America was promised a glorious electric future.
What we got instead is a scavenger hunt for a working plug behind a Waffle House.
Tens of thousands of public charging stations now dot the interstate map, and every press release acts like we've solved range anxiety forever.
Then you actually drive somewhere and discover half the stalls are "temporarily unavailable," which is corporate speak for "someone ripped the cable off in 2023 and we never ordered a new one." Here's the part nobody mentions at the dealership.
They're a patchwork of competing apps, each demanding its own account, its own wallet setup, and its own baffling loyalty program.
You will download four apps on a single road trip.
You will create passwords you'll never use again.
One of them will ask for your mother's maiden name to unlock a 62-kilowatt trickle.
A charger rated for 350 kilowatts can deliver that glorious speed for roughly ninety seconds before tapering off like a runner who lied on their marathon application.
Meanwhile, the Electrify America station in the back of a Walmart parking lot is quietly holding a funeral for its own touchscreen.
There is a QR code, and the QR code leads to a 404.
Tesla's Supercharger network remains the gold standard, which is awkward for everyone who spent a decade insisting it wasn't.
Now that other brands are getting access to those stalls, the vibe at a Supercharger has shifted from "elite club" to "airport outlet mall on Black Friday." Nobody is mad about it, exactly.
It's just that the one network that worked is now the network that's full.
Then there's the etiquette layer, which is where civilization quietly collapses.
People park at a charger and vanish into a Cracker Barrel for an hour.
People unplug you at 80 percent because they're "in a hurry." People treat a charging stall like a reserved parking spot because it's close to the entrance.
We built an entire energy infrastructure and forgot to build the social contract that goes with it.
The good news is that it's getting better, just slower than the marketing suggested.
Federal money is finally flowing into actual hardware instead of PowerPoint decks.
Some of the newer networks are genuinely pleasant, with canopies, working screens, and trash cans that aren't overflowing with someone's cold brew.
But if you're buying an EV this year and planning a big road trip, budget an extra hour per long haul and a generous supply of patience.
Check PlugShare before you commit to a stop.
And maybe don't roll into a remote station at 4 percent with your whole family watching.
It's a home renovation where the contractor keeps promising the outlets will work "by next week." The wiring is mostly there.
We're just all standing in the kitchen waiting for somebody to flip the breaker.
The tech is genuinely good and getting better.
The infrastructure is the part that keeps tripping over its own extension cord.
Final Thoughts
Give it a couple more years, and the charging stop might stop feeling like a punishment.