They definitely better than nothing. A 10 hour charge gives you 50ish miles. I take that (and have done so) over a hotel that doesn't have any plugs. I'd prefer a LVL2 but I'll take it. They could also put some 240 NEMA 14-50 out there. I'd bring my own LVL2.
I've napped with them. A lot of folks don't realize the ends of motels typically have a 120 VAC outlet used by daytime maintenance staff for leaf blowers and such. Park at the end and find the outlet. Carry 15 A rated extension cord, plug-in, and sleep easy.
This isn't really a problem. The point of this stuff is to get funding for Electrify America. This isn't really "free" charging. It is embedded in the cost of the car or the manufacturer is doing it out of pocket.
Things are still in the early adoption phase. Any business models around charging or certain charging strategies you see now will likely not be happening when EVs are mainstream, so I'm not concerned with any temporal market state.
No, it's not making things up like a misinformation campaign, it's taking advantage of a common myth. People have this fantasy that will do all these long road trips, to see Gramma, the fall leaves, the maple syruping, whatever. Few people actually do it, but when they think about what they want from a car, that's it. They don't want to think that they never do those trips they want to do, and the certainly don't want to consider renting a car for those infrequent trips when they already have a car.
Now that's a fantasy too. It's not a realistic possibility for "the average Schmoe".
The concern that people have is that they will forget to plug in the car the night before. One-way 250 to 350 mile trips are far more common than EV advocates are willing to consider. You may not, but it's very common around holidays or summer vacations.
Why would anyone spend $25-30k on a new car that still requires them to rent another car whenever they leave town? This is madness. I have no clue why anyone actually believes this talking point when it is obvious that 90%+ drivers don't care that much to buy an EV. With this same line of logic, you should be driving a moped/motorcycle everywhere and rent a car whenever you need to transport people or things.
Where I am, EVs are a lot more than that, but the truth is that the financial savings of an electric car will more than pay for multiple weekend car rentals.
That's proposed, right? An idea but not actually available. If it's an actual operating option, I'd like to know more.
Sure, there are certainly people who choose to own both an EV and and ICE for occasional use. This just doesn't make sense for or to most drivers. A hybrid or plug in hybrid can drastically reduce gas usage in general.
lol. EVs do not require some major paradigm shift. People will use an EV just like they use an ICE, except they can charge the EV at home. Thankfully all the car manufacturers are making EVs to do this instead of low range cars and telling people to just rent a car whenever they leave town, like what you inexplicably want.