New Research Finds America's EV Chargers Are Just 78% Reliable (and Underfunded) (hbs.edu) 220
Harvard Business School has an "Institute for Business in Global Society" that explores the societal impacts of business. And they've recently published some new AI-powered research about EV charging infrastructure, according to the Institute's blog, conducted by climate fellow Omar Asensio.
"Asensio and his team, supported by Microsoft and National Science Foundation awards, spent years building models and training AI tools to extract insights and make predictions," using the reviews drivers left (in more than 72 languages) on the smartphone apps drivers use to pay for charging. And ultimately this research identified "a significant obstacle to increasing electric vehicle (EV) sales and decreasing carbon emissions in the United States: owners' deep frustration with the state of charging infrastructure, including unreliability, erratic pricing, and lack of charging locations..." [C]harging stations in the U.S. have an average reliability score of only 78%, meaning that about one in five don't work. They are, on average, less reliable than regular gas stations, Asensio said. "Imagine if you go to a traditional gas station and two out of 10 times the pumps are out of order," he said. "Consumers would revolt...." EV drivers often find broken equipment, making charging unreliable at best and simply not as easy as the old way of topping off a tank of gas. The reason? "No one's maintaining these stations," Asensio said.
One problem? Another blog post by the Institute notes that America's approach to public charging has differed sharply from those in other countries: In Europe and Asia, governments started making major investments in public charging infrastructure years ago. In America, the initial thinking was that private companies would fill the public's need by spending money to install charging stations at hotels, shopping malls and other public venues. But that decentralized approach failed to meet demand and the Biden administration is now investing heavily to grow the charging network and facilitate EV sales... "No single market actor has sufficient incentive to build out a national charging network at a pace that meets our climate goals," the report declared. Citing research and the experience of other countries, it noted that "policies that increase access to charging stations may be among the best policies to increase EV sales." But the U.S. is far behind other countries.
Thanks to Slashdot reader NoWayNoShapeNoForm for sharing the article.
"Asensio and his team, supported by Microsoft and National Science Foundation awards, spent years building models and training AI tools to extract insights and make predictions," using the reviews drivers left (in more than 72 languages) on the smartphone apps drivers use to pay for charging. And ultimately this research identified "a significant obstacle to increasing electric vehicle (EV) sales and decreasing carbon emissions in the United States: owners' deep frustration with the state of charging infrastructure, including unreliability, erratic pricing, and lack of charging locations..." [C]harging stations in the U.S. have an average reliability score of only 78%, meaning that about one in five don't work. They are, on average, less reliable than regular gas stations, Asensio said. "Imagine if you go to a traditional gas station and two out of 10 times the pumps are out of order," he said. "Consumers would revolt...." EV drivers often find broken equipment, making charging unreliable at best and simply not as easy as the old way of topping off a tank of gas. The reason? "No one's maintaining these stations," Asensio said.
One problem? Another blog post by the Institute notes that America's approach to public charging has differed sharply from those in other countries: In Europe and Asia, governments started making major investments in public charging infrastructure years ago. In America, the initial thinking was that private companies would fill the public's need by spending money to install charging stations at hotels, shopping malls and other public venues. But that decentralized approach failed to meet demand and the Biden administration is now investing heavily to grow the charging network and facilitate EV sales... "No single market actor has sufficient incentive to build out a national charging network at a pace that meets our climate goals," the report declared. Citing research and the experience of other countries, it noted that "policies that increase access to charging stations may be among the best policies to increase EV sales." But the U.S. is far behind other countries.
Thanks to Slashdot reader NoWayNoShapeNoForm for sharing the article.
Who is responsible? (Score:4, Interesting)
The summary mentions that charging stations are routinely out of order, and then goes on to mention that private undue isn't building out infrastructure quickly enough for EV charging stations. Yet there is no connecting of the dots between these two phenomena. Clearly some chargers have been built, but there's no mention of which parties are failing to maintain these chargers.
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Gas stations are not particularly suitable for charging stations. They don't have anything for people to do while the charging happens. Well, some are installing such stuff, but are they still a "gas station" at that point, more more of a rest store or something?
If I was giving out subsidies (and tax breaks are a form), I think that I'd design the program to also include restaurants, malls, and big box stores. Do you have shopping? Open to the public for customers? You qualify.
Heck, encourage their inst
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Gas stations are not particularly suitable for charging stations. They don't have anything for people to do while the charging happens. Well, some are installing such stuff, but are they still a "gas station" at that point, more more of a rest store or something?
