BTW, depending on where you live, you may be able to have a charging station installed (at your expense). In Hawaii, condo associations must allow the installation of charging stations. Less useful for apartment renters, but possibly still an option. You can read stories on Tesla forums of renters who convinced their apartment owners to spring for a bank of charging spots, though it's an effort.
And there are people who make it work without home charging. I did that for a year before I got my own charging station installed, but for anyone who puts serious miles on their car, it's a nightmare--a green version of Mad Max--hunting for an opening in one of the few public spots. Wouldn't recommend it.
I figure there might be an opening for a startup company to drive around neighbourhoods early in the morning, fast charging peoples cars for them. Subscription service. Partner with an electric car company.
Unfortunately that little piece of infrastructure could easily be a deal killer for a ton of people.
Not everyone is a homeowner with a garage. And parking in a charging space at some random retail establishment every couple days for a few hours to charge just seems insane.
Apartment complexes where I live (Denver metro) are already competing with each other on features like "bike/snowboard fix-up stations", "Amazon lockers", "heated pool", and other absurdities - you bet they're going to install 220v chargers if it helps lure people in. Eventually, it will be expected - just like the bike fix-up station.
If I could buy something equivalent to my current car that was electric, I’d be happy to. But I would definitely have to figure out the charging situation. And that could easily turn into a mess. That mass, plus premium price, plus possibly limited availability may make it easier for me to just buy another gas car for now.
*Number made up
For example, if electric cars become popular we will need tons of public charging stations, but nobody will be willing to build charging stations unless there are already a lot of electric car owners to use them.
The early adopters of electric cars are going to have to deal with a lot of overcrowding at charging stations, unless they are homeowners and can charge in their garages.
All that aside, there is still the issue of price. I paid $21k for a new Prius C that gets 45-50 mpg. A new Chevy Bolt costs about $29k in California after tax credits as far as I can tell, and that does not include the cost of an in-home charger. That $8k difference would cover years of gas purchases for the Prius -- I've had it for 5 years and I've been spending about $35 for a tank every 3 weeks.
If electric cars take over the mass market, most of them will be made by established carmakers who know how to crank out millions of cars per year and have thousands of dealerships across the country. I'm sure they will be grateful to Tesla for proving the concept, but the traditional automakers won't have much trouble ramping up production once they know the market is there.
By the way, I would love to have an electric car but I don't have anywhere to charge it because I live in an apartment without a garage. Charging it at work is not realistic for me -- we have some charging spots, but it's really difficult to get one because so many of my coworkers also want to use them. There are millions of customers like me who need the charging infrastructure to improve before electric car ownership becomes practical, and we are going to keep giving our money to the traditional automakers.