Hacker News Reader

Comment by thebruce87m | Hacker News Reader

I wonder what the optimal charge time really is - 5 minutes is short enough that you might have to stay with the car then move it to avoid overstay fines.

If you are stopping for 20 minutes for a bathroom break and a snack every 2 or 3 hours on a long trip that might actually add 5 minutes each time.

View on HN

Five minutes is basically the same time to put gasoline in a car, and there hasn't been a huge push to have overstay fines there.

I don’t disagree with that, but that doesn’t change the fact that overstay fees currently do exist on some EV chargers, e.g. Tesla chargers. I’d also not like to regress and have to wait that extra 5 minutes if possible since I don’t have to currently do that - plug in, leave the car and by the time I’m finished eating (20 mins) it’s ready.

It is also expected that you move your car immediately after filling (then paying) an ICE, in my country at least. Sometimes this can mean people waiting a few extra minutes for them to move their car while they go in to pay.

I think it's a chicken-and-egg problem: chargers have overstay fees because charging times can be very long and it's expected that people will plug in and then leave to do something else. If charging times were extremely short (five minutes), then this expectation would vanish and people would be expected to stay with the car while its charging and then vacate as soon as possible, and then there would be no need for overstay fees.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com