Around here most gas stations along a major road offer food and a place to sit to eat. The smaller stations in the cities might not have that but then if you are in a city then it's not a great place for an EV charger because most people will be near their home, or where ever it is they have as a destination, and that would be the most convenient place to charge. A lot of the grocery stores and "big box" retail shops will have fuel pumps in the corner of the parking lot, so people can go shopping if the p
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The summary mentions that charging stations are routinely out of order
No, they say that app reviews report them as out-of-order.
If everything works fine, most people won't bother to leave a good review.
If the charger doesn't work, people are far more likely to leave a bad review.
So, there's a huge selection bias in the data.
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Tesla's chargers have very high reliability ratings (and there are more of them than any others.
OTOH, Electrify America chargers are notoriously unreliable. This company was formed by VW as a penalty for dieselgate fraud and they have made very half-hearted attempts to follow the court order. Blame VW.
Re:The company who installed it (Score:2)
Lots of these shitty chargers are placed near a hotel or casino. It's some third party who agrees to pay the property owner for use. The hotel has no say in their operation or maintenance so when a customer complains all they can do is report it. Also to remind everyone these chargers don't take credit cards directly and require you use their shitty payment app.
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however they contain valuable copper in an easy to cut off cable so for copper thieves easy money.
I expect this to be fixed with EV drivers being expected to have one of those V2V cables, the charger has a NACS plug as if it's another vehicle providing a charge. The process to start the charging would be much like any other public EV charger with the driver expected to use a smart phone to run some app for payment. These V2V cables apparently don't support fast DC charging but a 240 VAC charge is better than nothing, or having to charge from an outdoor 120 VAC outlet at a motel or something because th
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Clearly some chargers have been built, but there's no mention of which parties are failing to maintain these chargers.
Great question. My understanding was a large numbers of chargers were essentially built by VW as part of the Dieselgate settlement. If that's the case, VW may have had a strong incentive to do the bare minimum required by the settlement. This may turn out to be "build chargers", not "ensure working chargers are available to drivers."
People may think profit motives and self-interest are distasteful but I definitely trust them much more than other forms of motivation.
Re: Who is responsible? (Score:2)
The subsidies for them largely cover just building them. Not maintaining them. If they were being built for economic reasons they'd get maintained.
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They're routinely out of order because copper thieves keep stealing the cabling, not because they break down from use. Those charging fees are going to get quite a bit higher if every charging station has to hire 24/7 security.
Re: Who is responsible? (Score:5, Interesting)
What US drivers want is convenience. Lots of them would love to have EVs but issues like this make them not practical. What people would enjoy most is EVs plus convenient charging and with right to repair laws. What most of us have to settle for is a hybrid because nobody will make EVs practical.
And the reason of course is corruption. All this government funding available but no accountability required. It's like anything else, the more you look at a problem the more you realize someone is running is running off with the money because the system is designed to allow them to do that. Think of all the billions of dollars the government gave to telcos to build out the last mile with high speed Internet access. Where did it go? Not where it was supposed to...
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What US drivers want is convenience. Lots of them would love to have EVs but issues like this make them not practical. What people would enjoy most is EVs plus convenient charging and with right to repair laws. What most of us have to settle for is a hybrid because nobody will make EVs practical.
And the reason of course is corruption. All this government funding available but no accountability required. It's like anything else, the more you look at a problem the more you realize someone is running is running off with the money because the system is designed to allow them to do that. Think of all the billions of dollars the government gave to telcos to build out the last mile with high speed Internet access. Where did it go? Not where it was supposed to...
You can't make a 20+ minute to 80% charge time "practical." There are still technological limitations that have nothing to do with what you're talking about. Sure, for some use cases charge-at-home-commute-to-work-charge-at-home functions. But then.........that's not what we're talking about here.
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You can't make a 20+ minute to 80% charge time "practical."
It's plenty practical for many EV owners, especially since the vehicle tends to sit around in a parking space for more time than it's being operated. Therefore your statement is false. You absolutely can make it practical. It requires additional infrastructure, some light and some heavier, but it absolutely can be done. We know because so many people are doing it. Stop focusing on the failures and consider the success stories, and what makes them successful.
You know what we really can't make practical? Long
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You know what we really can't make practical? Long commutes in cars.
I'm sure that plenty of people can work from home or live close to their factory job but that doesn't work well around here.
