The Great Fill Up Comparison

Sometimes I just fall for the wrong argument. A friend of mine was saying that the only time he would consider buying an electric car is when he could charge it up in the same amount of time it takes to fill a legacy car gas tank. Sure, I just fell right into his logic by trying to talk about improvements in batteries and high-power Level 3 chargers. But in stepping away from the heat of that discussion; OK, argument, I see the wisdom of staying away from non sequitur comparisons.

In this case the “time to fill up” comparison is really an expression of hope that electric cars will not become the dominate road machines of the future. The speaker of this conspiracy believes that it is an unattainable goal, therefore they will never be forced to admit that EVs are better.

A big guy driving a big pickup truck pulled up beside me a few weeks ago and as he rolled down the passenger side window, he asked with a kind of knowing look, “How long you have to wait here to charge?” I told him, “I’m going to lunch and it’ll be ready to go when I get back.” I didn’t stay to engage further. See, I can learn from my experiences.

The real issue to consider is how inconvenient is it to charge my car. Legacy vehicle drivers seem to believe it takes them about three or four minutes to “gas up.” Of course, they may have driven a little out of their way to get to the gas station, they might have had to wait in line and they had to smell the gasoline. But I digress. Me? I just drive home and in about one minute, plug the charger handle into my car and retire for the evening. Nearly 98% of my charge time is spent inside my home enjoying myself and I never have to “smell that smell.”

In conclusion, the 30-40 minutes I sometimes have to use “exploring the neighborhood” while charging away from home are more than offset by the overwhelming number of “one minute” plug ins I perform at home.