5 mins is like 50 gallons of gas, which is a very, very large gas tank. That's like larger than a Ford F-350 gas tank.
My car's gas tank fills in like one minute, if I run it fairly close to empty (which is rare)
Assuming we’re just talking about driving around for errands and not things you use a truck for, this would still be impressive.
Family and I used it for moving across state, and with no load (or very light load, no trailer) and a full tank it could make a 700 mile journey in one go with fuel to spare. That included going up a couple mountain passes.
Fully loaded (20ft enclosed trailer and truck bed), it still made about 500 miles of the way before we needed to refuel.
Worth noting, we found the mileage wasn't actually affected in any significant way by any cargo we hauled. It was pulling that trailer, regardless empty or loaded, that reduced mileage (aerodynamic drag!).
Street driving is less efficient than freeway driving, obviously, but with a ~40 gallon fuel tank it should still make stopping at the pump a very infrequent event.
In any case, it's a redundant point because it's unlikely a battery fluid system would be designed in the same way as old fashioned gas pumps. More likely, it would clamp on and you can sit in the car or take a small walk while it does it's work. Gas pumps are designed to be handheld because they are fast. If it took 5 minutes to pump gas, we would probably have redesigned these by now too.
Pull up, insert card, insert filling handle, start, lock on, step to the side to avoid fumes, when it clicks off you put up handle, put gas cap on, drive away.
Electric cars have a lot of pluses, but refilling the tank as quickly as gasoline or diesel isn't one of them. I can drive at highway speeds for over thirteen hours on two refills of the tank, each of which takes less time than walking in and using the restroom.
So maybe some people need forced breaks, but I don't, I can decide myself where I want to do my break and it is not at a gas station, with gas station food, has station atmosphere and gas station prices.
Are you saying that the charging stations between the two aren’t being used, and at more than 20 minutes at a time?
But I guess the long time that electric charging takes is usefull. You can spend it on mental gymnastics that being forced to stop more often and for longer is somehow better.
Where in the world is that still a thing?
Oregon just this year finally changed its state-wide mandate that all pumps at a station be Full Service to half Full Service and half Self Serve. Yes, it's mandatory for stations to have Full Service pumps in Oregon.
Further reading:
https://www.oregon.gov/osfm/pages/self-serve-fueling.aspx
https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/2023/08/self-serve-gaso...
https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2023/03/20/house-passes-b...
Outside of that, there's a full-service station down the street from me, but it's about 30 cents per gallon more to get full service (though it is full service and they will check your oil, tire pressure, coolant, windshield washer fluid, etc., and refill the washer fluid and air up tires). It's the only one I know of at all outside of those two states (though of course there must be others still out there).
> Oregon has removed that.
If you want to fill up all the way, there is a little switch which locks the pistol so you don't have to hold it and it will shut off automatically. It's that easy.
Also worth remembering that time is spent inhaling carcinogenic fumes.
I try hard to stand away from the pump, and will jam my gas cap in the handle if it doesn't have the ability to lock it on.
That's not even farfetched if your car runs on methane.
Yup. Roadtrips are rare in my life, and worth the wait. Gassing sessions out of my weekly experience? Life change. I do miss the squeegies though.
When you do sub-2h trips on a Tesla, you don't need to fuel at all. The car charges at home, you spend no time whatsoever on the act of fueling. On longer trips spanning 3+ hours, when you plug a Tesla, you might be charging for 15-20min but the attention budget you dedicate to the act is on the order of 20s. You stop, plug the car, walk away and go eat a taco or buy some groceries or empty your bladder, or watch a video in the car. You'll physically arrive maybe 10-15min later than a gas/flow car (assuming no resting), but you'll have mentally dedicated much less time to the act of replenishing the spent energy.
To me, this is more than worth it. Over a year of driving and commuting and road tripping, I spent a tiny fraction of what I would have on the act of starring at or thinking about an energy replenishment device.
The idea of frequently babysitting the refilling of a liquid in my car is obnoxious.