Short answer: real far, when it comes to electric vehicle charging sites…Last summer my family took a trip to Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville Tennessee. As a two electric car family, I popped up the Recargo App on the iPhone to check out near by charging stations. Here is what I saw, (notice most sites actually had TWO CHARGING STATIONS) and all this within 10 miles:
Pigeon Forge Charging Sites Screen 2
Pigeon Forge Charging Sites Screen 1
Next, lets compare those screens to a map of Salisbury, North Carolina, aka an “EV Desert” with ONE charging station total:
A North Carolina EV Desert Map, Salisbury NC
You be the judge. There really is NO COMPARISON. But, it actually gets worse. The one charging station for 20 miles in any direction is actually in a clean-up area at a dealership, so it is very difficult to even get to the station.
So, while the North Carolina EV desert suffers from the 13th worst air quality in the entire USA, all efforts to get any businesses to roll out a charging station have failed — even with the free ChargePoint Jumpstart Program last year. We sure did try — talking to numerous businesses and organizations. The program actually furnished a free station and an installation subsidy — not a single taker. Way to go North Carolina. Oh, I forgot to mention, NC is going to tax folks extra for driving an EV.