EV fueling ports vs gas station nozzles
Kevin Drum has a post up about the present and future of EV charging stalls in the US. As of 2023, the number was 184,000, with public charging stalls outnumbering Tesla stalls 6:1. Is that a lot or a little?
Well, lots of people say that they’re holding off buying EVs because of the range, which is still less than most ICE cars. One way to mitigate that concern is to have more charging stalls than gas station nozzles*.
So how many gasoline fuel nozzles are there? According to xMap, there are ca. 196,600 retail gas station locations in the US. If you assume each station has on average eight fuel nozzles, that’s ca. 1,570,000 gas fueling ports**. So there are probably about an order of magnitude *more* ICE fueling nozzles than there are EV charging stations. Even with the growth in public stalls funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, it will likely take close to a decade for EV charging stalls to catch up to gas fueling stalls.
* setting aside the issue that it takes much longer to recharge an EV than it does to fill an empty gas tank
** probably should add some number of diesel fuel ports, but I’m not going to hazard a guess as to how many of those there are.
EV charging network in the US
I take issue with the use of the word “range” as it is. Yes, the “range” for my eMini is a little over a hundred (100) miles per charge ~ per fillup. Considerably less than one tank of gas in a comparable Mini. However, the average “range” for most electrics a little over three hundred (300) miles with some offerings as high as four hundred and fifty (450) miles per charge ~ per fillup. Comparable to the “range” of one tank of gas
The issue isn’t how far they will go ~ while it’s dicey in Wyoming I’ve mapped road trips cross country with serviceable infrastructure all the way ~ the issue is how long does it take to fill it. ‘Muirkkkans are just important to take that extra time
To re-iterate: the “range” is generally comparable to one tank of gas …
@Ten,
I’m seeing that EV drivers can expect an average of 250 miles in a single charge, although Tesla does have a long-range model that gets ca. 400 mi/charge and Lucid has claims 600 mi/charge. My Honda Fit gets > 300 mi/tank, but the BMW X5 we rented last spring was over 500 miles/tank.
Of course, range varies for both types of vehicles, depending on conditions, but I don’t believe the average EV driver has the same range as the average ICE driver. I noted the charging time issue in my post.
The point, of course, is that there are still vastly more resources tied up in providing range for gasoline vehicles than electric vehicles. I suggest that a deeper dive reveals that the location needs for electric refueling are quite different that gas refueling.
For the long distance traveler gas stations are at freeway offramps. They are positioned for quick and easy access. I am old enough to remember “last gas” signs associated with freeway construction in California.
The needs for the EV traveler are quite different. Quick is not a possibility. Charging must be associated with stationary activities. We will not meet the goal until all the restaurants and motels used by the EV traveler have charging stalls. Every stall at every parking lot in Yellowstone will need a charger.
Of course, most daily travel for most urban and suburbanites is less than an EVs range, so charging at home will be the mainstay. Rent a car to go to Yellowstone and own an EV is already a valid economical solution.
@Arne,
Agreed.
For my part, the issue isn’t range or charging time. I’ll wait for when EVs don’t run on natural gas or coal, as many or most do now.
If charging stations were more like rest areas, the Howard Johnson’s of yore
Applicable to road tripping: my old Chevy 1 ton 4×4 gas-guzzler has a thirty-six (36) tank that will take 400 miles. If I drive 400 miles I need to stop, walk around, take a pee, smoke a cigarette (or two) and generally take a break. Doesn’t matter what kind of fuel I use and it can be credibly argued as a safety issue
My eMini really isn’t germane to this conversation because it is a city car. I’ve never driven it more than fifty (50) miles from home and in two years have yet to access a commercial charging port
Maybe the connection that people aren’t making is in the best of (legal) driving conditions 300 miles is a minimum of four hours driving. A half-hour or forty-five (45) minute rest stop should not only be welcome but encouraged … with amenities
Range anxiety is a canard.
Most households (certainly suburban ones) own 2 vehicles.
In 97.43% of those households, the use case for one vehicle being a BEV is clear.
This is what I was trying to say. And not just ‘range anxiety, so much of the negativity, the talking points, are canards. I dropped out of the EV conversation here months ago because I keep hearing the same thing over and over (and over) again. Oil industry induced canards
Couple of posts up at my house today about Who Killed the Electric Car?, and how
I doubt the claim that most suburban households own two vehicles. At today’s prices, including for used cars, the costs are virtually prohibitive.
I cannot think of one family in my neighborhood with less than two cars. We have three in our household, and a fourth is coming next year.
30 or 50 years ago I would not have even thought about the scarcity of chargers, and I probably would have bought the first EV I saw. Now, I need a certain amount of hauling capacity, a certain amount of people comfort, and something that doesn’t require a lot of time to keep running.
