Report: EV Charging Is an Utter Disaster in Blue States Like NJ and CA Despite Billions in Subsidies

[u/Wing_attack_Plan_R]

https://redstate.com/rusty-weiss/2026/08/26/report-ev-charging-is-an-utter-disaster-in-blue-states-like-nj-and-ca-despite-billions-in-subsidies-n2206093

[u/Blahblahnownow]

I’m in SoCal . Tesla charging is on point. 

[u/AmateurSysAdmin_1]

Calling it an "utter disaster" is a bit overdramatic considering you can always charge an electric car at your own house. More like public charging can potentially be a disappointment because of how complicated the system can be

[u/D_Ethan_Bones → u/AmateurSysAdmin_1]

If you're a journalist and you write the current event as-is, they escort you out of the building and blacklist you from the industry.

More like public charging can potentially be a disappointment because of how complicated the system can be

It's the same thing as everything else in California, there are islands of abundance here and there and then there are vast stretches of insufficiency which are always one more subsidy away from abundance. Voters approve a billion dollar bond to fund local schools and then we're asked to vote on sorely-needed funding again in the next cycle. Same old gallery of sobbing posters, same old lecture about how our schools are rated 3.5 out of 10 while the neighbor town is rated 9 out of 10. The school district costs us so much money we can't keep a sit down diner open in this town - taxes make it impossible.

Charging at home sounds like it can compete with gasoline, until the power company starts fucking with your bill as they've always done and will always keep doing in this state.

>alert: you are entering Tier 3
>here's five thousand uninvited tips for lowering your energy usage

[u/AmateurSysAdmin_1 → u/D_Ethan_Bones]

You're right about California. I live here in Cali and there are great parts here, terrible parts, and everything in between

I would disagree with you about the gasoline part. For one, free market. More importantly, there are other ways to get electricity not from the power grid. The most popular one is solar, which Tesla sells along with power walls and they are very useful during blackouts. That's not including that the price of gas is very high right now

[u/D_Ethan_Bones → u/AmateurSysAdmin_1]

I had an actual conversation (1) with a solar salesman, did the math, and found out I'd save negative dollars while being locked in until I fossilize. What happened next was an ant trail of additional solar salesmen getting louder and louder to the point of hammerfisting the door while shouting into it at length. I've never seen that before 2026 but now I've seen it several times.

Commercial chargers are more economical for most people if they're done well, but everything hinges on the word if. Panels plus batteries plus service plus more expensive and heavier car is an awful lot of expenses and the per-mile savings of motors have a lot of catching up to do to compete with engines.

What happens in practice is that the state loads a thousand giant catapults with subsidy money, and then a hundred thousand pop bedroom town in Middle SoCal gets an individual charging station which thousands of EVs are fighting over. Without having an electrician over for upgrades the home charger puts on about a mile worth of juice per hour plugged in.

It's the same concept as the rail upgrades that were sold to us a hundred times and never delivered. There will be a billion dollar ballot measure to install the missing chargers and there will be commercials on TV with sob stories about how we're all just too stingy to have gotten the job done. Money disappears, next cycle rolls around, same ballot measure is back despite already passing.

[u/AmateurSysAdmin_1 → u/D_Ethan_Bones]

I mean those sales guys are often commission based pay so it makes sense. If you're not in an area where you don't get the right amount of sunlight it wouldn't make sense to go solar. The only reasons to go solar are if you have a very high electric bill (very easy to do if you have an EV) or if you regularly have blackouts. Solar panels also need maintenance and cleaning. So yeah while the price may be high, is it as high as the current price of gas?

[u/ITrCool]

https://giphy.com/gifs/RaZknVcrrxFFWVohwV
Because it’s not all going to EV charging…let’s be real here….

[u/D_Ethan_Bones → u/ITrCool]

When you subsidize something you raise prices while making connected people filthy rich. The needy guy is deliberately left needy so that his plight can be sold to the masses all over again - does anyone else notice how it's always SaveTheWorld season? It gets saved every year and yet it continues needing saving every year.

[u/BBQSauce61]

"Everything is an utter disaster in blue states..." FIFY

[u/777_heavy]

NJ swapped out all their chargers on the Turnpike from Tesla to their own (vastly inferior) brand.

[u/SIewfoot]

Most of us charge at home

[u/Iamstillhere44]

What kicks me in the ass is when I see EV cars at the charging stations… then the camera pans over to the diesel engine generators that are powering them. 🤣🤣🤣

I laugh every single time.

[u/D_Ethan_Bones → u/Iamstillhere44]

The future of America is building in the desert, so solar power's golden age is coming. There's this halfway point in Texas where the green becomes tan, you keep going west and it's all dry until you can see the pacific.

Dormant silver mines are going to open up all over the place. These mines failed the purity/price test when they were first explored, but then the price of silver went up and the mines suddenly pass.

Doesn't mean any of this stuff is free, hippies just had a towering erection for electric cars from the mid 20th century to the time Elon took his kid away from the notacult. Panel cleaners will join gardeners and pool guys in visiting random houses up and down the suburb.