Electric car drivers frustrated over lack of charging stations in Nevada

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Finding an electric vehicle station is not something you want to wing here in southern Nevada. For visitors and locals alike, a trip in an electric car has to be planned and outlined in advance. Some EV drivers tell FOX5 what we’re missing in the state.

”It’s kind of a hassle, there are some stations around town but most of them are down,” said Jesse Barker who’s lived in Las Vegas for two years. He says he makes frequent trips to California, “I have to stop every 150 miles to charge,” said Barker.

For him, the pros outweigh the cons.

“I don’t mind spending extra time on the road if I’m going to save 600 bucks on a road trip for an hour to an hour and a half, I’m fine with the wait if they want to dart there and come back, I could see it being an inconvenience,” he said.

Electric charging stations are few and far between in Nevada.

“We came from Phoenix two days ago, we stopped in Kingman which is pretty much the only stop down from Phoenix to Vegas,” Caroline Clay.

“Sometimes the lines are difficult sometimes people aren’t so nice when vehicles are fully charged,” said Clay.

Tourists say that’s the theme they’ve noticed.

“When I went to my first electrical charging station, nothing was working and people were waiting, calling to see what happened,” said Stanley.

From San Francisco, Stanley says it’s been a pain trying to find one that works.

“Luckily I got this one out of the four and that one’s not working either,” said Stanley.

In 2015, the Nevada Electric Highway was born, making dozens of charging stations along U.S. 95.

Terry from Surprise, Arizona says he loves traveling to Vegas in his EV despite the stop in Kingman.

“I used to have a high-speed Camaro in my younger days and I sold it went to this electric car,” said Terry.

For him, it’s just a little bit of work but it’s all worth it.

“It’s softer and easier to drive the only difficulty is learning how to use these charging stations, you just have to be patient we’re in a learning curve,” he said.

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