There's a lot of family farms where I live. I'll see people that work a second job in the winter while there's little work that needs to be done in the fields and the livestock care is largely automated. Maybe one of the spouses works at a veterinary clinic, a restaurant, some kind of retail, or at a school. If there's children then they need to go to school. Distance learning and
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The vast majority of US EV owners are 2+ car owners, with their other car being gas-powered. Which means if they have to get from point A-B with no issues, they take the gas car.
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What kind of lifestyle are we talking about then? Linemen and OTR truckers? Everyone else I know goes home at night.
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My problem with EVs isn't convenience (Score:2)
So I can drive a 10-15-year-old car and it runs and yeah I've got a pour some maintenance into it and that sucks but it's still significantly cheaper than a new car.
But with an EV around 10-15 year mark there's a best case scenario $6,000 expense you have to lay out. That kind of money completely changes the value proposition around a used c
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Private vehicle ownership is getting more expensive no matter what. Even used barely-running ICE beaters cost a significant chunk of change now and they're also likely to need an expensive engine or tranny swap. The days of just buying another $500 Craigslist car are over.
I live in a lower income part of Florida and I've personally witnessed a significant uptick in people riding e-bikes and e-scooters. Now yeah, Florida's climate certainly plays a role in making that a feasible option, as it doesn't snow
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Re: Who is responsible? (Score:2)
Some people philophically define âoeneedâ as the existence of a profitable market. So if you were to say âoeThereâ(TM)s a need for an extensive and reliable charging network but operating one would unprofitable,â it sounds like nonsense, similar to saying , âoeI wouldnâ(TM)t mind being poor as long as I had plenty of money.â
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The problem may be more that charging stations aren't a profitable business model, unless you can sell people a ton of snacks while they wait.
Again we come back to convenience. What we need is charging in convenient locations. This is in theory a lot easier than refueling in convenient locations because while a gas station needs storage tanks, all a charger needs is a grid connection. Therefore it can be sited basically anywhere you can put a parking space. The vehicles have search tools to help you find chargers, so what we need (and what the government should have facilitated) is a system that not only reports on the realtime status of chargers
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The problem may be more that charging stations aren't a profitable business model, unless you can sell people a ton of snacks while they wait.
Again we come back to convenience. What we need is charging in convenient locations. This is in theory a lot easier than refueling in convenient locations because while a gas station needs storage tanks, all a charger needs is a grid connection. Therefore it can be sited basically anywhere you can put a parking space. The vehicles have search tools to help you find chargers, so what we need (and what the government should have facilitated) is a system that not only reports on the realtime status of chargers, but also lets you book one, and then directs you there. Instead what we have is access to databases of where chargers are supposed to be functioning. IOW we got another half-assed solution because government didn't step up and fulfill the part that it is naturally suited to do because of its position.
If you told me I had to book a fuel pump reservation ahead of time I would laugh, but people seriously think this is OK with chargers? Your concept of convenience is seriously compromised.
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The problem may be more that charging stations aren't a profitable business model
My local Walmart, Target, Costco, and Safeway all have chargers in their parking lots. They wouldn't do that if they didn't think it was good business.
Hotels can slow charge overnight, which requires nothing more than a standard 220v outlet.
Re:Who is responsible? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Bingo, it's a contradictory opinion to say on one hand that the market should figure this issue out and then also oppose a carbon tax or similar measures with the other.
Taxes and more specifically Pigouvian Taxes [wikipedia.org] are an excellent option for externalities with minimal market distortion (key is the tax must be applied equally and predictably).
If a business is not affected by an externality than as you point out they have no incentive to care about it.
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That's the problem with capitalism. Only the profitable things get funded.
How is that a problem? If some action is not profitable then it is not sustainable.
The problem is using "capitalism" to describe a free market, it is a term dreamed up by socialists to make private ownership look bad. They focus on what people take than what they give. If I take $20 from you to provide a meal then who profited from that? We both did. I got $20 to buy more bread, meat, veggies, and so forth for the next person that comes in hungry, and you had a meal so that you have the energy to live
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Why do we need more wealth for the future exactly? Why couldn't every single corporation stay
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That's the problem with capitalism. Only the profitable things get funded.
How is that a problem? If some action is not profitable then it is not sustainable.
