EVs...What Haven't They Told You?

An in-depth look at the Electric Vehicle Experience as told by a Photographer and Father

Tesla and Electric Vehicles like Starbucks, aren't the best, they're only heavily marketed as if they are, gaslighting the public with saturated advertisements and locations that feel like they suffocate your city without adding much benefit. It wasn't overnight but it did feel rather rapid the heavy presence EVs started taking on our roads. With slick designs and features, they (car manufacturers and dealerships) would have you distracted by the peacock feathers than receive and answer any real questions.

This year I rented a 2025 Kia EV6 for a little over a month. I rented the Kia thinking it would be a money saver, after all, all you ever hear about EVs is they must be better for your wallet, NO GAS PRICES!! But how many of us actually stopped to think about the ins and outs of our daily lives, our daily commutes and the struggles posed by those two factors and how our cars play a major role in achieving our commutes and daily tasks? I thought I had answered everything needing to be answered only to find out I didn't ask myself, or anyone else, enough questions, didn't seek out enough answers and it cost me dearly not only with money but also the most valuable commodity, my time.

Like many Americans right now, one major car repair can send you down a financial path of despair, especially when trying to raise three children all in their elementary years. I feel uncomfortable sharing my personal background into why I was renting, but feel it does matter, I'm sure although I feel vulnerable typing this there may be a reader who feels and is experiencing the exact same situation, so this is for those readers.

Like many couples' nightmares, it happened, the start of a slow decline. First our 2013 Ford Edge needed one repair, which tripped another repair and then, you guessed it, added yet another. We bought the car for 10k but just dropped $5,000 trying to get all the repairs needed for a FORD not even 15 years old. And this Ford was our single-family vehicle. As if that weren't enough, my partner of 12+ years was laid-off.

Suddenly we were without a vehicle, down thousands of dollars trying to get it back up and going and with one less earning position. Given our needs as a family I decided to start renting a vehicle in order to provide our family with regular wheels we could use as our own, while we regrouped and saved. This is where the Kia EV6 came in.

Prior to the Kia EV6 I was renting a Toyota Camry. I hate the rental company I went through because of their constant billing errors, high price tag to rent, lack of any coverage, terrible customer service including never answering their phones; but that's another story for another time. All I'll say was it did Hurts.

Anyhow, I'm renting a gas vehicle and driving all over the Arizona Valley. When it came time to renew the rental company was offering a severe discount for EV rentals. Before I wrote EVs off completely as, not realistic for our needs, but now that every penny mattered that weekly discount was looking mighty tasty. So, I bit and then was bitten back.

When sitting to sign the contract they told me I'd save so much money which would make it easier for me to make even more money. Didn't have to worry about oil changes was a high seller's point, as I accumulate miles like a Pacman being controlled by a kid with a

fat stack of quarters, no oil changes sounded nice. I shared my apprehension about the miles and being new to the experience. They were quick to paint a perfect picture and get me out on the road. (After all this is a business that lost BILLIONS in the EV Market and facing a major class-action lawsuit for deceiving their investors about their EV "demand". They made it sound like there was a line out-the-door for any EV but in-fact there was less than any demand, there was avidly no interest by renters and consumers.)

Now that we have a clear backstory built, let's dive into my experience behind the wheel.

The Pump?

One of my major concerns driving an EV was, where the hell do you charge one?

Why are these chargers nowhere near gas stations where we have been conditioned to take our vehicles? Again, the renters made it sound like it was easy and the charging stations were EVERYWHERE, insert eye roll, now that I know the truth.

Step `1: I had to download an app called EVGo

Step 2: First real negative: now there is no possible way to make a cash transaction. You are forced to enter a card number, or you'll be sitting without electricity. At this point they made a small debit to test the card and then promised to return it 3-5 business days later. Although, to be fair the refund came back pretty fast. I don't remember it was maybe $1 or at most a $5 test charge.

Step 3: Find a charger

It is no exaggeration when I say these chargers are rarely ever found near or at a gas station, which is baffling in and of itself. At first I thought maybe it's because the added voltage couldn't be stored or generated too close to a gas station for safety concerns; however, there are some chargers at limited Circle K locations, so that theory was clearly wrong. Still baffled by charger locations.

GOOD TO KNOW - Kia EV6s cannot be charged at Tesla stations

(At the rental company they gave misinformation saying they could be charged at Tesla Chargers but they absolutely cannot, unless you have a charging adaptor.)

This means the Kia EV6 needs to be charged at an EVGo station or a Rivian station. Living in Gledale, closer towards West Gate and the Stadium, the closest charger was a 20 minute drive in either direction. Either I had to head to down Tolleson or drive up to the Winco off Bell Rd and 55th Ave. Because I was misinformed the charger stations ended up playing a factor. I had told the renters I lived near a Tesla Dealership and they were like, yeah man you can charge them there, (I think), but I'm pretty sure you can, if not you can go on EVGo and find chargers that way.

