EV Charging Doesn't Need to Be as Fast as Gas, Ionna CEO Says

We have been wanting an EV (something other than a Swasticar) for our next vehicle and think we could deal with the extended charging times required during a long drive or trip, but we ended up ruling it out.

For us the big problem is the difficulty getting parts and service. Service for the models we looked at is only available at dealers (and only some dealers), and parts are regularly not in dealer stock.

We really don’t want to risk taking a cross-county trip and having the car break down 200 miles from the nearest mechanic. With the additional real possibility of having to wait weeks (or months) for a part, an EV is not an appealing choice for us, at least not yet.

What are you expecting to break down? A modern internal combustion engine plus continuously variable transmission is one the world’s most complex pieces of engineering in common use today.

An electric drive system is trivial in comparison.

This is the truth. 4 years with a Chevy Bolt EUV and so far I have only replaced the tires and windshield wiper fluid. As someone who worked on several ICE cars for 2 decades, it’s kind of a dream to have so few things that can go wrong. The number of moving parts in a EV is a couple magnitudes less than an ICE car.

People don’t account for the time I am not spending at gas stations sniffing fumes every week or getting oil changes. The handfull of times I don’t charge at home are a fraction of time spent dealing with ICE routine maintenance.

The only thing I am slightly worried about is that my car has 3 coolant loops, which is one of my least favorite repairs.

You should get the brake fluid replaced. You’re probably due.