EV Road Trips Suck Now (Except in a Tesla)

[@connorgoss7786]

This is just a symptom of a much larger issue. Mobile apps are, by and large, teerrrrible. Having the sole method of access to a service require one is a recipe for disaster. Especially one that’s so critical.

[@agingwheels]

Today I downloaded an app to pay for a parking spot. I opened the app, set up an account, verified my number, and set a PIN. All for the app to tell me the parking lot was "unavailable" even though I was parked already

[@sonorioftrill]

Our company and this product is very important to us, so clearly everyone ever should download our program onto their devices and fill out an account just to use something that could just as well have been a website. After all, it’s not like you would ever use a competitors products too.

[@TheStopwatchGod]

The V4 superchargers thankfully have card readers built into them

[@drtauntsalot]

Where I live (in Scandinavia), they pretty much removed all parking meters and replaced them with an app. Thankfully that one app works on ~ 90% of all parking lots, and is fairly easy to use (except when I'm on my motorbike since it doesn't recognize motorbike parking spots). But it's a never-ending source of frustration for me that we are completely at the whims of one company to keep their app usable and up-to-date. There should be a law to force interoperability: all parking lots need to sign up to a common database, just use whatever app you want to interface with it, and pay through it. And then do the same thing with charging infrastructure: any app should be able to handle any charger, and pay the owner of the charging station. Imagine if you needed a new credit card for every different brand of gas stations. It's insanity.

[@3lapsed]

​@@agingwheelsI had one let me pay for a spot in a garage. Only to find out the garage is private for the building it was near and I couldn't park there. They let me pay AGAIN at a nearby lot though and then refused to refund me because I "took longer than the 3 minute refund window" to request it

[@Jessticks2319]

Can we all show some appreciation for the random person leaving such a helpful note for people not from that town .

[@Half_Finis]

11:47

[@AgentTasmania]

Unsung hero.

[@hydrolifetech7911]

I love the EV community. Note: not the same as Elon fanboys!

[@DragonZombie2000]

​@@hydrolifetech7911there's a massive overlap and they're all awesome

[@Zyghqwyv]

@@hydrolifetech7911 we just got an ioniq 5 and the first time we were at an EA charger, some guy came out of his car to help us figure it out since this was our first time.

[@loganrossignol]

OF COURSE I want to see you do another road trip when your Polestar can charge at Superchargers

[@QALibrary]

currently, that is only available in Europe because 74% of the network is already open whereas in the USA open sites are maybe can be counted on one or two hands

[@felio_]

I want to see this trip in the E-scape

[@pgiatrakis]

Great video and very effective in illustrating the difficulties of NON-Tesla networks. LOL, “ this would have been a much less complicated and easier video if he just used the solar powered 1000 mile Aptera that works on the NACS system because he would have been able to drive the entire trip without charging at all” Idk, I think the polestar is cool and non Tesla charging networks stink and would probably never use a Polestar for a road trip until I could use TESLA network. Besides this video illustrates the complexity nightmare of charging on a nontesla network and I’m not surprised because this is not a mistake but by design to discourage EV purchases and encourage ICE PURCHASES. That’s just me…

[@xureality]

​@@RobertCraft-re5sf35:27

[@cheesetomatoes]

@@RobertCraft-re5sf He explicitly made far more stops than necessary just to test the chargers. The Tesla he was driving is also the shorter range version that charges more slowly and can't go as far on a charge. ETA: Aging Wheels commented below that this trip would normally require two stops in total.

[@BenAsselmeierReal]

Oh my gosh. Just found your channel; I’m the one that wrote the note on the ChargePoint chargers in Cape Girardeau! (They have finally been fixed, by the way!) I have been telling people about the issues with the fast chargers here for a long time and it is crazy to see a quality video highlighting the exact thing I was talking about! The 30kW charger is just down the street from me and even in my Bolt I have to avoid it.

[@TheHarshil]

Thank you for that note!

[@5Puff]

cap

[@AznPrzsn]

Nice! I'm actually over here in Cape as well. I never use those faster ChargePoint chargers, but I do use the free slow on from time to time while at Schnucks! Super kind of you to leave that helpful note! I never realized what kind of a pain all these non-Tesla chargers were!

[@spazzypengin]

Know how to not deal with awful chargers? Don't waste your money on mobile e-waste appliances!

[@AznPrzsn]

@@spazzypengin Or just go with Tesla… haven’t had a bad experience in the 114K miles I’ve owned mine in 6yrs. There was once a wait ONE time, but I’ve had to wait many times or even go to a different gas station due to broken pumps

[@dwindeyer]

The reason I see this happening is because there are reasonable incentives to open a charging site but little to no incentives for operating them. So you see them pop up and degrade quickly, never to return to full capacity.

[@wemagor]

Is that what is going on? Is electricity so cheap that there's no profit in it? I've heard gas stations don't make much money on the gasoline, but instead they make money on soft drinks and hot dogs. There must also be some engineering design problems that cause the other chargers to be broken so often. I can't believe that Tesla just has so many people fixing theirs. I've never seen any technician fixing a Tesla supercharger. They just must not break as often.

[@sprockkets]

@@wemagor Tesla stations break as well, but they make their own equipment and do a good job with it. And they get fixed up rather quick. Since Tesla had no choice but to make their own network and their survival depends on it, they had to do a good job. But we shouldn't need that to be the case - people should just use reliable brands like Kempower to do charging because having Ford, GM, Kia, and others rely on Tesla is just not a good idea. It's punting. It's strange because all the other brands in the EU made Ionity, and that works just fine.

[@ironclaw6969]

@@wemagor Did you think all of those government bribes extended to operating the site?

[@simonmacomber7466]

This is why I'll never give up my gasoline fueled engine.

[@kolthahn97]

​@@simonmacomber7466We don't care my fren ❤

[@_Avrai]

This looks so fucking miserable. I cant imagine my parents in the middle of nowhere downloading a garbage tier app and troubleshooting the payment.

[@Zerbey]

Exactly what I was thinking, I cannot fathom how hard it would be for my technically illiterate Boomer parents to handle all of this. I'd be getting a lot of phone calls.

[@TheHughsie]

Same sh1t in the UK. I wish they all just had a card reader on them. One day when I get an electric car it’s gonna have to be a Tesla

[@wooffee2]

I had to do this in my road trip around Toronto bc the airport only had EVs to rent.. download so many apps and troubleshooting payment options lol

[@bigeyejim]

I am not a boomer, but I can remember when I had to stop an water my fucking horse. THEN, some bastard named Henry made a horseless carriage, and guess what. NO FUCKING GAS STATIONS. Fucking fucktards.

[@SirClerihew]

Hard agree. As opposed to: Roll up to gas station. Swipe card. Pump gas. Leave.

[@nukeclears]

Honestly it's pretty incredible how well Tesla has done in setting up their own charging infrastructure. Don't just sell the car, sell the entire experience sort of thing.

[@BigWheel.]

I would've liked if every other manufacturer took advantage of that and used teslas charging hardware to boot.

[@gavcom4060]

@@BigWheel. it’ll be that in a few years

[@modarkthemauler]

Tesla is not a car company but a power company. Can't sell you power without a car to use it.

[@peterzerfass4609]

Yeah, It's almost as if Tesla understands that people don't just want to buy cars - they also want to drive them. What a novel concept! I wonder how long it will take for 'old auto' to figure that one out. Seems like they haven't managed that in the past century sooooo...let's hope for the future?

[@MrMartinSchou]

The interesting thing to look out for is how fast they'll charge non-Teslas when that becomes an option. E.g. are they going to dump 150+ kW into Teslas but limit non-Teslas to, say, 70 kW? Time will tell.

[@philipf2705]

these types of videos are what puts pressure on electrification to become better. Thank you for the good work you are doing

[@catbert7]

This is more to inform consumers. Tesla providing an overwhelmingly better alternative that is stealing massive business from the competition is what puts pressure on. EVs would be nowhere without them. Informed consumers help though.

[@DeviantOllam]

This was not only entertaining but was also an incredible and comprehensive rundown with so much data in it. I'm sure you enjoyed the trip, yeah, but also just the same thank you so very much for putting this together!

[@raven4k998]

yeah he does not need to hit 10% even close is the same as 10% it's just a few seconds faster a minute faster at most

[@robertberger8642]

What they said. 👍

[@jrr851]

@DeviantOllam - how many medallion qualifying segments did he earn on this road trip?

[@DeviantOllam]

@@jrr851 hah, he skillfully avoided all of them... Didn't have to set foot in Minneapolis once 😉👍

[@DarronBirgenheier]

I always love it when my favorite KZbinrs interact with each other...

[@Windows98R]

tesla driver here, I used to be really puzzled after seeing people swap chargers so much and now I understand why. The supercharger I stop by at a long commute has a shell CCS point in front of it. And whenever I'm there, I always see at least 1 person shuffling within the stalls and wondered why (since he was the only car there in all 4 stalls). I guess they are trying to get the one that actually charges full speed.

[@texmex9721]

My experience is not that a charger is not charging at full speed. It's that many do not work, or shut off after 2-3 minutes. The problem is these chargers exist because of government incentives. And they receive those incentives for whether the charger works or not. The biggest non-Tesla network is Electrify America, and it's actually something VW was forced to build because of diesel gate. VW cares for it like you would an angle braclet on home arrest.

[@dyj321]

I've totally shuffled in my tesla if someone charges next to me at a V2. Super annoying when it happens...

[@sonorioftrill]

@@texmex9721 Thankfully the government finally seems to be getting wise to it and is going to start having reliability requirements. Years to late and likely given no money for testing and enforcement, but at least it is some progress. As a personal aside, I don’t think how much people who come from a technical background where you have to assume every user might be malicious realize just how much of our governments and world is based on the idea that people and companies will act into good faith.

[@Hotspur37]

@@texmex9721 typical governement program throw out millions of dollars up front to companies to put the equipment in but not requirement for maintennance of that they actually work. SOme of the manufactures chargers cost $100,000 or more per charges where as Tesla SC cost about $40,000 per charger. Tesla actually turned down governement handout in one state because they would not add pay screens or card readers to their chargers.

[@RocketRay]

Had the same experience. We were coming back from Lompoc to SoCal along the 101 and stopped in Ventura. There were EA chargers across from the Superchargers. We watched an ID.4 pull in, fail, pull out, pull in, fail, pull out etc. 4 times and I don't think it was working right when we left. Never had an issue charging our Teslas. Still, Elon is a dick and I wish he'd GTFO.

[@VladTchompalov]

I rented a Polestar 2 from Hertz in Orlando. The Hertz reps actively tried to persuade me NOT to rent the car and get a Tesla instead. (I drive a Model 3 at home). After 15min, I persuaded THEM to rent me the Polestar I had reserved -- and had the same experience you had. I'd even done my homework on Plugshare and set-up the apps in advance. Chargers were hard to find, limited current and were sometimes full because they're limited in quantity. You'd have to be an engineer to figure this out. If you want regular people to hate EVs, give them a non-tesla for a road trip in 2023

[@FlamencoDeniz]

in EU you can use every charging station with every car. Having this flexibility with the unified CCS standard benefits customers. Not sure whether this is a concept that is understood in US from what I can judge from the video and its comments

[@davidj.9432]

I agree with this 100%. I rented a Tesla in March and had a great experience. Had a Polestar last month in Tampa, and it was HORRIBLE. Charging was inconvenient at best, and almost always slow, regardless of the charging location. Could not imagine dealing with that on a daily basis.

[@weaesq]

Not sure you should expect good charging experiences in Florida or many states in the south.

