LEAD CHARGE
Driver blasts ‘terrible’ part of owning an EV – range anxiety has nothing on ‘constant negotiation’ with others on road
The savings in gas per month almost isn't worth the woes of public charging
EV owners took to the media to discuss the frustrating side effects of public charging - there are long lines for non-functional chargers.
Even after two years of ownership, one user said the most frustrating part of public charging is still prevalent.
2
2
California has strict laws aimed at pushing people into buying EVs, as the state banned the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.
While the state has the vastest network of public chargers in the nation, several owners in Southern California still feel the growing pains of a slowly growing charging EV infrastructure.
She noted that oftentimes, owners have to talk amongst themselves to decide who gets to use the charger first.
"Even early in the morning often, I'll encounter between one to five people waiting in line, and often there will be you know two or three, two to three stations working out of four," Emily Hampton told NBC affiliate KNBC.
Read More about EV Charging
She bought her EV two years ago, but public charging hasn't stopped being a nuisance.
Hampton is like many drivers who live in an apartment complex and rely on public charging.
Therefore, when she takes her EV to charge at a public station, she faces the same obstacle as several other drivers.
"It seems like they all operate differently and have different levels of reliability," she continued.
Most read in Motors
Allison Norris Austin said she's in love with her EV but doesn't love public charging.
"I love the way [my EV] drives," said Austin.
I ended up at the cop station simply for wanting to charge my EV - it's an ongoing issue Google Maps could easily fix
"There's everything I love about it, but the charging stations are terrible."
Another driver, Jennifer Kwon, said she's seen discussions over who gets to charge first turn ugly at other stations.
The station reporters interviewed drivers at was relatively peaceful, she said.
"At least here, we're kind of in one line," Kwon said.
"The other place that I go to -- it's just a hodgepodge in the parking lot. People get into fights sometimes."
In California, EV ownership is becoming more popular, with one in every four new cars sold being electric.
If I was going to do a road trip for more than a couple of hours, I would probably just rent a gas car because it's too stressful to plan it all out.
Emily Hampton, EV owner
Despite the steadily growing demand, there are only 105,500 public chargers available.
Hannon Rasool, the Director of the Fields and Transportation Division of the California Energy Commission, said the state is working on installing more stations and improving reliability - but slowly.
"We want to get more infrastructure out," he said.
He's confident that within a decade, the state will be able to meet customer demand.
"Our modeling and analysis shows we need approximately one million chargers by 2030."
Electrify America, one of the largest charger providers in the Golden State, said reliability is a known issue within the company, and maintenance is difficult due to increasing theft.
Finding an EV charger
Finding a public charger for your electric vehicle doesn't have to be difficult.
Many modern EVs have their own manufacturer-specific connected services technology that can locate compatible chargers.
With more automakers gaining access to Tesla's Supercharging network with an NACS charging port, it can be even easier due to the vastness of the network.
According to an article from J.D. Power, additional ways to locate functioning and available chargers can be achieved with Plug In America, the PlugShare app for iOS and Android, or the Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center.
Electrify America and EVgo provide the most accurate charging data, the site said, as they frequently update data over the air.
"Getting replacement parts is getting harder as more of them age, or worse, as vandalism (cutting cables for the copper) is increasing and taking away available replacement parts," wrote a spokesperson for the company in a statement.
"In the last two years, we replaced over 680 chargers, and this year, we are aiming to accelerate replacements to an additional 800+."
Read More on The US Sun
With road trip season at its peak, Hampton said public charging would have her EV parked at home.
"If I was going to do a road trip for more than a couple of hours, I would probably just rent a gas car because it's too stressful to plan it all out," she said.