Billions of dollars are being given by the federal government to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles. The world is being used for raw materials by automakers. There are long waiting lists for battery-powered cars.
The electric vehicle revolution is almost here, but it is being slowed by a fundamental problem: the broken charging stations. A recent study found that 25% of public charging outlets in the San Francisco Bay Area were not working.
Billions of dollars are being spent by the federal government to build hundreds of thousands of public charging points. The companies that install and maintain the stations need to do more to make sure they are reliable, according to drivers of electric cars.
Many sit in parking lots or in front of retail stores where there isn't anyone to help when something goes wrong. There are problems with screens and software. Some people stop working mid charge while others never start.
The problems have frustrated drivers second-guessing if they can abandon gas vehicles for long trips.
A professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst who has owned a Chevrolet Bolt for several years said that fast charging can have real maintenance issues. You quickly find yourself in a dire situation when they do.
Mr. Zuckerman was working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the winter of 2020. Mr. Zuckerman needed a charge on the way home because of the cold winter.
The machine was broken when he got to it after checking online. He said another person was out as well. Mr Zuckerman went to a gas station to get an extension cord for his car.
He said that he sat there for two and a half hours in the cold in order to get enough charge so that he could limp to the town of Lee, Mass. I didn't think it was a good night.
There is still a problem with the availability and reliability of public charging points.
People with conventional cars use gas stations more than people with electric vehicles. Few issues with public charging are reported by many people. Most battery-powered vehicles on the road today are made byTesla which has a proprietary charging network that tends to be reliable.
All of that is different. Electric vehicle sales are growing at a rapid pace. Americans who can't refuel at home because they don't have a home charging station will buy some of those cars.
People are more likely to buy an electric car if it is possible to charge it in public. How far a car can drive on a full charge is one of the biggest concerns.
People who already own an electric car have similar concerns. Plug In America, a nonprofit that promotes these vehicles, found that about one-third of people were concerned about broken charging stations.
Plug In America's executive director said that if they wanted to see E.V. adoption ramp up, they need to solve the problem.
The automotive industry still needs to be done.
Ford Motor recently began sending out contractors to test the charging networks that it works with to provide energy to the people who buy its electric cars and trucks. Ford doesn't have its own charging stations.
A member of the team, Nicole Larsen, plugged in her car at the mall and got to work. Ms. Larsen started taking notes of her own as she watched a laptop record a stream of data between the car and the charging station.
The charging stations built and operated by Electrify America were functioning well that day. Ms. Larsen said that the person had sent her an error message. Ms. Larsen tells Ford technicians that the problem is with the charging company.
Ms. Larsen said problems are uncommon in her experience, but they can sometimes be identified by sight. She said that she would get an error on the screen.
A study done by Cool the Earth, an environmental nonprofit in California, and David Rempel, a retired professor of bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, found that 23 percent of public charging stations in the Bay Area were broken. It was the most common problem that testers had. The screens went blank in other cases.
The results of the actual field data were very concerning.
The findings are disputed by charging companies. EVgo, which operates a charging network, said it couldn't duplicate the study's results due to methodological errors.
The success rate of ChargePoint was just 61 percent. The company doesn't own or operate the chargers it installs on behalf of businesses. Critics said that the model places responsibility on property owners who may not have the expertise to manage equipment. ChargePoint didn't reply to questions.
Employees of EVgo and Electrify America keep a close eye on their stations from centralized control rooms that can quickly dispatch technicians to fix issues.
Rob Barrosa is a senior director of sales and business development at Electrify America. You can't forget it, you just can't set it.
Everything is not under their control. Compatibility problems can require changes to charging stations or cars.
Stations that are owned by EVgo and Electrify America are often left unattended for long periods of time. A clerk at most gas stations is usually on duty and can see when things go wrong. It's more difficult to track damage like chargers.
Jonathan Levy is EVgo's chief commercial officer.
It is similar to the early days of the internet, when modems and phone lines made it difficult to use websites and send email. Just as the telecom and technology industries made internet access more reliable, the auto and charging industries hope to do the same.
The money requires that the chargers be functional 97 percent of the time and that they follow technical standards for communicating with vehicles. Stations have to have at least four ports that can charge at the same time, and not be limited to any one brand.
The electric car maker is expected to open its charging station to other manufacturers in the United States. The network works well because it is designed for the company's cars. There isn't a guarantee that vehicles made by other automakers will work smoothly when they are put into use.
Many car owners say that they are happy with how their battery-powered vehicles drive and that they would never consider reverting to gasoline.
In the Bay Area, a person who works for the company is known as a recruiter and recently swapped his car for a truck. Some stations won't start charging unless he closes all of the truck's doors and trunks.
Mr. Turner said that his Rivian truck is so much better than any other vehicle he has owned, that he is not too concerned. He believes that the problem will be solved soon.
He said this was just the beginning. It can only improve from here.
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