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Comment by czbond | Hacker News Reader

I believe charging anxiety was. The base case for car rentals is generally "time bound, busy itinerary" of some sort.... think business trips, holidays, etc.

Few want to spend that precious time becoming familiar with that cities charging network if charging is new to them.

I recently rented a Mach-E over Christmas in a large Metro, and stayed in a populous suburb. Charging & the states of chargers was no fun and really added a cognitive load.

However, I did realize I enjoyed EV's for some point in the future - somewhat curing range anxiety of my normal life routine.

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How many hotels have sufficient charging capacity to charge EVs while people sleep?

A lot of hotels around here have 110v outlets in their parking lots for fishermen to charge their bass boats but I haven't heard that a similar ethic applies to EVs. :-)

Here's something purely anecdotal: recently stayed in a motel in very rural Arkansas. In the morning, I noticed a Chevy Bolt (or similar) plugged in with an extension cord. Asked the clerk about it. She said it was a relatively rare situation but they didn't have a problem with someone using their outside outlet.

I suppose I can't extrapolate this situation to everyone, but I have a feeling if you provide your own cord, most motels won't have a problem with you charging. Especially since it'll be uncommon. If everyone had EVs, then they might start putting a fee on it.

Bass fishing is a major part of tourism in NE Alabama, so most hotels have many 110v outlets near the parking lots to support the boats' trolling motor batteries, and I don't believe they charge (ahem) for access. But introducing a lot of new infrastructure would cost.

I was surprised during a ride in a friends' Tesla. We needed a few more miles. They let their phone guide them to a convenient pile of superchargers. Plugged in. We checked messages and chatted for a few minutes. Then continued. Remarkably painless.

This future is probably not yet evenly distributed around the world. Sure. But fast charging might eventually come to something. Eventually.

I have never seen a hotel with more than two EV chargers and that was a very high end spot near Seattle. Most hotels, if they have an EV charger at all, will only have one. If there are 100 guests you'd better hope they are all petrol-heads.

TBH, I've experienced it where it can go either way. I've rented gas cars and ended up at a hotel with nice L2 stations. The EV would have been easier! :)

But I've also rented EVs in metros with decent fast charging, but none at the hotel. It was fun, but charging was a notable downside.

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