this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 59 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yeah, this is bullshit. I charge my car at home by leaving it plugged in overnight. Costs me literally a few bucks a month to keep it charged. I don't even notice it on my electricity bill.

If I were charging at fee-based charging stations all the time, the story would be different, but who the hell does that?!?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We were looking at getting an EV without being able to charge it at home. Charging it at public chargers here in the UK would've cost about the same as petrol. But having to rely on the public charging infrastructure in its current state made us decide against it, at least for now.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Out of curiosity, why couldn't you charge it at home? Most electric cars can have their chargers plugged into a standard wall outlet. It's slower, but it works fine.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I live in a hilly suburb, there's a parking pad at road level which is far from my house and on council land. No way for me to install charging equipment. It's very common in my country.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yeah, that sounds like a fully electric vehicle wouldn't be a good fit, then.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Well not yet. We have to make it a good fit though. Can't keep burning oil.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I wish I could make it work, and it highlights some huge infrastructure issues that need to be solved before the combustion engine goes

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'd love to have one too but I live in the city now instead of the suburbs. My car is parked on a concrete pad in the alley behind my house, a good 80 feet from any electricity. I could probably charge at work though by just parking in the warehouse and plugging in to one of the many extension cords we have around.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean, if your employer doesn't mind, that could be a hell of a cost-effective way to keep it topped up.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm the VP so I'd better be able to get away with it lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I'm gonna guess you won't get in trouble for it then.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A bit difficult to do if where your living you aren't able to run the charging cable from the inside of your house to the outside.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Ah. Yeah, if you don't have any external outlets, that would make an electric car less practical.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Same as what others said. We basically don't have a driveway. The UK government is pushing for public chargers to become more reliable and easier to use though. This reinforced our fears that the current infrastructure may be unreliable but at the same time really gives hope that it will be good enough for us in the very near future. Our employer's office also doesn't currently offer charging, which some of our friends get, which is really nice for people in my situation.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I made a similar decision. The only garages available to me are unpowered, not cheap, and not even super close to my apartment door. If I felt I could get my landlord to build the infrastructure for parking lot charging and penalize ice vehicles for parking in charging spaces I probably would’ve gone electric

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is such a major issue. I genuinely wonder if we apartment and non-garage having individuals are going to be just shit out of luck for a long time. People normally don't care about us at all.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah I figure that’ll be the case. Like I mentioned it to my gentrification happy landlord and apparently they’d never even considered it

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

If you are plugging into an outlet in your garage (level 1) you are only charging up 3 - 5 miles per hour. Putting in a 240v 40 amp (level 2) will get you 20 - 25 miles per hour i.e. a complete recharge for current batteries in 12 hours.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Here in DK we are fine with public charging only. Still quite a bit cheaper than gas for a comparable car. And I suspect lower repair cost, (currently) free parking and eventual city closures for ICEs to be enough logical reasons for hesitant people. Personally I would have never bought an ICE. Felt bad enough getting a car at all.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

People who live in apartments and basement suites, basically anywhere with no garage. After 2030 or 2035 or whatever the deadline is there will be lots of people who have electric cars and no way to charge them overnight at home, so people will have to charge at public chargers everytime.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

People who live in apartments. Or generally places where they can't just plug in at home.