I often drive more than the range of a Tesla and certainly more than the range of something like a Leaf, which is why I have not considered buying one.
Let's consider a trip of 300 miles. It'll cost you about $150 with your own combustor. Renting a car costs about $50/day (or cheaper, depending on which car to go for). Gas consumption will add another ~$35 which leaves you with a total of $85/300 miles.
Just curious: how often do you exceed the 100 miles range?
I always did at worst a single one-hour stop, because it's simply unhealthy not to do so. I calculated that on this route in a Chevy Bolt I would have to do four stops, and in a 85kWh(or better) Tesla - three. That's three and two more stops respectively. On one hand that's a lot, on the other I could simply take a nap then or get something to eat.
My point is: it's entirely doable with an EV today. Even better: I've seen people do it.
So no, supercharging does not take hours.
I'm remodeling a house and putting in 240 just for the dryer an an unusual French range. Why would I need that in the garage? I certainly won't have that long an extension cord.
QED.
Off topic: That's interesting to know. In Europe (UK) where 240V (well more like 230V these days) is the standard, it's not uncommon to see professional workmen using step-down boxes and 110V power tools for safety reasons.
I could imagine that some professional might use a specialized tool in a niche where only a 110V version is available -- but I've never heard of that either.
The safety aspect sounds odd -- 230V is not that dangerous, especially considering that ground fault circuit breakers are mandatory. Accidentally touching a live 230V wire doesn't really hurt that much.
This blog post lists the reasons professional builders in the UK could use 230v and an RCD but generally dont.
https://www.its.co.uk/blog/buying-guides/what-is-110v-do-we-...
It looks like there's another important safety feature: the center of the output side of the transformers is connected to ground --> this means that you have two phases that both have only 55V to ground.
I imagine that accidentally touching an exposed wire with a voltage difference of 55V is a lot less dangerous than 230V.
I love HN. You learn new stuff every day.
Certainly no one in an apartment building!
someone needs to create self-driving mobile supercharging units - just call one up to meet you somewhere
Keep in mind that most people mostly don't drive most places -- they drive relatively popular routes between cities, which are well-covered by the supercharger system.
Texas has, I think around 16 Superchargers; that's one Supercharger for every 1.7 million people in the state, about a thousand times less than the number of gas stations. There are extremely large portions of the state without Superchargers and inter-city driving wouldn't really be practical. Even in a gasoline powered vehicle the distances between stations can be over 100 miles (I'm thinking of the highway that crosses the King Ranch, but that's not the only long stretch).
I suspect most Tesla owners might be a bit miffed when told supercharging takes hours -- it never does -- and then are told that it's unlikely that trips outside major cities will have any superchargers available -- when they are for the most popular routes.
I totally get that not every route has coverage. But these are questions of fact: unlikely is < 50%, and Tesla passed that level of coverage several years ago.
BTW the same discussion happened in the mid-2000s with smartphones. People were apparently ridiculous for giving up week-long battery life for something that has to charge at least daily. Yet for many, the benefits outweigh the costs. Smartphone battery life isn't ridiculous. It's just a better fit for some people than for others.
1. driving to a relatives 2. driving somewhere for vacation
There are also Chargepoint stations in many public parking lots, but we've never had to use them.
It's not as convenient today as gas stations. But Tesla has been adding Superchargers quickly.