[@waynelewis9110]

@@FlamencoDenizThis is for the best. CCS1 charging is abysmal. With NACS, there is a chance to reset the public charging network. And Tesla is opening up its North American Supercharger network to non-Tesla EVs more and more everyday.

[@tdpiersonavoca]

FlamencoDeniz: We'll soon have a unified standard--the excellent North American Charging Standard (NACS Tesla plug). Your huge bulky outdated CCS plug is ridiculous, you all should switch as well.

[@GOICOBA]

That really left an impression. I did not know that these cars are so annoying to charge.

[@OutOfNameIdeas2]

If you only knew... In the real world 20% of them are broken and each and everyone of them needs a funny app to use. And they are slow and end up to costing more than a regular gas suv. It's a living hell to use a ev for roadtrips. The closest fast charger in Sweden near me is 40km away. The only one. Next one is ~135km away. Just pray you are able to pass them for where you need to go.

[@sslazer]

Whatever you do, never buy a an EV unless you can charge on the Tesla network! To me, owning a Tesla, I find it far superior to gas even for travel.

[@davidbecker4900]

I can tell you, as a Tesla Model S owner for over 8 years, charging at superchargers is a breeze and has been from day one. Most of my miles are long trips using superchargers.

[@OutOfNameIdeas2]

@@davidbecker4900 yeah for Teslas.. and not to even mention that the Tesla network is basically only half open to other cars and even the full network is uhm, Disappointing. You don't usually have the luxury to pass one of those is what I mean. And they also charge slow but not that slow.

[@SEVENTEENPOINT1]

@@sslazerOnly problem for me with getting a Tesla is giving Elon money.

[@SuperDorkenstein]

The charger's often aren't "configured wrong" when you can only get 60kW out of a 150kW charger. They are purposely configured that way, though it's very often a power limitation at the charging site that can/will be upgraded down the line. The owner of the charge site would rather get the chargers on the ground ASAP and set them up how they can right now, and then later deal with the massive undertaking that is getting a utility company to upgrade the available power there. Love the videos. More charging content.

[@Reahreic]

There is nothing more permanent than a temporary solution.

[@ram89572]

@@Reahreic Damn if that ain't the truth. When you get a temporary fix working then you tend to just call it good enough even though you originally wanted it done better. But once it is working at any capacity it is much easier to just say, "i'll deal with that another time. it is working for now"

[@graemejohnson9025]

Just a hint, it has been found, that behind the Fence.. tesla have Deasil generators.. to top them up, when weather is overcast.. Americas Largest Solar powered Tesla, Charge station.. Has Generators hidden behind a fence. google map it.. a mate was there.. and a tanker turned up, and refilled under ground tanks.. when he asked the driver, wtf? he said oh most tesla charge stations, have generator backup..

[@89five3five]

Then they should report its true output so motorists don’t get stranded

[@warmfreeze]

its a known thing that they tend to turn the chargers down depending on grid demand..

[@The8BitGuy]

Your experience pretty much matches with mine. We have a Bolt and a Tesla. So, in many ways, our experience is better than yours because with the Bolt as long as we're getting around 50 kw, we're happy since that's all it can do anyway. We're usually just happy if the station works at all. The Tesla is a totally different experience.

[@kynkai]

Hey, it's the 8BitGuy! Hi there!

[@dara7678]

Imagine fleeing from a disaster with an EV

[@loading...7583]

I have a Prius. Never have to worry about stupid chargers. lol

[@888fatboy]

@@loading...7583: Over time, I have changed my mind on hybrid vehicles. I now think they are a great complementary option to EVs. If you drove an all ICE vehicle like a non-hybrid Camry or a Corolla, you would be putting out more pollution than with your Prius. The kicker is that a well-maintained Toyota will easily last 200-300K miles, all the while pumping out their level of pollution. The Prius emits fewer pollutants per mile and can last you a very long time. So, I say your driving a Prius is a good thing in the greater scheme of things. 😊 We own a Tesla and do most of our charging at home at about 14 cents /KWH. Road trips have been easy as Tesla’s GPS navigates to charging stations along the way. Pricing is about 45 cents/KWH, but fast. Sometimes the charge is quicker than the time I need to make a comfort break-I’ve had to rush back to the charging station to disconnect to avoid the standby charges.🤨 Tesla will advise you when you have enough power to make it to the next charging station which may be less than a preset total (e.g., 65% vs. 95%). So the driver has a choice to keep charging (time) or just get on with the trip. 🧐 the charging experience is not as troublesome as some would make you believe.

[@MrSGL21]

@@dara7678 i can imagine it. I can imagine it pretty well. I live in southwest Florida. in 2017 i bugged out to my folks place 200 miles away to get away from Irma. the state was stripped clean of gasoline. i found ONE station on 27 that had gas, topped up and filled a gas can. i used that fuel to return home 3 days later. Had I been driving a Tesla I would have simply drove to my parents house and then plugged in a charger in their houses dryer port and drove home after a full charge. there was NO GAS AT ALL on my way home. none. when i got home the fuel light was on and my range estimation in my car was 23 miles. i had left my other car at home, which got partly flooded, but it had a full tank of fuel. i was able to buy gas two days after the storm but my power didn't come back on for 5 days. For Ian I didn't leave the area but rode it out in a stronger house across the county. it was 3 days before we could buy gas again. but 1/2 the co had power including the super charging station at 75 and colonial. ofcourse If i had an EV i could have meme'd it and hooked it to a generator too. mater of fact when i was low on fuel after two days I did use my EV, a 500 watt electric bike, to get around the area, and charge it off my little champion 1700 watt generator.

[@alexmaclean1]

The most wholesome part about the ev community is the helpful note left in the broken charger at 11:50

[@salvadormonella8953]

I haven't looked at the note at your time stamp, but my, possibly jaded, perspective is that the EV community is about as actually helpful as their virtue signalling will take them. It's all good while they can smell their own farts. When they can't be the savior of their own movie world, their thirst for EVs diminishes until only the true believers, and engineers, like the concept. For proof, scan historical Tesla forum posts. The thing Tesla drivers like MOST about their Tesla is the driver. That guy/gal is SO COOL he saves the planet before breakfast, using their Model S as their trusty steed. Reality doesn't matter, just appearance does. The true purgatory of the spiritually bereft. Expect MUCH MORE of this form over function nonsense as China starts to dominate the political landscape. They're all about "saving face." So long as it LOOKS GOOD, what's inside doesn't matter. A society built on a false front. The US has largely been a nation apart from this nonsense. The US has mostly liked to DO GOOD, while Europe has liked to LOOK good, and for Asians, it is in their blood. Call me old fashioned, but I was taught to "under promise & over deliver." For everybody else, it's been ingrained from birth "say whatever you have to, to get the deal." The former is in it for the long haul. The latter doesn't care. They've already spent the money. Now that I've drawn a virtual line in the sand, I'm going to go look at the note at your time stamp. if it is as I predict, I will leave this post intact. If it isn't, I'll erase all trace and I'll be the latter, while pretending to be the former.

[@salvadormonella8953]

I guess I'll add a footnote to my comment. I've looked at the note, and it doesn't, nor does, prove my point very much. Drats. What it does is bring up a separate, possibly completely off target comment, and that is to the person who wrote the note, and all others that read the note, or make note of the note, or think the note is noteworthy: "Thanks." "Every likes to complain, but few ever think of doing anything about their complaint themselves." Be the solution. Note-writer: what did you do to FIX the problem? Did you call someone? Did you even try? Or was you planet saving constrained to writing a plaintiff and self-congratulatory "note" to others? If the latter, it's better than nothing, sort of (but not really). If the former, clearly you were ineffective. Don't try harder next time, do harder. Effort without results is just wasted energy. "Be the ball."

[@automation7295]

What if the helpful note was left the owner of the property?

[@Jacosmi]

@@salvadormonella8953Stop yapping. Teslas suck because they’re worse for the environment, built like crap, and because of their crappy business strategies that hurt the industry. It’s not the “people.”

[@cadosbeene]

@@automation7295basically saying “The chargers have been broken for months. Don’t waste your time and go elsewhere”

[@earthling_parth]

20:01 That excited feeling of seeing someone else having the exact same car as you is relatable 😂

[@pepstein]

Making the same trip in the two EVs was a brilliant idea, and switching back and forth between them makes it really obvious how much better the Tesla road trip experience is: faster, less stressful, and just plain easier. Tesla deserves a lot of credit for showing everyone how good it can be. I’m so glad other EVs will soon be able to charge at Tesla Superchargers.

[@dodegkr]

It was always coming that they would allow this, personally I hate the idea, 8 years of perfect charging is about to be ruined.

[@BenjaminSchollnick]

If only Tesla's had CarPlay... Then I might consider one....

[@losfogo7149]

One thing i don't really fet is that here in italy you see a lot of Teslas but no superchargers. I know the distances are much shorter than the US but it still makes no sense to buy a Tesla when it costs more than a comparable ev but you don't have many of the perks that make its purchase viable imo.

[@gregkramer5588]

I would be careful not to extrapolate too much from one video. I have a great charger CCS near me (EVGO) and plenty on some routes from DFW.

[@pepstein]

@@gregkramer5588 the general pattern is very clear. There’s a reason so many automakers are switching to NACS: access to Tesla’s Superchargers.

[@jaysuthers435]

They should color code charging stations like they do grades of gasoline. I've seen Rivians pull up to charge on a 100 kW station when there are two 200 kW and four 350 kW stations right next to it. I've also seen lots of Bolts use the 350 kW stations when they should be going to a lower rating machine to leave the 350s open for those who can use them.

[@andrewdiamond2697]

Great point.

[@Hybris51129]

Taking this to the next degree when you open up the charge port of your vehicle it should be whatever color charge ports it can handle. So if it can handle say 100kw and 250kw it has say blue and green stripes in it respectively while a car that can also handle 350kw will have an additional red stripe. Make it as easy for people who don't think to match the colors. Of course that still might not be enough.

[@jaysuthers435]

@@Hybris51129 Maybe the best plan is just to make all charging stations 350 kW. The car's charging system will communicate it's maximum capability and the charging station will adjust accordingly.

[@jaysuthers435]

@@snaplash I like that idea. Especially since my 2020 Bolt takes about 2 hours to charge in the winter. I find it quite unfair to have to pay by the minute. From 70-80% I'm lucky to get 20 kW charging. I'm holding onto it until something better and just as affordable comes around. I've got a preorder in for a Volvo EX30 but might bale out if the Equinox makes it to market before the EX30.

[@Osmosis909]

Great idea actually, would be incredibly useful.

[@brandenflasch]

I couldn’t have made a better show of this if I tried. Nailed every detail, added comedy and extremely well-edited. Great job, sir. Thank you for taking the time to make this.

[@roberts.wilson1848]

Tesla doesn't need to pay for adds. They literally get it for free for making the cars properly and giving the experience to the owners. Mind you the prices are a bit high and performance is high as well. I'd be willing to get an entry level compact hatchback tesla with a 25.000 price tag. Give it the 220hp instead of the 300hp in the rwd model 3, Give it metal roof and not that silly glass roof that is extremely sensible and expensive when it cracks Give it normal size 16" wheels and not stupid 18 or 19 or 20, because the larger the size, the more expensive tires get. Give it normal upholstery, none of that heated (and now) ventilated leather seat Give it 6 speakers instead of 17. And this is how tesla will get into the proper segment for european market, the compact hatchback that doesn't try to play the hipster role.

[@anthonyc8499]

Is there concern from non-Tesla CPOs that the ubiquity, reliability, and ease of use of Tesla Superchargers will tank customer visits to non-Tesla stations? Even if I owned an ID4, Ioniq 5, or Polestar 2, the allure of unlimited free charging gets negated by broken or derated hardware.