50 years ago my daily commute was about 25 miles. Everything else was less than a 60 mile round trip. Now a shopping trip or trip to the doctor is 230-275 miles one way. I know where the public chargers are for the first 100 miles. The problem is there are no chargers near the highway for the rest of the trip. Not near enough to get a road sign anyway.
I used to be resilient and able to cope with problems. That capability diminishes every day. I don’t feel like adding trying to figure out how to manage an EV until I am living where it is easily manageable. That include juggling a second car if needed.
I really would like to have an EV, but I need my peace of mind more.
Jane:
It sounds familiar. I am still pretty resourceful and am pretty mobile. I have ridden in the Teslas and also a Ford Mustang version. They were both quiet. The Ford claims to have a 320 mile range. Maybe it is 280. 32 minutes to get a 70% charge. A lot longer for more.
Not that weight matters with E-Vehicles. It is 4800 lbs.
Horsepower makes no sense here. I am sure they are fast.
Joel:
Lucid Motors Mfg. is nearby, just south of us near Casa Grande. A Lucid Air Touring has an advertised 400-mile range. You can get a 200-mile charge in 16 minutes. All for a measly $79,000 starting.
@Bill,
LOL! As of now, we’ve never paid more than $15K for a new car in nominal dollars. My guess is that we’ll pay more to replace my wife’s 21 year-old Vibe, but at our age, we need to consider a used car.
For me, the EVs make no sense for *local* trips. I’m not in a private single family house with a garage. Parking is outdoors.
So the only option is to charge at a station. For the time being that means semi-random interruptions of my day running 1-3 *hours*, the longer ones when there’s an endless line.
Makes no sense at all compared to 5 minutes to gas up a traditional car.
I don’t think this metric really matters. A few of the comments cover the commonly discussed issues, range and time. I did like the comments discussing stationary activities – that could be a big help.
But none of these really matter that much. Why? Two reasons: everyone pushing EV’s aggressively wants to eliminate fossil fuel engines and the power grid is at least as far undersized (for EV’s alone) as the raw number of refill points this article focuses on. And I’m not even touching the fact that nearly all electricity is nat gas or unreliable.
If gas cars are eliminated, the city vs. long distance strategy is gone and all the other concerns matter.
If you want EV’s to replace nat gas cars, the power grid has to be at least TWO order of magnitudes larger. That’s probably 2-4 decades away if the companies would even do it. After all, look at solar farms after hail storms and TX freezes where the nat gas power plant generator fuel pipes (oh, not supposed to mention that sorry!) froze even after a mandate to fix them.
EV’s are a niche unless we drastically reduce # of vehicles by 50% or more (which is likely the real goal of mandates) or we have a major technological breakthrough that mimics the energy density and speed of refueling of gasoline.
I don’t think most people realize the miracle that fossil fuels are. Extremely high energy density, portable, safe… and the climate b.s…. it’s all about wealth transfer. Which of the predictions has EVER come true? Zero. For 5+ decades.
https://www.reuters.com/resizer/v2/MESWDQPYANCMDCYNWOLHOYLHNI.jpg?auth=caeca5894abddadaa38e9bf828c4b7976bb8ea43b84be198938d6bb766263d09&width=720&quality=80
I am not sure where your numbers come from.
sources of power generation:
43% natural gas
16% coal
10% wind
6% hydro
4% solar
Coal usage has dropped by 50% in less than 20 years. It does not take industry long to adjust when cost is a driving force.
NREL estimates a 20 to 38% increase in demand by 2050. (not an order of magnitude)
@Jim,
“Which of the predictions has EVER come true?”
Google is your friend. I found this article within seconds.
“Climate change doubters have a favorite target: climate models. They claim that computer simulations conducted decades ago didn’t accurately predict current warming, so the public should be wary of the predictive power of newer models. Now, the most sweeping evaluation of these older models—some half a century old—shows most of them were indeed accurate.”
“The researchers compared annual average surface temperatures across the globe to the surface temperatures predicted in 17 forecasts. Those predictions were drawn from 14 separate computer models released between 1970 and 2001. In some cases, the studies and their computer codes were so old that the team had to extract data published in papers, using special software to gauge the exact numbers represented by points on a printed graph.
“Most of the models accurately predicted recent global surface temperatures, which have risen approximately 0.9°C since 1970. For 10 forecasts, there was no statistically significant difference between their output and historic observations, the team reports today in Geophysical Research Letters.”
Even 50-year-old climate models correctly predicted global warming
I get a 300-mile range in my Toyota Highlander. Since I use my vehicle for commuter driving 90% of the time, even the lowest-range EV would work for me. If I charge at home, I should have no issue, but here in Houston, the energy capital of the world, charging stations are pretty common.