Skookum
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You may want to understand how charging works before you sound like someone who is severely uninformed.
Would you buy an EV?
- Thread starter Tom
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The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
You may want to understand how charging works before you sound like someone who is severely uninformed.
Skookum
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Cleanup needed, aisle 4…. One of the gassers spilled crazy everywhere.
Yes, let me explain how free charging really is free.......
Ex-Calif
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I guess free charging is as free as tax credits for solar panels, abatements for football and baseball stadiums, city parks and trails, State Parks, Federal Parks, and etc. Giving my tax dollars to private schools! None of which we all aren’t subsidizing in one way or another.
Skookum
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Do you mean “free charging” like we get, which is included with the purchase of the car for 3 years, from a network of privately owned chargers?
OP
OP
Tom
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Well I'll be darned, neither did I. Just checked our two most used routes from the greater Bay area to the MidWest, but keep getting 'server error' messages. I'll try later. If/when it works, that would be a very nice feature when planning trips.
DonTom
Well-known member
That one you will find useless if you can charge at home.
That will be far enough away for some EVs such as my newest Energica Experica Motorcycle but is still too close to be useful to many EV cars these days--unless there are no more chargers for the next 100 miles or if towing something.
There are many websites that show where the charge stations are located. Don't need to look at them in a Tesla, it finds all types for you, including non-Tesla if I ask (in voice). But I use Plugshare for my electric motorcycles with a GPS directory for useable charge stations. I add to it when I travel to new areas or discover a new charge station on Plugshare.
On Plugshare, you can see who checked in last and get a good idea if the chargers are working. There are a lot of broken CCS fast chargers out there--a big problem--but I hear that issue will soon be taken care of.
-Don- Reno, NV
I'm guessing Adam Smith's invisible hand dictates where charge stations are located. I wouldn't guess they were building gas stations in Nebraska in 1910. I'd think too, most rural folks live in single family residences where you'd have a charger and given the range of most EV's they woudn't be needing to recharge between metro areas.
DonTom
Well-known member
Which charging network?
I got six months of free Tesla Supercharging when I purchased my Tesla in year 2018. I never even used it other than the one time at the Superchargers hidden behind the Safeway in Truckeee, CA that I had no idea existed until then. And that time, I only used it to see how it works. It was impressive how simple it was. Just press a button on the supercharger handle to open my chargeport via wireless and plug in and the "free" charging starts.
Unlike you, I rarely take my Tesla (or Bolt) far enough from my homes to require an on-road charge. But with my electric motorcycles, almost every time I go anywhere with any of them. I normally go farther on the motorcycles and they have less range than the EV Cars. To me, charge locations are more important than range. I will want the break after a couple of hours of riding.
-Don- Reno, NV
Skookum
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The other half needs his car (the EV) every day this week. A couple of trips to Seattle, a couple of visits to the office plus some after-work meetups. He charged it Sunday night in the garage and he won’t need to plug it in until after his last event tomorrow.
Pretty boring, really. Not once did he suddenly need to take an 11,000 mile trip with the car this week or suddenly and unexpectedly tow an 8500lb trailer.
Pretty boring, really. Not once did he suddenly need to take an 11,000 mile trip with the car this week or suddenly and unexpectedly tow an 8500lb trailer.
DonTom
Well-known member
My free charge yesterday was from a motel & restaurant. And NOT where I ate. Had nothing to do with your taxes. Often motels, restaurants and countless other places let ANYBODY charge on their expense, even if you are NOT a paying customer. But also, some are "for customers only" , mostly places where they do not have enough charge stations.
A lot of the places that have free charge stations are from EV owners themselves who simply try to help others out, who own the restaurant, motel or whatever.
FWIW, several weeks ago, I did try the food at the place I recharged yesterday. I didn't really care for the place, so I walked to the Chinese place across the street yesterday. Put I do normally prefer to patronize the places that provide me the free charging, when possible.
An extreme example of that is when I purchased my Chevy Bolt in Yerington instead of Reno. All because of a free charge I got there at the Chevy dealer when I travelled through Yerington many years ago on one of my electric motorcycles. That was during a time when Yerington had no public charge stations at all (they do now).
-Don- Reno, NV
If the restaurant raises the price of everything a nickel to account for the "free" charging, it may be free to you but it's not to the other patrons. Eco 101.
