I know in some petrol stations there’s something like a Subway or a Costa inside, or adjacent to the site, where the driver can and recharge themselves at the same time as the car. But what about locations where there isn’t a conveniently placed food outlet with seating. What’s the driver of an EV supposed to do for that half hour or however long it takes, just sit in the car?
30 comments
T pose at passing traffic to assert dominance.
Sit inside smuggly with having an EV car and nod at ‘Petrol’ drivers.
Is there some safety concern about sitting inside the car while it’s charging?
I wait in the car if necessary but its a rare thing because.
The car is charged every day when I set off in a morning and 95% of the time I don’t do more than a couple hundred miles in the day.
I plan longer journeys using apps and know where I’m going to recharge and ensure they have the correct facilities
Most on the go recharges only require a top up of a few percent to get you to either your destination or a faster charger so may only take 15 minutes or so.
A sit down in the car with a coffee for 20 or 30 minutes is no bad thing after 3 or 4 hours driving.
Sit in the car and watch the other drivers fill up and go within a few minutes.
They wait for their car to charge.
Why do you think there is some kind of obligation to give them something to do?
What are they supposed to do when sitting in Costa or Subway for however long it takes? Eating and drinking don’t occupy the mind. Every petrol station sells drinks and snacks. You can sit in the car with a drink and read a book or look at Reddit on your phone as well as you can do it sat in Subway or Costa.
You generally won’t need to fill the battery from empty to full at one of these stops, maybe just enough to get you home.
Even so, grab a coffee and thumb through drivel for fifteen minutes.
If it’s at a motorway service station and you’re on a long journey, you’re supposed to be taking breaks anyway.
Get a Ginsters and go all Alan Partridge and hang around inside chatting to whomever is behind the counter.
Stand by the car and look like a smug prick?
All fairly sensible advice. I would also imagine that any recharging points with no kind of coffee shop attached will be quickly picked up by one of the chains, as there will be a guaranteed stream of people with nothing else to do.
I don’t have an EV but if I did I’d use the time to listen to an album I’ve been meaning to get round to.
The same as what i have to do when i have to take a 30 min tacho break in a layby. Browse the internet, watch the world go buy, ponder your life choices.
Sit in your car and post mundane questions on reddit
With the Tesla I just watch YouTube or Netflix on the screen.
Arrange to charge near somewhere you can run errands? Is that a thing? It was a thing in Montreal, you could hook up to the charger and fuck off to do the shopping.
Read a book? Learn a language? Humblebrag: I got a dementia qualification when I was a carer in the gaps between clients. Imagine how many other qualifications unrelated to my career I’d have if I had an EV.
Masturbate furiously at other drivers is the obvious choice.
I think the general idea is you sit and contemplate why you ever thought this was a good idea.
Nothing to do really, Watch some Youtube or something.
Chat with the middle-aged guy who owns the porsche taycan or tesla next to you , lol.
Most people aren’t doing a full charge, you’d do a full charge before you left.
So most are just topping up for whatever time they’re doing whatever
Read my eyelids/buy coffee/poop/waste time on reddit etc. It’s usually only a ten minute stop at a DCFC.
The people with the biggest issues with EV charging are those who don’t have one.
We have 1 diesel and 1 EV, I needed to charge so i had a coffee and did some work while I waited for 20/30mins, another time I popped in to run some errands around town while it got some juice.
It takes a bit of planning but if you have a home charger and think through your longer journeys it’s not really that disruptive at all. The majority of people also don’t drive nearly as far as they think and will very rarely have any issues as long as they charge overnight when they need to.
Reflect on your purchasing decision?
Why has nobody put wank and a pot noodle? I’m disappointed ☹️
Like, read a book?
“What do I do with half an hour of downtime?” is a pretty odd question.
I’m on reddit at 9:30am on a thursday I’m pretty sure I can find something to occupy 30 mins of my time with.
If you’ve run out of power it probably means you done 180 to 200 miles so a break is not a bad idea anyway. The car does need to charged to capacity. Just add 100 miles to get you home. Takes about 20 minutes.
However, the point is why are the chargers at petrol stations. Why aren’t they at a car park in town or a supermarket where there something to be done. This would mean that those who have difficulty charging at home can do a charge whilst the shop or go to the gym. It would bring customers in.
Virtue Signal on Social Media how you are doing your bit to help the environment.
I say this non condescendingly – but I don’t think non EV drivers understand how quickly cars charge – especially for a quick top up to allow you to reach destination etc.
I stopped at a hotel charger at 1am one night and there were no facilities open (yes not a petrol station but given the time of night I feel it’s comparable in terms of amenities)
I parked up at 22%, walked inside the hotel (about 100m walk), used the toilet and walked back out to my car.
By the time I had got back I was at 50% which was more than enough to complete my journey home.
There are very very few instances where an EV driver will stop to recharge more than 50% additional battery bases on my – and friends experience. This takes more time than a petrol refill – but not an obscene amount of time more.
Plus – the majority of cars have a very quick 20-80% recharge time, and chargers are super quick and powerful.