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Comment by beachy | Hacker News Reader

> Same cultural process of fueling up at the same place you've always fueled up in about the same amount of time as its always taken.

I don't know that people's cultural attraction to fueling at the gas station is high at all.

After we got an EV I realised how much I had actually disliked filling the car. Smelly, every time an in your face reminder of the fossil fuels you are burning. Having to go in an queue. Having to wait and jostle for a spot with the filler hoses on the correct side for my vehicle. Dodgy characters milling around. Unable to use cellphone and take calls. Possibility of being involved in holdups/antisocial behaviour.

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Isn't the long charging time an issue? After a quick search, Tesla needs 30 minutes to charge to 80% with superchargers and this is good for 300 kms. Assuming 120 kmh, this means that about every 2.5 hrs, I need to take a 30 min break.

With the old system, I fuel in 2 minutes and I can travel 600 kms on it or approx 6 hrs (assuming 50 litres fuel tank and 7.5 litres per 100 km, and 120 km/h).

(I don't have a car, and I'm open minded about EVs, just honestly wondering)

If your main usecase is using the car in the city, which it is for my family for example, then you go for months without seeing a fuel station of any sort.

They aren't as good at long distances, you have that part right. Your numbers could be debated but are close enough. Most people don't drive long distances on the regular though.

They are MUCH better for day to day if you can charge at your home. You always start the day with a full battery. I only use a supercharger on long trips. Note that I actually drive farther than most for various reasons but that route has a supercharger at a grocery store. I tend to come back at the end of the weekend and do my shopping at the same time, so in reality I don't spend any time refueling.

So total yearly time where you are actively "fueling" your vehicle in a supervised manner favors EVs for the vast majority of people.

It's an entirely different paradigm.

With an ICE, you can only fuel up at a gas station, but it is fast (not always though, queues, etc.).

With an EV you charge overnight at home, and only charge on the road as required, and it can be slow (not all that slow though, not a big problem for us). Depending on your usage and vehicle range, you may never need to charge on the road at all.

I wouldn't personally want to own an EV if we couldn't charge at home.

> With an ICE, you can only fuel up at a gas station, but it is fast (not always though, queues, etc.).

No. This is the reason many still aren’t switching to an EV. Gas cans exist, the same does not exist for an EV. You can fuel up a liquid fuel vehicle anywhere. An EV must be charged at a specific station, be it at home or some other location.

I spend multiple hours a year more time pumping gas than I do waiting on my EV to charge, despite the ICE getting far fewer miles.

> Unable to use cellphone and take calls.

Why are you unable to use your cellphone?

They're apparently "banned" or "dangerous" at fuel filling stations. Whether that's actually true is a different matter, but all the stations I've been to have had prominent "cellphones not allowed" signs displayed.

What country is this? I've never seen this in the US.

New Zealand. Seems to be a blanket rule here.

South Africa, but UK also had it if I'm not mistaken.

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