How to advocate for EVs?

[alexgr]

Last night, walking out of a performance center to my Model Y charging at a free charger in a public parking garage, a retirement age lady asked me 'how long is it to charge your car?'. I wasn't ready for this question, and I gave an immediate true answer '4 miles per hour'. 'Too slow' she replied disapprovingly.

What would be the best approach to educate people on EV and EV charging in short conversations like this? You have one or two sentences to answer "How long does it take to charge your car?" question asked by someone who has zero none zilch concept of EV charging. What would you say?

 

[Black306]

Short conversations like that, I don’t bother with charge rates or time cause (1) waiting for a charge is an exception not the rule and (2) they’ll just latch onto ‘slow charging’ as a negative bias anyway. I would say something to the affect there is a mindset change; charging an EV is like charging your phone; it’s ready to go in the morning with enough charge to get me through the day.

 

[E90alex]

The answer is it depends and it’s complicated.

Maybe something like it varies from 15-30 minutes on a road trip to overnight while I’m sleeping and I wake up to a full “tank” so it doesn’t take any extra time out of my day.

 

[LoudMusic]

I rarely charge in public, but when people ask me that question about my home charging I lie and say "I don't know - it's always full before I need it again".

If they follow up then I come full force with all the numbers, starting with "Well it depends." Depending on how interested I think they are I either keep it low level with miles, or get into the volts / amps / watts and watt hours per mile and such.

A standard wall outlet is about 4 miles per hour. I charge in my garage at about 30 miles per hour. A fast charger for road tripping is more like 1000 miles per hour initially and then tapers off as the battery fills up.

They often follow up with "How much does that cost?" My favorite response so far has been, "Electricity is so cheap I bet you don't even know how much one kilowatt hour costs you." I said that to a group of about ten neighbors and they all genuinely didn't know. That's how cheap it is to drive an EV (where I live). Then I tell them my car costs $0.04/mile to drive and a comparable gas car costs $0.10/mile. Less than half. And I have effectively no maintenance.

 

[mswlogo]

Those public chargers are a joke. You might get $0.25 to $1.00 worth of fuel for your charge session.

 

[buckets0fun]

“Yes”
Or
“Sorry, this is my last pair of clean underwear”
Get in the car and bail as confusion sets in for the simple minded.

 

[alexgr]

Short conversations like that, I don’t bother with charge rates or time cause (1) waiting for a charge is an exception not the rule and (2) they’ll just latch onto ‘slow charging’ as a negative bias anyway. I would say something to the affect there is a mindset change; charging an EV is like charging your phone; it’s ready to go in the morning with enough charge to get me through the day.

Right, but how could we advertise EVs to people who don't care about "mindset change" either because of their age or stubbornness?

 

[alexgr]

"I don't know - it's always full before I need it again".

I really like this. "When I can, I leave the car at a charger, and then it is always enough charge for me."

 

[Black306]

Right, but how could we advertise EVs to people who don't care about "mindset change" either because of their age or stubbornness?

Not trying to change their mindset. I say charging an EV is a mindset change from periodically filling up a gas tank. Also, don’t sell them [stubborn people] a pen.

 

[Watts_Up]

Last night, walking out of a performance center to my Model Y charging at a free charger in a public parking garage, a retirement age lady asked me 'how long is it to charge your car?'. I wasn't ready for this question, and I gave an immediate true answer...

Better true answer would have been something like... I don't know... but it was FREE !!!

 

[hgmichna]

I tell them that my electric car saves me three to four hours a year at gas stations, because I now drive off with a full "tank" every morning.

When somebody insists to ask about long-distance trip charging, it becomes a bit more involved, but the three to four hours first have to be used up before there is any concern about lost time.

People are often not aware that charging on long-distance drives is different from filling a tank, because I drive up to the charger, plug in, and immediately have free time to spend on other things. Compare that to driving up to a gas station, opening your tank, plugging in the smelly petrol or Diesel pipe, wait, take it out again, close the tank, walk to the cashier, pay, walk back to the car, drive away in search for a parking spot, walk back to the station to buy food ot visit the toilet, walk back to your car, and only then drive off with all things done.

