‘Where’s the free gas pumps?’: EV driver complains about free charging stations. It backfires
Amid a global push for sustainability and cleaner air, electric cars have taken over the market. No longer is it just the Californians or Prius-owning hippies at the farmers market who have taken a stance.
Rather, large car manufacturers, such as Nissan, Ford, Honda, and even Bentley have even dabbled in the EV (electric vehicle) industry. And as a result, it's predicted that EVs (electric vehicles) could make up to 70% of the cars on U.S. roads by 2050.
So in preparation for this national turn-over, large cities have begun preparing their roadways for these silent environmentally conscious cars through installing public charging stations. Atlanta, for example, has already installed over 1,665 free public charging ports within a 15-kilometer radius of the city to get ready for the influx.
Yet, of course, such large change is bound to come with some technical difficulties. This is exactly what TikToker Lisa (@carbonizedhorse) experienced.
With a goal of “sharing [her] journey as an electric car owner,” Lisa uses her platform to do exactly that. And in a video posted recently, Lisa gained more than 16,200 likes and 707,900 views after explaining Atlanta’s newest error. Unfortunately for Lisa, after posting the viral TikTok, she was not met with the most understanding audience.
“The City of Atlanta has spent all this money putting free chargers around the city,” Lisa informs her audience.
“[I was] so excited to use them,” she continues.
Then as she gets out of her driver's seat, Lisa walks toward her charging port, making sure to open it and point it out.
“I’m parked right by a free charger, guess what the city of Atlanta did,” Lisa asks.
She brings her phone close to her face.
“They repaved the street,” she says.
Lisa then begins to walk across the street, across the newly paved bike lane, to the charging station. According to the video, the city of Atlanta allegedly forgot about charging port accessibility, and blocked these entirely by a series of new bike lanes.
Standing on the other side of the street, Lisa grabs the charging cable.
“Now nobody has access to these chargers,” Lisa says. “What the heck.”
Holding the cable, Lisa points it toward her car, roughly 15 feet away and jokes:
“Uh it’s not gonna reach,” Lisa concludes.
Quickly, viewers flooded to the comment section to leave a series of comments that Lisa may not have entirely been expecting. From statements about taxpayer money and the unfairness of “free” charging stations in comparison to gas rates, it was clear that her video did not reach her target audience.
@carbonizedhorse I guess bike lanes are more important than car charging - we need both Atl ???? ???? ⚡️#ford #Mustang #machE #car #carsoftiktok #EV #Electric #charger #free #Blocked #Fail ♬ Wah Wah Wah Wah - Off The Menu
“So just because you spend 60K on a car means you get free energy for it [?],” One commenter asked.
And with the average price of the electric vehicle running at about $53,758 in the United States, this commenter wasn’t wrong. However in 2023, the average sales price for a new car was $47,331, which could still be considered a lofty price.
Just last month, culture writer Braden Bjella covered how one Tesla-driver invested in a “Karen lock,” to stop people from unplugging the car. A seemingly common occurrence for electric car drivers.
Of course this, alongside the ill-commentary received by Lisa may stem from just a dislike for these drivers, but rather for the EV industry as a whole. Many find that the hassle of charging EVs ruins the appeal, and the high-costs simply add to the disenchantment.
So while EV sales are only expected to rise, we have yet to see how people, and cities, such as Atlanta, intend to keep up.
The Daily Dot reached out to Lisa (@carbonizedhorse) for comment via TikTok Direct Message.
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