A new addition to the streetside infrastructure the last couple of years has been charging stations for electric-powered vehicles. If you watched the Super Bowl this year, you saw electric cars being heavily promoted, as well as sports gambling. I am immune to these pitches, as I have always been too chicken and too cheap to drive, and too cheap to blow my meager pay checks on handing my money over to Draft Kings or whoever. (Ask the instructors at the driving school where I almost wrecked Dodge Darts in 1975. Or my cousin Jimmy, where I almost got us killed in his Gremlin. I am not cut out to move tons of metal.) I bicycled all over Brooklyn and Queens from the 1970s to the 1990s well before it became a political act to do so.
These charging stations are on Red Cross Place and Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn Heights and are the result of a a partnership between NYC DOT, Con Edison and FLO, one of the largest electric vehicle charging networks in North America. It takes 4 to 8 hours to fully charge many models at $1.00 to $2.50 per charging hour. As for parking, like it says on Department of Transportation 1980s signs, don’t even THINK of parking at the chargers, otherwise you’ll get a ticket.
Electric cars are fine, but I predict they won’t compete with gasoline till they reduce the charging time. You can fill ‘er up in a matter of minutes but 4 to 8 hours? Jayzus. Unless you do it overnight.
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16 comments
I’m confused. How do you charge for 4-8 hours WITHOUT parking there??
You can’t park if you are not charging.
I don’t believe that No Parking sign is absolute. It looks like the ones that they put up when only vehicles belonging to specific agencies/departments – or their employees – can park there and have the appropriate placard (or vehicle markings, I guess).. Also, it does not look like any of the vehicles there are actively charging.
There goes the cross-country leisurely road trip. It’s un-American!
This article will give you some perspective (& it will also upset you):
https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/what-is-the-great-reset/
Kevin: Although the only vehicle you’ve ever owned is a bicycle your assessment of EVs (electric vehicles) is spot on. Their pricing & depreciation rates are ridiculous, their range is too short, & charging time is suffers in comparison to the less than five minutes it takes to refuel an internal combustion vehicle. EVs will never amount to more than a virtue signal & proof of submission to a new tyranny. I congratulate your candor & I urge you to stand your ground.
Well-said, Red! Yes, even a non-driver li8ke Kevin can see the obvious absurdities of the EV debacle.
Also: While these EVs are touted as being ‘green’ and a means of ‘saving the planet’…yada yada…fact is that these vehicles are heavier than their gas-engined counterparts, and thus require MORE energy to propel…and ultimately that energy comes from the same place as does the gas that goes into one’s fuel tank- only instead of the people who drive the EVs and who live in the dense cities having to deal with the emissions, with EVs the emissions are relocated to the areas where the electricity is generated……
And what’s more, is that these EVs have a much shorter useful lifespan than their gas counterparts- as the VERY expensive batteries need replacing 7-8 years down the road, essentially ‘totaling’ the vehicle (Cheaper aftermarket batteries don’t last)- and the constant need to build new cars, as well as mine materials for new batteries and ‘recycle’ old batteries (Not very practical in reality) creates a whole new arena of pollution and waste…not to mention depriving us of cheap older used cars, because with EVs there can be no such thing- not in the economically viable sense, anyway. (Which is what this EV push is really all about: Thinning the herd of drivers by making cars less affordable).
Once again, Nunzio, you’ve hit the nail right on the head. But wait, there’s more (courtesy of The American Spectator):
https://spectator.org/electric-vehicles-are-ruining-everything-we-love-about-cars/
So true, Red! I hate all the vehicles made in the last nearly 20 years; they’re ALL THE SAME, and they beep and blink with their nanny-state assists and ‘safety features’ which seem to do nothing other than distract and annoy. Can’t even get a manual transmission anymore! No thanks! I’ll keep my 22 year-old V-10 Excursion, and I’m looking for an older no-rust vehicle from out West… And the sad thing is, with all the electronics, the modern gas cars are becoming as disposable as the EVs. Touch-screen takes a dump? That’ll be a $2K+ repair. Hamster di…errr…transmission goes? That’ll $5K-$6K…. You might go through 3 turbochargers before the lil 4-banger in your 5000 lb. pick-up reaches $100K miles…. Disgusting.
Come to AZ & do your shopping at this place (with stores all over The Valley of the Sun). Come, buy, stay.
https://www.idealcarsaz.com/cars-for-sale
As I understand it most owners of electric cars charge them overnight at their houses and don’t regularly use these public charging stations. There also are extra-fast chargers for Teslas.
Given their placement near Brooklyn’s civic center, wouldn’t these stations appeal mainly to the government and court employees – and maybe some MTA staff – n the area? Someone who’s, perhaps, got a long drive in from the Island or out of state and will not be going home for at a handful of hours seem to be the likely targets. Plug in, go to work, unplug at the end of the day. My question is: is there something on an electric vehicle that prevents someone walking by from unplugging you?
They seem to have the same problem natural gas vehicles had years ago; lack of availability of NG stations + lack of mileage between “fillups”. And when solar power is not available where do they think the power to sustain these stations comes from?. Why, you’re local utility who more than likely is using fossil fuel to make the electricity to supply these overrated green machines. Don’t get me wrong, i am all for saving the enviorment but this is not the answer, not as presented now
Tesla has a really good map of where the chargers (and type) are for cross country road trips. If you charge at a V2 or V3 supercharger, it takes 30-60 minutes to get fully charge. It is a pain to plan your pit stops based on that, but those V2 chargers are nice. The one in this photo is good for residents who are parked overnight or workers who have 8 hours to spare.
The technology will get better, but for the foreseeable future, Kevin’s right. Electric vehicles are virtue signalers for the rich. There’s no practical use unless you have a high power home charger, and even that takes hours. Still, you can’t go all that far. Flo’s web page says their chargers yield about 19 miles of driving per hour of charging! A further issue is that, like the dreaded Citibike depots, these chargers just take up more parking spaces. Is Flo paying rent on this space?
EV manufacturers and charging station suppliers need to work with mass transit. EV ranges are good only for doing errands around your immediate town, or driving to the train station. Long commutes, or long errands around town and you take the risk of getting stuck until/unless there are more charging stations – or range significantly increases. Transit stations are ideal for charging because most people will be gone for a long time. I can’t see significantly charging a Tesla in the time it takes me to run into a Wawa (7-11/QuickChek for those unfamiliar with Wawas), use the bathroom, order a sandwich, pay for it, pick it up, and leave. That’s maybe 15 minutes, tops.