I've been there too, and honestly, I take it a step further. Once my EV hits about 30% range, I start mapping out charging stations along my route—just in case. Had a close call once when the charger I planned on using was out of order... lesson learned. Now I always have a backup charger in mind. Might seem overly cautious, but better safe than sorry, right?
Mapping chargers at 30% sounds pretty cautious... ever thought about just keeping a portable charger handy instead? Saved me more than once, and no need to stress about broken stations.
I totally get the appeal of a portable charger—saved my buddy once when we were road-tripping through some pretty remote areas. But honestly, mapping chargers at around 30% isn't overly cautious in my book. I learned this the hard way when I first got my EV. Thought I'd be fine pushing it to around 15% battery, only to find the station I'd planned on was offline. Ended up waiting almost two hours for roadside assistance... not exactly fun.
Since then, I've adopted a similar mindset—start looking around 30-35%, especially if I'm unfamiliar with the area. Portable chargers are great, but they're usually pretty slow and bulky. Plus, depending on your car's battery size, they might only give you enough juice to limp to the nearest station anyway. So yeah, portable chargers are handy backups, but planning ahead still feels like the safest bet to me.
"Portable chargers are great, but they're usually pretty slow and bulky."
That's been my experience too. I borrowed one from a friend once, thinking it'd be a good backup for a weekend trip. It ended up taking forever just to get enough charge to reach a proper station—definitely not ideal when you're already running late.
I've also started mapping out charging stops around the 30-35% mark. Initially, I thought it might be overly cautious, but after reading your story about the offline charger, I'm glad I've been doing that. Still, I wonder if portable chargers might become more practical as battery tech improves? Maybe they'll get smaller and faster over time... For now though, careful planning seems like the most reliable strategy.
Maybe they'll get smaller and faster over time...
Yeah, portable chargers still feel like a temporary fix to me. Honestly, until they sort out charging speeds and size, they're just band-aids. Curious though—anyone tried those newer compact models yet? Worth the hype or nah?