[@brandenflasch]

@@anthonyc8499The market adopting a single plug will make other operators that have their act together more appealing

[@Effervescent_Smegma]

Thank you for educating me on the 200-amp limit on chargers & polestar not being able to do 800v

[@scott8919]

I know for a fact, as much as I love EVs, this would give me massive anxiety from the amount of guesswork and luck involved with charging.

[@logitech4873]

Unless it's a Tesla.

[@solarcrystal5494]

EVs are a environmental scam because the roads are made of oil

[@jean-charlesweyland129]

@@logitech4873 Yeah, but they are meh. They look blend like a car illustration on a polish bottle, the interior is dull and every single thing is operated through software via the touch screen. I want a car not an iMac !

[@JJSmith1100]

@@jean-charlesweyland129 grammar police here, its bland not blend.

[@jean-charlesweyland129]

@@JJSmith1100 Sorry, I misspelled. Since I'm French, I hope you won't judge my writing skills too harshly.

[@photolabguy]

I don't plan on getting an EV anytime soon, but thank goodness there are individuals like him that beta test the future of EV. So many issues with these chargers.

[@fragge2926]

Unless you drive a Tesla...

[@Mar1s3z]

I remember someone rambles about why the Japanese don't do EV and how they'll soon be out of business. But as far as I've seen, the more EV are sold the more proven that the general infrastructure is still horseshit instead. Also I don't believe that proprietary technology from Tesla will help us much, just look at Apple and all their shit then tell me that's good for the industries. If one stagnated then they all stopped.

[@SoosRamirez1]

@@fragge2926yeah but if you’re going through the middle of nowhere you’re still screwed

[@99domini99]

That’s literally how I feel after buying an EV. A beta tester. Like, testing an unfinished product. I love the car but my god the unreliability of the chargers…

[@panderproxd8407]

@@SoosRamirez1 well then your car will tell you...

[@Sarge084]

As I've said so many times, range anxiety isn't the issue, charge anxiety most definitely is!

[@Linkwii64]

Bet that is EV owner worst nightmare. I won't upgrade anytime soon even with the EV trend.

[@sethgerwitz]

@@Linkwii64no problem w a Tesla

[@cbostic817]

I'm shopping for an EV, and this helped me alot.

[@asullivan4047]

So you've decided not to purchase an ( EV )-???🤔.

[@zacharyeversole]

It’s basically just which Tesla do you want at this point. Unless you have a gas car to do road trips in, a Tesla is the only one that can do local and long distance travel painlessly.

[@Best_Chuansatien]

@@zacharyeversoleAnother point of consideration in my country even you use Taycan you must race against mass of Chinese brand EV for a charger So i will get Tesla in my coming birthday

[@jarekmace1536]

There is a British EV channel that did something similar with a Zero motorcycle. He wound up with some 6 or more apps in order to charge, as every station seemed to have its own brand of charger. He was going about as far as you did.

[@dustojnikhummer]

Can you link the video? I'm interested

[@BobHannent]

I am in the UK and I have an EV that has a relatively low range (175mi) and the number of apps I have is insane. Then the fun that some of them forget your login every time, so you need to login to the app each time you want to use them.

[@muskop42]

it’s crazy to me that the only station that even had a roof over it (not counting the one inside the garage) was the station at the end, a lot of those looked frustratingly fiddly, and i can’t even imagine how miserable it’d be in pouring rain

[@stevendeckert6373]

Try it at 2 am in January when it's negative 5 degrees outside with 20 mph winds.

[@thomasphillips885]

The crazy thing is we already have a blueprint for places to go to put more energy in cars - gas stations! Just follow that design!

[@TheWinjin]

@@thomasphillips885 yeah, I don't get why EV stations are nowhere near as welcoming as gas stations. People need to be there for at least 15 minutes or more, make it friendly, have a roof, provide them with coffee and a croissant, or even a greasy spoon diner, so that they can have the fun experience of high tech charging and old school diner

[@BrunodeSouzaLino]

I can because EV owners love to vlog themselves charging their cars in all sorts of weather conditions whilst petrol drivers are just sitting comfortably under the large gas station roof.

[@brianturner4818]

@@stevendeckert6373 ...and you're only going to get half or less of the usual range due to the cold temps

[@human_brian]

Tesla is adding NFC payment terminals on their V4 superchargers in accordance with the rules for getting IRA funding to help build out their network. Those charger should also do 1000V at 350A or more for 350kW charging.

[@andykillsu]

NFC payments is not a credit card reader, but it is at least something

[@xureality]

​@@andykillsuthey are if your credit card supports tap to pay, but that'd be asking too much of banks.

[@theredmonkey]

V4 chargers were spotted in Sparks, NV awaiting install with a small screen, NFC, and magic dock.

[@wojciechmuras553]

​@@andykillsuI don't know how it is in the US, but in Europe, NFC terminals can accept cards no problem.

[@fragge2926]

@@andykillsu Most if not all credit cards can use NFC now.

[@Cinder-g2o]

@33:05 yes... yes they are.... Living in Arizona and the best speed I've EVER gotten on an EA station was in the 90's, and thats only happened once. Most of the time I average in the 60's or 70's. 2022 VW ID.4.

[@AriaLaurel]

“Tragically underserved” has definitely been a key part of my experience in a Non-Tesla. I’ve so far not had much trouble finding decent charging speeds at EA chargers, but the useful ones near me have so much contention that you’re pretty much assured a wait at them.

[@labowskidude]

I love that chargers and stations seem designed by the hostile architecture guys.

[@cabobs2000]

It's what you get when they are built by government grants. No CCS chargers care if they are good chargers. (EA is probably an exception, but that was a government punishment still)

[@TildaAzrisk]

I'm pretty sure the reason for the odd locations is that's its hard to find places with sufficiently high power electrical capacity for setting up fast chargers. This would explain all the chargers near hotels, as there would be lots electrical infrastructure for the hotels to connect up to. Same for other big buildings. Also, such such electrical infrastructure would have poped out of nowhere, it would have to have been built, and that means construction sites. This means there is an overlap between good spots for EV fast chargers and good spots for construction sites. Agian, good spots for big buildings. Furthermore I believe to locations for big bouldings is determined almost exclusively using satellite view, as satellite view is what make the most sense to put on paperwork. If something isn't visible from satellite view, then it can't be taken into consideration, as it's not in paperwork. This can result in buildings in weird spots. I imagine there is a long history of EV chargers that are in weird spots, next to buildings that are also in weird spots. Quite literally because it looks good on paper. EV fast charging is likely to have an unfortunate, sad future of being in locations that are not human friendly. Things like sidewalks are not very noticeable from satellite view.

[@Cowboy77]

This video just seems like a public service out and out. Doing these trips, showing the experiences so people know what they might be getting into. I, for one, thank you. And would love to see another road trip in the manner you suggested.

[@simonmacomber7466]

This video just seems like an advertisement for Tesla.

[@obeseperson]

@@simonmacomber7466if you think THIS puts tesla in a positive light I dunno what to tell you

[@salvadormonella8953]

I kinda agree, although nothing here is noteworthy to anyone with a minor modicum of analytical ability who hasn't been locked in a freezer somewhere. I thought this video as a good public service, as you mention, with a different one of your "outs" from the list of "out and outs," and that is one to the KZbin video community. While the substance of the content is predictably predictable, I thought the team that put this together did a great job, video-wise. Its as if it was professionally done. Many camera angles, good script, good editing, excellent acting, the whole package, is awesome. From the EV community's perspective, do they every learn anything, really? Perhaps 10% do. 90%: they're just in it for the smell of their farts. Me, I won gas guzzling cars and Tesla stock, so I'm good. 👍 My cars don't guzzle gas out of spite, or intent. It's just that they're performance vehicles. I don't drive much, but when I do, I like to get to my destination BEFORE I've left for it.

[@Erickruiz562]

Just what I needed to watch. My wife and I are directors of our farm business and own property, plus small pensions. I am nearly 55, my wife is 52. We have started to save to retire from the farm, and possibly live on rental income, I'd really appreciate you go LIVE and talk about how to earn passive income online and retire comfortably, let’s say $1M.

[@JimmyA.Alvarez]

For the average person, the strategies are fairly demanding. In actuality, most professionals who have the necessary expertise to pull off such trades effectively carry them out.

[@BeverleeR.Ziegler]

That's impressive, have you always had guidance?

[@BeverleeR.Ziegler]

how do I go about it the right way. I’d love to use similar terms as yours.

[@DeannaMurray-zv]

Thank you for this tip. it was easy to find your coach. Did my due diligence on her before scheduling a phone call with her. She seems proficient considering her résumé.

[@JanineJ.Cromwell]

Since meeting Expert Jennifer, I now agree that with an expert managing your portfolio, the rate of profit is high, with less risk.

[@notmuch_23]

At least at a Walmart, Dollar General, or other store there's something to do! The hotel locations I'm sure are meant for guests staying at a room. In that situation (and ONLY that situation), chargers make a lot of sense, but they don't need to be _rapid_ chargers. It would be great if gas stations put in charging stations, and situated them like single-deep gas pumps. Then the stations can have things to do inside, like arcades, TVs with tables and chairs to eat hot food and drink beverages people buy inside, the station will have a captive audience they can capitalize on if they configure the place correctly.

[@stylesrj]

So a Truckstop?

[@notmuch_23]

Yeah, but with chargers, more prevalent, and not catering to truckers @@stylesrj

[@mikecumbo7531]

There is a Pennsylvania based gas/convenience store company , Wawa, that has been installing Tesla chargers at their stores. They have between four and eight chargers per store. Hilton has a deal with Tesla to install 20,000 “universal” chargers at Hilton hotels in 2024. At least six per hotel. Universal means they will be configured to work with any EV. Wawa is in PA, MD, VA, NC and possibly other states. The Hilton/Tesla deal is for the US, Canada & Mexico.

[@notmuch_23]

@@mikecumbo7531 Wawa obviously knows what they're doing then.

[@mikecumbo7531]

@@notmuch_23 Wawa sells sandwiches, soup, snacks and has restrooms. They aren’t dummies. Some of the truck stops need to add chargers to keep pace. (US truck stops sell gasoline for cars). I don’t know how Tesla decides on charging locations, but the power companies need to keep up.

[@DepletedWisdom]

The thing is with these being connected to their apps they should know when a charger is broken or underperforming. So if any are bad they are choosing to leave them in poor condition.

[@neilkurzman4907]

Apparently, tesla knows not only what chargers are broken, but whether they’re being used or not.

[@TheTalonts]

THIS! And when he got to the one where someone had taped up a sign that they had been broken for months - they clearly would see that those chargers were earning zero/near zero income, and would know to check them out. They're too damned cheap to maintain them.

[@Tschacki_Quacki]

"should" I know from calls with service employees that - I s**t you not - some of them have absolutely no clue when a charger is offline or not working as it should. It literally takes a phone call from someone to notify them. "Oh yeah... I can see that the charger is offline. We'll send a technician tomorrow morning." - The first time I've heard this, I started fantasizing about visiting those goobers, death, destruction, etc. Just thinking about it makes my blood boil.

[@Irreve-rsible]

Yes, that was my thought process immediately. It also allows them to get other kinds of data collection along with that I would boldly assume, but I am not absolutely sure on that and to enforce the maintenance of the stations.

[@UltraSuperDuperFreak]

Well why should they repair them, if we are supose to switch to Tesla in 2024. We are basicly nearly there. 2.5 month to go.

