electric car owners, be honest, what's the biggest pain owning an EV?

[Anonymous]

I’ve got an i3 REx. Love it.

The biggest hassle was getting the tags and title handled. I bought it used in Boston and drove it down. Saved thousands, but the dealer (1) refused to believe DC wouldn’t charge tax so they collected MA tax on the deal and I had to work to get that back and (2) MA doesn’t do temp tags so I had to do some legwork with the DMV to get a paper tag before I flew up to take delivery.

I charge via a 110v outlet in my condo building’s garage overnight, or using EVgo. That’s pretty simple. The range extender can run continuously, and has enabled nonstop trips to New Orleans, Atlanta and NYC.

Service has been minimal but could be expensive at the dealer someday.

The seats show water spots really easy. I thought I’d have a hard time finding a car seat for my toddler, but the Sirona S swivels and makes it easy to load sideways and then spin to rear-facing.

[Anonymous]

Took a road trip to New England last week ahead of the July 4 holiday. Drove I-95 and noticed all the Teslas sitting around at the rest stops, waiting to recharge. Seems like an unnecessary pain in the ass and could easily add hours to a longer road trip, especially if all the chargers are taken and you need to wait for one to open up. That’s a killer if you’re traveling with kids.

At this stage of our life, I could only see us getting a plug-in hybrid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Took a road trip to New England last week ahead of the July 4 holiday. Drove I-95 and noticed all the Teslas sitting around at the rest stops, waiting to recharge. Seems like an unnecessary pain in the ass and could easily add hours to a longer road trip, especially if all the chargers are taken and you need to wait for one to open up. That’s a killer if you’re traveling with kids.

At this stage of our life, I could only see us getting a plug-in hybrid.

I have a Model 3, and when I drive long distances I have to stop once every 4 hours or so to charge. It takes about 20 minutes to recharge, and we either take a lunch break or a bathroom break.
Which is exactly what I’d be doing anyway after four hours in an ICE car with kids.
So not a pain at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Took a road trip to New England last week ahead of the July 4 holiday. Drove I-95 and noticed all the Teslas sitting around at the rest stops, waiting to recharge. Seems like an unnecessary pain in the ass and could easily add hours to a longer road trip, especially if all the chargers are taken and you need to wait for one to open up. That’s a killer if you’re traveling with kids.

At this stage of our life, I could only see us getting a plug-in hybrid.

I have a Model 3, and when I drive long distances I have to stop once every 4 hours or so to charge. It takes about 20 minutes to recharge, and we either take a lunch break or a bathroom break.
Which is exactly what I’d be doing anyway after four hours in an ICE car with kids.
So not a pain at all.

Do you have the long range Model 3?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Took a road trip to New England last week ahead of the July 4 holiday. Drove I-95 and noticed all the Teslas sitting around at the rest stops, waiting to recharge. Seems like an unnecessary pain in the ass and could easily add hours to a longer road trip, especially if all the chargers are taken and you need to wait for one to open up. That’s a killer if you’re traveling with kids.

At this stage of our life, I could only see us getting a plug-in hybrid.

I have a Model 3, and when I drive long distances I have to stop once every 4 hours or so to charge. It takes about 20 minutes to recharge, and we either take a lunch break or a bathroom break.
Which is exactly what I’d be doing anyway after four hours in an ICE car with kids.
So not a pain at all.

Do you have the long range Model 3?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

We have the prius EV. We love it. The biggest pain is that we never buy gas so there is no time to use our $20 gas gift certificate.

[Anonymous]

We are on our second prius. The new one is a plug in hybrid.
We love it and only buy gas around every 6 months.

It gets around 50 miles on a charge and then switches over to gas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Took a road trip to New England last week ahead of the July 4 holiday. Drove I-95 and noticed all the Teslas sitting around at the rest stops, waiting to recharge. Seems like an unnecessary pain in the ass and could easily add hours to a longer road trip, especially if all the chargers are taken and you need to wait for one to open up. That’s a killer if you’re traveling with kids.

At this stage of our life, I could only see us getting a plug-in hybrid.

