[ebbv]

The thing to keep in mind when thinking about EVs is that while they may be slower to fill up at stations where you have to stand there like the Tesla super charger stations, this is a small minority of the charging most EV owners do.

Most of the time my LEAF gets charged at home in my garage. We only use public chargers a handful of times per year. When we do, it's stations in parking garages or public parking lots. Which means we plug it in and walk away. We don't have to stand there with it while it charges. If it takes a couple hours that's fine.

People focus on how fast they can recharge their EVs while they are standing there waiting for them because they are used to having to go somewhere to refuel their gasoline powered car. One of the great things about owning an EV is you recharge at home.

[niftich]

While all of this is true, charging time is an issue because it limits range. A gasoline powered car is just a 5-minute detour away from doubling its range, which compares terribly with the sort of vehicle you're going to want to walk away from to do something else while the charging does its thing.

Apparently people leaving Teslas longer than necessary in the supercharger spots is already an issue [1] that they are trying to rectify by charging for overstays.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13204120#13204455

[ebbv]

It's true, if you are the type of person who often drives >200 miles a day EVs today are not as convenient as gas cars for those trips.

But that is a very small percentage of people. If only those people bought gasoline cars in 2017 they would sell fewer than the number of EV cars sold in 2016.

[pbz]

Except that Tesla is now charging $0.40/minute of leaving the car plugged in after a full charge is reached. They do this precisely to prevent people from "abandoning" their car while others wait in line.

[ebbv]

That's because Tesla's supercharger system is designed to work more like the refueling system people are familiar with and comfortable with; pull up, plug in, wait for it to finish and then drive away.

One of the beauties of EVs is not having to use that style of system. The superchargers are nice but most of the time you won't use one unless you're regularly driving over 200 miles a day.

[greglindahl]

I totally agree that almost all Tesla charging doesn't happen at superchargers. But where did you get the idea that anyone intended that owners should stay with their cars while charging? I've only seen that when nearby services are closed. Tesla has always advertised services nearby superchargers, and now that's visible on the in-car display.

[greglindahl]

If I'm eating dinner nearby, it's easy to run out and move my car, or, there's a valet to do it at overly-popular superchargers. The Tesla phone app gives plenty of warning.