A very good move.
Not everyone is having trouble selling EVs...
I would hope that Tesla has no problem selling EVs as that is the only type of vehicle they sell and have a vested interest in trying to ensure there are enough chargers to support their users. The other car makers don't have quite the incentive that Tesla has as they make ICE, Hybrid and EVs. That may be part of the problem which that new EU law that you linked to should go a long way to incentivising other makers, the petroleum industry and other companies to get more active in increasing the infrastructure of charging stations. That is especially important in areas with a low population density and long distances between major cities.
You have to develop a different mindset in terms of charging. We have used EVs on holidays in Cornwall - including St Ives - a journey of over 260 miles from our home in the Midlands. A trip round to Carbis Bay was also used as an opportunity to charge the car which was all we needed to get back home without a further stop. The point I’m making is that you don’t need charging facilities at your holiday home - there are actually quite a lot of charging points available it’s just that you won’t be aware of them if you don’t need them.
That might be the case in Europe but again that is not the case in a great many areas in North America. Also travelling in the cold months will really reduce your range between having to keep the battery warm and warm the car interior. In my part of North America, you try to travel 400 miles a day to get anywhere with one stop to refuel/recharge. It is doable in the warm months but in the colder ones not so much. The more densely populated areas of North America are more like Europe. The charging points here have to become as easy to find as gas stations currently are.
Do the charging points tend to be at places like supermarkets where you can kill some time while you wait for it to charge? I imagine it would involve a bit more planning, one advantage of ICE is that filling the tank only takes a few minutes, but if you can charge the car while you do something else it wouldn't be much of an inconvenience. Heating affecting range was something I'd not really considered as I'm used to a diesel where the heat's produced anyway, but of course with an EV you're going to have to actually use battery power to run a heater. Most of my trips I doubt it'd be an actual problem though. What kind of range are you getting in real-world usage?
The coldest I remember it getting in the UK is -15C and that was unusual, last year the coldest it got was about -6C. The other thing is that the UK is a LOT smaller than the US / Canada, so here we're dealing with shorter journeys and a milder climate.
We have tended to use the superchargers on motorways as you can take a toilet break, get a coffee and stretch you legs in the 30 to 40 minutes needed for a full recharge. At holiday resorts you may find hotels have chargers installed so you can always use their bar facilities but increasingly there are chargers in locations that have space - I’ve just come back from my local builders merchant and noticed they have about 6 parking spaces dedicated to EV charging.
Exactly, and that is the reason I am not in on EVs just yet. They are getting better all the time and my next vehicle will likely be an EV. I am sure in most of Europe the EVs are just fine now.
