[zamafir]

Considering many already charge over $0.50 a kWh depending on TOU (Tesla, EVgo) I'm not surprised.

 

[zamafir]

It'll improve as additional large scale renewable generation comes online, and there are projects completing seemingly every week, also additional competition from other networks (like that one that uses normal mains and a battery backup) will help. My guess is this is due in large part to upkeep and once they right the upkeep and availability they should hit a point where the demand is great enough they can reduce pricing.

Also the uniform pricing thing they mention, I'll be interested to see if they continue that in the coming years.

 

[zamafir]

The other great thing is their focus on solar and battery on site for new and existing deployments like this one they were touting they'll be building here in San Diego:

Like other things infrastructure wise, europe's way ahead of us on this with battery/charging stuff being featured on fullycharged etc often - and it's awesome to see EA rolling it out here!

Also awesome they're 150 kW chargers as the tesla stalls about 100' away are all the slow 72 kW or whatever.

 

[zamafir]

And the ability to fill the batteries during super off peak as well to begin stabilizing costs and give them leverage to lower it in the future. Some of the British stations featured on fully charged have had really huge storage, it's amazing.

 

[zamafir]

Same boat here, I'll be exclusively at home after the free period ends - except road tripping, and went from a mix of mostly 80% DC to about 40% in terms of my charging since I moved my target to 40-60%.

 

[zamafir]

Oh totally - it's 100% not just the solar, it's using solar for cover to provide some additional charging - then the model we see in europe etc where they top off the batteries over night during off peak.

 

[zamafir]

So what's the goal with the doom and gloom posts today? Do you not want ev adoption? I" ju

(1) government imposes a heavy tax per kWh making EVs much more expensive than gas

I just want them to go the opposite direction and stop subsidizing gas. Imagine what happens when an industry that relies on 16 billion in subsidies a DAY to generate 3 billion in income has to contend with free market forces.

Well, I guess not really, then no one could fill up at $100 a gallon .

But it is interesting to see discussions of gas taxes and EV incentives and how seldom folks bring up how heavily gas is subsidized globally. I'd wager that's a big part of their misinformation campaign on EVs now that all that funding is shifting to renewables at a rapid pace.

California will be a great test, working to double their chargers from 80,000 to 170,000 by 2025. For reference the state has less than 8,000 gas stations, so figure out whatever average pumps you want per station [from 48 pump costcos to 6 pump mom and pops] and extrapolate - google says 6-12 so even at the high end on average CA will have more EV charging ports than pumps this year. At 170,000 that'll be double which is a great place to start given variances in charging speed.

 

[zamafir]

I didn't get an Ioniq 5 for free charging, I got my Ioniq 5 because it's the right thing to do, and Hyundai threw in a few years of free charging from EA - a company that VW was forced to create against their will as a settlement to their diesel emissions monkey business. I'm blessed to live in a part of LA with high DC fast charger density - so if I have to go to an EVGo - I'm less than 1.5 miles from an EVGo site with 6 350 kW chargers, that ALWAYS has at least 2-3 available, that's fine. EA has 11 150 kWs and 2 350 kW within 5 miles as well. In my building, the lower floor of the parking has 4 free Chargepoint level 2s, so that's my go-to.

And it's just getting better and better! 👏

 

[zamafir]

Great point, I saw a CX-5 the other day and thought I wonder how those numbers pencil out. At the end of the day I just don't care. I've had tons of cars and this is the best I've owned and it's just so easy to live with and I'm driving a lot less post COVID so I just embrace it. Topped off to 60% the other day, talked to some nice Bolt EUV, ID.4 and R1S owners, it's fun to be an EV owner! I'd pay considerably more, honestly, if it meant covered solar canopies and batteries and more chargers as they've identified in their expansion plan. When 1000 mile trips can be made trouble free we're quite a ways ahead of my last EV (eGolf) and super slow charging and super crappy range. I'd be fine if it was even more expensive than a gas car because it's faster than a 55k gas CUV/EV, and loads nicer. But with all the huge advances in renewables I'd guess it's going to be very cheap to run an EV by the end of the decade.