[tzs]

I think you are underestimating just how much energy is in a gallon of gas.

In terms of miles per hour of charging or adding gas, gas is still massively faster. Tesla says the new charging stations are 1000 miles per hour.

A gasoline car that gets 25 miles/gallon, at a gas station with pumps that go at 10 gallons per minutes, "charges" at 15000 miles per hour. (10 gallons per minute is the maximum allowed in the US due to EPA rules).

A lot of real world pumps don't achieve that maximum, but usually achieve at least at least 1/3 of that, which would be 5000 miles per hour, still 5 times faster than the upcoming faster Tesla charging option.

One advantage for the EV, though, is that it might be safer to step away from the vehicle while charging? When filling up at a gas station I want to stay with the car because a gas spill can be dangerous. That means any trips to the station's convenience store or bathroom cannot be overlapped with fueling.

I'm guessing that there isn't much that can go dangerously wrong if you step away from a charging EV, and so you can overlap your convenience store and bathroom visits with the charging time. That might be enough to make the total stop time comparable or less for the EV in many cases, even though the actual charging is 5 to 15 times slower on the EV.

[theluketaylor]

The fill ups with gas where speed matters to me is around town driving. EVs eliminate this type of stop since you simply charge in the evening or while parked at work. For daily errands and commuting there should never be a need to stop for charge. It didn't take my parents long at all to get in the habit of plugging their volt in before going inside.

On long drives there is a diminishing return on the speed of charging since stops generally include a lot more than simply filling up the tank. There are trips to the bathroom, snack refills, and often a little walking around to stretch out. If you have more then a couple passengers these stops can drag out (or even need to occur more frequently than empty tank). I've been thinking about this a lot and decided for me the diminish point is 250-300 miles in 15 minutes. Anything beyond that is really just gravy and it's likely the stop is longer than the charge time required.

I travel around 1000 miles round trip to visit family a few times a year and the only really viable option is by car since it's so rural. If I can make progress 250-300 miles at a time with a 15-20 minute break I'm pretty comfortable with that. With a 35 mpg ICE car I can stop a little less if it's just me, but when I make this journey with passengers (or part of a convoy) stopping every 2-3 hours for 15-20 minutes is the best I can expect.

[c0nfused]

Tesla owner, the car does exactly what you expect in the second half of your comment. The idea is to plug in and then just leave the car do some stuff, then get a notification on your phone the charge is finishing soon. You throw out your half eaten taco Bell and go pick up the car.

[new_realist]

The 1000 miles per hour figure is burst, not sustained. As the battery fills up the charge rate will slow.

There is a fire risk to charging, but there's nothing you can do about it, so it's better to exit your car.

[davidgould]

There is very little evidence for “fire risk to charging”. Anecdotally most people at Superchargers sit in their car. The charge rate does slow as the battery gets full. But it’s rarely necessary to charge fully. The optimal plan is to arrive at the Supercharger almost empty and charge only enough to get to the next one. That way most charging is at higher rates.