IS Charging The Problem With Electric Cars?

One of the largest private companies that provided and managed chargers for electric cars went bankrupt.  This follows a string of smaller bankruptcies in the electric charging business.  So the question is simply; "Is charging the problem with electric cars?".

If the answer were simple, we would either stop buying electric cars realizing they are silly or we would all buy electric cars because they are a good deal.  Clearly the answer isn't easy, at least not for the Average Joe car buyer out there.  If you are rich, live in California and have $80,000 or so laying around, then the Tesla is a great looking viable alternative car.

If the Tesla is so great why doesn't everyone have one?  Well in simple economics, like buying a house, $80,000 isn't just lying around everyones house.  Also Tesla took a page from the Apple playbook and is controlling it's own charging network.  My Chevy Volt can't charge at any of the Tesla Supercharger stations throughout California.  Instead I add gas at the Chevron across the street and run my generator.

As far as other pure electrics such as the Nissan Leaf, they are utility limited by their range.  If you can't find a changer or don't have the time, charging isn't practical.  Networks like Blink set up chargers all over the country making it a bit easier to find a charger.  The problem was the economics.  Blink charged by the hour and rounded up.  They also kept charging after your car was topped off just because you were still plugged in.

Economically, Blink made it less expensive for me to run my generator on Gasoline.  As far as other electric cars, running around at an equivalent of 22 mpg makes no sense in a world of 40+ and now 50 MPG hybrids does it?  When an electric car commands a premium of $3,000 to $10,000 over simlarly equipped gas and diesel cars, it really doesn't make economic sence.

The Car Charger Group that bought the assets of Blink has a long way to go to profitablity.  For now I would say that charging is the problem for electric cars.  When you make charging economically viable, then the range becomes less of a problem and the cars sell better.

The big question is, can they do it?