Teslas currently have the advantage of the extra supercharge network, although in the Uk that is being opened to other electric cars which will level the playing field.
I've done about 20k miles in road trips in my Tesla, and I think I've plugged in to 1 charger that didn't work at all. I've suffered degraded speed at other chargers, primarily due to them being older chargers that share capacity between 2 chargers (so my speed was halved when somebody else plugged in to the mated charger).
The worst problem I've had with Tesla chargers is the locations. Sometimes finding them is hard (the one near Dulles in Reston took me forever to find for example), sometimes getting to them is hard (chargers in malls are a nightmare around the holidays).
I live in a large town, population about 60K, and the ChargePoint app shows these options near me right now. This includes ALL charging networks, but only J1772 plugs that fit my car:
16 "public" ports are in the area:
- 4 are actually inside an apartment complex
- 2 are at Whole Foods, but I know 1 has been broken for years.
- 2 are BEHIND car dealerships. That's not really public.
- 3 are at someone's house?
- 2 are at the gym, but 1 has been broken for years.
- 2 are at a high school. I don't spend time there.
- 1 is at the library, and it's always occupied or broken.
If I expand the search to other places I shop:
- 2 ports are at the mall, but 1 of them is broken, and because they're close to the entrance, they're often ICEd.
Thankfully, I drive a PHEV so I can charge at home overnight, and burn gas for long distances. To date, 75% of this car's miles were electric.
This will be a solved problem in the future though. Just growing pains.
Absolutely not true. This is one of those things Tesla diehards keep repeating as if it was 2015 still. You have commercial super-chargers widely available already that can charge a car 80% in 20 minutes: https://youtu.be/ZgeZikh88Wc?t=776
Things will expand for sure and I’m happy about it, but this looks like marketing to me.
You own and drive an EV I take it? What’s your experience been like?
In the USA, it is still 2015 basically. Everything I've seen on charging non-Tesla EVs in the USA makes it seem like its a total dumpster fire. One of the YT's I watch has experiences like this all the time: https://youtu.be/jGjUQuXozYc?t=862
At least Meijer has a small bourbon selection so I can try and find a bottle of Buffalo Trace from time to time.