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I live on Jeju, an island off the south coast of South Korea. In the last few weeks the number of EV's on the island doubled to about 3000. (Soul fans will be glad to know that more than 1000 of those are Souls). Every car has its own L2 Smart Grid connected charger and there is a also a fairly substantial network of L3 Public chargers. (For example there are more than 20 within 10km of my house)
The problem with the Public chargers really only began this week. (The first week of holiday season). Every charger is busy. There are cars waiting at each spot. Each time I charged this week has been eventful.
1. I went to get a coffee while plugged in. I got a phone call to come back to the car because charging had finished and a newly arrived car couldn't charge until I moved.
2. I parked alongside a car that was charging. The owner had gone. I unplugged their car and plugged in mine.
3. In a spot with two adjacent L3 chargers. I plugged in to one and began chatting to the owner plugged in next to me. As we chatted 3 other EV's arrived. 1 waited 2 left.
4. In the same spot as above. One of the L3 chargers is out of service. "Database error while loading updates", the other is busy. So I wait. It is 10pm. The temperature is 27 C. After ten minutes of charging my car the charger fails with an overheating error. I unplug and check my car. It is fine. I assume the overheating is because the charger has been busy in the heat for hours on end. I replug the charger and second time it finishes successfully.
My solution to this overcrowding on the chargers is fairly simple. I will stop doing the extra mileage and just charge at home. This car is such fun to drive that we have both been driving it way more than normal. But the overall problem remains. A huge network of super reliable chargers is necessary if EV's are going to step out of a very small niche market.
I live on Jeju, an island off the south coast of South Korea. In the last few weeks the number of EV's on the island doubled to about 3000. (Soul fans will be glad to know that more than 1000 of those are Souls). Every car has its own L2 Smart Grid connected charger and there is a also a fairly substantial network of L3 Public chargers. (For example there are more than 20 within 10km of my house)
The problem with the Public chargers really only began this week. (The first week of holiday season). Every charger is busy. There are cars waiting at each spot. Each time I charged this week has been eventful.
1. I went to get a coffee while plugged in. I got a phone call to come back to the car because charging had finished and a newly arrived car couldn't charge until I moved.
2. I parked alongside a car that was charging. The owner had gone. I unplugged their car and plugged in mine.
3. In a spot with two adjacent L3 chargers. I plugged in to one and began chatting to the owner plugged in next to me. As we chatted 3 other EV's arrived. 1 waited 2 left.
4. In the same spot as above. One of the L3 chargers is out of service. "Database error while loading updates", the other is busy. So I wait. It is 10pm. The temperature is 27 C. After ten minutes of charging my car the charger fails with an overheating error. I unplug and check my car. It is fine. I assume the overheating is because the charger has been busy in the heat for hours on end. I replug the charger and second time it finishes successfully.
My solution to this overcrowding on the chargers is fairly simple. I will stop doing the extra mileage and just charge at home. This car is such fun to drive that we have both been driving it way more than normal. But the overall problem remains. A huge network of super reliable chargers is necessary if EV's are going to step out of a very small niche market.