What annoying problems does an EV owner face?

K

Kenny Wallace

New Member
I guess this varies greatly depending on the models, but generally what are the things that piss you off the most? Or mildly annoying is fine.

I haven't switched to electric vehicles yet, is there anything I should know?
 
I was pretty pissed off when the dealer delivered my car uncharged after my specifically reminding them. Then the stupid childish app based charging infrastructure meant me swearing at a charging station I could not use.
Next 3+ years, 29k miles, no issues
If completely depends on how you plan on using your vehicle.
If you very frequently drive 4 hours one way to do things, or cannot charge at home, you will frequently interface with the charging infrastructure that may or may not be kind to you depending on your location.
If you drive to see Auntie May once a year 6 hours away, it is unlikely to bother you that you have to stop for 45 minutes to charge
If every winter weekend you drive 6 hours north to go skiing, it may bug you.
 
The most annoying thing for me is the need for pet much any charging network you haven’t used before requiring its own app, that sometimes doesn’t allow to use it immediately (need to a couple days for cars verification or a physical RFID card to come in the mail). But if you plan your route ahead of time - a near necessity for the tiny battery in our Mini - is not often a problem.

The first couple months of EV ownership are less comfortable than I would like. There is just so much that’s new (can I trust the GOM? What if I need to charge? Why is the projected range changing so much?). It’s kind of like driving a manual, in that the first several times you push the range you are constantly thinking about it, but after a while you realize you haven’t thought about it in ages and are just doing it.



Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
 
Broken charging stations. On my recent trip from Vancouver to Manitoba, I encountered this big time. I managed to find enough that did work, but time was wasted when encountering broken ones. Petro-Canada was the biggest disappointment. And didn't need the stress when driving through Saskatchewan and wondering if the charging station at a critical stop (Whitewood) was going to work. The other thing I didn't like was the high cost of some charging stations (Electrify Canada). An ICE econbox could beat those in travelling costs.

Should be able to just plug in and use a credit card similar to any gas station. Having to pull out your phone and go through multiple steps each time is ridiculous. And you have to load (or set up autoload) in your app to maintain sufficient funds for your charge.
 
Kenny Wallace said:
I guess this varies greatly depending on the models, but generally what are the things that piss you off the most? Or mildly annoying is fine.

I haven't switched to electric vehicles yet, is there anything I should know?
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I find the Federal mandated noise maker to be annoying.

I find the lack of sound deadening in my Leaf to be annoying too.
 
The worst thing by far is the reliability and availability of public charging. I think the providers have found them to be a money sink with profitability a long time down the road. As a result they're not expanding into less dense areas and not maintaining the equipment they have. I moved my much loved 2018 Leaf along and bought a VW id.4 this year just to get the extra range. The VW is a solid car and pleasant to be in but the software is lacking.

The way things are now if my situation changed and I were to be doing much more long distance driving I would either get a Tesla or go back to ICE.
 
Kenny Wallace said:
I haven't switched to electric vehicles yet, is there anything I should know?
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Owning an EV is 'different' so new skills to learn. Off the top of my head:
  • Getting home, 240 VAC charging - so the car charges when you arrive and ready to go when you are.
  • Accurate range indication - unlike a gas guess-O-meter, you'll have an accurate, estimated range. Use it but when it shows 10 miles remaining, drive slowly, directly to nearest charger.
  • Plugshare and other trip apps - for out of town trips, locate the fast DC chargers along your route separated by your range plus 30-40 miles between each.
  • Cheeks hurting - from smiling about the money saved EV driving.
Bob Wilson
 
Hope and pray your EV doesn’t breakdown after the warranty runs.
If and when it does, good luck finding a tech with the knowledge on working on one without a dealership close by.
This hasn’t changed and will not change for a long long time.
 
rcarter3636 said:
EV doesn’t breakdown
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Use YouTube to see owners and independent shops fixing them. As for batteries:
  • Teslas are lasting hundreds of thousands of miles - mine is at 138,000 mi with an expected 11% degradation. The charging network has grown faster than the battery degradation.
  • Avoid air-cooled (aka., Nissan) - poor temperature management led to many, early failures in Arizona.
Bob Wilson
 
I've had rodents chew the wiring behind my vehicle charge port and now I've got a "reduced charging rate" error, which I have to get checked out and suspect the AC->DC converter (known as KLE on the BMW i3/MINI SE). But at 89,000 miles I'm not overly concerned about repair costs since the only maintenance I've had so far is replacing my tires and wiper blades, plus fixing the chewed wiring. Still way less cost than oil changes and timing belts and leaking seals et al. that come with ICE vehicles.
 
No DCFC standard way to pay. You need each charging companies APP(I have at least 8 EV Apps ) . Gov needs to mandate WORKING Credit card readers on all DCFC , just skip the app unless there is a pricing promotion you want
 
There is a big learning curve and a lot of apps to using DCFC. I would be completely screwed without plugshare, as navigation programs are lousy at finding EV charging. Come on Google, you are usually good at stuff like this. ABRP is used by others. I so far have 9 frickin' charging network apps. I hear of people using networks I have yet to encounter... Many charging stations have lousy network connections and need an RFID card that the networks seem reticent to send out. A working phone is essential for both payment at most DCFC and finding them. I don't like this. If I lose my phone, I am in big trouble.
Stations are sometimes just powered down, with no warning in their own apps.
EvGo plug and charge has worked brilliantly.
I'm in China right now, almost all payments are done here via alipay or WeChat. QR code is scanned either with or from phone, enter your password, and ping, money is sent. It works really well.
 
pictsidhe said:
I don't like this. If I lose my phone, I am in big trouble.
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Agreed, provision for CC and alternate methods (RFID etc) work better for my requirements. More than once I have helped an app user by using my RFID card to initiate a charging session for them, after watching them fumble with an inoperable (for whatever reason) smartphone app.
 
Keith Smith said:
But does it actually work?, and is it actually capable? I was at a free CP station, I had not used the app in ages, had to set it back up on my phone to get the charger to work. It is getting better.
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I had my car for over a year before I managed to get a Chargepoint station to work me. They really didn't want to send me an RFID card. They are by far the least reliable network that I have used, so I try to avoid them. In the other hand, a quad of free CP L2 stations at a nearby state park have been working well for me with RFID this year. I get to burn calories while my car dines for free.
 
Keith Smith said:
But does it actually work?, and is it actually capable? I was at a free CP station, I had not used the app in ages, had to set it back up on my phone to get the charger to work. It is getting better.
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You have a bunch of 20-30 year olds telling 50 year old managers the app the app the app, the manager read the news and it says new app new app new app new app
and nobody thinks about the fundamental service
This is not an EV charging rant
the people who wrote the Uber app think they are geniuses and have no respect for the people driving the cars, but the app the app the app

Wife bought me a heated coffee cup that runs on an app
really?
 
Kenny Wallace said:
I guess this varies greatly depending on the models, but generally what are the things that piss you off the most? Or mildly annoying is fine.

I haven't switched to electric vehicles yet, is there anything I should know?
Click to expand...
Kenny, what do you think about these replies? Did they make you think of any more questions? Kenny?
 
The comment on needing multiple accounts one for each network remind me of when I was traveling cross country in the 60's. Had to have a bunch of credit cards because they wouldn't accept the other gas company's cards. Its a growing pain. I ran into a massive line traveling cross country in a Prius because there was no reports on gas station availability just a 'G' on the AAA triptick. Broken charging stations are something that will keep people away from EVs.
 
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