Electric and Hybrid Car Thread

[EvoFire]

Hands and feet up agree with Hehe. It's not how much throughput but rather how many chargers and how available it is.

On a drive to Alberta for example, you would likely stop at Merritt/Kamloops for lunch and stop at Golden over night (We did that like 15 years ago). There's no chargers IIRC next to McD in Merritt, and staying overnight in Golden, even a 6kw charger would give you at least 50-70kw over night conservatively.

I'm surprised the fast food places hasn't gotten into the charging game. It makes so much sense.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

I'm surprised the fast food places hasn't gotten into the charging game. It makes so much sense.

Isn't the general consensus that it is pretty difficult to make money (or even just break even) from operating EV chargers?

It's just like the Chinese saying that "no one will engage in a money losing business, but someone will engage in a money-making but illegal business".

[Hehe]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

Hands and feet up agree with Hehe. It's not how much throughput but rather how many chargers and how available it is.

On a drive to Alberta for example, you would likely stop at Merritt/Kamloops for lunch and stop at Golden over night (We did that like 15 years ago). There's no chargers IIRC next to McD in Merritt, and staying overnight in Golden, even a 6kw charger would give you at least 50-70kw over night conservatively.

I'm surprised the fast food places hasn't gotten into the charging game. It makes so much sense.

Yeah. We have actually had a road trip with both ICE/EV running the same route. We just agreed to meet at the destination, and the difference was about 30min and all the way to Lake Louise.

People gotta eat and pee. If I was by myself and cannonballing somewhere, that might make a more significant difference. As far as IRL driving scenario, the difference is very small other than we'd stop to eat near chargers.

[Manic!]

New chargers in Nanaimo going up next to a Wendy's. In the same plaza you also have a tims and a smittys family restaurant. I don't know what brand chargers they are but they are not tesla. Subway in 23 said it would have new locations with ev chargers, playgrounds and wifi. https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattnov...d-playgrounds/


Looks like Tesla Volvo Geely and BYD are going to be the fist to enter Canada.

https://cnevpost.com/2026/01/19/chin...lvo-byd-first/

[AstulzerRZD]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

Hands and feet up agree with Hehe. It's not how much throughput but rather how many chargers and how available it is.

On a drive to Alberta for example, you would likely stop at Merritt/Kamloops for lunch and stop at Golden over night (We did that like 15 years ago). There's no chargers IIRC next to McD in Merritt, and staying overnight in Golden, even a 6kw charger would give you at least 50-70kw over night conservatively.

I'm surprised the fast food places hasn't gotten into the charging game. It makes so much sense.

The US is quickly moving past “is there a charger that works” and into “how fast is it and how much does it cost.” None of the made money so 2 Billion of this funding came from the VW dieselgate settlement.

Coastal corridors (WA/OR/CA + Eastern Seaboard from Boston to DC): density is ~3–4x Vancouver, so availability is rarely the bottleneck. You’re choosing based on speed and price.

Southern states (Texas, NC, etc.): more like Vancouver-level density. Still generally workable, but you feel the gaps sooner, especially outside metros.

Rural US: closer to rural Canada / Alberta cities. Availability is very much still be the constraint, so planning matters.

[Badhobz]

BYD ! BYD !!! BUILD MY DREAMS !!!!!! yessss time to get a dolphin seal walrus whatever for sub 35k!

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Traum

Isn't the general consensus that it is pretty difficult to make money (or even just break even) from operating EV chargers?

It's just like the Chinese saying that "no one will engage in a money losing business, but someone will engage in a money-making but illegal business".

I think the chargers are tough to break even with but I would imagine ancillary revenue (people buying food) would help with this though it probably works best when there's several business who chip in for it. I wonder which price point/type of product would be the high revenue next to an EV charger - like if some luxury brand puts a store next to a charger in Hope would it make money just from people stopping to charge? 30 min stop and 1 out of 50 people buy a $1000 handbag vs a McDonald's where 50 out of 50 buy something to eat.

[AstulzerRZD]

Outside of superchargers, majority of the stations are next to Walmart and Safeway/Kroger.
Both of these chains struck a deal with Electrify America who bears ALL of the cost of building and deploying.

Mercedes Benz seems to be the other operator who is going far and wide.
Starbucks struck a deal with them for 100 locations.

EvGo tried to go broad but couldn't make the financials work.
Applegreen is exclusively targeting contracts with gov to deploy at rest stops.

[twitchyzero]

dude i doubt canada even per capita will ever come close to US or euro network, which is a shame given hydro source and relatively affordable rates

i haven't even used any of the free electrify can credits because it's out in squamish/abby/hope

how often would i go those ways without a combustion vehicle, maybe once a year

i'd much rather have credits to the ones along interstates

around 10 years ago i thought the infrastructure would slowly build up, now we're still largely just relying on tesla network?

i seriously can't see any local retailers providing (and maintaining) any more than a few 10-15kw chargers besides maybe membership places like costco

best we can hope in our generation for long distance is EREV whether it's scout or chinese ones

[Hehe]

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

dude i doubt canada even per capita will ever come close to US or euro network, which is a shame given hydro source and relatively affordable rates

i haven't even used any of the free electrify can credits because it's out in squamish/abby/hope

how often would i go those ways without a combustion vehicle, maybe once a year

i'd much rather have credits to the ones along interstates

around 10 years ago i thought the infrastructure would slowly build up, now we're still largely just relying on tesla network?

i seriously can't see any local retailers providing (and maintaining) any more than a few 10-15kw chargers besides maybe membership places like costco

best we can hope in our generation for long distance is EREV whether it's scout or chinese ones

It's mainly because most people have preference towards the status quo. It's human nature to fight against changes even when it's for the better. DC charging stations is hard to justify when the potential market is small. But still, I believe it's a matter of time.

