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jwr 4 hours ago

No. And it's not the number of charging stations, it's the general shittiness of those. You never know how much you will pay per kWh, there are apps, networks, roaming agreements, cards, getting through this mess and starting to charge is always a challenge and takes a significant time (sometimes comparable to charging time!). You also get gouged on pricing, companies clearly set it so that the cost of 100km is comparable to that of a gas-powered vehicle. And for some reason people think EVs can only charge by backing into a stall, never in a drive-through bay like gasoline vehicles.

I own an EV and enjoy it a lot. I would not even consider buying a gas vehicle again. But while charging at home is great, charging during a trip is annoying. This needs regulation.

Buttons840 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Are charging stations subsidized? That could be a good excuse to add regulations.

I've heard the subsidies are the reason why there's so many shitty charging stations. People build them, collect the subsidies, and never actually care about running it well. A silver lining is at least the space is reserved once we decide to get serious about fixing this as a society.

mschild 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Charging stations just need to function like regular gas stations.

Prices need to be made available online and prominently displayed at the entrance of the station. They shouldn't allow cheaper prices for subscriptions or even blocking any access without one.

jwr 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Yes, they should function like gas stations and be regulated similarly. When I approach a gas station, I see the prices usually on large signs. If not, I always see the price I am actually paying displayed on a screen. None of these things are true for an EV charging station, which I think should be regulated.

Cheaper prices with subscriptions are not a problem at all. It's just that I should always see the final price that I will be paying per kWh before starting to charge.

On a related note, there is already a plug-and-charge system that identifies the car when it gets plugged in and is capable of charging the owner, but it almost never works. This is also something that should be mandated for larger EV adoption.

LtWorf 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Gas stations do have cheaper prices for subscriptions often.