Technology

That's the trick though, the current tech is NOT in a decent place. When it takes <10 minutes to fill a gasoline car at a pump, but it takes 40 to 60 minutes (or more!) to charge an EV, this new tech is absolutely a necessity.

https://www.transportation.gov/rural/ev/toolkit/ev-basics/charging-speeds

I talk about consumer adoption because I research this stuff. EV sales are down, they're down because of the problems I've already noted with range, charging time, and charging availability. Increasing the range increases the time between charges. Decreasing the charge time makes it more convenient to re-charge.

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20231108-three-big-reasons-americans-havent-rapidly-adopted-evs

""It might make sense [to buy an EV] if you could recharge that vehicle in the driveway of your house while you're asleep," he says. "The problem is that many Americans don't even have driveways." J.D. Power's Krear adds that "one in three shoppers don't have access to home charging". 

At this point, even figuring in the drive to a fossil-fuel station, "it's still much easier to refuel your vehicle with gasoline than with electrons", says Nunes. "If you pull up to a gas station with an empty tank, and you just pump it full of gas, it'll take you maybe six, seven minutes at the most. With EVs, it's going to take you hours to charge that vehicle to the maximum rate. And that's the kind of time that everyday Americans simply don't have."

Experts agree that establishing a robust infrastructure of public charging stations is key to mass adoption of EVs. But the creation of that infrastructure lags. Stations are scarce, particularly in low-income and minority communities. Where they do exist, they are often unreliable.

With EVs, it's going to take you hours to charge that vehicle to the maximum rate. And that's the kind of time that everyday Americans simply don't have – Ashley Nunes

"One out of every five public charging attempts is a failure," says Krear. Findings from a 2022 University of California, Berkely study showed that one-quarter of public chargers in the San Francisco Bay Area didn't work due to "unresponsive or unavailable screens, payment system failures, charge initiation failures, network failures, or broken connectors"."