The Future of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Needs Public Input

Not sure charging at a gas station would be viable for long distance travelers. Spending hours at the gas station would suck, especially watching other motorists come and fill up in 5 minutes and take off with 300-400 miles of range added. Better to offer chargers at hotels or near a bus stop so EV drivers can stop for the night and/or access public transportation once their 200-300 mile range is used up.

I agree that gas stations are often not good locations, but hotels and bus stations? No - not usually staying the night and certainly not hopping on a bus!
In my recent experience making a 2200 mile trip at 180-200 miles per leg, stations need to be easy to get to (near freeway/highway), near amenities (dining, restrooms!) and have cover from sun and rain. Walmarts (which often have Electrify America DC fast chargers) were often the best locations.

They need to be placed in malls with movie theaters. Since it takes a few hours to fully charge. its time to watch a movie!!! Who wants to spend 2-3 hours smelling gasoline?

As for the new housing, many of these new developments have very limited or even no parking except on the street. This was strongly supported by some of the advocates for electric cars, although since most owners of e-cars are affluent, they probably would not be living in the new apartment houses.

Very interesting. Back to the future? Trolleys and streetcars with overhead and 3d rail systems have been around for over a century and still exist and work great. Not sure how efficient these systems might be--seems pretty sketchy that just driving a good 12 inches above the line would be efficient transmission. We'll find out.

I'm a big fan of that kind of technology
Great article.
My main concerns are the cost per mile of lane multiplied by number of lanes and the current inadequate capacity to produce enough electricity in summer months and the power grid.

I am assuming the state or SCE will be billing drivers per fraction of mile using transponders. Will that be more expensive than gasoline?

At $1.9M per mile per lane, it would cost $180M to electrify the 101 from SB to Rincon

How is that much electricity going to be generated and delivered? That is a ton of power

We'll know if our government is serious about EV's when they stop the talk and the Soviet style 5 year plans and start building things. Issuing edicts like X% of cars sold in CA have to be EV's is the easy part. but ever notice how when you ask where the electricity is going to come from, all you'll hear is solar and wind?

Last, some of us here are out of touch regarding near term edicts and the current state of the technology. I know quite a few hispanic families who drive long distances through the night SB to Washington, SB to Salt Lake, SB to Zacatecas, with the kids sleeping in the car. They don't want to have to stop every 150 miles for 15 minutes recharging, and they don't want to pay for a motel.

Imagine the lines at a gas station if everyone took 15 minutes. According to this study, the average time to fill up with gasoline is 2 minutes.
https://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-gas/consumer-information/consumer-resources/staying-safe-pump#:~:text=It%20may%20be%20a%20temptation,be%20discharged%20at%20the%20nozzle.

Imagine the size that station would have to be to accomodate electricity for everyone on the road. (7.5X)
The average Interstate or main US highway Recharging station would be a big as the empty Sears parking lot at La Cumbre Plaza and probably need its own substation

Edney : " families who drive long distances through the night SB to Washington, SB to Salt Lake".
SB to Washington : 1100 miles. SB Salt Lake City : 800 miles.
Your "families" drive at what speed to make it through the night ?
Once they get there, since they "don't want to pay for a motel.", what do they do with their "kids" ? They go back to SB to redo it the next day ?
They "don't want to pay for a motel" but paying the $ 250 to $ 300 they spend on gas for just the one way trip (not counting coming back), that's no problem, right ? Looks like you're "out of touch" with reality !

Your missing the biggest point, WHERE IS CA GOING TO GENERATE THE AMOUNT OF GREEN ELECTRICITY TO POWER ALL THESE NEW EV's? Especially as more and more cities like SB ban new natural gas hookups for cooking and heating.

So, now you think that natural gas hookups to stoves are sources of electricity? Or do you just continue to throw out unrelated pieces of FUD?

FUD? Are you saying SB and other cities in CA aren't banning new natural gas hookups, which as a result requires ELECTRICITY for heating and cooking, which further INCREASES the load on our electrical grid?

And greatly decreases the danger to our climate? Yes, it's a good thing, unless you're a carbon shill. Even if you're stupid, and continue to use carbon fuels to generate electricity, you can do it much more efficiently, and control the effluents much better, if you do it at a power plant than spreading it across inefficient ICE vehicles and home stoves.

Those stats are only at the Telsa supercharges. The 240V ones the city has installed in the downtown parking lots are about 35 miles range in an hour. It takes most of a work day to charge up a Tesla on them.

V.O.R : I'm talking about superchargers along the freeway !
If other EV makers do NOT provide for adequate charging : it's their problem and no one has to buy their cars ...

Ok, but the article is about public charging stations like the ones at the downtown lots. I would agree it's up to the EV makers to provide for adequate charging opportunities IF it wasn't for the state mandating all new vehicles sold be EV by a certain date. That's simply a feel good measure for political points if not connected to a concrete plan to increase green electrical generation, distribution, and EV charging stations adequate to handle what is expected to be a marked increase in EV's on our roads. It's easy to waive your hand and say all cars sold will be EV's by a certain date, it take superior intellect, cooperation, and leadership to get our electrical grid into a position that can handle all that new capacity.

V.O.R. :
Sorry but the question is NOT limited to "downtown lots".
SIX CA COUNTIES are concerned and so it's clearly NOT just for "in city" driving ..

*wave

I understand Fond. But how are street parkers and those living in apartments going to be able to charge their EV's?

Unfamiliar with the specifics of the legislation, eh?

V.O.R. : READ MY POST : I give the answer !

Voice at 11:22 thinks that after driving your EV to work, you would somehow need to completely charge your EV. You know, like how you have to completely fill your tank with gas after commuting 10 miles to work.

Edney :
You said nothing about the purpose of their trips.
And so when you go on "vacation" you can't stop 15 mins every 150 miles ? Is that it ? Especially with kids : they'll feel better being able to move around every 2 1/2 hours and the driver will be more secure, and they'll spend 3 times LESS money for the "gas" ...

You seem unaware that high voltage chargers can fully charge an EV in 20-30 minutes.

As a Tesla owner I am very aware of DC Fast Charging capabilities. DC charging is critical to long drives and will continue to expand. The point I was trying to make was most of the focus seems to be on long drives when the majority of charging does not depend on this extended network. If you don't have easy access to a reasonably priced charger in your daily routine then an EV doesn't make sense. L2 Chargers are relatively cheap and easy to install and we should be targeting residential neighborhoods, businesses, and homes. Putting L2 chargers in stripmall parking lots makes no sense.

Bosco: Agreed. I mean if you had a "gas station" at home, why would you go to the mall to park and look creepy for 20 minutes? Not to mention you're taking up parking spaces!

While an EV may use more energy to climb a hill (so does an ICE), altitude itself has no effect. And, when you come back down the hill, your EV uses regenerative braking to reclaim much of that extra expenditure, whereas an ICE vehicle just uses a little less.