I hired a car recently. I chose an EV because it was cheaper, and also because I was (which is a rarity) by myself without my young family, so I knew I would have the time to get accustomed to the car, and to wait for long periods to charge, etc., without the kids getting restless.
Prior to this, I was optimistic about EVs and curious to try it out, with a view to perhaps getting one in the next year or two.
So the hire car. The car did not charge. Tried at about 10 different charging stations, different charging providers, and there was an error message on the dashboard every time. In the end I had to find another branch of the car hire company and get a replacement car. Also an EV, but this time it charged perfectly every time, so it was definitely the car that was faulty and not me doing something wrong.
While this charging failure is the fault of a single car and doesn't of course mean that this reflects all EVs, it is still an issue that could happen to an EV at any time. It's unlikely that an ICE car would just refuse to accept fuel from the pump.
I also found that it charging is very difficult/impossible in heavy rain. For some reason, most of the charging points do not have any kind of canopy over them. It was torrential rain and the touchscreen on the charging station did not work properly, or at all, because it was soaking wet. A couple of times it took me several minutes of pressing really hard and constantly drying the touchscreen with a tissue; and a couple of other times it was totally impossible and I had to find a different place to charge.
Then there's the often totally insufficient length of the charging cable. On almost all occasions, you had to park with the corner of the car nearest to the charger, otherwise the cable was not long enough. Sometimes this is impossible, if there is a charger on one side only, so you have no choice but to give up and find another place to charge. For example, say your car's socket is on the front-right, and the charger is on the left as you are driving in. The cable is too short to stretch across from left to right. OK, so you reverse in. But then the cable is too short to stretch from the rear to the front of your car. So it's impossible to charge. In one car park, due to the angle, the only way to charge was to park in a neighbouring non-EV space and charge from there. Why are the cables so short?
Then there's the automatic braking whenever you lift off the accelerator. Sorry, but WTF? Incredibly dangerous, big risk of getting rear-ended. What if you want to neither accelerate nor brake, just cruise along on a flat road with an occasional tap of the accelerator to keep speed? And you don't want cruise control due to the nature of the road you're on (corners, traffic, etc.)? Unbelievable that the only option is accelerate or brake. I felt like I was brake-testing the driving behind.
And even when it works perfectly, it is still very time-consuming. I can see the appeal for city and local driving. But if you regularly have to drive journeys of hundreds of miles, an EV adds several hours to your journey. A no-go for me with young children.
I really wanted to get on board with it, but I am left with the opinion that neither the technology nor the infrastructure is ready for it yet.
Prior to this, I was optimistic about EVs and curious to try it out, with a view to perhaps getting one in the next year or two.
So the hire car. The car did not charge. Tried at about 10 different charging stations, different charging providers, and there was an error message on the dashboard every time. In the end I had to find another branch of the car hire company and get a replacement car. Also an EV, but this time it charged perfectly every time, so it was definitely the car that was faulty and not me doing something wrong.
While this charging failure is the fault of a single car and doesn't of course mean that this reflects all EVs, it is still an issue that could happen to an EV at any time. It's unlikely that an ICE car would just refuse to accept fuel from the pump.
I also found that it charging is very difficult/impossible in heavy rain. For some reason, most of the charging points do not have any kind of canopy over them. It was torrential rain and the touchscreen on the charging station did not work properly, or at all, because it was soaking wet. A couple of times it took me several minutes of pressing really hard and constantly drying the touchscreen with a tissue; and a couple of other times it was totally impossible and I had to find a different place to charge.
Then there's the often totally insufficient length of the charging cable. On almost all occasions, you had to park with the corner of the car nearest to the charger, otherwise the cable was not long enough. Sometimes this is impossible, if there is a charger on one side only, so you have no choice but to give up and find another place to charge. For example, say your car's socket is on the front-right, and the charger is on the left as you are driving in. The cable is too short to stretch across from left to right. OK, so you reverse in. But then the cable is too short to stretch from the rear to the front of your car. So it's impossible to charge. In one car park, due to the angle, the only way to charge was to park in a neighbouring non-EV space and charge from there. Why are the cables so short?
Then there's the automatic braking whenever you lift off the accelerator. Sorry, but WTF? Incredibly dangerous, big risk of getting rear-ended. What if you want to neither accelerate nor brake, just cruise along on a flat road with an occasional tap of the accelerator to keep speed? And you don't want cruise control due to the nature of the road you're on (corners, traffic, etc.)? Unbelievable that the only option is accelerate or brake. I felt like I was brake-testing the driving behind.
And even when it works perfectly, it is still very time-consuming. I can see the appeal for city and local driving. But if you regularly have to drive journeys of hundreds of miles, an EV adds several hours to your journey. A no-go for me with young children.
I really wanted to get on board with it, but I am left with the opinion that neither the technology nor the infrastructure is ready for it yet.
Last edited by OnlineGuy; 30-04-24 at 07:43. Reason: Typo in title
