The thing is, when there is an issue, it’s at minimum a huge pain in the ass, and a complete nightmare at worst.
Compared to Tesla, where you just pull up and plug in. No app, no card reader. It just works. I've encountered 1 bad stall out of like 50 visits to superchargers, and since there are typically 10 to 20 stalls it wasn't a big deal.
The problem with EA (and CCS networks in US in general) - 10x more likely to encounter a broken stall, and that stall will be at a station with 1/2 to 1/3 the stalls of a typical Tesla station, and if the whole station is out.. the next station is probably 2-3x as far as the next Tesla station would have been.
I find EA roadtrip planning to be more nerve wracking than Tesla was 5 years ago, and Tesla continues to build more stations at a rapid pace... so the lead is not closing.
This has been 100% of my Electrify America experiences as well, along with a few other brands. Some have been able to take payment by tap to pay credit card as well without an app.
Most EVgo charging experiences have been plug and charge. I did have one experience a while ago that needed an app but that was one of their older chargers which even still had their old logo on it. All their newer chargers have successfully done plug and charge.
I've had tap to pay work with Google Wallet at Road Ranger (Freewire) and Francis Energy chargers.
> You mentioned taping a card, not just plugging in
That's why I included the language "as well". I've used a number of different brands of EV chargers.
Out of all the times I've used a public DCFC, I had to use an app maybe 10% of the time. And of that, it was only earlier into my ownership, I haven't had to use an app in about a year. Every charger I've used in the last year has been either plug and charge or supported credit cards directly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_15118
Now if they could just support it for my i4...
Other stations require payment, but EVGo plug and charge works too if you’ve set it up ahead of time.
Is my experience universal? Of course not.
However, the data on that page has massive sampling bias.
Imagine a light switch or sink faucet working "90% of the time".
Or the gas pump working "90% of the time", knowing that there are no other pumps in a 30 mile radius.
For gas stations, 99.99% of the time the pump works. So much so that I don’t even consider that it doesn’t work. That’s the level of reliability that I expect.
I say this as an exclusively EV driver for 5+ years myself... let's not defend the indefensible (EA's CCS network).
Meanwhile in the last year I've waited in lines several times to get gas, and I've pulled up to a pump only to find it out of order three times this last year and seen many others with bags over the pump handle signifying they're out of order.
It's definitely not 99.99% of gas pumps working.
I haven't personally experienced any failures to get a charge on CCS chargers though. I do agree if the power can't run the pumps it won't run the chargers either, but there hasn't been a similar major power outage since I got an EV and tried to charge on a public charger.
That reminds me, I've experienced bad gas require me to make repairs on my cars. I've never personally had an EVSE break my car, but I do contend it could happen.
And I’ve never experienced bad gas requiring repairs.
I’d say 95% of these fillups were in the US if that matters.
One occasion my fuel filter got badly clogged a few miles from a gas station on a road trip. I've had it happen to one of my vehicles and I've seen it happen to a few friends as well.
The power issues or just being completely out of gas were usually from hurricanes or the big freeze in Texas.
You've also never encountered or seen a gas station that was closed for the night? Every pump has always been 24/7 operations? I'm not even talking about full service stations, but I've encountered many gas stations where the store closes at like 2 or 3 AM meaning no attendant so they can't leave the pumps on. Its the worst when you're running low on gas on a late night road trip, you just have enough gas to roll into town, and the first gas station you roll up to, the only one you can see from the highway, is closed for the night. Bonus points, that small tiny town in the middle of no where also has absolutely abysmal cell reception so no phone maps. Better hope the TomTom shoved in the glove compartment eight years ago knows a couple of other gas stations in the few miles you've got left in the tank and that those stations still exist and are not also closed. Fun times. I've had this happen way more than once.
And its definitely happened more than once to me where credit card processing was down so they were asking everyone to pay cash. I don't usually carry cash on me, so buying gas wasn't happening.
And then finally I'll plan on getting gas at a Costco or Sams Club, see the massive lines, and decide to go drive another mile or two and pay more. Are there never lines at Costco or Sams Club stations near you?
And then finally I've definitely pulled into a station only to realize every handle has a bag on it.
You don't need every pump to be open, just one.
Living in the west coast of the US I spend a lot of time driving around desert areas which are pretty remote. Many times I've rolled into remote gas stations in the middle of nowhere at ~3am where everything was dark but the pumps were operating.