I have a Model 3, and when I drive long distances I have to stop once every 4 hours or so to charge. It takes about 20 minutes to recharge, and we either take a lunch break or a bathroom break.
Which is exactly what I’d be doing anyway after four hours in an ICE car with kids.
So not a pain at all.

Do you have the long range Model 3?

Agreed. We have an older model X and it takes an hour+ at a super charger. We recently got the long range model 3 and it takes 15 minutes to fully charge at super charger. We’re trading in the X for a Y next week. We’ll never go back to an ICE car. Teslas all the way!

One important thing though. You have to remember to plug it in when battery is low! Sometimes I come home, am tired or distracted, and forget to plug it in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Took a road trip to New England last week ahead of the July 4 holiday. Drove I-95 and noticed all the Teslas sitting around at the rest stops, waiting to recharge. Seems like an unnecessary pain in the ass and could easily add hours to a longer road trip, especially if all the chargers are taken and you need to wait for one to open up. That’s a killer if you’re traveling with kids.

At this stage of our life, I could only see us getting a plug-in hybrid.

I have a Model 3, and when I drive long distances I have to stop once every 4 hours or so to charge. It takes about 20 minutes to recharge, and we either take a lunch break or a bathroom break.
Which is exactly what I’d be doing anyway after four hours in an ICE car with kids.
So not a pain at all.

Do you have the long range Model 3?

Agreed. We have an older model X and it takes an hour+ at a super charger. We recently got the long range model 3 and it takes 15 minutes to fully charge at super charger. We’re trading in the X for a Y next week. We’ll never go back to an ICE car. Teslas all the way!

One important thing though. You have to remember to plug it in when battery is low! Sometimes I come home, am tired or distracted, and forget to plug it in.

Our X charges pretty quickly; we’ve had it for four years. More than 15 minutes but less than an hour, for sure. When our elderly Prius finally dies, we’ll get a Y or a 3. Loooove our Tesla! (And we always plug it in as soon as we get home)

[Anonymous]

Tesla people don't seem to mind stopping to power up because the supercharger stations are full of other Tesla people and it often seems to be a Tesla lovefest. (Parents have the long-range Model S and I've been with them and the car a couple of times.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tesla people don't seem to mind stopping to power up because the supercharger stations are full of other Tesla people and it often seems to be a Tesla lovefest. (Parents have the long-range Model S and I've been with them and the car a couple of times.)

Yeah, whatever.
I’ve never talked to anyone else at a charger.
My kids love to play the games included with the car at stops. Or do the karaoke.

[Anonymous]

Do Tesla owners use the Supercharger stations much outside of random family road trips? Like 99% of the time you just charge at home (overnight) and at work (if possible), right?

[Anonymous]

We have a tesla model 3 and the packfic hybrid. Previously had the Prius and civic hybrid.
Only downside is remembering to plug it in, and also we can’t charge both at once In the garage without blowing a circuit because we did not upgrade our electrical.
We haven’t had trouble finding places to charge on vacation, including even at national parks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do Tesla owners use the Supercharger stations much outside of random family road trips? Like 99% of the time you just charge at home (overnight) and at work (if possible), right?

Some people do, but it's not the preferred technique. That's part of why Tesla went away from Unlimited Free Supercharging. Too many people taking up stalls because they didn't want to charge at home. I always thought they could accomplish their objective by having Supercharging be free if you're more than one battery from home, half-price if you're between 100%- and 50%-to-home range, and full price if you're say, within 25 miles. I dunno, they didn't ask me. lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do Tesla owners use the Supercharger stations much outside of random family road trips? Like 99% of the time you just charge at home (overnight) and at work (if possible), right?

Some people do, but it's not the preferred technique. That's part of why Tesla went away from Unlimited Free Supercharging. Too many people taking up stalls because they didn't want to charge at home. I always thought they could accomplish their objective by having Supercharging be free if you're more than one battery from home, half-price if you're between 100%- and 50%-to-home range, and full price if you're say, within 25 miles. I dunno, they didn't ask me. lol

Is the Supercharger any cheaper or more expensive per "fill up" verse just charging overnight at home? I understand it's faster, just wasn't sure if it's a cost difference that would incentivize people to go out of their way to use them. Outside of being on a road trip or driving a lot as a salesman, I can't understand seeking out non-home chargers.