That depends very much on whether externalities are coated in. As we see today, many things that were profitable have turned out not to be sustainable. Also, things that are not profitable today might be profitable tomorrow but capitalism funding then involves in investment and if investors are risk averse then something may not get funded and get to the point of profitability even when it is clearly in the common interest to do such a thing. And some things that are in the common interest simply aren't pro
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Re: Who is responsible? (Score:5, Informative)
That's just false, but I'm guessing you don't really care. The administration did not promise to spend money to build charging stations themselves, they made funding available for states to build charging stations for a national charging network. To get that funding the states had to research, propose, and start contracts with builders, which takes time and is hampered by federal- and state-level red tape.
Many more charging stations will come. Is that a guarantee that this will be money well spent? No. But the administration did not "spend" billions of dollars on 7 charging stations, therefore these stations did *not* cost billions of dollars each. Billions of dollars have been made available to states, and only seven chargers have been built so far.
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... To get that funding the states had to research, propose, and start contracts with builders, which takes time and is hampered by federal- and state-level red tape.
You make a good case for government to stay out of it.
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Then no more solar PV. To make silicon it takes a lot of coal.
That's bullcrap.
Silicon refining requires a lot of energy for electric arc furnaces, but there is no reason it needs to come from coal. The electricity could come from solar panels, wind turbines, or whatever.
Re: Who is responsible? (Score:4, Insightful)
Take a look at the silicon refining process: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
The process involves heating carbon (as coal) and silicon dioxide in a furnace to get carbon dioxide and silicon. The energy to heat the furnace might be from electricity but that doesn't remove the need for coal in the refining.
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Then no more solar PV. To make silicon it takes a lot of coal. No more mining for coal, no more silicon refining.
PV doesn't require coal though. It requires silicon (usually), doping materials, and energy (usually electricity). Which can come from other solar panels.
If there's a technology out there that actually uses carbon, there's plenty of sources for that, and the usage would be minor.
Re: Who is responsible? (Score:4, Informative)
Refining of silicon, as it is done currently, uses coal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
There are certainly other sources of carbon that could be used in the process, possibly other chemical processed for refining that don't involve carbon, but the replacement of coal isn't going to happen overnight. Force the coal mines to close before there's a new process and there won't be any new silicon for more solar PV cells.
Well, there's solar PV that doesn't necessarily require silicon but reduction with coal is a common process for producing many materials for reasons involving physics and chemistry. If its not silicon requiring the coal then it is something else that likely still will.
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If there wasn't all this oversight and red tape, you be complaining about the few instances where funding went to a company that was inept or corrupt and you'd be saying : see government should stay out of it.
Re: Who is responsible? (Score:5, Insightful)
In America, the initial thinking was that private companies would fill the public's need by spending money to install charging stations at hotels, shopping malls and other public venues. But that decentralized approach failed to meet demand
The government staying out of it is what lead to the unreliable, inadequate charging infrastructure we have now.
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So it works reasonably well in YOUR local metropolitan area. Good for you.
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In all fairness conidering "DEI" can mean "anything the author doesn't like" could you post some examples.
A responder already put a fair amount of effort to dispel one... falsehood so no offense but how can we know this isnt another one?
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Sorry I can't hear you over the sound of your dog whistle.
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What type of plug does that have to be?
My EV came with several adapters. I've never encountered a charger I couldn't use.
What voltage and wattage?
My EV can use anything from 110v to 440v.
Who owns the land that plug should go on?
McDonalds.
Is there a parking space near that location?
Yes. Duh.
Where is the power for this charging spot coming from?
Umm. From the electric company?
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Great, well we just switched and decided on a plug standard like, last year? People generally don't like dongles.
Great, your car can accept multiple voltages, which one should I choose for my charger unit, considering the grid availability, current requirements, cost requirements, space requirements (DC chargers usually have additional transformers).
Is this location suited for DC fast chargers or slower AC chargers? What does the grant allow me? Is there a survey of the drivers and traffic patterns for this
Vandals? (Score:4, Funny)
Are the chargers not working because they have been broken by vandals, goths or huns?
This is not what the study said. (Score:5, Interesting)
This headline is just pure bullshit. This is not a claim in the study. The study is about using AI for research, the main point was that GPT-4 is cheap to use, and is 86-94% accurate in extracting pricing schemes (not great but better than the 64-85% of Regex) and its results on an analysis of the pricing structure of EV chargers. And it is based on user reviews on the internet, which is far from a gold standard of scientific accuracy
The study never mentions malfunctioning stations. The only use of the word reliable (in any form) is "there is a need for reliable evidence". The number 78 never appears in the study (nor do 22, 77 or 21(in case of rounding)). This is a claim based on an analysis of user reviews by an at best 94% accurate AI. A result that the guy will claim in an interview, but not publish in a journal.
