SAN DIEGO — With gas prices being so high, you may have noticed more electric cars on the road. Many people are looking into them, hoping to save money. But what if you live in an apartment or a place without a garage to charge one.
CBS 8's Neda Iranpour shows us what she does.
Neda got an electric vehicle long before gas prices turned historic but she don’t have a garage or a 220 volt charger. So she shows you how she gets enough electric power.
“We’re going to start our 5-day Tesla ride along with me charging ahead of a road trip. We’re actually going to Palm Springs,” Neda says.
She plugs in to a supercharging station on Balboa Ave and in about 45 minutes she got 267 miles worth of electricity and paid $27. She was able to go shopping at the nearby stores during that time.
Neda and her husband were then ready to head to Palm Springs but first they checked the tires. “Another part of things would be properly inflated tires can provide the best efficiency so making sure everything is at its full PSI first,” she explains.
They made it with 78 miles left on the charge.
They enjoyed a night celebrating our accomplished colleagues at the NATAS Emmy Awards ceremony.
Then it was back on the road first thing in the morning. The car shows all the supercharging stations and there was one close by in Morongo.
They were down to 25 miles left on the charge so they powered up to 253 miles in about 45 minutes and it costs $27 again.
It’s now Monday and Neda is back to work. Neda went back to the Balboa Ave supercharger station to start her week with a full charge.
She paid $15 and got 257 miles of charge.
By Wednesday, the car was a bit low again. “Here I am, back at the Balboa supercharging station. This time it cost me $15,” she says.
In all, over five days, Neda drove a total of 427 miles and supercharged her car 4 times with a final cost of $85.
Neda says she knows the way she charges is not ideal, adding that she wishes she could get a slow charge at work or at home but she doesn’t have that option so she ends up supercharging often which might affect the life of the battery but about 2 years of having her car and there are no signs of that happening.
Neda also uses the Chargepoint and Blink apps to find other non-supercharging stations wherever she is. Car owners can use those to get a slow charge while spending a few hours somewhere.
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