‘Charging fear’ isn’t a valid reason to avoid buying an EV

Q “Charging fear” is one of the most frequent reasons cited for not buying an electric vehicle, yet I’ve never spoken to an EV owner who has had a charging problem. — Mike Harrigan, San Jose

A Mike has been an EV owner for eight years and is one of many who came out in force to say charging fears are overstated.

Q Here is my advice:

• Buy the vehicle with the highest range battery.

• Charge the vehicle every night.

• Since most families have two cars, your second car can be a gas-powered vehicle.

• You can install a battery backup system for power outages that can also keep critical home electric devices (refrigerator, computers, internet) operational during extended outages.

• The network of public charging stations (like Tesla supercharger stations) is quite large, and they have battery backup in many cases, so you could always charge there in an extended power outage.

— Mike Harrigan

A How about long drives?

Q I have been able to make long trips with my electric vehicle to Portland, L. A. and Lassen National Park. There are plenty of “Level 3” fast chargers near major roads and in the parking lots of many retail stores. Most EVs can get mostly full with one of these in an hour, and one can get their shopping done at the same time.

— James Tuleya, Sunnyvale

A Forget shopping. What if you just need some food?

Q Fast charging is widely available, and is faster than you think. When I stop at a Tesla supercharger, my car is recharged sooner than I can purchase and eat my fastfood meal.

— Steve Hartman, San Jose

A Perfect. I’ll take that charge with a double cheeseburger, fries and root beer.

Q I’ve been driving an EV since 2016 and power outages have never been a problem. I love my EV! Most of the time I charge it at home overnight by plugging into a regular 110-volt outlet in my garage.

— Jenny Green, San Jose

A Easy peasy.

Q An EV can be used to keep the refrigerator going during an outage. A Chevy Bolt has four times the battery capacity of a Tesla Powerwall, plenty to run the fridge, microwave and coffee maker for many days, and still have 100plus miles of driving range left. Unfortunately, today it’s not trivial to hook up appliances to the EV (using an inverter). It’s a doit-yourself project. But quite soon, hopefully, we’ll have products that make it easy and seamless.

— Doug McKenzie, Berkeley

A We can hope.