Technology

Diesel, premium, E85, etc.

I have to admit, it's been decades since I've driven a car that takes anything but 87 octane. I forgot there are other needs, and if that's the case you do need to plan I guess. But I have yet to get to a gas station that's working that doesn't have 87 octane.

Tesla’s superchargers

Yea, I'd ignored Tesla's network because I was never going to buy a Tesla, and till like a month ago, no one else could use those so they were out of mind for me. Honestly, the main thing I want to see is all charge points taking a credit card standard like gas pumps do. I don't want apps or sign ups or saving anything. I'm driving by one time in my life, or maybe twice - I don't want an account. I fear it's likely I'll lose this unless the government mandates taking normal payment options like cash (which honestly they should).

Yes they are.

Honestly, I looked at plugshare, and there's more than I expected, though I'd go by at least 2-3 gas stations in each direction before I'd get to one. The issue seems to be they're for some reason not on the road noticeable like gas stations, so you wouldn't know about them without driving into random apartment parking lots or car dealerships. TBH, I had no idea car dealerships would have charging stations. I'd still feel a little uncomfortable going into a hospital parking lot or apartment lot I don't live in or college campus I don't go to or town hall of a town I don't live in to use the charger, but maybe that's just a cultural shift we have to endure. I will say that's still not necessarily where I want to spend 45 minutes or more but fair enough. I also live in a rural area and often am going to rural areas, so the middle part is on a highway, but not necessarily significant start or end parts.

One thing people tend to ignore is that you start every day and every trip with a full tank. My vehicle starts every day with 250 miles of range and rarely dips below 200. When I drove an ICE, I’d sometimes leave for work with less than 30 miles in the tank. Statistically speaking, you’re more likely to have more range at any given moment in an EV than an ICE provided you can charge at home.

Yes, I've regularly said for a daily commute of any normal length even around here (100 miles or so being the longest I'm aware of), if you have faster than 110 charging you're golden for that use. I've never suggested in this thread that EVs haven't met that need for like 8 years or so now. It's just that few people have a "daily commute" car and "all other needs car", they buy one car or truck. On trips I wouldn't assume there's a charger available for me at the hotel or resort for instance.

If you didn't plan enough to have reasonable amounts of gas in your tank, I really fail to see how you're planning enough to take road trips in an EV. What if you forget to plug in your EV? These are kind of stupid arguments - People can run out of gas, just like they can run out of charge. No one is (actually if they think about it) concerned about that, which is why I have said in this thread it's a concern about finding refill locations, not a concern about range. And I think the problem is actually that no one (outside Tesla) is building "EV Charge stations" but that's what the masses are looking for. I'm finally starting to see some WaWa's put in charging stations, but we need to start seeing either better education of the masses (marketing changes) or people getting the local small gas stations to put in some charging stations too.

If you really drive long distance more than you drive locally and/or you can’t charge at home, I can see the trepidation, but the benefits of charging at home are tremendous and for some reason, vehicle manufacturers and consumers are ignoring it.

If I still drove somewhere not for a long trip regularly, I would be interested. I had been interested for a while. Now that I go to doctors appointments maybe 2 times a month and long trips otherwise, the gas isn't that inconvenient. I just make it part of my trip to town once a month or so. This change in my life made me realize that the real win was pandemic style WFH for anyone who can. EVs can work for some people, I'm just saying they're far from ready for everyone. I'm sure they'll be ready eventually, but I've pushed out my expectation of when it'd make sense for me to get one.