I usually use the magic gas hose logic to explain how and when EV owners charge their cars. If a gas car owner could buy a magic gas hose for $150 that they could hang on the wall of their garage and that provided gas for $2.00 a gallon with no fumes, always was full of gas, could be inserted into the cars fuel cap without even you having to touch the car, so just a quick few seconds when you get home and then walk inside the house while it fills up…the question then is would you ever go back to local gas stations and pay $3.00 a gallon just for old times sake? Also, the magic gas hose can also be set to delay the actual fill process until 11 pm at night at which time the gas will only cost $1.00 per gallon. Pretty good odds you would select this option, right? This is why most EV owners will charge their EVs at off peak hours…not necessarily because it is the right thing to do (ie defer electric use to off peak hours to be nice to the grid) but because you save money in doing so.
So, what about long trips where you might not quite have enough fuel to get home to use your magic hose? Well, for one thing, if you know you just need a few gallons at a gas station to make it home, you know darned well you aren’t going to fill up the tank at a gas station paying $3.00 a gallon. Same thing an EV driver does…the car tells you exactly how much charge you need to add to get home and as soon as that is in the car you are off in a flash. So the obvious logic you fall into is fill up at home every day because, well, it’s easy, and before a long trip, fill up before leaving home and arrive at your destination near empty.
Two other tidbits. Yes, there is gas even cheaper than $1.00 a gallon in this magic hose story. On long trips when you stop at hotels, the hotels happen to have magic hoses that provide gas for free…so yes, you know you will use them if they are available. Again, basically what EV owner charging is like at free destination chargers at hotels, casinos, and restaurants to name a few places. The other tidbit is multitasking…for that I’m out of magic hose comparisons…basically rather than filling up at a gas station and then going in to use the restroom or going someplace else to find a place to eat, the EV owner has the advantage that many superchargers are near restaurants so you just pull into a supercharger, plug in, and go eat or pee while it charges.