You are either supremely unlucky, or vastly exaggerating the issue. It is very difficult to not find a working gas pump in the US, they're everywhere.
Anecdotes are anectodes, but I've been driving 35+ years and I have many cars and I drive a lot including much time in remote areas and yet, I have not even once experienced any of the problems you assert are common.
In order to promote EVs it is important to be honest about the advantages but also the disadvantages.
Many states require someone to be working at the station to quickly respond to any issues. If there's not enough business at 3am to justify paying someone to work all through the night, they won't keep the pumps on all night long. This will definitely vary from state to state. And places like Costco, those pumps shut off at like 9:00PM.
And I do agree, most of the times where I was unable to get gas at one station I was able to find another working station within a few miles, especially in suburban areas. In times of natural disasters though, I was definitely unable to find any working gas pumps, at least not without potentially risking getting stranded continuing to drive around wasting gas to try and find a different pump. I do agree those are disaster situations and not indicative of the normal state of affairs, and that CCS chargers would probably also have not been operational at those times.
> You are either supremely unlucky, or vastly exaggerating the issue.
Or maybe I just don't have as selective of memory or pay more attention to things around me than some other people. All of these issues work out to a little over a dozen failures for me to get gas over the 600-700ish times I've probably pumped gas, so yeah a pretty low failure rate overall. We should be honest about the disadvantages of pumping gas though, of which there are many.
> It is very difficult to not find a working gas pump in the US, they're everywhere.
I'm not saying I couldn't find any working gas pump, I'm saying I've found pumps not working on many occasions and needed to go find a working one elsewhere. Those are two very different concepts. It may be hard to not find any working gas pump, but given about 30 minutes in any urban or suburban area I could probably find at least one pump not working at the moment.
> In order to promote EVs it is important to be honest about the advantages but also the disadvantages.
I am being 100% honest. I spend more time waiting to charge my ICE car (driving to a gas station, starting the pump, pumping the gas, leaving the gas station, about every week and a half) than I do my EV, by hours a year. I've personally experienced more challenges and frustrations getting my ICE car fueled than I have charging my EV. And I spend more on energy costs for my ICE car than I do my EV, with those costs being extremely variable. Meanwhile my EV's energy costs are largely fixed due to 1-3 year electricity contracts.
I realize I'm just one data point in a sea of many, but it doesn't make my experiences dishonest. I'm being 100% honest sharing my experiences here. People don't often make YouTube videos of their experiences when things just go smoothly and right when charging. I'm not going to upload a video every time I plug in my car in my garage and it just charges. I'm not uploading videos every time I plug and charge on some public DCFC. Someone probably is going to make a video when it doesn't work for them though. People are going to share the headlines of "DCFC stations have high failure rates (in this limited geographic area we surveyed, briefly)". If the only reports are the times it doesn't work, you're not going to have a very "honest" set of reports.
A few minutes later, someone moves. I get to that pump. I try tap to pay. Declined. I put in a chipped card. Declined. Try another card. Declined. I go inside, cash only today for some reason. I don't carry cash with me often, so no gas for me.
There's like 10 minutes of my day wasted and I didn't even end up getting any gas. I'll have to try going to some other pump later.
Meanwhile my wife with the EV left the house with a full tank, just like every day. Zero minutes spent waiting or failing to dispense energy this week for that vehicle.
Let's be honest about the pros and cons of each.
Yes, I do see those often enough. Maybe once a week, so way more than 0.01%
But of course, even the tiniest of gas stations has multiple pumps, four is the smallest I recall seeing and the smallest one around here is 8 pumps.
One or two may be out of service regularly, but in more than 35 years of driving I have never pulled into a gas station where all 4/8+ pumps were out of service simultaneously.
And then, even if that happened, given the way gas stations congregate, there is another one across the street which will be working.
You’re going to hear about the negative experiences because that is what people commiserate about. It’s human nature.
Especially when compared to owning a second care with an ICE just for the occasional trip.
And then there is my friend on a fixed income that's realized it's cheaper to rent a compact car for long drives. Same as above because having the car break down in nowheres is expensive quick.
2. Cost: the rental cost is actually only a small portion of the cost. Extra insurance and other fees end up more than the rent itself.
Your car will depreciate regardless of that road-trip, just by virtue of time passing. Rental companies won't subsidize the wear and tear for you, so you have to pay that anyway.