Electric cars

[Yonak Hawkins]

...if you call the cops, they will not come out and tow or ticket a non-electric vehicle in those spots.

No, it's not an argument about legality. It's about civility. It's rude to block the charging stations. Why do it except to be mean ?

[Malcolm McLeod]

Please tell me where it's legal to park across multiple spots, I'll be sure to avoid it.
Look at that picture again: we're not talking about a work/delivery truck. Serve him right if somebody parked his car in the spot in front of him and another in the spot behind him, and then went to a movie.

It's legal in Texas.

[Kev Williams]

No room to park that gigantic pickup truck towing that enormous 12' ATV trailer except across 4 parking spaces that aren't actually parking spaces? Puhleeze-- I've pulled into several podunk town gas stations towing a 26' Chaparral with a 40' Allegro Bus and I've never had any trouble parking it in the fuel pump area. And I only take up 4 spaces of Walmart's and big grocery store lots, and that's out in the barren regions of the lots...

Question I know the answer to-- how many of us has ever blocked the air hose at a gas station? I'm betting not one of us. Courteous people don't do that

Whoever owns that pickup/ATV is either a complete ****head or just plain stupid.

[Ronald Blue]

Here's a twist I saw or heard something about recently. Someone who took up a charging location with their EV not because they needed a charge but because they could blocking someone who desperately needed the charging station. I don't know whether this is fact but I surely saw it on the internet so it has to be true. This could become an issue if the popularity in urban areas increases. I know some places limit even the time for an EV. But maybe they need to be need based as well. As for parking in EV spaces it looks like 9 states and the District of Columbia have laws on it.

[Yathin Krishnappa]

Here's a twist I saw or heard something about recently. Someone who took up a charging location with their EV not because they needed a charge but because they could blocking someone who desperately needed the charging station. I don't know whether this is fact but I surely saw it on the internet so it has to be true. This could become an issue if the popularity in urban areas increases. I know some places limit even the time for an EV. But maybe they need to be need based as well. As for parking in EV spaces it looks like 9 states and the District of Columbia have laws on it.

I've experienced that. So, Tesla has started charging for people who "idle" at charging spots because it had become a problem grave enough to address. I've also seen Volts parked in electric car charging spots in long term parking in airports -- which is unfortunate because there are cars that may really need those spots. I've never had to use them as I plan to have a nearly full charge when long term parking. Hopefully, the technology will improve that we'll have to spend much less time charging. That's really important if we want more adopters of the technology.

[Pat Barry]

"Fancy parking spot"? Do you consider gas pumps "fancy parking spots"? If you needed gas and someone pulled a giant trailer in front of the pumps, would you "LOL" about it?

You don't understand the subtlety of my LOL?

[Pat Barry]

Brian, I think you misunderstand. Where in the country are you finding "public" parking lots? If you stop and think about it for a minute, I think you'd realize that most "public" parking is actually owned by private companies. They are free to choose to install charging spots wherever they like. If they think a row of superchargers will attract the kind of customer they want, then they may choose to install them.

The Home Depot near me has extra-long parking spots for people with trailers. An accommodation to attract customers with trailers.
The upscale grocery store near me has EV charging spots. I know folks who go to that store just to charge their car.

It's not EV owners "inconveniencing" or "demanding" or having "special needs". It's just market forces at work.

How much do they charge at your upscale grocery store to charge your vehicle?

[Lee DeRaud]

It's legal in Texas.

Well, my folks are dead now (they lived in Arlington at the time), so it's not like I have any reason to go there...

[Chris Parks]

I feel that it is going to be cheaper and more reliable, but it's probably not the most important factor in buying an electric car today. There's probably no real data except for a few outlier Teslas that have done hundreds of thousands of miles. For what it's worth, my personal experience is that Tesla maintenance costs (service+tires) are on par with Porsche. Also, Tesla parts are not easily available and that combined with proprietary software which is a major component of the car makes it not easily serviceable by third party.

There will be a heap of data from Europe, Norway has a 25% road fleet of electric and electric sales are literally taking off at a better rate than production capacity right across Europe. If the data has been compiled yet is another question altogether.

[Dan Friedrichs]

How much do they charge at your upscale grocery store to charge your vehicle?

It's an extra $0.11/pound on the grapes

I think it's free. Drives business, I assume.

[Jim Becker]

The Hyatt I stayed frequently in Fair Lakes VA prior to retirement has several charging stations. They are "pay for" setups not specific to a particular vehicle make/model.

[Chris Parks]

One has to keep in mind the discussion (I mean on a global scale) is far more encompassing than just electric vehicles. The discussion is influenced by tons of factors from politics to pocketbooks.

My main fear about the negativity I often see in the US is that we throw away another competitive advantage we have to the rest of the world. Detroit was never really the motor city, it was the engine city but that didn't have the requisite ring. I would really like to see one or a group of US cities become the modern motor city (cities).

It is in interesting that the US manufacturers have basically ignored their domestic market but are going full speed in China to meet the governments mandated fleet percentages for electric vehicles.

The fleet owners of PROPER trucks and not the toys that get called trucks in the US are absolutely salivating at the thought of pure electric because their costs will be way less per kilometre and the reduction in trip times due to significantly better performance on hills and standing starts.

[James Pallas]

There will be a heap of data from Europe, Norway has a 25% road fleet no electric and electric sales are literally taking off at a better rate than production capacity right across Europe. If the data has been compiled yet is another question altogether.

Read the news about what's going on in Europe now.
Jim

[Ronald Blue]

The fleet owners of PROPER trucks and not the toys that get called trucks in the US are absolutely salivating at the thought of pure electric because their costs will be way less per kilometre and the reduction in trip times due to significantly better performance on hills and standing starts.

Just curious as to what you call a proper truck?

[Chris Parks]

"Although alternative energy is increasingly cost-competitive and storage technology holds great promise, alternative energy systems alone will not be capable of meeting the base-load generation needs of a developed economy for the foreseeable future."

The report does not compare apples to apples. It is pricing arrays that are piggy-backing on existing conventional/nuclear supply. The cost structure would be much different if you were looking at a solar system that needed to actually meet the demand without that crutch. It is like comparing the skills of the circus guy who works over a net, to the one guy who goes out and walks the tightrope over Niagara Falls or whatever without a net. What they are doing looks the same, but it is really very different.

That must be an old report because precisely that happens in Australia now, base load is stored in a battery bank for the whole of South Australia.