Whenever EV drivers describe their 'charging experiences', all I hear is ordeals, whether they think it was positive or negative.

It could be so simple: side payment card and done, with the only worry being the power output. (Still a worry that gasoline doesn't have, but OK, I understand that that's a fact of this infrastructure.)

I'm not going to be interested until I am not required to install random proprietary apps on my phone to charge, but I can just use my payment card.

So much this. Requiring an app (be it on a phone or on the car) to use a charger instead of just accepting a credit/debit card is a huge problem.

Weird to make this complaint in an article about Teslas, when their charging stations work exactly as you hope. You just pull up, plug in, and leave when you're done. Nothing to install or log in or add payment details.

With my Ford, I don't need an app or a card. There are also chargers that exclusively use cards.

And that's Tesla. I don't even have to use a payment card, I just pull up and plug in. No drama, no fuss.

Electrify America chargers work like this.

Ok, let's compare experiences:

Gas: I'm driving West across the state of Colorado, I'm on I-70 in the mountains, with 2 other vehicles, they get dramatically longer range than I do. I can see 1-2 miles most of the time. My car tells me it's range, but I have no idea where the upcoming petro stations are, I just know that they're going to be "pretty frequent". So at 50 miles I start looking for a station. I pull off, I might have to wait, but usually no more than a few minutes, usually not. I have to mess around with the credit card reader. It's the better part of $100.

Tesla: I tell the car my destination and it tells me where I'm going to stop to charge and for how long. I pull up, I might have to wait but usually not. I plug in. It's free.

Which one is the ordeal?

Nav systems have been able to get you to gas stations for ages?

If you say so, seems plausible but I haven't seen one.

But, back to the point, where's the ordeal in the Tesla experience?

I've been driving across Europe for decades now, and I have not even once worried about not finding a fuel station on time. Even without nav each most highway stations have a sign stating the distance to the next one, so if you like the excitement of nearly running out you can, but otherwise you just fill up pretty much whenever. The term 'range anxiety' hasn't come into our vocabulary until electric cars for a reason I think: it just wasn't there.

In a very distant past the only worry might've been if I had enough cash currency of the country I was currently in.

It's a bit different in the US, there are areas where they have signs up saying "X miles to next services" because of 50+ mile stretches without stations. I distinctly remember years ago trying to figure out how fast I could go across a section of Montana without running out of fuel between stations, so it's not entirely unheard of hear to have "range anxiety".

There are some stretches of 100+ km sans fuel stations in Europe too. It still isn't a problem, since you simply don't need to drive as much near the end of your projected range as you will in an electric car.

Gas: I enter my destination into Google/Apple Maps, see my range, and pick a station along the way, preferably before I run out of gas.

Excluding Costco, I’ve waited at a gas station maybe 5 times in 15 years of driving across the US and in the world.

The one where the Tesla's battery system is miscalibrated and you run out of power three miles from the charging station it was routing you to. I'm a happy EV owner, but I'll never rent one again.

Meanwhile, to be fair, you don't need satnav to get to a gas station -- I-70 has signs a mile or two before every exit telling you which gas stations there are, just like the rest of the interstate system. I'd like to see another blue sign with charging stations, and which businesses you can relax in while you charge!

While the number of miles it shows for range is wildly inaccurate on the highway, the navigation does not seem to be impacted by that. When I've been unable to make the next charger, it has warned me a good hour ahead of time, and slowing down by 10-20 MPH has given me the range I needed. I've never run out before hitting a charging station.

I'm in agreement that I think they are terrible for most rental car needs.

> I don’t want an exceptional experience recharging a car. I want a mundane experience. Just like a gas station is.

I understand that but you won't get there by expecting it day one. These things take time.

It's amazing to me the Tesla was able to roll out the best and most ubiquitous charging network in the US despite being a newcomer in a field that had absolutely no guarantee of catching on any time soon.