So originally I thought I'd have a charger less than 5 miles away from home, but no. Therefore, every time I had to think of the charge I also had to add up the miles to get to the damn charger. The carelessness of a gas vehicle was now gone; there is no getting close to E because you know there is a gas station on practically every block corner. No, now that has been replaced with anxiety and a constant eagle eye on the mileage count.

Step 5: Open the charger door and plug-in the charger. Sounds easy right? It can be, but you're never guaranteed an easy experience. Many of the charger handles are damaged. There were times where I went to a charging station and there were charger hoses and

handles just laying on the ground, not sure if it's because people are that careless or someone grew frustrated and said, you know what, fuck this hose and left it discarded, unwanted on the ground. IF, you don't get the pins lined up just right, it can be a nightmare trying to get the charger and the car to sync up. You have to keep pushing and wiggling the handle in until you here the little button on the handle pop into place meaning the handle is locked in. Once you are locked in the charging screen will prompt you to pay via a card or through their app.

THE HOLD(S)

You're locked in, ready to "pump" electricity in your vehicle and you intended to spend $20. Well, NO. You are now being charged with as high as a $75 hold that can take several days to return so if you need to charge a few times a week, like I experienced you could have $150-300 in holds waiting to be updated to the proper price. Do you get your money back, yea eventually, but until then you're stuck with an inconvenience never really experienced with a gas pump and station. In order to avoid the holds or have them reduced, for example, EVGo charges a $5 hold if you're a premium member, so you're gonna need to spend another $15-ish a month to try and avoid the large hold amounts and be treated with some sense of priority.

Unreliable Mileage

One of the worst parts of driving an EV is it's unreliability with mileage.

You're excited, you're ready to get out of town and you have over a few hundred miles to the battery and only 57 miles to travel. It's for work so you have to go and you need to be there on a time schedule. But wait, although you thought you were ready and good-to-go, you find in real time you need to double back and sit on a charger for 30 minutes to try and make the rest of the journey.

This wasn't a hypothetical, this exact situation happened to me. I had a client up towards Prescott but not quite that far; although the car told me I could travel 200+ miles, the battery was drained before I was even close to there. I'll never forget I had 30 miles left on the battery and like 15 miles left to get to my destination. Because I had already watched the battery drain several miles/per mile, I was filled with anxiety. There was a Circle K in the opposite direction downhill that was 10 miles away. So, with extreme anxiety I had to decide, do I move forward and hope when I get there, there will be an electric charger nearby, or do I double back downhill to the Circle K and apologize to my client for the added time expected until I arrived. In this situation, there I sat an extra 30 minutes to get the charge to 100 miles thinking that will be more than enough.

The mileage on these EVs can be affected by the weather, the incline of the road, the traffic on the roads; all these factors can make it to where you are getting 1/3 of the miles you think you're going to be able to drive. While gas vehicles also include an estimate of miles til E, the gas vehicles can be better trusted that one mile is actually on mile, unlike EVs where one mile may drain 3-5 miles off your battery.

Less Miles per Charge

As is with any battery, the more you charge the battery the less output you get as it is recharged and ages. In just one month I went from 320ish miles per 100% charge to only being able to get to 270ish miles just 4-6 weeks later of renting.

To me, all of these differences and negatives added up to pure anxiety.

COST

Is it actually cheaper? We are told it's cheaper but there is a major Asterix. Currently my family and I reside in a townhome. The possibility of paying to install a home charger was not an option. Therefore, I was forced to pay the highest price per kw/h and at a range depending on the time of day.

If you're up at a charger at 3 am you may be lucky to pay .29 kw/h but if you need a charge at any normal time of day then you'll pay upwards of .60 kw/h. Again they built in an upsell market where you get a few cents off per kw/h if you pay 6.99 or 12.99 / mo. Costs that are not there at gas pumps. Yes, you may pay for a Costco membership which includes better gas prices, but you're not being charged monthly just to get a few cents off of gas, the way electric companies designed it to be with the EVs.

Cost of Time

On days where I felt less stressed, less demands on my time, I didn't mind the 20 mins to an hour time to get a decent or full charge. There were days I was able to get the groceries inside Winco and have the car charging at the same time. There were also days where I needed to be places, or was already exhausted from a full day of kids and work and I'd need to be at that damn charger, those days I hated, dreaded and do not miss.

If you have little ones, you definitely don't want to sit on a charger with them in the back seat complaining, asking when it'll be over. Being the case, I would opt to go and sit at a charger myself and if you view parenthood and time with your children as valuable as I do, it does start to get under your skin that you're wasting so much time sitting on a charger, when you know you'd never sit at a gas station that long.

