[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by Wyzz Kydd

How much do those studies value the opportunity cost of time lost to searching for a charging station and then the time lost to charging?

That was one of my problems with the Anderson Group study you posted earlier. They tried to attach an hourly wage to the time spent driving to a charger and the time spent actually charging. What they did not do was subtract the time that EVs don’t spend at the gas station because they do about 90% of their charging while the owner is not using the car. The owner is either sleeping or at work, so those 5-10 minute sessions at the local gas station are eliminated. If the amount of time spent at charging stations away from home / work are added into cost, the only fair approach is to either subtract about 10 minutes once or twice a week or add that into the “cost” of driving an ICE car. I doubt you consider the time you spend at the pump into your cost of operating your car.

So, anecdotally, over the past year our Chevrolet Volt (RIP) spent zero time waiting for charge at charging stations outside of home and spent about 10-15 minutes at gas stations last year (only had to add gas twice). It only charged at home and on two occasions I took it to visit clients whom I knew had charge stations on their property.

As for finding charge stations, every EV worth its salt can automatically locate charging stations on GPS and will suggest which stations you should stop at on any trip that you route with GPS. Some will allow you to reserve a time slot based on when your trip plan has you near a station you should stop at, so there’s no waiting in line when you get there.