[@chrisblum2194]

Great video comparison! One thing not mentioned is that in a Tesla the car figures out which chargers to go to and how long to charge. I just did a road trip from Raleigh NC to Bel Air MD (440 miles) and had to stop to charge once for 15 minutes. By the time I went to the bathroom and got a snack, the car was pretty much ready. Without the Tesla supercharger network, it would be a big hassle and stressful.

[@mndlessdrwer]

If I remember correctly, once your state of charge falls to a certain amount (relative to where the nearest charging stations are) it asks you if you want to route to a charging station. It's actually fairly convenient to live with a Tesla (with the minor exception of tire replacements. They wear out relatively quickly compared to ICE cars and the cost for compatible tires is a bit high.)

[@JimmyDorff]

FYI, the Polestar also does route planning and figures out charging stations to use. I honestly like the Google Maps app in the Polestar better than in my Tesla.

[@Brians256]

The Tesla route planning was the biggest factor in easing my charging anxiety. I know apps exist for CCS and even a few that say they are better than Tesla's, but I've never had a problem with built-in planning app. Again, it just works and I don't have to worry about it.

[@m4rvinmartian]

*See, it's BS statements like this that make me think you're a shill for the EV industry, or just stupid.* Here is a FUN FACT! Almost every mammal that urinates a liquid does so in nearly the exact same amount of time. Always under 30 seconds. I can choose a snack in 1 minute. I've never seen a line that was more than a couple minutes at a gas station. So, that's 4 minutes. That makes you a liar, by and large.

[@andrewbaskett8581]

@@JimmyDorff I do that though that in a tesla, it will tell you how many chargers are available live on the map so you know if its busy/full etc. I live in DC and some of the big stations can be busy as alot of people are passing through or live without charging at home.

[@dienotale]

“This is where the introverts park” 😂😂

[@SchuylerMartin45]

I went across the country from Denver to New Hampshire in an EV6 in late 2022. My experience was this or worse at every single Electrify America station. I didn't even get to use the free credit that came with the EV6 at most stations as the app continually crashed, let alone the constant charger issues. We almost got stranded outside of Cleveland as all but 1 charger at a state rest stop was busted. Outside of the set of chargers across the highway (at the rest stop going in the other direction), there were no other options. Sadly even the complimentary Level 2 chargers at our hotels were often faulty. One hotel didn't even have one as advertised, quote "because a semi truck took it out months ago". The infrastructure is inexcusably poorly built and thought out. These apps are faulty. Something needs to be done, and I'd prefer to have more than 1 reliable long distance charging option in the country.

[@djhakase]

First thing I did on getting my Cupra Born EV was install and register every charging app for every station within 1000km of my home in Sydney, Australia. A dozen apps, all prepared with my payment details, just in case I end up at one of these. It's got to get better.

[@EggBastion]

Google play has removed permissions for these apps that have not been used recently...

[@dankallish5998]

That’s a LOT of opportunities for sensitive information to be stolen.

[@grahamleiper1538]

In Scotland I have two cards and a couple of apps, but that's in addition to Tesla chargers.

[@theguy9208]

If gas stations were invented in the last decade im sure it would be very similar trying to fill up with gas. The solution is a big wall to line all these corporate plunderers up against.

[@Tschacki_Quacki]

Fully agree but is roaming not a thing in AUS?

[@NerdofNorthStar]

I have an older Tesla and I still get range anxiety in the Midwest because of the supercharger spacing is still pretty far. Hopefully with the additional cars they will add some more stations between the ones that are 140 miles apart.

[@calofc01s]

I would recommend selling any older Tesla for a newer one. Simply due to charging and parts

[@BigWheel.]

​@calofc01s doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of it being a "green" vehicle with low maintenance? Teslas haven't even been around for what, like 25 years at most? So if the "old" ones should be replaced after 2 decades, isn't that kinda bad? Why can't I buy a tesla keep it for 40 years and keep getting parts for it? What's so hard about that?

[@violetsteele350]

And I hope you can get one with a longer range, because there are still highways in the west where GAS stations are 170+ miles apart.

[@TheCoolDave]

And in that 140 miles, each way, there is 100's of Gas stations..... It just shows how the EV charging network is not even close to being ready.

[@TheEchelon1619]

@@BigWheel. to be fair. Tesla takes out the batteries from Old Tesla's and hooks them up to their powerwall line of products.

[@TuckaBuck89]

Halfway thru your video. 5 things: 1,What does "complimentary mode" mean? Maybe I missed that explanation. 2, How many miles between charges? 3, How long at each charge? Did you charge fully? 4, Did you take the shortest best route, e.g. interstates v lesser roads that may entail driving thru cities and towns? And did you have to veer from the shortest route to get to a charger? 5, Advance planning- how much time went into that? And do you have to subscribe to various energy networks ahead of time to get the service, as you pointed out not too many credit card readers out there. Maybe this will be explained at the end.

[@RonScheidler]

This is the best EV charging experience video I have seen to date. Well done. As a Californian Tesla owner with friends who own non-Teslas, I'll say that our collective experiences have been very similar. But, I'll add... My biggest anxiety is not reliability, but availability due to usage. That's an entirely different issue to deal with right now.

[@kurtvanluven9351]

Nailed it, and it isn't getting better. * I noticed and I still drive regular cars.

[@RonScheidler]

@@kurtvanluven9351 My Tesla suits me perfectly for day to day driving and shorter trips. I still have ICE cars for longer road trips.

[@dustojnikhummer]

Imagine if gas stations required an app instead of having a booth or a payment terminal

[@luciflash]

I don't see that as an issue. Instead of pulling out your wallet and tapping the card you pull out your phone and tap the app.

[@EdDale44135]

And they were unattended, with all pumps broken.

[@dustojnikhummer]

@@luciflash So, a payment terminal? That still doesn't require a mobile app.

[@morganahoff2242]

This is one of the concerns about electric cars: the infrastructure for gasoline distribution is tremendously democratic. No one dictates which stations you can buy from, where you go using the gasoline you purchased, and you can even pay cash, if you want to leave minimal record of the transaction. It's a challenge to build an electric vehicle infrastructure, maintaining a similar level of democracy to which we've become accustomed.

[@EdDale44135]

@@morganahoff2242 I don't see why the chargers could not be part of a similar network of gas stations with the same basic look and feel as a pump. They are 90% of the way there. These various companies are acting as if there is no need for a attendant, no need for maintenance, no need for anything but a plug. It is as if they have never seen the impact of weather over a few years. Even at a flagship store he had significant issues.

[@bazilwreckerloughead]

I'm kinda surprised that most charging stations don't have a canopy over them. I'd love to see this in the Polestar when you have access to superchargers.

[@pdubyaz]

Or, crazy thought, cover them all with solar panels. 🤦‍♂️

[@bazilwreckerloughead]

@@pdubyaz That would be perfect!

[@mikecumbo7531]

@@pdubyazmight have to cut some trees to get good solar access.

[@apcolleen]

Imagine being in a wheelchair and having to assemble your chair in the fucking rain to power up. And then have to switch to another charger when the app lied to you amd its not working well.

[@Smidge204]

Canopies cost money and there's basically zero chance they'd have enough solar panels to justify the cost. Even with unlimited on-site storage you'd need a solar array maybe double what you'd have on a typical house (e.g. about 10kw) to charge ONE car daily under ideal conditions (70+ kwh). The economics just aren't there...

[@ronnie8274]

I just started looking into this. I learned some things here and by that, I mean I learned EVERYTHING. Thank you for all your work making this video. 😀cheers

[@topsofwow]

This is why I bought a Model 3 instead of an Ioniq 6 (not to mention it's cheaper). Superchargers make the transition from a gas car a breeze. Having to rely on a shoddy charge network was an absolute dealbreaker, despite all the cool stuff happening with non-Tesla EVs.

[@davidlewis4399]

Yeah you just have to suck up the depreciation and insane insurance costs instead.

[@topsofwow]

@@davidlewis4399 got it used insurance is $180 a month, not terrible

[@mikeincanada_]

@@davidlewis4399 New tires every 40K miles and wasting time on road trips charging doesn't do it for me. Fast charging doesn't sound very quick when you compare it to 3 minutes to fill a 10 gallon hybrid tank with a 500 mile range. How much of your vacation do you want to spend waiting on a charger?

[@JeremySpidle]

​@mikeincanada_ What ARE you doing to your tires??

[@topsofwow]

@@mikeincanada_ except 90% of the time you charge at home and spend 0 minutes refueling. And you never need oil changes so thatll cover the tire wear.

[@chocological00]

I did my first EV road trip on a Polestar 2 (rental) from SF to LA and back. My experiences mostly match with this, with the added fun of thanksgiving traffic forcing everyone to wait for 12 cars waiting in line in front of them to charge using 2 broken stalls and 2 working ones, while the Tesla superchargers on the other side of the road were mostly empty. It made me seriously reconsider my plan to switch to an EV..

[@FakedStick]

or switch to Tesla

[@darmou]

@@FakedStick I love my model 3 but if you need a different make of car may be better to wait for now.

[@friendlysnoworb6091]

​@@FakedStickrather not have a car with chinese sweatshop production quality

[@lkrnpk]

come on, it was like that long time ago, new ones are fine@@friendlysnoworb6091

[@FakedStick]

@@friendlysnoworb6091 right, did you saying same thing for your iPhone or Mac?

[@logitech4873]

This summer I went on a 13,500km roadtrip through Europe in a long range Tesla Model 3 and documented every supercharger session, including cost and kWh charged. During the whole trip (52 charging sessions) I encountered 2 or 3 defective chargers, but I was told about them by the car ahead of time and there were always like 11 other superchargers to pick from. Most of the chargers were open to other cars, so there would usually be a huge variety of EVs at the Tesla chargers. There was never any queues, and I always got the advertised speeds. (150kW at V2s, 250kW at V3s and V4s) I decided to try to charge at one non-tesla charger. It was an "Iberdrola" charger in Spain, which was located in the parking lot for a hotel I was staying at. It wanted me to use an app that was entirely in Spanish. Sure, I can use google translate and get through that. There was no guest option, instead it required an account. Where I got stuck was when it wanted my Spanish national ID number. Why does a paid charger need me to be a Spanish citizen?? So I was kinda just stranded at the hotel. I had planned my route with this charger in mind. I ended up having to drive in to the middle of Madrid to get to the nearest supercharger, and arrived with only 2%. All I learned was to never rely on anything other than the supercharger network. In any case, I'm glad it's opening up for as many people as possible. I've seen a lot of Tesla owners selfishly argue that it should remain closed, but that's dumb.

[@cousinjohncarstuff4568]

Would be interesting to see how long it would take on the same trip in a gas vehicle.

[@rkan2]

Yeah the latin speaking countries are fond of their tax numbers. You need not be a citizen but at least a taxable resident to get a NIE or similiar in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina and many others...

[@logitech4873]

@@cousinjohncarstuff4568 It would save some hours for sure, but we were usually more limited by fatigue than car range. The charge sessions usually doubled as lunch or rest sessions.

[@zincfive]

@@logitech4873 from this experience, it sounds like your lunch sessions are limited to hot dogs and chips or what ever else they serve at the gas stations or walmarts the charger company picked for you. Healthy AND tasty!

[@logitech4873]

@@zincfive "Walmarts" lol. Wrong continent. For travel days we ate a lot of fast food stuff, which was pretty great because I come from northern Norway where fast food is nearly non-existent. (My nearest McDonald's is 12h of driving away) But obviously when we arrived at our destinations we would find proper local restaurants and stuff. Some days we camped and cooked our own food as well. I ate a lot of great food in the various countries we visited.