Cost to my Photography/Business

As a photographer my demand is unpredictable and can be extensive. I could be asked to travel and I could be photographing a person, family, event, product, scenic beauty, etc. While I was in this EV I had an offer to go to Vegas. After reviewing all the costs of holds and charging stations I ended up losing the opportunity. I had to add more to the budget with an electric vehicle than I ever would with a gas vehicle. I had to realistically answer, can I make the trip with one charge or will I need two or worse three and if so, as much of the drive is through desert, will there be enough charging stations. Or will my enjoyable drive be bograted with thoughts of how many miles do we have, where is the next charger station, will it be compatible with the Kia EV6, what do I do if I lose electric power at night, in the desert, how long will it take for help to arrive, will I need to pack more water and survival gear. With a gas vehicle I would've easily thrown in the cost of gas and not worried one bit. I know this because as an Arizonan of 20 years, I have taken a random spontaneous trip to Vegas in a gas vehicle and none of those thoughts were concerns, none of those concerns prevented the trip. With an EV though, I added too much to the budget, had too many unknown variables so declined the trip.

At times I would find myself wanting to go shoot at sunset or travel to the lake to photograph wild horses and time and again opted out because of the anxiety behind EV driving. It really took the fun out of driving and added more stresses.

Other Costs Unique to EVs

Although there is no oil changes, there is always going to be maintenance and with an EV, I found out that the repair costs are far heavier on EV owners. Like with the example above where the battery holds less charge. I met other EV owners who went to the dealership and voiced their complaints and when they did they were met with insane diagnostic costs or cost to replace the battery. They try and say they will most likely cover a battery malfunction, etc. but in reality these dealerships deny responsibility and try and sell you a new battery system for $8,000-$20,000. One gentleman I knew with a Tesla said he would leave his Tesla on the charger 24 hrs and it still wouldn't hold over 20% charge. When he took it in, they quoted him $18,000 in repairs. We all like to think we're the exception to the rules but what if on this, you're not?

At the same time as you have insane repair bills, you also have to worry about new taxes being imposed by the government such as mileage tax for EV owners. Another cost and burden on the EV owner never advertised or communicated prior to getting you in that EV that'll survive less than 15 years.

EV's are more expensive to finance by roughly $5 - $10,000. While they claim high tax incentives, dealer incentives, etc. These can be undone and disappear at any moment sticking consumers with higher costs and unpredictable markets.

When we buy a vehicle, we think; after I pay this off and I take good care of it I still have an asset I can sell. Well since EVs take such hard depreciation hits as soon as they leave the lot and high repair bills on the road, there is virtually little to no secondhand market for EV vehicles; something rental companies found out the hard way. After they bought billions worth of EVs with artificial demand Hertz tried to silently unload their EV Fleets only to find there was no demand from the secondhand market, handing them yet another giant loss.

Electronic Leash and Added Safety Concerns

With a lack of readily available charging stations, without the same benefits of gas stations, with the unreliable mileage; an electric vehicle felt like giving up freedom and hooking yourself up-to an electronic leash. Unlike with gas vehicles, there is no gas can equivalent for electric vehicles. Nothing you can throw in your trunk like a gas can that gives you the confidence you won't need to call for help. You can't wander and explore and know you're going to be self-reliant and able to pack in and pack out.

Furthermore, you have a giant liability with lithium batteries which burn at extreme temperatures reaching 5,000°F compared to the traditional gas-powered car which burns at 1,500°F. This means it'll be on your mind with every dirt road (if you're smart) and you won't want to risk off roading even a curb. These fires are also no joke, an EV on fire requires around 20,000 gallons of water to cool the battery pack down below its ignition threshold. A gas-powered vehicle takes 10x less water to extinguish, about 2,000 gallons of water versus 20,000. As a father, looking at a vehicle that burns almost 5 times hotter and needs 10 times the water to extinguish is what it sounds like, an added risk to my precious family, especially with the flush handlebars that may not be easy to grasp or open in an emergency.

All these negatives mean only one thing, if you don't need a vehicle, get an EV. If you plan on staying in the City and never wondering off the paved pathway then an EV is for you. If you don't care about added safety risks, less freedom, same fluctuating costs to charge the car as a gas car has but with the added monthly memberships and without a single benefit of a gas station, such-as a bathroom, or spot to grab a drink and a snack, then get an EV. If you're at an age where you don't care about whether the car runs in 15 years, is easily maintained, or worth a damn in the secondhand market, get an EV. If you don't care you need to pay hundreds more to install a charger at home or need to sit around in a random parking lot late at night or early mornings then get an EV.