supercharger locations.

3 out of five of my electric motorcycles can only charge up with AC input. Such as the motorcycle I used today.

AC is simple, more reliable, the biggest EV standard of all. And often free to use, at least in CA & NV. And cheap to install compared to DCFC.

FWIW, I want to hear about new charge locations. Not the number of new chargers and charge stations added to the same old areas where not needed.

Like where I was today. 30 charge stations in a couple of miles. Three there would be more than enough. If we could only move the other 27 to the more needed locations.

-Don- Reno, NV
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I agree the “where” is important. Perhaps there could be an initiative to install them at all rest stops for starters.
 
Skookum said:
I agree the “where” is important. Perhaps there could be an initiative to install them at all rest stops for starters.
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Some rest stops have free fast chargers to use. In CA, usually supplied by CalTrans.

Here are two examples of free DCFCs at Donnor Summit, the midway between my houses.
https://www.plugshare.com/location/303857
Here and here. I used to use these occasionally.

Notice both have been broken for more than a year, both have a "1" for reliability. Also notice the westbound the EV haters destroyed. Perhaps by the same people who were cutting all the fast charge cables here in Reno about a year and a half ago.

Never expect these to be repaired. I think I know how this works, because we used to get "federal grants" for various projects when I worked for the C&C of SF.

So I assume it works the same with the Cal-Trans DCFCs. The feds give the money for the equipment and installation. One example I can think of is the fancy Video Microwave the C&C of SF used to own from a federal grant. Cost millions of dollars. We had it all working perfectly. The SF police and fire departments were using it mainly for training purposes. Private video to all the departments from a central location. After a year or two something in the system breaks. The feds give NO money for maintenance! So who pays for the repair service? Nobody. Never repaired. Millions of dollars now wasted. That's how government works!

So who will fix the free chargers at Donnor Summit? You guessed it, NOBODY! Most likely that was a federal grant to CalTrans. So they will never be repaired. And cannot get income from something that the public uses for free!

-Don- Reno, NV
 
THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES……

Let me clarify. Freedom isn’t free. But free to you so that all that matters. Sad. Very sad.
 
Derby6 said:
THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES……

Let me clarify. Freedom isn’t free. But free to you so that all that matters. Sad. Very sad.
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I've noticed the overwhelming majority of the dancing around the warfire/freedom isn't free crowd, who wouldn't know which end of a mortar tube goes up, suddenly developed incurable and debilitating knee, back and foot problems when the rubber hit the road.
The problem I have with the mercenary military is it's someone else and someone else's kid over there, so not my problem.
He was a grunt over in the crotch in the 60's, so I guess he earned a free charge or two for his motorcycle.
 
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So I got curious about charging near me - Didn't realize that Google maps has a search for EV charge stations button.

So there is one identified charge station in my town and it's at the Busy Bee travel center by the freeway. Lake City has a few but that's about a 35 minute drive.

There's one about 2/3rds on the way to Jax and a fairly good selection in Jax. Jax is about an hour and a half drive or 85-90 miles.

I guess me and my neighbors are not the current demographic for buying EVs.

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