It was very inexpensive ~ $7500 @ 4 years old. Part was the subsidies that brought the new price down, part was fear about the batteries. You can't buy many cars with ~ all the options after 4 years for 1/4 of list price.
It was charged at home and mostly just used around town. It was perfect for ~ 25 miles of daily driving.
I did take it on longer journeys and charge on the way, but think 30 miles from home, not 200 miles. It took careful planning and a little faith in "plan B"
I had to get accounts with 3 charging providers:
- chargepoint - their model seems to be they sell the chargers and run them for the property owner. Many companies run private chargers for their employees this way.
They do mostly L2 chargers at malls, restaurants, etc. THey don't have many fast L3 chargers on their network. They are very well run and their chargers are reliable.
- evgo - they own the chargers and install them. They usually put 2 fast L3 chargers + a row of slower ~6kw L2 chargers at places like whole foods and walmart. They are very reliable, and good for trips. Sometimes you will have to wait for someone to finish charging.
- blink - frankly, they suck. I haven't had much problem with their slower L2 chargers, but finding an L3 charger was like playing fallout scrounging bombed out infrastructure. Seriously, their chargers were always broken and undependable. They're owned by the property owners but somehow never fixed.
I haven't used my accounts in 2 years, and things might have changed. I know there are a few more entrants now.
Telsa meanwhile makes travel like a "normal car" possible via LOTS of overlapping details:
- large batteries - travel radius is larger
- charging station location - usually within radius
- charging station sizing - most stations have a LOT of chargers
- fast charging - you travel more and sit less, also less contention for chargers
- navigation - nav system will plan your route for you, including charging
Note that there is also a "secondary" tesla network of slow(er) chargers that doesn't get mentioned much. Hotels and other places have installed these "destination chargers" that tesla has provided for free. Slower usually means 6kw, but I've heard some do higher rates like 18kw.
It was very inexpensive ~ $7500 @ 4 years old. Part was the subsidies that brought the new price down, part was fear about the batteries. You can't buy many cars with ~ all the options after 4 years for 1/4 of list price.
It was charged at home and mostly just used around town. It was perfect for ~ 25 miles of daily driving.
I did take it on longer journeys and charge on the way, but think 30 miles from home, not 200 miles. It took careful planning and a little faith in "plan B"
I had to get accounts with 3 charging providers:
- chargepoint - their model seems to be they sell the chargers and run them for the property owner. Many companies run private chargers for their employees this way. They do mostly L2 chargers at malls, restaurants, etc. THey don't have many fast L3 chargers on their network. They are very well run and their chargers are reliable.
- evgo - they own the chargers and install them. They usually put 2 fast L3 chargers + a row of slower ~6kw L2 chargers at places like whole foods and walmart. They are very reliable, and good for trips. Sometimes you will have to wait for someone to finish charging.
- blink - frankly, they suck. I haven't had much problem with their slower L2 chargers, but finding an L3 charger was like playing fallout scrounging bombed out infrastructure. Seriously, their chargers were always broken and undependable. They're owned by the property owners but somehow never fixed.
I haven't used my accounts in 2 years, and things might have changed. I know there are a few more entrants now.
Telsa meanwhile makes travel like a "normal car" possible via LOTS of overlapping details:
- large batteries - travel radius is larger
- charging station location - usually within radius
- charging station sizing - most stations have a LOT of chargers
- fast charging - you travel more and sit less, also less contention for chargers
- navigation - nav system will plan your route for you, including charging
Note that there is also a "secondary" tesla network of slow(er) chargers that doesn't get mentioned much. Hotels and other places have installed these "destination chargers" that tesla has provided for free. Slower usually means 6kw, but I've heard some do higher rates like 18kw.