I keep reading people write how easy it is to fill up with gas but it’s hard to charge your car if it’s electric.

I’ve never liked filling up with gas, a gas station has never been a fun place to visit. I’ve been charging in my garage for a couple years now and it’s so much better.

On my recent trip to the cottage in Prince Edward island. My first gas fill up experience was in Quebec just before 10:00 p.m. Our go to Petro Canada was completely shut down for construction despite Google saying it was open. I managed to rush over to a shell with 1 minute to spare.

The next day on my final fill up of the going East trip, I got the privilege of trying to use Petro Canada’s reward system on the pump. I’ve only gotten it to work maybe 20% the time and quite often I’m sitting there while it says processing and never completes. Luckily before I got too angry, the lady inside unlocked the pump so I could pump gas and then pay inside. Wasn’t easy, wasn’t convenient, I’ve never had a fast charger cause me that many issues.

On the way back to Ottawa, my first fill up was at a non busy Irving. It did go smoothly but I had to insert my card and enter my PIN (no tap). Tapping my charger card is easier than insert and pin. The second gas fill up was at the same Petro Canada where I couldn’t get my points to work. This time I gave up quickly and just tapped my credit card to continue without collecting points. The entire time we were filling, we got the privilege of listening to an obnoxiously loud semi idling away before he got back on the highway. Overall filling up with gas was significantly faster on the road trip vs charging but it wasn’t extra easy nor was it fun. I didn’t even have to wait for gas like people do at busier stations or Costco, that makes the experience much worse.

There aren’t enough Public Fast Chargers yet and you do need to make sure the charger you are going to is working. That will get better as they build more reliable and faster chargers. They also can take a while, especially if you have an older EV and an older fast charger. The Tesla road trip experience is much closer to combustion for speed and access. That should extend to other manufacturers new vehicles in the next year or two.

Regardless of what electric vehicle you own, regional / local driving and home charging is awesome. Way better than the gas station experience.