We were looking forward to our trip to Boston last month to visit our son, Will and his wife Allison.

Over the years, our routine has evolved from us renting a car to Will renting one and picking us up. He needs to rent because they actually haven’t owned a car for several years now. They walk, use public transportation and employ rideshare apps as needed. They also escape the hassles of parking in Boston’s snowy winters. Heck, even every day parking!

Anyway, after we landed, we met up with him and made our way to the parking terminal. It surprised me to see a cable connector attached to the car; it was charging! For the first time, Will was trying an EV (electric vehicle run solely on electricity). The brand name was Polestar, owned by Volvo. He had been curious about electric cars (plus, he couldn’t ignore the $100.00 price drop for choosing electric.) It wasn’t fully charged when he got it, but he could now see that it was at 77%.

With no experience in the EV world, we were looking forward to seeing what it was like.

It hummed quietly on the highway that evening and the next day as we drove about an hour north to a local restaurant. Set amongst the marshes and known for its fresh seafood, their fresh fried clams and other delicacies proved delicious. On our way home, Will decided he would charge the car up the following day.

As we made our plans that day, he has an app which shows him not only where there are charging stations, but whether they are in use. Cool. Once he located an area with a station, we selected a nearby restaurant for lunch.

We arrived, and he saw a spot open, so he pulled up. He recognized it was not the preferred fast-charging option, but a slower-charging model, which would take hours. He hooked it up, anyway, hoping for a booster charge.

As we ate, Will had two false alarms which took him outside to move his car over to a fast-charger. The first time, the connector didn’t work so he returned to the slow model, and the second time, someone beat him there.

When we finally piled back into the car, the slow-running charger informed us that the car had only charged up 20 miles at a cost of $2.00. Since an electric vehicle can typically go between 110 up to 300 miles on a single charge, we needed a Plan B. Or, maybe a Plan EV.

We assured Will that we were happy to go to wherever he needed to charge. It was feeling like a quest. There was a mall about 20 minutes away which had what we were looking for. We were off.

I need to note that during our travels, we passed almost a dozen empty Tesla charging stations. Why were they empty when there was clearly a demand? Because their design doesn’t work on Polestars or any other non-Tesla vehicle.

When we arrived at the mall, all the spots were taken (no surprise!), but Will wasn’t going anywhere this time. It didn’t take long for a car to pull away, so we pulled in. Then, the unthinkable happened. The machine wasn’t working!

So, he approached the man in the next parking spot over. He asked if he would hand over his connector to us when he finished. That way, we wouldn’t need to move our car. Meanwhile, a Jeep came out of nowhere, slowing down to check availability.

A woman leaned out her window and asked, “Are these working? They’re not working at the other end of the mall” and we said “No, not this one and we’re waiting for that one”, so she and the driver whooshed away yelling:

“Welcome to the Hunger Games!!”

Oh my God, that was funny. My mind suddenly raced towards developing a reality television “game” show where contestants cross the United States driving EVs. The challenge would be finding stations that worked along the way. The contestant was “out” if the battery died.

Luckily, the man agreed to hand over the connector when he was done, so Allison and I went into the mall. Dennis and Will met us soon after while our car was charging. Mission accomplished. With a fast charger, he charged to 90% in less than 30 minutes.

But wow. It is crystal clear that the infrastructure for electric cars has a long drive ahead. There are way too few public charging units and too often they are broken. Tesla units abound, but they aren’t helpful to most people. I should also clarify that all the charging stations we saw for both Tesla and non-Tesla vehicles only offer maybe six connectors. (One unit has two charging connectors; one on each side.) It’s not like these stations have dozens of spots.

One option to relieve the usage pressure is to buy a personal charger. They cost $600.00-$1500.00 and are typically placed inside a garage. But what if you live in an apartment building? Or rent and the landlord doesn’t want a charger on the property? We calculated the cost of charging and it is about 45% less than the cost of gas. So, there are advantages. I learned later that public charging stations usually cost more than home charging.

According to USA Facts, “there are currently 100 charging stations per 1,000 electric vehicles. If all registered vehicles were EVs (which the federal government is pushing towards), that would shift to 0.5 charging stations per 1,000 vehicles. In addition, the US will need far more electric vehicle charger stations than gas stations because of the time it takes to charge an electric car.”

The industry has much to figure out. One promising solution is to buy a “hybrid.” This is an EV built to run on either electricity or gas. Hybrids don’t need charging! When the car uses gas, it is charging the battery. In fact, the design excludes plug-in capability. Basic models start at $39,000 with some tax incentives.

But wait! There are now plug-in hybrids!! Some people like the premise of a gas back-up only, especially because it offers peace of mind on longer road trips. But they prefer to charge daily for a cheaper and “cleaner” electric experience on their daily commutes. Hmm. With the lack of stations and functioning units within the station, and the time element included with charging; I wonder if it’s worth it. The starting price is just over $40,000, but they move up quickly from there.

Our trip proved to be an excellent way to experience EV “ownership.”  But I’m not sold. Yet, anyway. I simply can’t get past the inconvenience of charging when I can buy 15 gallons of gas in about three minutes and am ready to hit the road for 250 miles.

In the end, this may be a better option for a younger generation which grew up aware of the possibility of electric cars. As a Boomer, I like easy. If you’ll excuse me now, I have to yell at someone to get off of my lawn and then take a nap. This research was tiring.