The EV Charging Conundrum
I found out how real the non-Tesla Electric Vehicle charging problem is!
I recently had to visit Houston for a family wedding event. I needed to have a vehicle with me, so I rented with Hertz. I have always rented with Hertz, and thanks to multiple pre-COVID business trips, my points have put me into a “5 Star” category. The perks of this category is that I can choose any vehicle available, but still pay for a “standard”. Hertz has been aggressively marketing it’s EV (Electric Vehicle) lineup for a while now. They claim to have reached 2 million EV rentals this year.
So this time when I was picking a vehicle in the “5 Star” parking lot, I thought of renting an EV. There were no Tesla’s available, but there was a nice Volvo XC-40 recharge available, so I picked that one.
Now, I am not a newbie to EVs, and have been working directly and indirectly on EV technologies for a while now. I have also done a roadtrip (albeit short — LA to San Francisco) in a Tesla Model Y. I was aware of the problems in public charging and range anxiety (for e.g. as written in this excellent NYT article). However, I reasoned that I had to do just short trips within Houston, and no long-distance road trips. I never thought range anxiety would be a problem here. I was so wrong!
First Impressions
The Volvo drove really well. Like most EVs today, the acceleration is quick and smooth, compared to gas vehicles. It also has the “one-pedal” drive mechanism. For those who are new to this — one-pedal drive means that the vehicle will slow down if you take your foot off the accelerator pedal. How this happens is very fascinating for those who are into physics and electro-magnetics.
<Aside> Basically the vehicle’s electric motor turns itself into a generator when you take your foot off the pedal. Since a generator converts kinetic energy into electrical energy, the motion of the vehicle is used up as the input kinetic energy, and that slows down the vehicle. </Aside>
Overall the Volvo had everything that I would expect from a premium compact SUV. The only annoying part was in-built Google, which is always listening. You have to be careful when you say “Let’s Google XXX” becaise the built-in Assistant kicks in unexpectedly! Volvo uses Google Automotive Services, so has Google Maps, Playstore, and Assistant.
<Aside> The automotive industry loves 3-letter and 4-letter acronyms. Of all the acronyms that we could have chosen, we chose “GAS” for Google Automotive Services. So yes, now you can have “GAS” in an EV! </Aside>
The First Setback
After I checked into my hotel at the lavish Galleria malls, I asked the receptionist if there were EV chargers nearby. She replied that there were some in the aptly named “Green” parking lot. So I headed there, even though the Green lot was a few blocks away. I reached the underground parking lot, and saw a sign which was not very encouraging. The sign said “Tesla Superchargers — At Basement Level 2”.
I knew it immediately that the receptionist had assumed that I meant “Tesla” when I said “EV”. I still drove to basement level 2, and found that it was indeed Tesla-only. The Volvo comes with a CCS (Combined Charging System — a EV charging standard that Tesla does not adopt) plug and there was no adapter with me. There were at least five stations here, with only two occupied, so it would have been great if the Volvo could use the Tesla plug . Eventually, this would happen, as the Tesla plug recently has become a standard (NCS — North America Charging System), but for now, no luck. For more details on the different plug types, this Car Max article is a good resource.
The Curious Case of The Disappearing Charging Station
After that first setback with the Green parking lot, I used the vehicle’s in-built Google Maps to search for nearby chargers. Typically, Volvo would have worked with Google to ensure that their customers get good results for charging stations, so the in-built maps was a good option.
Google Maps told me there was a Charge point station within 2 miles. I navigated there, and it brought me to a lovely park with a large waterfall installation. There were supposed to be a charging station here. I scanned every possible inch of the park, and found not a single charger anywhere! It was only later that I checked with Plugshare and realized that Google Maps had directed me to the parking lot of a private apartment complex, where the chargers are for residents only.
Rental Return Anxiety
By now the battery was down to 60%. After the first two failed searches, I did find a EV GO charger in a local supermarket parking lot. However, there was another Volvo charging there, and a Chevy Bolt waiting in line. I asked both drivers how long they expected to be there, and it turned out I would have to wait for more than an hour. I could not wait, so decided to drive off and try my luck the next day. Now there was just about enough charge to run a few errands, and drive back to the airport. However, Hertz needed me to return the EV with > 75% charge. While I had no range anxiety, I now started having “how much would the Hertz penalty be if I cannot charge the vehicle anxiety”!
I called Hertz customer care, and told them about the difficulty in finding charge stations. While I normally like Hertz’s customer care, this time they were really unhelpful. All they did was inform me that EVGO and Charge Point are recommended charge providers for this vehicle. Then they began reading out a list of charge station addresses. The addresses were looked up in an internet search, which I had already done myself. I had also installed the Plug-share app, but it was not much better at finding working charge stations. Granted, if I had dedicated a few hours to exploring the Plug-share app, and trying out other locations, I would have found something that works. However, there was a wedding to attend, so I could not dedicate a few hours to finding a charger!
Last Try Before the Return
By now it was my last day in Houston, and the battery was about 40%. I headed off to the airport a few hours early, hoping to find more charge stations on the route. There was one that came up in the search along the route to the airport (IAH) and was at a Walgreens. I navigated there, and found that it was one of the shadiest Walgreens that I have every visited. But lo & behold — there were not one, but two charging stations. Both were available. However… the first one had it’s charging plug lying on the ground and the station’s housing was rusted and cracked. The second one looked better, so I used that one. This one had two plugs — the higher kWatt, fast charging one was a ChadeMO connector. The lower powered one had a CCS connector, so I plugged it in. I peered in at the instrument cluster, and was glad to see “Initializing Charging” on. the screen!
I tapped my credit card on the reader, and waited for the charging to start. I had the mobile app, but it was faster to just use my credit card since I was. already at the charger. I thought that it may take long to charge, but I had some time before my flight. I was at least happy to find something that works. However, my elation did not last long. The cluster turned red and informed me of a charging error.
That’s when I looked closely at the screen of the charging station, and saw that it was dead! Neither the EVGO app, nor the vehicle’s Google Maps had any idea that these chargers were not working. Here, even PlugShare was not very helpful. Even though it does mark it as “under repair”, it still shows up as a charging location when you search for it. For reference, this is the exact location — https://www.plugshare.com/location/7607
Returning The EV
By now it was too late to search for any more charging stations. I decided to inform the Hertz drop off location that I was unable to find any charging station. I did have to speak to a few people, but to their credit, the Hertz staff completely understood the situation.
Overall Thoughts
The EV driving experience is great, but the charging infrastructure is killing the industry. This is only true for non-Tesla EVs. Tesla has taken the pains to ensure that they have “Super Charger” stations almost everywhere. Renting an EV means that you need to reserve some time in finding compatible chargers, waiting for other vehicles to charge, and then charge your own vehicle. With Tesla’s this “reserve time for charging” is reasonable. With non-Tesla EVs, this is completely unreasonable. The culprits are not just the Charging Station Providers like EVGO & Charge Point, but also — to some extent — vehicle OEMs like Volvo, map providers like Google. Auto OEMs are creating partnerships, but they are too little, too late. One way the Government can support this is if NHTSA mandates inclusion of a single type of charging plug for all EVs and charging stations. Another way is to not renew large gas station pump licenses unless they add at least one EV charger with the NHTSA-chosen plug.