Skookum
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There seems to be a misconception that EV charging is "free", and I use quotes because we know what "free" really is. More specifically, there's a misconception that the cost of EV charging is borne by all taxpayers, and that's not a true generalization. None of this is secret information. You do have to get past any personal demonization of EV's and the government, though.
There may be "free" charging at a public library, city hall, airport, or located in a downtown corridor for use by the general public at no additional charge. However, those chargers tend to be extremely slow and don't put out much power. They're typically meant as a symbolic measure and a way for people to top-off or add a few miles for "free" as a perk of driving a car that helps keep air cleaner. These chargers and the electricity are paid for in a number of ways through grants, public-private partnerships, donations, and yes, sometimes taxpayer money, however, typically at a municipal or county level, unless the money was received through a federal grant. Point of the story: Your EV driver who is putting down 5,000 or 30,000 miles per year isn't expensing the cost of charging through taxpayer dollars. If there's a way, please tell me how.
The other "free" charging is what Don describes. Charging as an attractant to spend money at a shopping mall, buy a meal at a restaurant. These are privately owned and the business owner has either purchased this as a way to generate business or has installed a charger as part of a partnership. The cost of charging is borne by the customers and the business, and although it's possible to pilfer free electrons and not pay the business owner a penny, these are typically not DC fast chargers where people are filling their tank. Those you pay for, except, maybe at a place like a casino, although, any we've been to have been pay-per-use, albeit at a reduced rate.
They, the typical EV owner, charges at home, or they use fast chargers, very few of which are "free". People who buy EV's may get a period of free charging included with the purchase of the vehicle. There are 3rd party companies who offer charging subscriptions, but for the most part, you have to pay at these chargers. It's not cheap. My cost to charge at home is $0.14/kWH and these chargers can be $0.66/kwh or more. It's still less than the cost of filling a gas tank of even a small economical car, but it certainly isn't free. The price depends on the location, time, and cost of electricity in that area, and who owns the charger.
And that's your basic primer on charging.
There may be "free" charging at a public library, city hall, airport, or located in a downtown corridor for use by the general public at no additional charge. However, those chargers tend to be extremely slow and don't put out much power. They're typically meant as a symbolic measure and a way for people to top-off or add a few miles for "free" as a perk of driving a car that helps keep air cleaner. These chargers and the electricity are paid for in a number of ways through grants, public-private partnerships, donations, and yes, sometimes taxpayer money, however, typically at a municipal or county level, unless the money was received through a federal grant. Point of the story: Your EV driver who is putting down 5,000 or 30,000 miles per year isn't expensing the cost of charging through taxpayer dollars. If there's a way, please tell me how.
The other "free" charging is what Don describes. Charging as an attractant to spend money at a shopping mall, buy a meal at a restaurant. These are privately owned and the business owner has either purchased this as a way to generate business or has installed a charger as part of a partnership. The cost of charging is borne by the customers and the business, and although it's possible to pilfer free electrons and not pay the business owner a penny, these are typically not DC fast chargers where people are filling their tank. Those you pay for, except, maybe at a place like a casino, although, any we've been to have been pay-per-use, albeit at a reduced rate.
They, the typical EV owner, charges at home, or they use fast chargers, very few of which are "free". People who buy EV's may get a period of free charging included with the purchase of the vehicle. There are 3rd party companies who offer charging subscriptions, but for the most part, you have to pay at these chargers. It's not cheap. My cost to charge at home is $0.14/kWH and these chargers can be $0.66/kwh or more. It's still less than the cost of filling a gas tank of even a small economical car, but it certainly isn't free. The price depends on the location, time, and cost of electricity in that area, and who owns the charger.
And that's your basic primer on charging.
You mean "there's no such thing as a free ride". First time I've ever heard that expression
You know business owners are providing free charges out of the goodness of their heart. That's much more important to them than making a profit. And if provided by a local or federal grant that money fell from the heavens not paid by tax money.
My next question is what is the meaning of the word "ludicrous"?
Yep, ordinarily when I read or hear “free” I’m pretty sure somebody’s fixin’ to get hosed.You mean "there's no such thing as a free ride". First time I've ever heard that expression
Lou Schneider
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If you read the article instead of just grabbing the headline, the money was for CNG distribution and a prototype vehicle fueling depot, not a traditional gasoline based "gas station." And it wasn't in the U.S. but part of the infrastructure we abandoned in Afganistan.
ludicrous
ludicrous