[@GregOughton]

It's always seemed to me that interstate aligned chargers should be next to a mini-mall, with a couple restaurants, a convenience store, maybe an arcade, a small gym with showers, some desks where you could set up your laptop and do some work. Basically you should be spoiled for choice with how you'll spend the 30-90 minutes at that charger. Ultimately I generally prefer to travel by air because I have very limited PTO and spending half of it driving to my destination never appealed much, but if I'm gonna spend 1/5 travel hours charging then it should have something interesting there damn it!

[@ibruceeasily1728]

All that infrastructure for cars nobody drives.

[@mndlessdrwer]

I've seen Tesla charging stations in some really weird places, but those weird places are mostly when a charging station has been plonked down somewhere in the boondocks because there's no way you'd make it between the big cities nearby without them and there's woefully insufficient power delivery to the nearby small gas stations. Within larger cities, I've found that Tesla seems to be very fond of sticking their charging stations near malls, shopping centers, and particularly along the edges of Target parking lots. Pretty nice places to stick a charging station.

[@longmuskox4194]

Tesla puts SuperChargers and Destination Chargers where people travel with their cars. They have the data of millions of cars and where they travel. It may seem like a "weird" place, but if enough people start traveling there then that is what Tesla will do. Free the data!

[@mndlessdrwer]

@@longmuskox4194 The road area itself is normal enough, like, they'll almost always be on what could be considered primary thoroughfares between population centers, but it's a bit weird to find a supercharger station behind, like, a dentist's office. But sometimes it isn't based on where the most visited businesses are, or anything more surface-level like that, but based on where the power can be run most easily and where parking can be added without excessive cost or inconvenience.

[@longmuskox4194]

@@mndlessdrwer Of course, there are many variables to consider. Nobody thinks they are just plug and play. But, Tesla has the vast experience of doing it thousands of times and jumping through all the hoops accordingly.

[@kennixox262]

At a shopping center near me, the Tesla super chargers have no canopy.

[@Dom-Perignon]

Yeah this guy kept saying “what a weird place for a charging station!!” When it’s conveniently next to a Walmart or a hotel. Where do you want it to be????

[@Noksus]

Maybe if Electrify America wasn't operating in complimentary mode they could have money to employ people who could maybe fix their chargers?? Geez. Definitely want to see this test with the Tesla chargers, this video was great!

[@drumbrakes]

Charging experience in the UK is utterly different, yet still quite similar, with faulty chargers, dodgy apps, no card readers etc. The thing that I'm impressed by in both cars here is that they actually show your charging power in kW. None of the vehicles I've used are that helpful. The Peugeot Van tried to tell me in mph, and the BMW i3s just gave time to 100% which is useless if you want to leave at 80%. Luckily some chargers will show the power on the screen, but very few have a screen you can see from inside the vehicle.

[@EcceJack]

I'm trying to remember.. the Vauxhall van I use definitely shows me mph when charging (which amuses me a lot on the fast chargers!), but it might show the power somewhere, too? Or maybe you're right and that's on the charging station screens..

[@drumbrakes]

​​@@EcceJackCould be on the App? As a hire vehicle, I don't get to use the App, which is a (expletive deleted) pain when so many features are only available that way.

[@sebastianorye2702]

Have you looked into using the open superchargers in the UK? Im not sure where you live, but there are quite a few of them spread about.

[@drumbrakes]

@@sebastianorye2702 I looked. I have installed and registered with the Tesla App, then found none of the open chargers were within 50 miles of any journey I've ever done in an EV. I'm guessing it's only the quiet locations that are open. Motorway services are still reserved for Teslas so their owners can stay in Smug Mode while the rest of us struggle with GridServe. Edit: just checked again. The nearest to where I live is still 70km away, but there are now some nearish to the M6, which might be useful.

[@m_ism]

Need the update with the Tesla Supercharger layoff announcement. We were so close to greatness

[@jeesjees2]

This was very interesting. It goes to show how good we have it here in Finland: everyone uses CCS2 (even most Teslas) and this phenomenom of broken chargers was mostly left in the year 2019 or so. What we have here though is that with less price you get less amperage. The cheapest two charging chains (Autoliitto and ABC-lataus 24 to 35 eurocents per kWh) get sometimes limited power, but if you want to spend the extra money (45 to 50 eurocents per kWh) you can go to Tesla, Recharge, Virta or Ionity and get the full speed of your car. The app thing with credit cards is still a thing here though: card readers are only coming in now, with few examples present. They are a requirement for mass EV adoption though, as apps can be very difficult for the technologically impaired (and infuriating for the rest of us). We have plug and charge coming, but outside of Teslas it's considered a curiosity. But fear not, I hear the Finnish pride Kempower charger is coming to America! Enjoy Tesla like reliability, but only better cable management, and a display! 😘

[@LasVegar]

Love from Norway to kempower, my only problem is that they share CCS with CHAdeMO, especially when there are like 8 other CCS. Because you know there's gonna be CCS cars hogging the CHAdeMO once. And leave the other 8 spots empty, ps (written on a Nokia)

[@gkgameplaycz]

Actually, all teslas except the roadster use CCS2/Mennekis

[@ai4px]

@@gkgameplaycz I think the first model S and X sold in EU used the tesla north american plug. The model 3 and Y have always used the mennekis. cheers!

[@Iceeeen]

I can't justfiy the small diffrence in speed Between ABC and everyone else since ABC is much cheaper. + it's kempower so never had a problem.

[@gkgameplaycz]

@@ai4px Wow, didn't know that, since I've never seen a NACS charger in europe. I've seen the special roadster ones, but not the NACS. Is it possible that they retroffited older teslas to use CCS2?

[@mig6220]

Where was this video a little over a month ago? I drove the Polestar cousin Volvo C40 Recharge cross country and back. Baltimore, Maryland to Los Angeles. 2700 miles... We spent most of our time at Electrify America. Lots of overnights on empty Walmart lots. It's the creme dela creme- which isn't that great. We got the plus pass just for the trip. Some were down, but technicians roam the country repairing them(we talked to quite a few otw and back). BTW, the worst was Oklahoma. I won't say the name, but u did.... they required a $20 deposit before it worked. The price was the highest in the entire country. And it was pretty slow. Unfortunately, it didn't work. We kept trying. Unknown to us, it took $20 to hold EVERY ATTEMPT. We were down hundreds with no explanation. We had to ride backwards 20 miles while almost empty to a building in the middle of nowhere. Range anxiety was real. Luckily it worked! W had no idea what was going on. It also happened on a EA- turns out the auto refill wasn't working. Our bank didn't recognize the transactions, and blocked it. It just kept taking and holding our money. We had a few super extra slow inner city chargers that took half the day to get us 10-20% charge. It was great...smh We averaged 2 hours of driving to every hour of charging. Easily 30-60 sessions. Overall the prices weren't bad, but the headache made it not worth it. Go tesla, or don't go at all

[@berezzzzz8863]

Bro that’s insane how you had the patience for that. I drove from LA California to ATL Georgia (≈2100miles) in a diesel pick up truck , started Saturday 4/5pm got to atl monday 3amAM

[@KarnageKollectibles]

Yep this is why I'm a NO EV guy for now until this shit is all sorted out. I watched a guy who bought a brand new Rivia and he did a 12 hour road trip home and he had to stop so many times and 2-3 hours each time to charge up to get to the 'next station'. I'm sorry but gimme GAS all day to not deal with that nonsense.

[@mig6220]

@KarnageKollectibles tesla has the best system. I bought a Model S after this trip. There's no shortage of chargers. At least one lot of chargers on every exit of every major highway(it seems). Charging is as simple as plugging in ur phone. I even carry around a trickle charger that I can plug into any outlet b just in case. No more headaches!

[@connorhelsel6001]

Francis requires that deposit but then it goes away, so you weren’t down hundreds. Trust me though I don’t like it either, usually drive across most of the state to visit family and they aren’t very reliable.

[@capt_ramius]

A couple things to remember… 1. As you said, EA was started as VW’s punishment for Diesel Gate. The court ordered they build a certain number of charging stations, not that it be a pleasurable experience for the user. 2. Tesla is entirely vertically integrated in their own ecosystem, so their SuperChargers only have to work with only one vehicle… their own operating software, their own protocols, etc. We’ll see how they do when they have to work with other brands of EVs and more than just Teslas (PS I expect Tesla will still be better than EA does with every brand of EVs). Signed, An F-150 Lightning owner anxiously awaiting my SC adapter

[@ram89572]

Tesla is the Apple of cars

[@mattr3194]

I wish they would force a sticker on all Electrify America that says this charger is built and operated by Volkswagen ...

[@cadenswain158]

Are you going to use the lightning as a "real" truck or just a family mover/ grocery getter? My uncle bought a lightning and we both hooked up a trailer to each of our trucks. (he bought 2 Toyota sequoias which are large v8 suv). I pulled one and he pulled one 500 miles to home. I have a 1996 ford ranger with the 2.3l and 5 speed manual transmission and a 30 gallon tank. 100 miles in and he already had to find a charger that could fit a whole trailer. And a charger that would actually worked because 60 percent of them did not! I made it home 3 hours before he did. And only had to stop and fill up once. It was his first time using it as a real truck. He looked kinda pissed that a mid 90s ford with a 100hp underpowered engine did better than his 100k plastic piece of trash with a 65 inch tv glued to the dash!

[@ram89572]

@@cadenswain158 No such thing as using it for a real truck. EVs are not ready for towing. For now if anyone needs a truck to actually be a truck then they need an ICE version, not an overpriced toy

[@CampGareth]

In the UK and Europe non-teslas can already use superchargers and you're right there are problems. Some cars have showstopping software incompatibilities, some more minor things like plug location meaning you have to block two stalls. V4 superchargers may be better for compatibility but tesla are only the 4th or 5th biggest network in the UK so not critical.

[@volvodashcam]

3:06 If there is a gas station on the other side of the street, then just cross the street. A 1-2 minute walk can't be that bad? ;)

[@hadtopicausername]

Tesla has opened up pretty much all of their charging stations here in Norway to everyone (unless you drive a Leaf, that is), and it's heavenly. Add all the other charging providers into the mix, and the picture gets even better. Tesla is by far the cheapest provider, though. Yes, I have to use the Tesla app, but just like their chargers, the app just...works and is very simple to set up and use. And the V4 chargers will also have longer cables and the possibility of paying using credit card. I went into EV ownership in May this year, and it's been excellent.

[@Gazer75]

Yep, same here... All this video is showing is how bad the infrastructure is over there. Its like they are 10 years behind if you exclude Tesla chargers.

[@aisle_of_view]

Tesla is the most popular auto in Norway. Crazy that an American car company is doing well in Europe.

[@luisantoniostreams]

Norway is oil rich right? Find it interesting you guys don't use gas guzzling V8's like the Saudi's do. It's quite nice to hear EV's being popular there

[@hadtopicausername]

@@luisantoniostreams Norway does indeed have a fair bit of oil and gas. But big, thirsty cars have never been best sellers here, because they don't suit our roads very well, not to mention our fuel prices. We have a thriving Amcar scene, but that's an enthusiast thing.

[@nallebrean]

When I was driving this summer around northeast Norway around Russia border and Hamningberg (very remote areas) I realise, unless Tesla was out of reach, it was pointless to event plug in the other charges when I stopped next to them.

[@joshgreen2164]

Thank you. Electric isn't really an option for me yet but I love your honesty

[@Cstegg]

This is just for anything other than Tesla at this point. The Tesla Supercharger network is amazing. I do a monthly 450miles trip to visit family and with my lead foot driving 85-90mph... I find that for ever 3hrs of driving I need to charge for 25 minutes. Which is perfect for me since I travel with dogs that need bathroom breaks. I drive in the South East of the US.

