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.