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The rapid development of electric cars also brings with it a lot of discomfort, as some drivers in New York are convinced of, for example.
I don’t want this article to come across as “hatred” of electric cars. Actually, I am her supporter. In city and suburban mode, they are significantly more efficient than the combustion engine competition, not to mention a more refined ride and better and earlier available dynamics. But there are also areas in which cars with locally emission-free operation do not perform so well.
Despite an increasingly dense network of high-performance chargers, energy replenishment still does not reach the speed of refueling with gasoline or diesel. If you spend an average of five minutes at a gas station (ten including using the toilet), a stop at a charging station is usually counted as ten minutes. And when there is a denser concentration of electric cars in a particular area, a problem arises.
Take the situation in Brooklyn, New York, as an example. The Big Apple, as America’s largest city is known, has been experiencing an electric boom lately, largely thanks to a single brand. Thanks to unprecedented discounts, Tesla has literally flooded the market, while at the same time part of the huge electric fleet of the rental company Hertz, which is getting rid of cars due to high repair costs (which particularly applies to Teslas), is going on sale.
And it was, among other things, the relatively low prices, the fairly low operating costs and the support of the New York City Hall that attracted many drivers of classic taxi services and their modern alternatives. They have to recharge several times a day (many of them also have no way to charge electricity at home because they live in an apartment), while other owners only have to plug their electric car into a wallbox at work or at home. That’s why long queues form in exposed places at the charging stations of the American car company, which has the densest network in the USA.
Last Thursday, January 18th, at a hub with twelve Tesla fast charging stations in the aforementioned Brooklyn, there was a line of about twenty cars, most of them driving for Uber and similar services. The queue lasted up to 90 minutes, while the alternatives weren’t much faster.
Drivers can search for other chargers on the map, including wait times. The time spent on the road also needs to be taken into account, as driving to another location can easily take an hour and a half. For an average Uber driver with an hourly wage of 35 to 50 dollars (approximately 796 to 1138 CZK), a daily trip in the order of hundreds of kilometers and the need for at least one, or rather two stops at the charging station, this means a significant monthly loss.
According to Tesla car owners’ own statements, charging stations from other providers are slower and more expensive in practice. Additionally, many locations in New York are in locations with paid parking (including those with Tesla Superchargers).
The American automobile company is partially combating this problem itself by charging a fee of one US dollar (approximately CZK 22.75) per minute of charging once the usable battery capacity reaches 80%, but at least taxi drivers and contract drivers have to arm themselves with patience. Or replace the electric car with a car with a combustion engine.
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