Problems facing renters. My daughter has wondered about this as she doesn’t have a parking space and just utilizes on street parking.
https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/wireStory/renters-face-charging-dilemma-us-cities-move-evs-92045093
My daughter owns a Hyundai Kona and now owns a townhouse. No way to string an extension cord and her car is the one that is on the street as she gets home from work earlier than her fiancé.
When they lived in an apartment, the building had electric chargers. She has a fast charger a block from her house. The price doubles after 2 hours so finding an empty charging station is easy. There’s a charger at the grocery store and many stations in her neighborhood. I just searched and there are 167 charging stations within 10 miles of her house. Including as I said one at the grocery store. You can charge while you shop.
I’ve talked about this on this thread a bunch. Never once has she had trouble charging her car. Except when gas cars illegally parked in the electric charging station at her apartment.
I wish the article talked about the people who aren’t having trouble finding a charger instead of their pre conceived notion that it’s difficult.
You do have to plan to charge the car. Many times young (and old) people don’t plan out stops to charge or to get gas and run out. That’s a planning problem not finding a charger problem imo.
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Where does your daughter live? That’s a huge amount of charging stations close by and I see why she doesn’t have a problem. I just don’t think all areas are like that as this article shows.
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She lives in Philadelphia so not a small place. There is definitely a public charging station closer than a gas station in her area
The only person in the article that their location was mentioned lives in Portland Oregon.
Portland.gov says that there are 400 charging stations in Portland with more being built.
Yeah, this is BS. Nobody is waiting in line for hours to charge unless they are a seriously poor planner and have rolled up to a charger when they’re on “empty” and they don’t have enough juice to go somewhere else. I’ve been driving an EV for 7 years and have taken them on road-trips. I don’t think I have ever waited for a charger. If I have it was maybe for 10 minutes.
That’s just a click-bait subheading. I read the article twice and i didn’t see where it said anyone waited for hours for a charger.
My 21 yr old drives a plug-in hybrid and lives in an apartment that does not have a place to plug in but there are 3 different grocery stores with chargers nearby plus several dealership chargers close by too. There are often chargers in public parking garages and on street too. We live in North Carolina.
We definitely need to continue to build out the charging infrastructure but people are not waiting hours to charge.
Remember anywhere there is an outlet you can plug in an EV and trickle charge. It doesn’t have to be a dedicated fast charger. Just takes longer on 110.
You can also get an adapter and use a NEMA outlet or a RV outlet that is 220 and that will be faster.
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I agree with the central point of the article, that charging infrastructure will need to improve as more EVs hit the road, that it’s already happening in a lot of places, and that recent legislation will play an important role in creating a more robust charging ecosystem.
However, the headline and first few paragraphs are a bit misleading. Yes, renters probably do have some charging challenges that homeowners with level 2 chargers in the garage don’t. But in most urban areas the added friction is fairly minimal. I mean, compared to plugging in at home everything is a little more challenging, including going to the gas station. Of course, the friction increases the more one drives, and if there’s no charging at work or the various places one parks throughout the week.
I was particularly surprised at the city the article used as an example. I visited Portland for a week and stayed in a hotel, rented an EV, and had no problems at all charging. That city and region has a very robust charging infrastructure. And it’s very cheap. Maybe the person they highlight had additional challenges because she was trying to find DC fast charging for a leaf, which requires a chademo plug for fast charging? But even then I suspect she just didn’t know where to look. You can’t throw a frisbee or kick a hacky-sac in that city without hitting some type of EV charger.
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It’s typical “clickbait” journalism. ocus on the attention grabbing outlier up front, maybe get to the real story later on.
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The 2023 Toyota Prius debuted today at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The redesign gives the car a sleek and sporty look. In the interior, the instrument panel is in front of the steering wheel, hooray! 196 HP under the hood. I want this car.
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Looks like a Tesla to me. 
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But without that unpleasant Musky odor.
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My H had a nice hourlong test drive of my neighbor’s Lexus hybrid 300. The neighbor really loves his car and H’s 24 year old Volvo is getting increasingly difficult to get parts for repairs (in addition to difficulty finding mechanics). 40 miles/gallon is pretty attractive and H likes that it has no plug and uses both electric and gas.
I’m happy with my plug in Prius Prime hybrid that I got in 2018. It has about 23,000 miles. I put gas in it a few times/year.
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Saw a report that hybrid cars had better reliability than ICE or electric cars, including plug ins. Duh. The majority of hybrids are made by Toyota/Lexus, and hybrids are typically very basic, usually come with fewer bells and whistles, so fewer things to go wrong. 
Hybrids can be quite complex in their drivetrains. However, being mostly made by Toyota is probably their main reliability advantage.
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Hadn’t considered this but I wonder if it will become a bigger issue as more EVs are on the road.
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Of course, the general trend in the US is toward bigger and heavier vehicles anyway, EV or otherwise.
Cars have been disappearing in favor of bigger and heavier SUVs and pickups, while the cars that remain are bigger and heavier than their predecessors (compare today’s Toyota Corolla to one from a few decades ago).
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Weight difference has always been an issue. A Geo Metro has no chance against an F-350. As more EVs with current battery tech are on the road, the weight difference will become less of an issue because all cars become heavier; the road wear and tear will remain an issue. What bothers me is that the hybrid tech is not being used to make vehicles more efficient, it is being used to create more power at the expense of fuel efficiency - just look at the Tundra.
My Nissan Leaf was hit by two different ginormous ICE pickup trucks. It did not survive the last altercation. But it did do a good job of protecting its occupants.
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I’m glad!
I’m glad they design cars to give their lives for their occupants. Sure beats the other way around as back in the '70s.
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Thanks. My Chevy Bolt EV so far has not had any run-ins with ginormous pick-up trucks over the past 5 years and I hope to keep it that way!
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I bought a hybrid Rav-4 over the Christmas holiday. I love it. We had been trying to purchase one for months. I wanted all of the safety features. I love the Bird’s eye view camera. It is wonderful. I like the gas milage, too. It would have been much easier to buy a IC car, but I really wanted to hybrid. I am not ready for an electric car yet.
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