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Anders Cornelius Madsenmadsenandersc@vivaldi.net
Apr 3, 2026, 2:58 PM
@Chancerubbage
No offense, but how often do you cross the United States in a car?
That said, here in Denmark it has taken less than 5 years to get to a situation where charging your car "at the pump" is about the same as filling it with diesel, calculated as price per distance unit.
Could someone try pushing prices upward in less populated areas? Sure. However, doing so will cause someone else to see a business opportunity and put up chargers close by. Wherever you have power enough to run a small business (like a welding shop) you have enough power to setup a couple of chargers.
Granted, this doesn't happen from day to day, and especially in the US it could probably take decades to get to that point, given the current political climate. However, personally I would not let two trips per year determine my choice of daily driver - I would save money on my commute and rent a fun car for those trips, but that is just me. ;)
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Replies

ChancerubbageChancerubbage@mastodon.social
Apr 3, 2026, 4:50 PM
@madsenandersc
Although I have taken longer treks, my own vehicle is spotty enough I have rented just to do so.
3 hours to 11 hours is common enough.
The point is not that I can always charge at home for a daily one hour commute
The point is US citizens don’t want, will not buy, vehicles with a range of less than 350 miles, nor pay more than they would for a petrol driven engine. That sweet spot is being approached by BYD, but can’t import. U.S. car manufacturers slowed down EV production
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Anders Cornelius Madsenmadsenandersc@vivaldi.net
Apr 3, 2026, 5:28 PM
@Chancerubbage
Ah - OK.
I get your points, and it is definitely unfortunate for consumers that EVs remain the red-haired step child among US auto producers.
In Denmark- and to a growing degree in Northern Europe - the price considerations has been somewhat replaced by total cost of ownership considerations, and here EVs tend to wipe the floor with ICE cars. The issue has been very few small, cheap city cars, but they are finally coming leaps and bounds in 2026.
That said, we've seen more or less the same "we need range"-scenario play out in Germany, where people tend to drive significantly faster than just about everywhere else.
High speed is the cryptonite to EV range, and it's only recently that Mercedes and BMW has broken the 800 km (500 mi) WLTP barrier, which in practical terms means at least 350 miles in winter, unless you're hauling ass on the highway.
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ChancerubbageChancerubbage@mastodon.social
Apr 3, 2026, 9:06 PM
@madsenandersc
A friend has an EV with a 240 v charger at home. She has sisters 190 miles away. She has trouble getting there one way, a round trip is out of the question. She couldn’t really day trip, to find a charger en route she has to drive 50 miles out of the way.
The U.S. is truly a petro-state, or should we say, morbidly dependent. Range is important. Repair service and charging network is important.
An EV enthusiasts optimism is not seeing what is working against EV adoption.
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Anders Cornelius Madsenmadsenandersc@vivaldi.net
Apr 4, 2026, 1:29 PM
@Chancerubbage Holy crap. Yeah, that is definitely a very different world from the one I live in.
I can't say for sure, but I think you'll be hard pressed to find a place in Denmark where you don't have some kind of charger within 5 miles and a reasonably fast charger within 10 miles today.
Once you hit the highway you'll have plenty of 300 kW chargers or faster, that will charge you car from 10-80% in less than 20 minutes if the car is capable, and I doubt there is a place where you will not find one every 20 miles or so along your route.
We got our first EV in December 2021, and the public charging infrastructure was already better than what you are dealing with now - probably to a level where you are a decade behind us at the moment.
That said, once things start rolling, you will have the advantage of not having to go through iterations of EVs thar are slowly getting better and cheaper - you will most likely see EV adoption take off when there is true price parity between EVs and ICE cars.
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ChancerubbageChancerubbage@mastodon.social
Apr 4, 2026, 1:42 PM
@madsenandersc
My commute, round trip, is 100 miles, 160 km.
The closest fast charging station is 10 miles 16 km in the opposite direction from work.
This is east of the Mississippi, where the population is a good deal denser on average.
I have downloaded the charger finder apps and virtually navigated frequent long trips of 3 to 11 hours. Charging usually adds both mileage and an hour of time to these trips
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Anders Cornelius Madsenmadsenandersc@vivaldi.net
Apr 4, 2026, 1:55 PM
@Chancerubbage
That's an uphill battle for sure.
Out of curiosity, isn't it cheaper to drive an EV in general in the US? That has been the major force behind EV adoption in Denmark - you could spend 30% more on an EV at the dealership and still have a lower TCO than the ICE cars after three years.
Most of that was significantly lower fuel cost, but also lower maintenance cost, although when something breaks in an EVit tends to be expensive to fix - and I mean Audi or BMW level expensive.
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ChancerubbageChancerubbage@mastodon.social
Apr 4, 2026, 2:17 PM
@madsenandersc
I think longer term ownership always evens out the costs, but there is plenty of fear and opposition, somewhat dependent on many of the naysayers having gone into a career in maintenance of internal combustion vehicles.
There will have to be price parity up front. Too many in the U.S. cannot consider any sort of long term thinking, and build prejudices based on those fears.
1/2
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ChancerubbageChancerubbage@mastodon.social
Apr 4, 2026, 3:13 PM
@madsenandersc
New battery technologies and modular cellular designs may make that less of an issue. Right now it is considered almost a total loss of vehicle price if the battery needs replacement.
There is a Tesla dealer near work, I see many on the road, Riviens are around too, but who knows handles repairs and maintenance for them.
Japanese, US, and Korean EVs are low profile in comparison. Hyundai Ioniqs seem to have a decent slice of the market.
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Anders Cornelius Madsenmadsenandersc@vivaldi.net
Apr 4, 2026, 4:03 PM
@Chancerubbage
Yeah, battery replacement is a nasty one, although we are seeing smaller companies starting to repair batteries that were "un-repairable" if you asked the car maker. Same goes for things like the on-board charger in many Stellantis cars - they have had some really nasty issues and they were insanely expensive to replace in some cases.
We now have a small Danish company that can not only repair those on-board chargers, but also fix the underlying heat issue that broke them in the first place.
Have the on-board charger replaced by an authorized dealship with a unit with the same built-in timebomb for DKK 35K or have it repaired and permanently fixed for DKK 12K? Decisions, decisions... :)
The market here is much more diverse, and currently around 90% of all new cars sold to comsumers are pure EVs.
VW, Skoda, Audi, Cupra, BMW, Mercedes, Ford, Jeep, Fiat, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, Suzuki, Mazda, Porche, Renault, Citroen, Peugeot - all have EVs that they sell on the Danish market, and some no longer offers ICE at all.IIRC, VW Group (which includes Skoda, Audi and Cupra) holds more than 40% of the total market.
There is a slew of Chinese models as well, but they are not that popular - users don't like the high-pitched bings and bongs from their warning systems, and they yell at you all the time.
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ChancerubbageChancerubbage@mastodon.social
Apr 4, 2026, 4:12 PM
@madsenandersc
I have a feeling that the U.S. manufacturers are keeping their actual sales of EVs on the down low, for both competitive and political reasons. That is, they may be doing better. And they may be floating ideas like ‘lowered production’ for political reasons (and competitive)
It shouldn’t be contentious but it is in a nation of 30 % radical conformists.
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