In my area there as been a single charging station I’ve noticed since we moved here (Houston) 10 years ago. I definitely do not see them popping up all over, but that is my location in the suburbs. Downton, things maybe changing.
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Who has or is planning to get an electric car / EV Talk
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That’s because you live in the oil producing state.
Hard to go a few miles here anywhere without seeing some.
I bet if you used a charging app you would find that there are a lot more stations around you than you realize. They don’t always stand out the way a gas station does. I’ve seen a lot in Target parking lots, for instance.
Unless you drive long distances. During the I travel from Fairbanks, Alaska to the Copper River to fish King and Coho salmon (from 300-350 miles). I usually carry three 5-gallon cans of fuel in the back of my truck, because there aren't many gas stations along the way. Alaska has large landmass, so long distance driving is common. By the way, I see lots of European travelers all over the interior of Alaska, from motorbike riders to motorhome drivers. A lot of the "bikers" travel through Canada and Alaska, and often tour the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay (long distance).
Because of that (just slightly out of mainstream) usage pattern, you will probably be one of that last people who can switch to EVs. That’s OK. Not everyone needs to switch at once. As the tech matures, it will be able to statisfy more people’s needs. In the meantime, we just need it to satisfy a large number and it really does now.
There are very few chargers in Alaska. For example, there is one between Fairbanks and Anchorage, in a distance of somewhere near 175 miles from each of the cities. There may be some chargers and a few EV's in Anchorage where the weather is mild compared to the interior of Alaska (I don't really know). But I have never seen an EVs in Fairbanks, just a few hybrid vehicles.
It gets extremely cold in the interior of Alaska, specially all around Fairbanks. This may be the primary reason for people not to drive EVs, at least during the winter since the cab heaters must be kept at nearly maximum temperature. Even at the supermarkets shoppers have to leave their vehicle engines idling when the temperature is -20 degrees F. (-28.8889 C) and colder to avoid freezing the produce and other vegetables, or even flowers/plants.
When taking photos of the Auroras, or at the local sled dog and skijoring races, I sometimes have to leave the motor idling and heater near maximum output for several hours. Some of the roads where I park my truck (or car) are several miles away from my home, and sometimes there is no traffic present. Long distance driving is quite common for most drivers in the Interior of Alaska. For example, Anchorage is located about 380 miles from Fairbanks.
Alaska Maps & Facts
Physical map of Alaska showing major cities, terrain, national parks, rivers, and surrounding countries with international borders and outline maps. Key facts about Alaska.
From Fairbanks to Homer = over 10 hours driving, or 580 miles (933km) non-stop drive.
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Exactly.
Out of curiosity... I checked the map for Electrify America around the Charlotte, NC area. There's only one EA charging station in this metropolitan area of 2.5 million people. I was shocked... I thought Electrify America was the big one.
BUT... I did a Google search and found that there are dozens of charging stations in the area from other charging companies (ChargePoint, EVgo)
So yeah... use the apps... all the apps. There could be plenty of charging stations in a particular area!
EA is planning to double their network in the next 3 years. The others likely have such plans, too.Exactly.
Out of curiosity... I checked the map for Electrify America around the Charlotte, NC area. There's only one EA charging station in this metropolitan area of 2.5 million people. I was shocked... I thought Electrify America was the big one.
BUT... I did a Google search and found that there are dozens of charging stations in the area from other charging companies (ChargePoint, EVgo)
So yeah... use the apps... all the apps. There could be plenty of charging stations in a particular area!
That's excellent news. The more the merrier!
I'd love to see every major shopping center add chargers. All they need is a power source. Luckily power is already on-site.
It's a helluva lot easier to add a couple chargers to a parking lot than add a gas station with pumps, tanks, and all that!
Maybe, but if a phone gets hot after wireless charging, what to do with the heat from pumping 48A wirelessly?
Wireless charging a car?
What’s the distance from the wireless charger to the coils in a phone? 5mm?
What is below the battery on an EV? Steel most likely, maybe aluminum? How does wireless work through metal?
And for sake of argument let’s say wireless car charging is as efficient as charging a phone, let’s say 95%. Let’s say you put 50kW in, 5% loss would be 2.5kW - and that is a totally unrealistic scenario.
Wireless charging EVs is so far fetched…
You might not have traffic, but the nearest decent store, often a Walmart, may be 30 miles in one direction and a hospital 50 miles in the opposite direction. Did a bicycling trip on a portion of the cross-country bicycle route and things are totally different away from the Interstate. 1 block towns with boarded up storefronts. A big deal is when you get can get to a larger town with a population of a few thousand where you can actually buy things.
EV‘s are a different breed in terms of battery tech. Most modern EV’s have a cooling system (if not full AC) for their batteries.
And it’d be easy to add a(nother) fan to an EV to accommodate wireless charging.
I think my next car will be petrol but hopefully the one after that will be Electric.
My neighbour recently got one with the plug installed outside.
I just need the at least crossover SUV size and I need the price to come down a bit. Hoping we’ll get there in about 3-5 years.
My neighbour recently got one with the plug installed outside.
I just need the at least crossover SUV size and I need the price to come down a bit. Hoping we’ll get there in about 3-5 years.
Yet, there are Teslas and probably others I don’t recognize driving around.
It’s easy to work out which ones are EV’s over here. They are the ones with the green tags on the license plates and without the noise of an ICE.
Plugshare.com shows you all the chargers. Houston has a little bit more than 1 charging station
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They could certainly do with some exterior noise for safety as they are far too quiet in car parks. I’m surprised we haven’t seen more people being run over by them by now.
Mine makes an additional noise at low speed for that exact reason. A lot do.
But I really enjoy the lower noise on journeys.
here in the US, California at least it's required by law. My 2017 Prius Prime, you can certainly hear it, our new 2022 Hyundai Tucson PHEV is plain out loud, way louder than a modern ICE ...
Wireless charging is the least of the hurdles in the way of EV battery design. The most difficult problem at the moment is to figure how to build batteries of greater capacities without increasing weight. The most powerful Tesla battery for Tesla Roaster weights 1836 pounds (832.7956 kg). There is a video posted at "youtube" where a new electric Ford F-150 is shown side-side to an internal combustion engine GMC, each towing a heavy travel trailer.
Keep in mind that the video shows two trucks towing each a heavy trailer, in which case it does not apply to EV automobiles like the ones mentioned in this thread. But if one loads any EV car with passengers, the drive range is shortened because of the added weight. The same happens to an ICE automobile, but to a lesser degree. At the moment EV batteries cannot be made significantly lighter or smaller and at the same time more powerful. Designing batteries of greater capacities and proportionally lighter would make them extremely expensive, and also that at the moment the materials for building such batteries are the talk of the future.
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First the anti-EV people actively try to block efforts to increase EV charging infrastructure. Then they point to the lack of infrastructure as "proof" that EV's can't succeed.
North Carolina Looks to Remove Public EV Chargers, Probably to the Trash
A bill currently in the works in the North Carolina legislature would allocate $50,000 to get rid of free public EV chargers unless free gas pumps are built alongside.