[@sebastianorye2702]

What's holding you back? I.E. Price, Range, Tailored needs...?

[@kbouwman64]

Thank you for this video. My wife happened to be sitting next to me when I watched this and she started asking questions. I was able to pause the video and give her context for what you were talking about. I feel she learned way more than she realizes. We are not ready for a different car just yet but our next car WILL be electric. I have ben slowly and subtly preparing her for that. 😁As always, educational and a LOT of fun to watch. Keep up the good work Robert!!

[@da3dsoul]

Toyota fought the idea of full EVs, and they weren't wrong. They want to make vehicles that are good now, not in 5 years. Plug in hybrids do seem to be a better option for most people right now

[@josefzangerle4580]

hey guys here it is We "Amelia" my Tesla 3 performance and I went from Asheville to Nova scotia, Quebec city, the Great Lakes, Victoria, Cape Flattery, San Francisco, Mendocino, LA, Tajuana, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Austin, New Orleans, Key West and back home to Asheville. 13,850 miles, 35 states, 32 days, 96 charging stops, 2 times had to change nozzles (not working). I used only Tesla on board charging maps, not once I had to wait. This is only possible with a Tesla. Go do it guy's. Charging cost was $0.22 to $0.63 a Kwh on my trip average 3.5m/kw Crossing the USA and Canada I was ready for anything. In SF I broke a wheel but I had a spare and jack, changed while while charging. in Covington La. a Ford Lightening driver had to wait 4 Hours to make it back home (80miles 8KW charger) Qs ? leave comment thanks

[@originalambival]

Now THAT is a long haul.

[@BuzzinsPetRock78]

To give you a small insight in to how this works in the Netherlands: You make sure you have a charge card (and usually app) from your preferred provider (I have a shell recharge card) and that is linked to your bank account or credit card. These cards can be either credit card shaped, or a smaller version teardrop. It is accepted at just about all chargers in the country, and quite a lot in foreign countries too. Not just fast chargers, but all the public destination chargers as well. One exception a.f.a.i.k. are the Tesla chargers. (Although they too have CSS connectors here) If for whatever reason you either forgot your card or it doesn't work, there is usually a QR code on the machine to explain how to use it. I haven't had my electric car for long, but I have found the network to work reasonably well. I would probably also have less of an issue with there not being a charger at work, if I had one at home....but as this electric car is only a temporary solution, I won't install a charger here just yet. Maybe when I get a 'permanent' electric car. On a recent trip to Germany I did find their infrastructure with chargers to be lacking quite a bit. The hotel I stayed at was in a sort of black spot, meaning the nearest 42kW charger was on the other side of the city. And this was advertised as a 150kW charger, but neither port was that quick. At the expo I went to, there were 2 charging points....for an expo hall visited by thousands.

[@agy234]

Shell as in Shell oil? Ha, the American subsidiary would never do that

[@Suzumi-kun]

Yeah you're right, as a randstad resident who's had some EV trips to the north I can confirm it's basically like this. Slow chargers at almost every parking lot I see and fast chargers at almost every gas station. I actually have yet to see a supercharger though. Also when the charger in our neighbourhood had one side die it only took a day after calling for the company to come and fix it.

[@stekra3159]

@@agy234 Yes they have all the Petole stations so they have the cargersd

[@SewerShark]

@@agy234 You know nothing, John Snow. All Gas and Oild companies are working with renewals, and looking desperated to greenwash their bad rep.

[@Iceeeen]

Does Shell Recharge have resonable roaming cost in Netherlands? Cause where I live it's so crazy high that even though it's a company car I just can't justify spending over 1€/kwh to charge when downloading ap for the same charger it's down on 35c/kwh, usually charger with my own ap and send in the recipe instead. For charging network I have zero issues, actually Tesla is one of the worst here and it's on the expensive side also so never even used it. Also never ever encountered a broken charger yet.

[@cadman10000]

One thing to note is that Tesla regularly upgrades Supercharger hardware. There is a good chance that the V2 units that you stopped at will be upgraded at some point in the future.

[@ezpoppy55]

Interesting. I live in Sacramento CA. A mile from me is a Tesla Service Center. Just a mile or so further down the same road there is a Tesla Supercharger. In a parking garage. In the back of a mall (Arden Fair Mall). This must be one of the OG charging stations. It is V1, with 19 stalls - all 72 kW.😮 I wonder when (actually, I wonder IF) Tesla is going to upgrade it. It is right off a major Interstate (I-80), and even though it’s slow and the location in the mall is kinda awful, it is regularly pretty busy. (We have other V2 and V3 SC in the area, thankfully.) Because I live in town, I (almost) never go to the local SC, just charging at home. Unless I’m curious and just want to check them out with a quick plug in. Great video! I love the math here: EA + gas station + Dunkin’ = HEAVEN Safe travels, all.

[@AmericanBusinessman422]

Here in Florida, Tesla is not paying their rent for their superchargers which they have left in broken condition. It's an utter failure.

[@ReiniGrauer]

@@ezpoppy55 The big expense upgrading tesla superchargers isn't the stalls themselves, it's the electrical infrastructure supplying them. Upgrading the supercharger there would mean potentially trenching for bigger service cables to the utility poles, upgrading the poles or underground infrastructure itself, and the large transformers and DC rectifiers that supply the stalls would need to be replaced. Depending on the specifics of the electrical infrastructure at that location, it might be more expensive to upgrade a station than it would be to build a new station at a more convenient location nearby.

[@ezpoppy55]

@@ReiniGrauer Makes sense. Like I said, it’s often times quite busy there. That may be because of its location (just off the interstate), or maybe because it’s sooo slow, cars are plugged in for an extra long time. Probably a combination of both. 🙂

[@alpaljl]

@@ezpoppy55 My one guess to the stations at Arden Fair not getting upgraded is the fact the mall lost two major anchors, Sears & Nordstrom. Bummer. I like Arden Fair Mall.

[@sheputthelimeinthecoconut629]

I recently bought a PHEV and the amount of broken chargers out there is ridiculous. Now I only charge at home. To answer the question, I went PHEV before going EV to test the reality of the infrastructure and get used to EV life. Glad I did.

[@Tschacki_Quacki]

What car did you get? How far can you drive with the EV part of your PHEV and how many miles do you think you usually drive fully electric? Or are you using it in hybrid mode?

[@sheputthelimeinthecoconut629]

@@Tschacki_Quacki CX-90. I have it set to prioritize EV. Most of the time I’m able to do about 30-40% of my driving in EV. Averaging 28-32 miles of range with my driving style. Car is absolutely amazing, it’s the infrastructure that is disheartening. My problem is when we go out shopping or whatever and there are chargers around, 70% of the time they are broken, and the remaining 30% are typically in use.

[@thedopplereffect00]

I did the same thing. Started with a PHEV and ended up going with Tesla. Very rarely had anywhere to plug the PHEV in outside of home.

[@PherretPhil13]

Same thing here. I'm in Iowa with a Volvo XC60 T8 Recharge, and the infrastructure here sucks for full EV capabilities. But, in exchange for the gas capabilities, I only get slow charging. Hopefully, by the time I get my next vehicle, the infrastructure will be better.

[@nafnaf0]

I have a 2023 BMW X5 45e PHEV. It has about 30miles of real world electric range. It is not quite enough range to cover all my journeys around town, but about 70% of the miles in town have been in pure electric mode. It gets over 1000miles of range before I need to fill it up with gas, which is awesome. I changed the settings on mine to always start in pure electric mode. When the gas engine kicks the power transfer is pretty smooth. Overall very happy with it, it is just an awesome car, super nice. PHEVs aren't designed to be charged for longer trips and other than charging it my parents house, I have never successfully charged it away from my house (I tried twice, but both times did not work / were too much of a hassle for me to try to get working)

[@robkam643400]

I used Bolts for a few years, did hours worth of driving per week, it was not a good time. In the first half, CCS2 chargers basically didn't exist anywhere, and I was stuck charging for a very long time in bad weather conditions. In the second half, it added two hours to a 3.5hr trip. Somebody totalled my Bolt, and I got a Model 3. That trip is now only 4hrs. No real range concerns. And I got a CCS2 adapter, so I can charge off of those as well!

[@ProtoV33MK1]

A small correction on the ChargePoint stations at 11:32, unless those two were configured differently, you can pay by tapping a credit card on them. That's what I did on my first road trip since cell service was terrible in rural Maryland.

[@lagautmd]

As in Western Maryland? The Frostburg, McHenry, and Friendsville chargers are wonderful additions and pretty reliable in our experience.

[@ProtoV33MK1]

@@lagautmd yep, just not the best in cell service tho

[@ProtoV33MK1]

IIRC, the main reason they're reliable is that they're state-operated, as opposed to being operated by some random corporation that has no incentive to keep them working after the PR boost of installing them runs out. @@lagautmd

[@thatjeff7550]

That's what I do for ChargePoint as well. I loathe having to do anything app-wise with my phone so I've collected a series of membership cards to these stations.

[@ProtoV33MK1]

@@thatjeff7550 my Ioniq 5 came with a ChargePoint card with the Hyundai logo on it in the glove box to add to my account. Which was nice because I had lost the one free card ChargePoint gives you and would've had to pay $5 for a new one otherwise.

[@ModelA]

Great video, Robert!! I think the charging situation needs more truth like this. I'm tired of the EV snobs saying how perfect they are.

[@hivetyrant7]

I've literally never heard anyone say that non Tesla charging isn't flawed. It's also very much location dependant, I haven't had any major issues in a Rivian but I also do a lot of planning. NACS can't come soon enough.

[@CatTerrist]

You have never heard that because even the most uptight EVsnob knows no Tesla charging SUCKS

[@Gazer75]

Depends where you are tbh. Problem is the capitalistic nature of the US and the chicken and egg nature of this. No chargers = no EVs = no charging customers = no incentive to build chargers. Basically profits are probably not there. Its like the US is almost 10 years behind Europe when it comes to a proper charging infrastructure. Here in Norway 80% of new cars sold are EVs. We had a lot of charging queues some years back during vacation times, but that have improved a lot over the past 5 years.

[@shroomyesc]

I don't know that anybody's really singing the praises of fast charging. I think EV owners are just able to ignore it because with modern ranges you very rarely ever need to charge outside your home.

[@theredmonkey]

V4 Tesla superchargers have credit card readers and small screens and magic dock in the US. There is an install going in Sparks, NV. An owner spotted them sitting there and posted some pictures of them sitting in a corner waiting for install.

[@tomsixsix]

29:00 some V2 superchargers are 135kW per stall. Some very old ones are 120kW per stall (Moab, UT being one I encountered on a road trip) but this is very uncommon these days.

[@DroneFarmer]

I would love to see something like a Top Gear race between the Tesla and the Polestar (or other brand) where you select a start point and a destination and let the driver determine how they get there. Then tally up costs, time, frustrations, and show the results.

[@SpottedSharks]

Out of Spec's "Race to Vegas" series does exactly this.

[@w8stral]

Gasoline wins easily, and its not even close

[@asullivan4047]

Looking forward to that historically entertaining event-!!!😉.

[@berezzzzz8863]

@@w8stralhe didn’t say gasoline racing, it’s between electric cars

[@w8stral]

@@berezzzzz8863 No Shit Sherlock and why I replied. What he said has already been done and it is pitifully SLOW compared to ICE

[@JBoy340a]

Amazing. We have Teslas, so I have never used any other chargers. I guess we did not know what we were missing, and glad I had not had your experiences. There are 10 supercharger locations within 10 miles of my home in Northern California, with up to 20 stands at a location. Plus, the level 2 charger in my garage.

