All this can do this, cant do this, is one thing that would really wind me up about BEV ownership and can see me getting into a load of arguments with people. I was getting wound up just watching that charging etiquette video linked to on the other page. As someone that would rely solely on public charging due to a lack of a driveway, the whole BEV ownership would be more hassle than its worth, or thats the conclusion I'm coming to. No problem with the cars themselves but as the infrastructure is inadequate it becoming a hard no from me
I wouldn’t own one right now if I couldn’t charge at home and I wouldn’t recommend someone else does either.
There is nothing inherently wrong with charging to full in public, it’s just all about the context and doing what you would expect others to do.
You wouldn’t go to an MSA, fill up and then go and get a KFC without moving your car. Likewise you shouldn’t park your car in an EV charging bay at an MSA for longer than you need to, particularly when capacity isn’t exactly ubiquitous.
In all my encounters or conversations, I've found it is usually lack of knowledge as opposed to people being idiots/greedy/mean. I've even helped people when I have no intention of charging in order to try and educate them better or help them save time in the future. Some people get a car and have no clue about what plugs do what, and how the battery charging curve works, heck some people don't know what AC/DC means, and probably think they get to listen to some rock music while charging.
Exactly, there was an interesting series in Fully Charged where Maddie Moat got her first EV and made this exact mistake. She plugged in her Kona on Type 2 on the electric highway and went in to get something to eat. When she came out half an hour later the car obviously hadn’t charged. She certainly knows the difference between AC and DC but still got it wrong.
The charging networks nor the manufacturers do much to educate their customers, they just assume you know and leave you to get on with it which obviously isn’t the case.