My friend had complained about gas prices for the longest time and I'm like, why don't you give EV a try? You live in a SFH where installing a charger isn't so much of an issue and 99.9% of his drive is from South Surrey to Richmond for work. Then he gives me the same speech always "oh, what about the time that I go to road trip or whatever, I don't have time to wait 30min to charge" bullshit.

I said to him, dude, you are in a 9-to-5 most time of the year, and those time that you do take off, you usually fly right back to Asia to visit your folks. When was the last time you drove anywhere other than along major hwys/cities?

He remained unconvinced until once, I was flying back to South America for a month and needed him to drive me to the airport in the early morning. I'm like, take my car, the charger and charge with your dryer plug that you have in the garage. He drove my Model X for 2 weeks, including a weekend trip down to Portland, and by the time I was back, he had a Model X Plaid of his own. Now he has the Plaid and a Model Y and never looked back.

People never really understand that there's something better until they are given the opportunity to switch and not just to test drive it. And they will find all sort of excuses to convince them that they are making the wiser choice. But I have long been advocating the same thing... EVs today, regardless of brands, are pretty much better in any way than ICEs in our day-to-day driving, period. If one is buying a brand new car, EVs will almost always come out ahead given comparable

Too few actually make long drives out in the woods to justify ICE being "better" for their daily driving. When cheap Chinese EV floods the Canadian market, the last holdout of "oh EV are too expensive, I better stick with my econobox" will also cease to justify their reasoning.

[twitchyzero]

agree with most of that in the city, but that's assuming you dont live in the avg apartment or can't street park at the same spot every other night

[68style]

I totally see the argument for an EV for mundane duties or commuting.

As a car enthusiast though? No thank you. Barf. Unless your level of enthusiasm stops at "I want to engage with whatever is the newest or most recent tech!" then fill your boots I guess.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by 68style

I totally see the argument for an EV for mundane duties or commuting.

As a car enthusiast though? No thank you. Barf. Unless your level of enthusiasm stops at "I want to engage with whatever is the newest or most recent tech!" then fill your boots I guess.

The fridges are actually pretty good. I was never against EVs, and I definitely think EVs can be made fun like the i5N. Tesla isn't it, sorry Hehe

[whitev70r]

Originally Posted by 68style

I totally see the argument for an EV for mundane duties or commuting.

As a car enthusiast though? No thank you. Barf. Unless your level of enthusiasm stops at "I want to engage with whatever is the newest or most recent tech!" then fill your boots I guess.

Grocery getter, soccer mom/dads, even commuting to work. All can be done with an avg EV even with <200 kms range and probably 110V overnight charge/top up.

Bonus - save kms on THE car that you love and cherish, use for weekend fun, trips, etc.

[AstulzerRZD]

i5N, Mach-E GT PP and Rivians are pretty fun
The rest are snoozefest

[JDMDreams]

So apparently Honda and GM broke up, so I guess no more prologue and zdx. That was quick, considering they haven't learned from the transmission fiasco

[teggy604]

How do you complain about gas and then going out to buy a model x plaid? Thats like $200K?

[JDMDreams]

I was just looking at Tesla to see what used inventory they have and they have like nothing. A 26 model x is $160, and used cyber truck is $140

[noclue]

https://www.carscoops.com/2026/01/th...s-much-longer/

What a kick in the nuts for someone who paid $8K+ for a promise of FSD and now learn that they'll never receive it as their car is too old for it and they can no longer transfer it to a new tesla whenever the day FSD will come. (10+ years and counting) I think it's fraud

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by whitev70r

Grocery getter, soccer mom/dads, even commuting to work. All can be done with an avg EV even with <200 kms range and probably 110V overnight charge/top up.

Bonus - save kms on THE car that you love and cherish, use for weekend fun, trips, etc.

That's why I have a I5 (not N) for daily use, and a M340i (2020 model with only 16k on the odometer) for the summer!

[AstulzerRZD]

Originally Posted by noclue

https://www.carscoops.com/2026/01/th...s-much-longer/

What a kick in the nuts for someone who paid $8K+ for a promise of FSD and now learn that they'll never receive it as their car is too old for it and they can no longer transfer it to a new tesla whenever the day FSD will come. (10+ years and counting) I think it's fraud

There's no deadline for Tesla to "deliver" FSD to the v3 owners.
In a couple years, they might get around to producing a v4/5 compatible chip that works with the v3 power and space constraint.

[Hehe]

Originally Posted by teggy604

How do you complain about gas and then going out to buy a model x plaid? Thats like $200K?

Just because he could afford gas didn't mean he wouldn't bitch about it.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by whitev70r

Grocery getter, soccer mom/dads, even commuting to work. All can be done with an avg EV even with <200 kms range and probably 110V overnight charge/top up.

Bonus - save kms on THE car that you love and cherish, use for weekend fun, trips, etc.

Imo if you actually love a car you wouldn't worry about "saving kms" on it, you'd want to drive it as much as possible.

[AstulzerRZD]

I drove my s2k 40k kms in a year but it definitely made it a hard sell when I had to move.

All the interested buyers ended up being friends of mine.

[Badhobz]

Those friendzone skanks you help move with your s2k dont count mop head.

stop being a cuck and anal them already and force them to pay for their own movers.