I was going to write an article about about Tesla (and other Electric Vehicle owners) having angry exchanges at EV charging stations. I witnessed one two of these episodes personally. In the episodes I witnessed, a Tesla owner was angry at another Tesla owner for leaving his vehicle in a charging spot after charging was completed. I’ll omit the details, including the specific gesture towards the Tesla’s dashcam because as I said, I’m not writing the originally planned article.
So why not? It had all the ingredients of a great article – suspense, conflict, and even a little vehicular abuse (to activate the Telsa’s cameras and send the “gesture” to the Tesla owner). I’m not writing the original article because it’s simply not relevant anymore. At the EV charging area at my work, and at thousands of others, it’s just not a problem these days.
The people using the EV charging area I have the view of (actual view from my window is above) aren’t worried about other EV’s slowing their rate of charge. Most people are there for the work day. They aren’t looking for a fast charge while they down their gluten-free kale and avocado spread sandwich. They just need a space – any charging spot – that isn’t taken by a Dino-juice powered car, delivery vehicle or an EV that has long since been topped-off. So 1 or 2 available charging ports is enough to stop most of the EV owner -vs- EV owner entertainment, and these days finding all the positions in use is more rare than it was even a few months ago.
So one admittedly Cynical guy that drives a 1965 1 Ton Stretch SUV (above) sees a couple empty charging stations and concludes EV’s are obsolete? Well, I have a little more to go on than that. In my group of approximately 20 employees, 3 have (intentionally or otherwise) gotten rid of their battery powered cars. In one case a Nissan Leaf was destroyed in an accident (fortunately no one was seriously hurt), and replaced with a regular old gas guzzling Ford F-150. In another case, a Tesla owner sold his car, and does not plan on replacing it (as most EV owners, he has other vehicles). Lastly, the owner of a different Nissan Leaf is now driving a Pontiac Solstice after having gone through 2 sets of drive batteries in the Leaf.
The decline of the EV craze is also well documented elsewhere on the “Interwebs”. Hertz claims to have lost nearly a quarter of a Billion dollars on their EV push. Hertz is a big and well established company. Loosing a quarter “Beeellion” dollars takes a big effort, or at least making quite a few very wrong decisions.
Even sites like NPR and the LA times, are reporting changes in EV sales statistics. Here’s another article on Business Insider.
Update June 2024: Here’s another more recent article: Nearly half of American EV owners want to switch back to gas-powered vehicle, McKinsey data shows
