When shopping for EV’s, perhaps the most overlooked aspect of ownership is the public charging network. For most American’s that own an EV, charging will mostly take place at home. Owners will plug in their car at night like a cell phone, and wake up every day to a fully charged vehicle. Assuming you don’t exceed the range of the vehicle, it’s simply a ‘rinse and repeat’ process day in and day out. Simple and easy - and not to mention, generally less expensive than using public charging networks.

However, there are two major downsides to charging at home. First, it’s very slow. Even with an upgraded charge system at home, it could be several times slower to charge at home versus the high-speed public chargers. That means if you arrive home late and need to leave again early, you might be working with a half-full battery. Second, charging at home doesn’t help you when you need to drive longer distances or when your final destination is not your home. For these two reasons, we turns our attention to the public charging network.

In general, EV manufacturers advertise the ability for their batteries to charge from 20% to 80% in the 20-40 minute range using their public chargers. This, on the surface, seems great. You can stop at a public charger, head for lunch or a cup of coffee, and before you know it, you’re back on the road. Here’s the problem: not all charging stations are created equal. Let’s start with the easy one… Tesla’s super-charging network.

In short, Tesla has essentially executed their public charging stations perfectly. They invested a ton of money into establishing their network. You can drive from the east coast to the west coast with intelligently assisted Tesla navigation through a map of charging stations. But it’s not just about quantity. It’s also about quality. Ask any Tesla owner or watch any comparison review and you’ll see that overall the Tesla charging experience is positive. The chargers always work. They are always fast. They are located in convenient locations. They are integrated into your Tesla account for billing. Simple and easy. Oh, and if you don’t own a Tesla you cannot use them. So they aren’t overcrowded. In fact, many Tesla owners report that the charging station banks are usually empty.

Everyone else, on the other hand, is not quite there yet. Companies like GM, Ford, Nissan, FCA, Volvo, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and many others have grouped together to invest in a selection of public charging networks instead of building their own like Tesla. Two of the larger players here are ChargePoint and Electrify America. On paper, they are competitive with Tesla. They have thousands of charge locations allowing you to go coast to coast utilizing this charging network. The devil, as always, is in the details.

Many non-Tesla EV owners report that the public charging experience is sub-optimal… at best. In no particular order:
-They are not conveniently located, often actually hard to find. Think: inside mall parking lots, behind the Walmart, etc.
-They have high rates of failure. Too many times, the charging station doesn’t work and you need to pull over to the next one.
-They have fluctuating rates of charge. You have to keep a close eye on how fast these fast chargers are or you could end up at a charger for 4 hours instead of 40 minutes.
-They have billing issues. Credit cards might not swipe, errors might appear, etc.

The list goes on. Every time I watch another non-Tesla EV review, there’s always mention of the public charging disaster that frustrates the industry.

If I were buying an EV today, I would likely go with a Tesla. I don’t think it’s the most attractive cosmetically (interior and exterior), and I don’t necessarily think it’s “the best” EV anymore on paper. It’s definitely competitive in those categories BUT they have a bulletproof charging network that is a generation ahead of the competition. Until the rest of the industry catches up with the Tesla charging experience, Tesla will remain the #1 EV manufacturer in my mind.