[@eriklarson9137]

Congrats. Is super over-populated areas an electric car is feasible. Neat. Come to the middle of the country and see how that works.

[@JBoy340a]

@@eriklarson9137 I have been to Texas and the Upper Midwest and not had any issues. The build outs are happening fast with not only Tesla, but places like Bucce's and similar roadside chains adding lots of chargers. And of course, there is charging at home which is where we most charge, just like a phone.

[@MylesHSG]

​@@eriklarson9137 That could be even better of you have land you can get yourself some solar and a turbine and drive for FREE

[@lkrnpk]

I mean if you can charge at home and you had 300 mile range on the car, it would work rather well... unless you live in a spot which does not have fast chargers for those 250-300 miles@@eriklarson9137

[@lachlanB323]

@@eriklarson9137 People in the middle of the county can charge at home. You only need chargers for people coming through. You can go anywhere in a Tesla including the middle of the country.

[@anthonyc8499]

This was brilliant. The clownshow that is the non-Tesla charging ecosphere was completely and accurately shown. There's a high likelihood that non-Tesla charging networks will experience a massive cliff drop in demand as everybody takes their business to Tesla essentially overnight. I twice used EVgo and EA three times on my last road trip and only had a single session that was problem-free.

[@zenster1097]

The idea you can't pay with your card via wireless pay on some of these is insane.

[@netzstriker]

This mirrored my experience as well. Thanks for the honest video. I rented a Polestar 2 from Hertz, going from California to Az and back this past week . First, I really like the Polestar 2, it deserves better fast charging. For my trip, all I used was EA chargers. For reference, gas car takes 5:30- 6 hours give or take one way, it took 8 hours plus each way due to the same issues you experienced and waiting for a charger to open up. I consistently got like 80Kw give or take charge rate. To be fair, I did only drain the battery to 30-40% to make sure I could make it to another charger if I had to. But it's bad when you are more surprised the chargers work on the first try and you don't have to wait for a charger to open up. From what I could tell, Tesla owners looked like they had no issues and plenty of open chargers when ever I passed their super chargers. I would try a Tesla for the same trip next time...but if I need to have more assurance of my ETA and less "adventure", i will just take a gas car...I really wish the state of charging was better. I hope the adoption of NACS does not create a bad experience at super charges in the near future.

[@pilot8766]

Well done! While many of us who own a single EV know this intuitively, it's interesting to see it in reality. I've been advising people considering an EV to buy either a Tesla or wait until 2025 models with NACS, as that's the only way to have confidence road tripping.

[@JesiErin]

So glad you took the time to document this! Such useful info!

[@massspecguy8538]

… just do NOT expect to do a road trip with an EV + a trailer … that would be a really horrible trip. The Tesla super charger at Monteagle, TN (time 30:14) was the only charge station I noticed that were pull-thru stalls. More typical stalls are meant to accommodate a single solitary vehicle. Having to unhook my trailer on a road trip (and park it somewhere) in order to charge the EV is a definite super negative! Thank you for your road trip adventures; I (for one) greatly appreciate you letting us know about what really is out and about.

[@kalasmournrex1470]

yea, unfortunately the cybertruck charger port is on the back quarterpanel, too

[@jameswilson4328]

I recently bought a Tesla model 3, and I'm looking at taking a trip with it on day one to get it home. This video helped me understand a lot of just how to use the superchargers and plan for charging on trips. Cheers!

[@diytesla]

I have experienced road trips on both superchargers and CCS chargers, and you are exactly on point. It’s such a pain to use these other networks.

[@LukeHague]

It's really great to see the contrast. The move to other manufacturers adopting Tesla charging seems to be the right direction to establish some sort of "standard" or at least consistency, which is a major thing that is needed. The idea of having a different app for each charging service you might be using is a huge turnoff for me.

[@popstars7037]

This is exactly why I bought a Tesla. I've done 1000s of miles of trips and its been flawless.

[@teardowndan5364]

Just came back from a ~500km round-trip visiting one of my friends, borrowing my mother's Bolt EV to help her put post-recall diagnostic miles on the battery pack. This was my first non-trivial EV trip that required interacting with fast-chargers, albeit the baby-sized ones. Definitely a lot more painful than I would have liked. For my first trip, I picked Electric Circuit which only has 50kW chargers along the roads I need to take. Seemed like a reasonable fit for the Bolt EV's 55kW DCFC power limit. The first problem I ran into is that those chargers can only push 125A, which limited practical charging speed to 43kWh for 0-60%. After 60%, charging linearly descended to 20kW by 70%, at which point I decided to terminate the charging sessions instead of getting screwed by time-based billing to 80% as initially intended. Not charging beyond 60% on those ever again, though some of it is likely GM's Bolt EV fireball prevention software limiting charge current. The application had various critical UI elements such as the "Session Start" buttons stop responding if I interacted with some other major application functions without closing the app between uses, which got old very fast. While scratching my head about it at the first charging stop, another user told me about how quirky the application was and that I should order a contact-less card instead. I'll be trying a different network if I ever borrow the Bolt again for another trip. The round-trip usually costs me around $45 in gas with my Focus, cost me $25 in electricity. Not much of a saving there... especially when I didn't have the luxury of heat for about 20km of that trip. How much did I like my first EV road-trip, charging annoyances aside? Probably in my top-3 scariest things I have experienced in the last year. Left my friend's home with 135km of "minimum" estimated range and a charging stop 107km out, thought that looked like a reasonable safety margin. Rain started about 20 minutes in, intensifying another 10min later and my margin melted like cotton candy by the time I was 25km away from the charger. Somewhere below the 19km mark (last number I remember reading), the range estimate changed to "LOW" and I reduced climate controls to the minimum necessary to prevent window fogging. Still 10km away from the charger, the power-limited mode kicked in and I gradually slowed down to 70km/h to maximize my chances of remaining blissfully ignorant of how much towing and roadside charging cost. Taking my exit and turning left onto the overpass to the charger, it felt like the most sluggish overpass climb I remember. For a moment, I worried it might cut out right there. Tried plugging in, the application randomly logged me out. A password reset and some more broken app shenanigans later, I charged to 60% and completed my trip back home with 100km of range to spare. I'm planning one last stop at an EC fast-charging station to dump the remainder of the account's balance into the battery before returning the car. My uncomfortably close call wouldn't have happened if GM and EC's advertised charging speeds were actually achievable at least up to 70% instead of 60%. Then I would likely have ended my first charge on my way to my friend's place with 75-80% of battery available instead of 70% and had 15+km of extra range to spare for the return trip to the same charger. At least now I know that if I want to make fast-charging the Bolt EV remotely economical, I need to plan like the battery only has ~30kWh of usable range (10-60% SoC) when fast-charging is necessary. Otherwise, I'm better off driving my Focus where I can get all of the heat I can possibly want instead of worrying about how much range it costs. After this little scare, I'm having trouble imagining Canadian winter with an EV. All in all, I'd say my first EV road-trip experience indeed sucked. Were it not for helping my mother find out whether her Bolt EV needs a new battery, I don't think I'd borrow it again for any trip over 250km total. At least not without affordable L2 destination charging to greatly reduce if not eliminate the need for expensive fast-charging that doesn't really work with the Bolt EV. Nice urban EV apart from the battery recall. Beyond that, it is the stuff road-trip nightmares are made of.

[@teardowndan5364]

@@thraxberserker9960 Just putting out my own first-time non-Tesla EV road trip experience out there for other first-time EV road-trippers to have a better idea of things to look out for which they may have never considered before. With an ICEV, you hardly ever worry about things like rain affecting your ability to reach your intended charging destination since there are clearly identifiable gas stations at just about every highway exit and those all work the same no matter the ICE vehicle or gas station brands. With EVs, at least for now, you cannot take the presence of a working compatible charger on a network you have the app/card/whatever for at highway exits for granted, got to plan all of the charging stops, preferably with one alternate closer in case something nukes your range estimates and enough range to spare for one charger beyond that in case your first pick becomes unavailable by the time you get there. BTW, when I returned the car to my mother yesterday, I looked at energy stats and it turns out 16km worth of the vanishing range estimate (about half) were from elevation, not rain. Looks like the "flat" highway wasn't quite as flat as it looked.

[@Sneaker_Net]

I really appreciate your patience. This was a great video.

[@evanscott6323]

We've been paying by card at gas pumps since the mid-1990s. Its a nearly flawless experience. Why can't EVGo, Electrify America, et al get payments and initiation down is mind boggling. Its like they took an already well thought out process and actively made it worse.

[@thedopplereffect00]

With Tesla you don't even have to fumble with a card. Payment processing should be integrated in the vehicle

[@Linkwii64]

I still confuse on this backward way of doing payments either. It like they want you to have the worst experience with your EV car.

[@shroomyesc]

@@thedopplereffect00 That I do not agree with, because if you have multiple people using a car regularly or you lend the car to somebody, the owner always gets charged for the charge and will have to ask someone to Venmo or whatever the money back, instead of the person charging just tapping their card/phone on a reader and paying for it right away. Besides, most everyone just has their card in their phonecase anyway which is always in their pocket.

[@RatBürgerSk8]

​@@thedopplereffect00I'd never trust car companies with my financial data.

[@thedopplereffect00]

@@RatBürgerSk8 do you just walk in with a bag of $100's when you buy your cars?

[@PedalPowerPanther]

I own a 40kw Leaf, and until a couple of months ago also owned a Mini Electric. The Chademo charger on the Leaf made long journeys scary, the short range of the Mini also was a bit of a nightmare. Traded the Mini in for a LR Model 3, and now I actually look forward to the rare occasions I need to charge. What the heck are other manufacturers playing at? They’ve been shown the way by Tesla, but their stubbornness to adopt their strategy will be the downfall of many of them.

[@SaraMorgan-ym6ue]

yeah, I bet CHAdeMO is scarcer then ccs.

[@p24p14]

Well, it could be other EV makers actually take into account the health of their batteries. Charging at higher currents definitely will reduce the lifespan of the battery.

[@SaraMorgan-ym6ue]

@@p24p14 yeah but heat also kills the batteries faster which the leaf is famous for hitting high temps during charging in winter reaching like 51 degrees Celsius which helps the Leafs batteries die faster than other ev's which a/c their batteries to avoid high temps lie that

[@pauld.b7129]

Other companies don't have the ability that Tesla does. Don't let these companies fool you. Tesla is an ELECTRIC CAR COMPANY, the others are hopping on the bandwagon because legislation has forced them to. Tesla actually cares about electric cars being the future. The other companies just want part of that market share. Period. They care about nothing beyond you buying the car.

[@creatrixZBD]

@@pauld.b7129cars are not the future. We have known this for decades, but entitlement is a bitch for actual progressive solutions.

[@ClassicAutomotiveGarageInc.]

Good video, my experience was worse with our F150 Lighting. We now have a 2023 Model S and life is better now. We live in Canada and most all of the EV chargers that are not Tesla are not close to the highways and do take extra time to get to like a couple of the chargers you had. Thanks and keep up the good work.Cheers!

[@Iffy50]

How does your model S work when it's cold (I mean -20 F or -29 C)? Do you use winter tires or all season? (where in Canada are you?)

[@BasmatiJones]

Thank you for originating and documenting a side-by-side comparison of Tesla v. non-Tesla EV charging on a trip. One of my friends just leased a Subaru Solterra for daily driver & home charging use. They have kept their gas powered vehicles. It will be interesting to see how their travel and trip distances evolve. And, yes, I definitely would love to see and share your future EV adventures.

