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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Two-electric vehicle owner. Disagree with 14:36; the Electrify America stations I've seen are *not* fast chargers. This makes a huge difference (many many hours vs 30-60 min to fully charge). We charge overnight in our garage (both cars, a Tesla & a non-Tesla electric) & occasionally charge on a road trip (Tesla). That's why even though Musk is an idiot, I would strongly recommend getting a Tesla over any other electric car -- it's all about the charging network & despite $ going into this, it will take awhile to build up that network--and honestly, I would strongly consider a hybrid like 14:34 recommends.[/quote]

The EA stations, while not as fast to charge as some Tesla superchargers for most cars, are DCFC level 3 chargers — it’s not going to take any car hours and hours to charge fully there. It’s possible they have a level 2 charger at some stations, but most of them are 150 or 350 kw. Actual charging speed depends on your car and your starting state of charge, obviously, but it [b]shouldn’t be more than 40 to 60 minutes at most to get from under 10 percent to over 80. [/b]

Even slower EA stations are better than some of the old ChargePoint ones I’ve used on road trips that cap out at 50 kw — but even those will charge most cars pretty well in about an hour. [/quote]

The bolded is the biggest impediment to broad adoption. People who own EVs tell me (and DCUM posters too) that stopping for 40-60 minutes isn't a big deal. But it is a huge change from where we are today. If my tank is low and I need to run my kid to swimming I can allot an extra 10 minutes (or less) and be done. I drive past 3 service stations between here and swimming. I think EV without a home charger is a tough sell and something East coast cities are going to have to address. (The recently proposed bill requiring new apartments to include EV charging is a good start.)
 [/quote]

We have an EV, and I don't find stopping for 20 minutes on road trip (the most we typically have to stop) to be a problem. The 40-60 line above was quoting the OP, who set 30-60 off against hours and hours.

But one thing I've had a hard time getting my head around since we got the EV is that you don't generally need to fill them up all the way -- even on road trips, the better plan is to make sure you have enough electricity to get to the next charge, not to charge all the way up to 80 percent or 100 percent. I know this, because I keep reading about it and because my ev-charge-routing apps recommend it, and yet I still spend an extra 5 or 10 minutes charging on a road trip because I'm just used to wanting to have a full tank after I stop for gas.

Personally, I still wouldn't recommend getting an EV now if you don't have anywhere to charge at home. But if you go with the "I just need enough power to get to the next charge" idea, you could stop for 5 minutes and add 30 miles of range to your battery (if you were in a hurry), which would be more than enough to let you drop your kids to swimming and then go charge up to a higher level some other time. Which means you could make it work if you wanted to.

I guess my point is not that the time is or isn't a big deal, but rather that the better way to think about it isn't about how much time it takes to get a full charge at all.[/quote]

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