He does not define 78% reliable. He gives some examples, which include chargers being broken, but also includes ICE cars using the charge point for parking. He does not separate the user reviews into categories. He does not state whether the AI models distinguish between "doesn't work because it is broken", "doesn't work because I need a J-1772 connector and this station is for Teslas", "doesn't work because it's slow", or "doesn't work because I didn't like it for reasons".
Maybe the 78% number is accurate, I don't know, I've never owned an electric car. But the claim is not supported by the evidence he is willing to publish in a peer reviewed journal.
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The 78% survey number lines up pretty nicely with a smaller 2023 study that visited a bunch of chargers in the SF Bay area and found 73% of chargers operational, with a later random sampling showing no significant change in percentage.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.163... [arxiv.org]
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78% of the time on average you will not be able to.
That's not what TFA says, nor is it true.
I've been driving an EV for nine years, and "non-working chargers" has never been a problem for me.
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No, if you are dumb enough to pull up to a Tesla charger on a car with a different type of plug, your stupidity does not affect the reliability of the charger. If some asshole parks an ICE car in a charging station, that does not affect the reliability of the charger. Those are assholes and idiots fucking up, and blaming the chargers is no different than blaming the "reliability" of windows on an idiot playing baseball in the house or an asshole throwing bricks at one.
The 78% availability (not 78% unavailab
Not surprising (Score:2)
Smokescreens (Score:2)
If that is too much then drop the mandates until the EV industry works itself out.
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Yeah, it doesn't seem like the "Mandate that everyone buys EV's by 2035 and let the market sort out the problems" guidelines that states like California are pushing are working. If anything, it's causing people to drag their feet and buy more gas powered SUV's instead.
Re:Smokescreens (Score:5, Insightful)
hardly anything “works itself out’ without government mandates. like seat belts and air bags, sometimes the industry fights like hell against things that are now commonplace.
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Nah. Does not work that way.
Gas stations (Score:4, Informative)
In my experience, it's very common for gas pumps to be out of service. From gas shortages taking out entire stations for days, to people driving off with the nozzle still in, to general maintenance, I half expect at least one pump to be out in a station with more than 8 pumps.
Also, in my experience, charging stations (dedicated ones, not the ones at the mall) usually have well over a dozen or so chargers. So, even if they are individually down more often, in suspicious that translates to more real downtime in terms of number of chargers available.
I think the bigger issue is simply the long wait. Even if you come across a station with 40 chargers, of which 5 are out of service, you are bottlenecked not by the number of chargers, but by the 30+ mins each vehicle takes to charge.
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The issue is that you're trying to charge your car at the mall. You should have your own plug at home.
The only time you should be looking for someone else's charger is if you forgot to pay your electric bill.
Re: Gas stations (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't think my apartment management would be cool with me running a cable out my 8th floor window and down to the garage.
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I don't think my apartment management would be cool with me running a cable out my 8th floor window and down to the garage.
I'm sure not. But all new construction or significant rework/remodel should require installation of at least a 120V/15A socket for every parking space. This would eventually permit the majority of people to do all of their regular charging at home overnight (based on average commute lengths, charge speeds, etc.) Yes, more capacity would be good, but enough is as good as a feast and this would be enough for most people to only need to visit a quick charger on a longer trip.
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I don't think my apartment management would be cool with me running a cable out my 8th floor window and down to the garage.
If you have a garage then you can install a charger there.
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You should have your own plug at home.
"Home"? You do realize you just assumed away the millions of apartment dwellers, retirement home residents, young drivers still living at home, and other situations where one's domicile does not have the capability to charge a vehicle, right??
Re:Gas stations (Score:4, Insightful)
Everyone now expects an available wifi connection in public locations, that wasn't the case only a decade ago. The same will happen here.
But sure, right now EVs are simply not practical for most apartment renters. Talk to your landlord...
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If you have a clothes dryer outlet, that qualifies as a level 2 outlet. It isn't THAT expensive. Right now the Landlord will laugh, but soon it will just be the cost of doing business.
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millions of apartment dwellers
Many apartment building garages and parking lots have chargers or are installing them.
retirement home residents
Not sure why that's a problem.
young drivers still living at home
Can't they ask the parents if it's ok to plug in the EV?
retirement home residents, (Score:2)
retirement home residents have a plug outside their apartment to charge their electric mobility scooter or w/c
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retirement home residents have a plug outside their apartment to charge their electric mobility scooter or w/c
"w/c"? Water closet?