 

[gtae07]

I rarely charge in public, but when people ask me that question about my home charging I lie and say "I don't know - it's always full before I need it again".

If they follow up then I come full force with all the numbers, starting with "Well it depends." Depending on how interested I think they are I either keep it low level with miles, or get into the volts / amps / watts and watt hours per mile and such.

My answer usually goes along this line...
"It depends - am I at home, or on a trip? At home, I honestly don't care; I just plug in when I get home for the night and it's always ready in the morning because it charges while I'm sleeping. On a trip, we plug in, take a leak, maybe get a drink or snack, and by the time we get our son back to the car it's ready to go to the next stop. I'll put it this way, it doesn't really take us any longer to get places because we're stopping so often to use the bathroom anyway."

If they press for details from there I'll get into the battery charging (much) faster at low SoC, shorter but more frequent stops (but again, matching our small bladders), and then go on to how you don't "fill up" every few days like with gas. It's more like starting every with half to 2/3rds of a tank but it magically refills itself every night.

Finally I throw out the cost savings and the "never have to spend time at the gas station" bits - but I also point out that IMHO it's just not worth it right now if you can't charge at home.

 

[fholbert]

"It depends - am I at home, or on a trip?

The OP said it was a retired lady. Your answer may confuse her.

The question I always get asked is how long to charge from 0% to 100%. My answer is; I can’t imagine arriving with 0%, then needing an 100% charge. A typical Supercharger stop is 20 to 25 minutes.

 

[Zythryn]

I have found that sharing my own experiences is better than a data-sheet.
Also, finding out their situation can be very helpful.

Chatting with another two car household with a garage where they can charge is very different than talking with a college student in a dorm.

 

[LoudMusic]

Right, but how could we advertise EVs to people who don't care about "mindset change" either because of their age or stubbornness?

But it is a mindset change. I don't take my car to a special place to put more range into it anymore, like I used to have to do with my gasoline cars. And that's fantastic! I park it in my garage, spend less than ten seconds plugging it in, and go inside my house - my favorite place in the whole world.

If they're giving you time to keep talking, point out how disgusting gas stations are. Not going to gas stations is a top five positive EV experience for me. When a supercharger is at a gas station it's a significant detraction. I much prefer them at restaurants and grocery stores.

 

[Zythryn]

In Minnesota, pumping gas in a blizzard is something everyone understands.
It is very easy for people to understand it when I say my favorite thing is not standing in a blizzard pumping gas.


Probably my shortest line, which usually leads to them asking questions, is “my EV is just so damn convenient”.

“I wake up every morning with a full ‘tank’.”
“For me, gas costs about a quarter a gallon.”
“I am no longer late to appointments because I had to get gas.”

 

[E90alex]

Right, but how could we advertise EVs to people who don't care about "mindset change" either because of their age or stubbornness?

You can’t change everyone’s mind no matter how many facts you give them so honestly don’t waste your energy. Just see all the anti EV comments online whenever a media outlet posts any EV article.

A lot of times they have already made up their mind and they aren’t even in the market for a car much less a EV so they’re not actually looking to learn from you.

 

[bhzmark]

The answer is it depends and it’s complicated.

Here’s a better answer:

Just say its like charging your phone: 99% of the time it is overnight I don’t think about it for more than a few seconds to plug it in, and I start the day with a neraly full tank that easily takes me through the full day.

During road trips I might have to stop at a supercharger and charge while I go to into the convenience store or lunch place for about 10-20 minutes. That’s all you need to say.

 

[Zzapp]

Say it doesn't matter because it charges while you sleep and you never use a full charge in a day. And ask the person how many miles they do in a day. If they don't know, their question is irrelevant.

 

[gtae07]

I have found that sharing my own experiences is better than a data-sheet.

This.

That said, I just get lots of questions from people who are genuinely curious, and so I try to answer them honestly. I'm not out trying to evangelize or advocate; and even if I were it wouldn't change my approach on this.