It's different than filling up at a gas station, that's for sure. Here are a few personal stories about charging electric cars outside of our home's driveway charger, which is fueled by rooftop solar panels and provides a slow, level-one charge of about five miles per charging hour.
1) ChargePoint says its the largest network in the world, with over 100,000 places to charge your EV. They provide level-two charging at 220-240 volts, with a rate of about 25 miles per charging hour. ChargePoint is free to members, which is nice; in our town of Somerville, I now and then use the ChargePoint charger at a cramped parking lot in Porter Square, as well as one near the Community Path at Davis Square. Alas, one of the two Davis Square chargers has been broken for months now. My wife Elahna and I have contacted ChargePoint, as well as the town, but to no avail. At the same time, Somerville likes to call itself Sustainaville and frequently holds meetings about making the town carbon neutral by 2050. Great, Mayor Joe Curtatone, but how about getting those chargers you've boasted about working in the meantime.
2) One day at the Davis Square charger, I was stymied from juicing up my EV by a non-electric car parked in the spot reserved for ChargePoint customers, Not only that, but the hulking SUV (boo!) was parked at an angle, dipping one of its back, rubber toes into the adjoining handicapped space. A double atrocity! I got out of my car, glowered, hands on hips, and by serendipity noticed a police car about fifty yards away. I walked toward it, waving. The policeman rolled down his window, and I proceeded to point out the glorious two-fer, a vehicle violating the rights of both the disabled and the green. He nodded, but didn't look very enthusiastic. So I waited. By and by, he sauntered over to examine the situation. He looked at me watching him -- I waved, smiled -- then back at the dastardly SUV. And ever so slowly the ticketing book came out. He looked at me again and I figured it was probably a good idea to move along.
1) ChargePoint says its the largest network in the world, with over 100,000 places to charge your EV. They provide level-two charging at 220-240 volts, with a rate of about 25 miles per charging hour. ChargePoint is free to members, which is nice; in our town of Somerville, I now and then use the ChargePoint charger at a cramped parking lot in Porter Square, as well as one near the Community Path at Davis Square. Alas, one of the two Davis Square chargers has been broken for months now. My wife Elahna and I have contacted ChargePoint, as well as the town, but to no avail. At the same time, Somerville likes to call itself Sustainaville and frequently holds meetings about making the town carbon neutral by 2050. Great, Mayor Joe Curtatone, but how about getting those chargers you've boasted about working in the meantime.
2) One day at the Davis Square charger, I was stymied from juicing up my EV by a non-electric car parked in the spot reserved for ChargePoint customers, Not only that, but the hulking SUV (boo!) was parked at an angle, dipping one of its back, rubber toes into the adjoining handicapped space. A double atrocity! I got out of my car, glowered, hands on hips, and by serendipity noticed a police car about fifty yards away. I walked toward it, waving. The policeman rolled down his window, and I proceeded to point out the glorious two-fer, a vehicle violating the rights of both the disabled and the green. He nodded, but didn't look very enthusiastic. So I waited. By and by, he sauntered over to examine the situation. He looked at me watching him -- I waved, smiled -- then back at the dastardly SUV. And ever so slowly the ticketing book came out. He looked at me again and I figured it was probably a good idea to move along.
3) There I was, far from home, sipping java as I waited for my car to charge on the grounds of Penn State Harrisburg. A second EV slurped electrons next to mine, and its owner sat on nearby grass staring into his phone. Suddenly a big, black pickup truck pulled up. It sported a bumper sticker: Veterans for Trump. A rotund fellow got out, tromped decisively over to us and said, "Um, excuse me?" His voice was soft, obliging. "I just wanted to ask a few questions. What's it like, driving one of those?" So my EV-friend and I filled him in on the rewarding experience of driving electric, and the Pennsylvania Veteran for Trump nodded along, soaking it in. He'd been thinking of getting a Tesla Model 3, he explained, but, the thing is, this is Coal Country. He grew up here. Then he shrugged, signaling the universal reluctance to betray one's tribe. Well, that's not a problem, I said. Sure, you'll be moving off gasoline, but electricity in this region is powered by coal. He nodded again, yes, of course. He hadn't thought of it that way. EV-driving is coal-driving, not liberal squishy. Okay, he said, ever so quietly, I might just do it, and he retreated to his truck and drove away. I'd been tempted to tell him that even with coal-powered electricity he'd be polluting less in his EV -- less CO2, less toxic air pollutants -- but that might have ruined things. One step at a time, one step at a time...
4) Finally, a quick shout-out to EVgo chargers. They're level-three, capable of filling your electric tank from empty to 80 percent capacity in 30 minutes (with a 200-mile battery). Ironically, EVgo chargers tend to be found in sprawling shopping malls -- flat cathedrals built to service a world powered by the internal combustion engine -- so there's time to take a walk for coffee or ice cream while your EV refuels. In Nanuet, New York, Elahna and I found the shopping mall Friendly's. We sat together on swively red counter seats and woofed down a Jim Dandy.
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