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Comment by surfingdino | Hacker News Reader

EVs are a hard sell. Range anxiety is not an issue, but the charging infrastructure is. The cost is also too high for the average buyer at this time.

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yeah everything non-Tesla is a complete non-starter for me until they actually use the harmonized charging network, so I guess the 2025 models?

Tesla models are a somewhat starter, too few options in look

and then the price

and its a weird quagmire, the people that can afford to live in dense high cost of livings cities are the exact target audience for EV’s but have the most perplexing and inconvenient charging arrangements, while suburban homeowners are like “I just slow charge everynight to an AC outlet in my garage, you’ll never notice the range, its not an issue bro” completely oblivious about the problem

then once the harmonized charging network takes off, its not even clear if the electric grid can handle it, which isnt my problem for sure, but funny to think about. solve this issue and the next one comes quickly

This is not an issue in Europe fwiw, all cars use CCS2 there. In most european cities you probably have a parking garage if you have a car (and sure you have to deal with the HOA), street parking is an absolute nightmare there.

nice, yeah the US government is mandating something like that and simultaneously Tesla is opening their charging system to others (because of US government sentiment that will turn into pressure)

seems like they’ll both happen at the same time

I think we also have to force chargers to accept simple means of payment like a credit card. Imagine how ridiculous it would be it we had to create an account for every single gas station network. This would also take care of when you are outside of cell coverage. Yes there are aggregator that works on multiple networks but you still have to track what is in/out network and in case of emergency. The current state of the charging infra is really not up to the task.

What about the Tesla price? You can get a new one for like $35k.

The cheapest Tesla is just over $40,000 before taxes and fees.

And also before $7500 tax credit.

> “I just slow charge everynight to an AC outlet in my garage”

How fast does a Tesla charge via a regular AC outlet?

4 miles per hour or so if you are referring to a nema 5-15.

I charged my 2020 MY using a normal 15 amp outlet for 3 months when I first got the car. I drove it as much as I wanted during the day and plugged it in at night. 99% of the time it was no problem at all. A few times I had to unplug before it was completely (80%) charged but it was fine and I was able to drive normally that day.

I eventually upgraded to a Wall Connector for Level 2 charging (40 amp circuit) which charges about 10x faster (40miles / hour). This was much more convenient but not completely necessary.

>the people that can afford to live in dense high cost of livings cities are the exact target audience for EV’s but have the most perplexing and inconvenient charging arrangements

Just one anecdote, but I live in Seattle and every garage space in my building has a Level 2 charger available.

I suspect that is the case for most higher-end new construction these days.

I live in luxury buildings in LA

and there’s about 3 superchargers in this building, 3 in the last building, a couple slow chargers

emails to management about installing more are deadends

2016 construction

cant tell whats in other buildings but this is a steep bell curve from convenience to none

There is another problem--multi-level parking operators are banning EVs on the grounds of safety and weight.

Germany has a very good charging infrastructure. Fastned and Ionity networks are along all major routes, and have tons of 300kW chargers.

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