This article from MIT that Astrid posted over on Parknews says the answer is YES YES YES. They posit that the number of chargers, and the speed that batteries can take a charge is critical to increasing the fleet. Fair Enough.

However I wonder. Remember that I live at ground zero of electric car purchases (California). My feeling is that until EVs equal or surpass ICE vehicles in most ways they have an uphill battle.  Yes, charging is an issue. As noted in the article above, at very best,  fast chargers can charge 200 miles of electrons in 15 minutes. However you can fill the tank of an ICE in what, five minutes. And you don’t have to hunt for a charger, wait for someone else to finish, and then hope that the available chargers are in working order.

But let’s set chargers aside. What about the cost. It seems today that Ev’s cost about $20K more than a like ICE vehicle. I don’t know about you, but that’s more than pocket change. There seems to be another issue. The major car companies (Ford, GM, and Stellantis – Chrysler) are loosing huge amounts of money in their EV divisions and only keeping profits up by ICE sales.

Trucks (pickups) are the big number for auto sales in the US. And it seems that Electric trucks don’t stand up well against ICE trucks. Their range drops substantially when fully loaded or pulling a trailer. That’s not good if you rely on your vehicle for your livelihood.

A friend told me that he loved his Tesla. Love to drive it around town. However he wasn’t so sure when he took it skiing 450 miles north. Seems he had to stop for charging at least twice in each direction. My 20 year old ICE machine can make it non stop. Oh Well. My friend was frustrated and owns an ICE vehicle for long trips. I noticed that most people who have EVs also have an ICE SUV hidden in the garage. My neighbor has a GMC SUV and a Jeep parked alongside his Tesla.

Variety is the spice of life. People want variety. With literally hundreds of ICE models available it would seem that EVs will be more attractive if there is more variety. Who knows.

I noticed that when EVs were promoted on the Super Bowl, they were promoted as ICE vehicles that ran on electricity. There must be reasons for people to buy EVs beyond government edicts. What’s in it for me is important.

Just sayin

JVH