The joys of not going to a petrol station….. Let me tell you, it’s surprising how much I don’t miss going to a servo.
That said, all that joy comes crashing down when I have to charge while traveling…..
The fast charge (level 3) only takes you to 80% charge. And then it stops. Stops. Not switches to trickle charge. No, it stops dead.
Don’t get me wrong, the public stuff so far has been really good. It sends an email when you hook up, an email (with cost and energy) when it stops and I’m told (so far, this has not happen) an email if someone disconnects you.
No, the drag is that the last 20% takes a while to put in, and when you are driving, it feels like that first 20% gets you 50% of the way.
It’s just a fact of charging lithium batteries. The last 20% has to be done at level 2 or level 1, ie slowly.
The other drag, or fun part, depending on your tech level and attitude, is finding a place to charge…. See the fun part about having a standard charger plug is that there are so many standards to choose from. The result is that I have three apps on my phone and two NFC – touch cards in my wallet to find and pay for a public charging point.
Some are paid (the fast stuff generally) and some are free – mostly level 1.
Some are near malls and places of interest some are not.
Here I am filling up at a free level 1 charging spot while we are doing our shopping.
The free stuff is about 4 miles an hour, so yeah, not all that exciting… Just like this photo… but it shows that the charging point is on the drivers side of the car and is accessed via a little panel just like a petrol car is.
Bottom line? Traveling any distance to a destination with an all electric car, for the moment, is a bit of a drag.
