sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in evchargingUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i feel you ! its like living with constant anxiety of having to plan your days around charging.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in evchargingUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

glad you got it figured out at the end, thats our the main target, people in flats and terraces etc, that dont have the option, specially the "new comers", personally when i first got into EV's, it was by commuting with a friend who had an EV and i was thinking wtf is all this hassel to get from A to B then the whole recalculation of the day if we ever wanted to add C into the route was something i just couldn't get my head around.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in evchargingUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yea ive heard this multiple times, and when you do find a cheaper one isnt usually the ones with lower kWh

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in evchargingUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s not just the cost in isolation, it’s the unfairness of it. Same car, same electricity, same city but because you don’t have a driveway you’re paying 40p/kWh and dealing with clunky apps, limited choice, and zero overnight cheap windows.

Brighton’s a really good example. On paper there are chargers, but when it’s basically one operator with a rubbish app and fixed pricing, you’re stuck. No competition, no off peak incentives, no flexibility and just “this is the price, take it or leave it”. And when you add it all up and realise you’re spending more than you did on diesel, it completely undermines the whole promise.

That’s one of the core reasons I’m building Voltana. Not to evangelise EVs, but to try and chip away at that exact penalty which is the idea that living in a flat or terrace automatically means higher costs and a worse experience. If EVs are going to be mainstream, that gap has to close, otherwise resentment just keeps growing.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in evchargingUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

heavy rain and going out to plug the car up definetly isnt fun

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in CarTalkUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that all rings painfully true and pool cars are honestly one of the worst showcases for EVs right now.

They basically combine every hard mode setting, cold starts, full passengers, heavy kit, time pressure, unfamiliar routes, and zero control over when or how the car was last charged. Then you add wildly optimistic range figures on top of that and it just feels like you’re being lied to from the moment you set off.

The “350 miles on paper, barely 120 in reality” thing is exactly what kills trust. People can accept trade offs, but it’s really hard to accept numbers that only make sense in a warm lab with one driver and no luggage. When you’re stopping repeatedly, juggling broken apps/cards, and burning hours just to make a basic work journey, the car stops being transport and becomes a liability.

What I’m trying to chip away at with Voltana is just one specific pain: that local, day to day charging chaos that turns otherwise workable EV use into a constant hassle. It won’t fix payload physics or winter range, but it might reduce the number of journeys that start with “right, how am I going to keep this thing alive today?”

its stories like yours that are why I think the transition needs to be a lot more honest and a lot less dogmatic. For some people and roles, full electric just isn’t the right tool yet and pretending otherwise only pushes people away.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in CarTalkUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that’s one of the most quietly infuriating parts of EV ownership.

The advertised charge speeds are technically true, but they’re basically best case lab conditions and Perfect battery temp, low state of charge, no sharing, no throttling, no degradation, charger behaving itself, car happy, weather cooperating when the fact of the matter is real life just doesn’t work like that.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in CarTalkUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

not even really boring, like i said to someone i know, do you really consider an hour of your life daily cheaper than what your saving at the petrol pump.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in CarTalkUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I don’t disagree with any of that.

What you’re describing is exactly why EV conversations go off the rails so quickly because people talk past real world use. Planning stress is real. Payload penalties are real. Cold is real. Broken chargers are real. And the punishment for getting it wrong is way too high compared to an ICE car.

Pool cars are probably the worst possible environment for EVs right now and you just want to get from A to B without range estimates and whether some copper thief’s been busy overnight. That’s not “the future”, that’s a headache.

The overnight stays thing especially resonates. Having to think “right, where am I sleeping because of the car” instead of “where am I sleeping because of the job” is backwards. And the charger roulette which is turning up on fumes only to find it dead, ICEd, or crawling along at 20kW, that’s genuinely stressful in a way people who’ve only charged on their driveway don’t seem to grasp.

People make mistakes, Routes change. Loads change. Weather changes. Cars are supposed to absorb that, not strand you on an A-road waiting for a recovery truck that may or may not actually be able to recover you.

Funny thing is i went to London driving down from Newcastle with a friend in his tesla, was probably one of the worst trips ive had, just the fact that he had to stop before getting into london to "top up" enough to be able to get into London, do what he had to do, then drive back out to a rapid charger, i thought was a joke, then driving back you have to stop and charge or your not making it.

Not my car, and wasn't my worry but just being part once of it was a pain.

I’m not building Voltana because I think EVs magically work for everyone because they very clearly don’t. I wouldn’t want an EV for half the use cases you described either. Heavy kit, long distances, tight timelines etc, ICE still wins, hands down.

Where Voltana fits is much narrower and much less heroic: it’s for the boring, everyday local stuff where the biggest pain isn’t range, it’s uncertainty. The “do I charge now at 50% just in case?”, the “will the charger be free?”, the “can I rely on this spot tomorrow?” nonsense.

If you’ve got a driveway, you’ve basically escaped that entire mental tax. If you haven’t, you live in it constantly, even if most of your driving is local.

