If the charge is 6x longer than filling, then there need to be 6x the charging points. Stations will need to have a much larger footprint which isn’t always possible in urban environments. Then the occupants are stuck there for 30min so there better be adequate security otherwise it’ll be ground zero for crime.
this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2026
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There is an issue with your argument, fast charging is rarely used by EV owner.
EV can charge from a regular outlet overnight. So everyone with a private parking spot is charging their car overnight. Of cities can build outlets where there is public parking then only long distance travelers have to use the fast chargers.
I agree. That does mean during vacation season the peaks can be way higher
Well that depends. In urban areas, it's more of a problem. Side of the highway... Honestly, most fuel pumps sit empty 90% of the time it seems. Not that they don't get business, it's just that they're nowhere near saturating their capacity usually.
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It's a dumb take on the face of it; splash n dash trips are extremely common, that's why they put points of sale on the pump stands. It's common enough for people to want to pay at the pump rather than ever walk into the store. Extremely common weekly errand.
Now, with an EV, likely charged at home every night thus starting most trips with a full battery, that should sharply reduce routine visits to gas stations. That leaves refueling on longer journeys. Which varies.
Me personally traveling alone, I'll still do quick splash n dash stops on medium length journeys, say 200 miles or so? At interstate speeds that's about 3 hours of traveling, I'll use the restroom before setting out and one 5 minute fuel stop will do the distance.
Now, if there is a planned stop, say on a 400 mile trip, I'm gonna stop, bathroom, grab a snack and a drink, and fuel the car. That's maybe a 15-20 minute stop to use the bathroom, grab a gatorade and a bag of funyuns from the convenience store, pay the clerk, walk back outside, then stand there at the pump while the car fills.
I will grant you, you can plug in your EV and have it charging while you're in the store, but none are going to charge in 15 minutes. So you're going to end up just standing there, or sitting there, while it finishes charging. With nothing at all to do. Even simulating the same behavior as with a gas car, stand there next to the charging cable staring at the price going up for ~5 minutes, the car's not going to have taken on enough power.
I have refueled my car at night at unattended gas stations. Sitting there for a couple hours while a car charges enough to reach the next station sounds real fun.
“Nobody stops to fuel their vehicle taking gasoline, gets out, rushes as fast as possible, puts as much fuel in the car as possible, and gets back in the car and drives away,”
Emphasis mine. I think the "gets out" is the big difference between a daily trip which I think includes the "splash n dash" and the road trip.
Because I think you're right, it's extremely common to pull into a gas station, fill up in 5 minutes, and then drive away. But I would bet the majority of those stops come immediately after leaving or on your way home (or work). So in an EV world we could eliminate those stops completely.
I think for trips where you're traveling beyond one tank of gas or beyond one full charge, then I think the quote is closer to being correct. At that point most people probably take a break and a 15-20 minute charge is fine.
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With level 3 charging most vehicles don't take multiple hours to charge an almost dead battery to almost full. You don't fill your gasoline car through a straw, why would you choose to charge your electric car with a level 1 or 2 while on a trip (for overnight charges at home the straw actually makes sense)
For example, a mach-e on that 400 mile trip, charging at 150kw you'd need ~1hr total charge time to finish the trip with the same battery capacity as you start with. But considering you likely start with full battery, and if you finish with completely dead battery, charge time required could be as little as 23 minutes.
I could start with an empty tank, fill it in 5 minutes or less, drive to empty, fill it again in 5 minutes or less, and still spend less than half the time refueling as an EV. And I can much more accurately predict the range of said vehicle because ambient temperature especially cold doesn't significantly effect range.
But by the almighty power of not listening, that can't matter. So manufacturers can continue to not listen to customers, customers will continue to not buy their products, and dick all gets accomplished.
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I would like it to be as fast as gas. But, yeah, if you can walk from the charger to a restroom and maybe grab some food, I really don't care if it take 15-30 minutes to get back up to 80%.
I currently own a Volt and usually charge at home. My last road-trip OK->IA (and back a week later), I found it hard to find compatible charging stations so much so that I barely used them. On the way back, I did go out of my way to find one -- the first one had no facilities at all (it was a dealer parking lot at the corner of two 5-lane stroads with no crosswalk signals), the second one was inaccessible behind a locked gate, the third one several blocks away from any facilities but close enough to walk to one restaurant.
I still plan to get an EV when I finally have to replace the Volt, but I gotta say the charging situation away from home is pretty bleak, IME. Maybe it's better in different parts of the country. It is almost certainly better on DC charging; I found a few convenience store / gas station / fast food combination buildings that also had DC charging that I would have used if I could. (Volt only has AC charging.)
RIP the volt. I'm keeping mine until it dies but it's a tragedy
Yeah, I kept my last car 15 years, I hope I can get at least 15 out of the Volt.
But, with the ranges on current EV models, I'll be comfortable going without an ICE and everything that goes with it for my next vehicle.
there's a supermarket by me that has EV chargers for free while you shop. absolutely genius