[@fsj197811]

That was really good, thanks for sharing. And this is why my Dad refuses to even consider getting an EV because he doesn't have the patience to deal with it. After watching this video, I can't say I blame him.

[@DavidJao]

Did you know 5 minutes per week at a gas station adds up to over 4 hours per year? Who has the patience for that! EVs are so much better because you can charge overnight at home.

[@TheCrazyPozavnist]

@@DavidJao did you know some people actually need to get somewhere distant sometimes? I think you kinda missed OP's point...

[@ChrisBigBad]

I'd say, to me, the video has shown that this is all a non-issue if you just buy a Tesla. BTW: I'm trying to save the planet out of sheer egoism. If the thing goes on fire, it'll be my butt burning. Yours too. But, hey :)

[@DavidJao]

@@TheCrazyPozavnist Sometimes is very different from all of the time. The Tesla charging in this trip was exaggerated in order to review as many charging stations as possible. In reality this trip would have required only a single 15 minute charging stop. Four hours per year not at a gas station can compensate for many road trips.

[@RatBürgerSk8]

​@@DavidJaoFor a large portion of the population, there's no way to charge were they live. Not everyone lives in a house, or even has a garage. So they'd be forced to use these awful public charging situations and sit around wasting time.

[@StarlordStavanger]

i don't know how exactly i found this channel, but i've loved the last couple videos! love the humor (never stop that!) and love the editing and topics too! keep up the great work mate!

[@torchris1]

Speaking of the gas car comparison - I would have liked to know what the total cost of all the charging was! Next you should do it in the Trabant.

[@Lizlodude]

It would be especially interesting given that the Polestar has free charging, and every EA charger was free, I assume in an attempt to apologize for them all being broken heh

[@JimmyDorff]

I just did a 1800 mile trip in a Polestar 2 w/o any free charging. It cost me $195 total in charging. About $0.11/mile.

[@sixstarauto]

Fantastic video! So much useful information for those looking to buy an EV. Bad news for any company that isn't Tesla. There is no way I would buy any other EV after seeing this.

[@darkwabbits]

What a great video Aging Wheels. It really shows the current state of EV charging. You really have to admire the work Tesla put into their network. Keep up the good work.

[@salvadormonella8953]

Excellent video. Not just the content, although that is good with good timeliness and relevance. The production and on air talent are also both top notch. Video production is superlative. A dry topic is delivered wonderfully. Good speech pacing, excellent English pronunciation, good multi-camera scene cuts. All around excellent, commercial-quality, video. You are to be commended for a job, "well done."

[@jeremyturner4402]

Ioniq 5 owner, partly due to your roadtrip with Alec, and Kyle on OOS. I’ve done about 11500 miles in 6 months, about 70% of that has been road trips through 21 states. This is probably somewhere on the order of 70 (full) DCFC stops. I’ve charged at EA 95+% of those DCFC. 80% of the time, I run at 170 kW up until what feels like 60-70% charge, and then it tapers down to maybe 120 kW. A handful of times, I’ve been able to hit 200-240 kW, and a handful of times I’ve been stuck at 115 kW. Even at 115 kW, a stop never lasts more than 20-25 minutes unless I’m eating or something. I’ve only had to wait at 3 of those 60 EA stops, the longest being about 20 minutes. I found that people waiting in line did a pretty good job of being patient and acknowledging the line. I’m not interested in a Tesla, but they had the foresight to ensure the customer had a good experience with charging. All the other auto manufacturers seem to still have the mindset of an ICE car, it’s up to the gas stations and out of their control. It took the rest of the automakers far too long to figure this out, and that’s going to set them back 5-10 years or longer with launching competing charging networks. At least there will be a single connector standard. All that said, great video! I really enjoy your content.

[@gamertherapyconsoleyoursel5804]

Ioniq 5 is my pick for the same reasons, hopefully in 5 years used ones will be cheap enough for me to afford, haha

[@JohnSurf5]

Thank you. What an excellent video and incredibly educational to someone who is just becoming interested in an an electric car.

[@drhombus242]

I’ve owned 3 Evs, got so fed up with the ccs charging stations that I bought an early model s. No issues since. Amazing that these chargers still aren’t where the tesla chargers were ten years ago

[@JBoy340a]

Sort of sad actually. But VW has no incentive to make Electrify America(EA) any better than the court mandates.

[@compzac]

I share your experience aside from 1, i got rid of my tesla before i bought my chevy bolt and our new polestar 2. mostly because the damn thing was so unreliable that we couldnt even take long trips without fear of being on a tow truck heading to a tesla dealer for yet more repairs. i would hope teslas have become more reliable in the car department, but i still dont trust them. unfortunately that basically meant that we never got rid of our gas powered chevy suburban. it has become the family road trip vehicle purely because it will go just as far as an EV and filling it up is still less painful since theres always a gas station. It sucks to say that as the super chargers that have popped up just around our neighborhood have shown that it could be easier. but both my wife and I have become immensely turned off to owning teslas purely because of our old model S breaking down and in one case leaving us stranded in the mojave desert at 2 AM for 2 hours while we tried to get a tow truck.

[@siberx4]

The biggest issue IMO (of many) is the lack of feedback at chargers on their de-rate status. As you noted, the app "tries" to tell you this in a roundabout way, but it's apparently completely inaccurate, and you shouldn't need to use an app for that anyway. Right on the screen, it should show a clear number indicating the current maximum power output for the station (I know amps would be more direct but kilowatts are simpler to the layman anybody who cares can usually work backwards to figure out what their car will charge at based on the kilowatt rating and knowing the voltages for that type of charger and their car's battery pack). It's enough of a pain having to deal with de-rated chargers, but it's ten times worse when you need to park, try plugging in, start a session, wait for it to ramp, judge the charging rate, second-guess whether it's your car or the station, then roll the dice on unplugging and starting the whole dance over at another charger. Simply show a number before the charge starts, and have an indicator on the display showing what is limiting the charge speed right now (limited by car, limited by station's nameplate rating, limited by de-rating due to issue with the station). At Electrify America sites at least, it's possible for _one_ of the two cables on one station to be de-rated but not the other if the cable cooling has failed only on that side. This gives you the extra fun decision point of whether you spend another couple of minutes trying the other cable without moving your car before you move to a different station at the same site. Watching this video has been enlightening though; I've had fairly good experiences with my Bolt at Electrify Americas overall and I had assumed the ones in the west were just newer or better maintained, but now I'm beginning to think that it's because only the very worst de-rating level (down to 100A which works out to about 35kW) is actually below the threshold where it will cap my Bolt's charging. I could have been plugging into "de-rated" stations this whole time, but I would never have known at most of the examples you showed. Score another point for small, efficient EVs with smaller battery packs that don't need monstrous charge rates to make decent forward progress (although the Bolt is still admittedly slow despite being small/efficient). Also, you criticized the Bolt for taking the 350kW station which is fair if the station occupancy looked that way when he pulled up, but keep in mind it's entirely possible the other 150kW stations were occupied at the time and now the Bolt just looks like a jerk unfairly. As a Bolt driver, I also sometimes debate whether it's better to take the single 150kW combined CCS/CHAdeMO station or one of the two (or more) 350kW stations when the 150kW CCS/CCS are either occupied or non-functional. Taking the 350kW could mean another car pulling up that might be able to take advantage of it will have to use the 150kW and get a somewhat slower charge, but taking the CHAdeMO-capable station means any unfortunate Leaf that comes by won't be able to charge _at all_ until I'm done. In short, it's tough to criticize people for their charger selections without potentially being a jerk yourself because there's so many variables you don't know by the time you pull up. I do still get annoyed when I see somebody sitting on a DC fast charger at 90%+ trying to fully top their car off; sure there's the very rare occasion where you need all the energy you can get for a big hop, but those are rare these days in the continental US and the overwhelming majority of the time, it's a driver who doesn't understand how to be efficient with their charging stops. At least out west, Electrify America stations are also most often at Wal-Marts. These are actually a pretty decent option because they're normally open 24 hours (or at least super late) and have bathrooms and at least some kind of food/beverages at them so you'll always be able to get "something" regardless of what conditions you show up under. It's also nice if there's some fast food places or restaurants nearby, but I'll take a Wal-Mart over a hotel parking lot any day.

[@Arpin_Lusene]

I often heard that charging at charging stations other than tesla superchargers could get pretty annoying at times, I just didn’t know it could get that annoying.

[@Baodor]

Thanks god that that's not a problem in Germany and the EU. Did not have any Problems on my 1500km Road Trip.

[@Sevenfeet0]

First, as a native Nashvillian, welcome to Music City and Middle Tennessee. I recognized all the locations you went to including the Tesla charging station in the hotel parking lot downtown next to my office (where I have charged a rental Tesla once). Yes we know that traffic in Nashville is terrible. In fact, it's not just terrible during rush hour, its terrible during most daylight hours, especially in certain choke points. My friend was just elected mayor of Nashville last month and my wife was also elected to the city council and now sits on the transportation subcommittee. The new mayor was elected in part to fix Nashville's traffic problems but it's going to take many years and probably will be very expensive. So just know that it will probably get worse before things get better considering that the state and the feds will likely have to be a part of the total solution, and that's going to take years to implement, assuming the voters go for it. Finally, i know the CFO of the Volkswagen plant with the charging station...I'll have to pass a note to him about your experience.

[@richardprice5978]

if i get/win ever i get a BEV i don't what to only being forced into gasoline stations only-vibe's but still the added option's is nice, but im tried of the experience with 2000's-car's ( and poverty ) and running errands to hotel-stays ( with gasoline powered im incentived to canon ball drive and or power naps ( like at rest-stop's/rural-road-ditch-ect ) my way there, a ev i might be another reason for spring for the room and dinner ect ) ect as if im close to being out of gasoline it's one more expensive + extra time i need to take and id rather be able to pug in for the night at the room so in the morning it's ready to fully go, not o iv got to keep track of my charging-experience or a extra out of the way drive ect aka a better experience for me

[@EVAddicted]

I follow many EV KZbinrs and your video is very knowledgeable and entertaining. Very well organized. No unnecessary time procrastinations. Hope you do more EV videos. Really enjoyed this one and makes me consider for next EV nothing but Tesla and I drive only EV since 2015.

[@FuncleChuck]

“The vast majority of EV charging is done at home” - this can’t be screamed loud enough. 200+ miles of useful range means I will rarely charge away from home (and even then, usually overnight at my destination).

[@ProtoV33MK1]

This is the biggest thing I always point out to anyone asking how often I have to deal with fast charge stations. I just ask them "How often do you drive more than 200 miles in a single day?" because that's the only time I even *think* about charging beyond "Gotta make sure to back into the driveway if mom's parked at the top."

[@noseboop4354]

Half the population don't own a home and can't charge at home. Yet again the rich finds a way to bully the poor.

[@PygKLB]

The other thing is if there is a level 2 charger near a place you’re going to be at for an hour or two, you can plug in and improve your range. Generally, prices are lower as well.

[@-Jethro-]

Yep, and this is why the 2013 Leaf my son drives is still useful. It does his daily commute and recharges overnight in the garage. No public charging needed for normal usage.

[@baldisaerodynamic9692]

yea but you cant charge at home when you are on a road trip and that is really the point here. also, many live in apartments and cannot charge at home or if people rent a house, they can only use a level 1 charger, which is 4-6miles per range per hour plugged in.(unless landlord allows for tenant to pay to install a level 2)

[@rvdb8876]

Well, as usual, theory looks brighter than practice, which in this case is even an understatement.