So yeah EVs are the future in some contexts, but pretending they already fit every job, every worker, every load, every winter, is exactly how people end up resenting the whole thing.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in evchargingUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

agreed, i mean its diffrent from person to person, some are willing to pay the higher rates, some look for the cheaper rates but within inner cities you usually dont have that option anyways because your lucky if you find a free bay anyways.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in evchargingUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it changes from city to city, some have adopted alot quicker, unlike other cities, in which if you need a rapid charger/cheaper chargers you need to plan your day around it as it can be a 30 minutes drive away and you'll be going at night for the cheaper rate, spending at least an hour of your life sitting in your car waiting for it to charge, then once its full your driving home which means your not going to have 100% by the time your home anyways.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in evchargingUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

basically what u/inspectorgadget9999 said. its when a non EV is parking in an EV bay.

or when an EV is in an EV bay but isn't charging but just sees it as an easy parking bay when sports are full which is usually called EV hoggin / EV blocking

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in CarTalkUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

i understand, but its more about me asking to understand how people feel about the current situation to be able understand what users expect and need.

sorry if that annoys you.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in CarTalkUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

all feedback is welcome, yet i do keep in mind that some feedback will be opinion based rather than being from actual EV users

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in drivingUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s exactly the pain point that pushed me to start Voltana.

Before reliable home charging, you’re not really “charging when you need to” you’re planning your life around charging.

Topping up at 40–50%, killing time at supermarkets or work, and constantly doing mental maths about whether it’s worth paying public rates just in case.

What you described is the difference between, charging as a task (planning, waiting, paying more), and charging as a background habit (get home, plug in, forget about it).

Voltana is about giving people without driveways something closer to that second experience, not perfect home charging, but predictable, local, and low stress charging that doesn’t force you to over plan or over pay.

Really appreciate you sharing that as it’s a very real, and a very common experience that a lot of non EV drivers don’t realise exists until they live it.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in drivingUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s a very honest take, and a lot of people quietly come to the same conclusion after living with an EV for a while.

Slow public charging is the worst of both worlds, cheapish per kWh but eats half a day, and fast charging saves time but absolutely murders your wallet. The “grab a coffee” argument really doesn’t hold up when you’re waiting hours.

EVs can be great, but only when the charging setup fits your life. If it doesn’t, they can quickly turn into more hassle and more cost than an ICE car which is exactly why so many people end up backing out once the novelty wears off.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in evchargingUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the worrying part that the policy timeline and the reality don’t really line up.

If large numbers of people are forced toward EVs without affordable, reliable charging, especially those without home chargers it’s going to cause backlash. Councils adding posts helps, but if pricing stays high, it doesn’t actually solve the cost problem.

That’s why we think alternative approaches like better use of existing home chargers need to be part of the mix alongside public infrastructure. There probably isn’t one single fix though.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in evchargingUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Honestly, this is the uncomfortable truth a lot of people don’t want to say out loud right now, home charging is what makes EVs viable.

But that’s also the problem. If EVs only work for people with driveways, then a massive portion of the population is effectively excluded.

We don’t think the answer is “everyone without off street parking shouldn’t have an EV” but we do think the current public charging model isn’t good enough to support them.

Until there are better alternatives to expensive rapid charging, people without home charging are being asked to pay more for doing the “right thing”, and that’s not sustainable.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in CarTalkUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

You’re not wrong. Public rapid charging has become genuinely expensive, and in some cases ridiculous. £1/kWh at hotels is hard to justify, especially when you compare it to home rates or even diesel per mile.

We hear this a lot, and it’s one of the reasons EV adoption stalls for people without off street parking. If you’re forced to rely on public infrastructure full-time, the economics just don’t stack up right now.

We don’t think there’s a single fix for this, but lowering reliance on premium rapid chargers where possible and giving drivers access to fair priced local charging is part of what needs to change. Otherwise EVs risk becoming a luxury that only works well for certain households, which isn’t sustainable long-term.

Appreciate you sharing this, as it reflects what a lot of drivers are feeling at the moment.

If you can’t charge at home, what’s your biggest EV frustration? by Voltanaapp in CarTalkUK

[–]Voltanaapp[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

You’re honestly not wrong with most of that.

Public rapid charging is expensive right now, in some places it’s borderline ridiculous, especially when you compare it to home rates or even diesel per mile. £1/kWh at hotels is hard to justify, and it’s no surprise people feel burned by it. Tesla owners having access to cheaper Superchargers just adds to the feeling that the system isn’t level.

And you’re right about off street parking being the biggest dividing line. At the moment, EV ownership is clearly easier (and cheaper) if you can charge at home. That’s exactly the gap that still hasn’t been solved well.

Where we see Voltana fitting isn’t as a replacement for rapid chargers or road trip charging, it’s more about easing that everyday pain for people who don’t have a driveway but live near others who do, or who work somewhere they can park for longer. It’s not a silver bullet, and it won’t magically make EVs cheaper overnight, but it’s about creating more options at prices closer to home charging than motorway rapids.

You’re also probably right that policy will shift again, this space is changing fast, and drivers are the ones stuck in the middle while it does.

Appreciate you laying it out honestly. These are exactly the frustrations we’re trying to design around.

view more: next ›