Maybe where you live the apartments tend to be single story and open up to the outdoors but around here it can get cold and icy so the retirement apartments open to a common area where there might be places to visit with others out of the weather, perhaps have food served and entertainment provided if its that kind of place. Those with vehicle will have them in covered parking spot, maybe a heated garage. Maybe that means there's a means to easily add an electrical outlet for EVs but
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Or if you are driving a distance, which is a pretty important use case. And you are assuming everyone who lives in an apartment or relies on street parking has a charger.
Re:Gas stations (Score:4, Informative)
Very few people cosplay as hauliers doing a cannonball run at the weekend in a $25k car.
You do you and if you do, then an EV is not for you.
For most other people, I'd guess they are not doing that and so an EV is fine. Bear in mind that most people aren't regularly driving from Humptulips to Fluffy Landing, and over 50% live in the burbs so they can charge are home and drive only moderate distances. The low maintenance and lack of need to ever visit a gas station are a boon.
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I left Pittsburgh yesterday to go to Chicago for polish sausages. I got to the hotel around midnight.
I am currently on my way from Chicago back to Pittsburgh. About an 8 hour drive.
So...there's that.
Re:Gas stations (Score:4, Insightful)
It will not happen in my lifetime.
So long as this is inflation-adjusted dollars: Challenge accepted!
Your list is a completely reasonable consumer set of criteria, and we aren't too far from it. Nothing in your list requires a "technological leap" just slow incremental improvement. Not sure how old you are, but this bucket list seems like maybe 10-15 years away.
Today: ;-)
1) Tesla Supercharger: 200 miles in 15 minutes, 272 miles in 30 minutes. 300 miles in 5 minutes with today's batteries would reduce the longevity significantly. Probably from the resulting explosion.
2) Not yet. Fortunately no technological advance is required to make this happen, just building more.
3) Nissan Leaf: $29k. Catch: "Vehicles I want" is a bit subjective.
4) Jeeps suck, so we are good on this one.
5) Tesla Model S 402 miles per charge.
#2 and #5 seem easy. #3 is close since battery prices dominate the costs and economy of scale should solve that. #1 is the real tough one.
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What are you towing every day with your jeep?
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What are you towing every day with your jeep?
Your mom.
I didn't have to make a "yo' mama" joke but I could not help myself.
I live in a place with a lot of rural and suburban homes. People have property to maintain, hobbies they enjoy, and because this is a temperate climate there can be heavy snow. While people might tow things rarely it can come up several times a year and on short notice. If there's a snowstorm then people might need a tow out of a ditch. Or maybe push snow with their vehicle. Maybe have to pick up branches off a snow laden tree
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ALL of these conditions have to be true for me to WANT an EV.
You're living in a fantasy world where technological advancement is 100% pure benefit with no downsides. There has probably never been such an advancement in human history. Advancements that benefit mankind come with pros that outweigh the cons, not perfection.
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Yeah. I would not actually WANT an EV, unless:
Blah, blah...
You only list the negatives. There's positives, too:
* Being able to refuel at home
* Much lower running costs
* Much lower maintenance costs (and less maintenance days)
* Much better power/torque
In the very near future:
* Self-driving will be standard
QUICK!!! (Score:2, Troll)
Someone raise my taxes! PLEASE!!!
Why is this a government issue? Does the government run the corner gas station?
Let the private market sort it out.
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"Someone raise my taxes! PLEASE!!!"
The taxes they need to raise are on petrol (gas) and diesel, since thats whats causing climate change.
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Know your audience (Score:4, Insightful)
And they've recently published some new AI-powered research....
This is slashdot; that term does not inspire awe and worship. We already know AI-powered research is markov chains producing hallucinations.
Absolute crock of shit. (Score:2)
Installing chargers gets... (Score:2)
...a press release and possibly interest from investors
Maintenance is a cost to be minimized
Not just a US problem (Score:4, Interesting)
Our kids in the UK bought an EV for the usual virtuous reasons. Discovered on their first long trip from Scotland south that the maps showing extensive charger availability were aspirational. Some of the locations were for future installs, some were broken with no one to call, and some had lines of folk waiting to plug in. It was such a nightmare that they sold the car shortly after getting back home. Granted that there is a chicken/egg problem but few people I know are masochistic enough to buy an EV just for the joy of spending their vacation time looking for working chargers.
the only solution (Score:2)
The only solution is that all chargers and all electricity must be free.
Re: (Score:2)