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daydreamgoddess14 · 10 months

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Rebecca Welton's F*** You, Ted Tour

MASTERLIST

I have literally no idea where this came from. It stated out as a lighthearted homage to Hannah Waddingham's fantastic social life but it grew just a little bit bigger and a bit more angsty! Ahh well there's a happy ending at least!

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Rebecca Welton and friends having fun in the VIP area at Glastonbury watching Elton John.

Cowboy boots. She was wearing fucking Cowboy boots and shorts. With glittery face paint across her cheekbone and Keeley Jones under her arm. She looked free, unburdened, wild. Ted felt all of his blood rush south. Fortunately he was in his car. And alone.

A week later, another sighting.

Rebecca Welton attends the Men's European Under-21 Championship Final at the Adjarabet Arena, Georgia. Ms Welton saw the England team beat Spain and is no doubt looking at potential players to join AFC Richmond.

Seeing her at a football match, Higgins by her side was like being at home again. He pushed the thought away.

Another week later, a veritable flurry of sightings.

Saturday: Rebecca Welton attends Wimbledon with friends. She's pictured here with the AFC Richmond Captain, Isaac McAdoo and his sister.

God, that white sundress was something else. He scrolled through picture after picture of her laughing and pulling faces until his vision swam and he couldn't see any more.

Sunday: Rebecca Welton attends the British Formula 1 Grand Prix at Silverstone with her Goddaughter.

Formula 1? Formula fucking 1? He had no idea that she was even a fan of the sport until she was interviewed on the track and he had to hear her voice, hear her laugh. And goddammit if she didn't suddenly spill stats from her gorgeous mouth.

"Are you having fun Ms Welton?"

"I am. Looking forward to a fantastic race and hopefully a British winner on the podium."

"And are you ready for the new season in a couple of weeks? When do you plan to announce the new gaffer?"

"Ready and raring to go. New manager will be announced next week."

She was then pictured giving Pep Guardiola a warm hug and the pair posed for a photograph together. She knew exactly what she was doing.

Sunday: Rebecca Welton attends Bruce Springsteen at BST Hyde Park with AFC Richmond Coach, Roy Kent and Head of KBPR, Keeley Jones.

How the heck did she go from Formula 1 to Bruce Springsteen in the space of an afternoon?! She was with Keeley again, and Roy. The women pictured with hands in the air, dancing wildly and singing along. One of his biggest regrets was not asking her to dance more.

Apart from anything else, she must be exhausted. He hadn't really noticed her in the media much when he’d lived in the UK, but now, she seemed to be everywhere. Every weekend a different sporting event or gig. In light of his departure, Ted had taken it upon himself to avoid contact as much as possible. To put up the fences around his heart - he learned it from the best. But here she was, week in and week out making it impossible.

She was on the 'Rebecca Welton Fuck You, Ted Tour'.

He could have made life easier on himself, sure. Turned off the Google alerts for her name (former married name, and maiden name). Maybe uninstalled Instagram. But that all seemed a bit extreme. He could do this. He could go cold turkey. He definitely, absolutely did not need to look at every single notification. And the phantom notifications as well when he was so sure he'd heard his phone ping (it hadn't). He'd then have to check the volume was up on his phone - wouldn't want to miss a call or message from Henry (he never did). The worst bit was that Henry was seeing the same posts and articles.

“Dad! Are you kidding me - we could have seen Elton John?!”

“Dad, dad, dad! She went to a FINAL and the England team WON and we could have been there!”

“Fast. Cars. Dad. I could have had such a badass summer, instead I’m still in boring Kansas!” Ted had explained his reasoning for coming home to both Henry and Michelle but both seemed so… disappointed in him. Certainly more disappointed than Dottie had been during her visit - and that was really saying something.

“We were just so excited for a really fun summer, Ted. That’s all. I’d booked an AirB&B between Richmond and the city, Henry and I were picking out shows to go and watch. I’d signed up for pre-release Wimbledon tickets - turns out I didn’t need to, I could have just asked Rebecca! We had so much planned.”

“Oh.”

“Oh? Oh, you move over 4000 miles back to the US without consulting me and all I get is ‘oh’?”

“I didn’t realise I had to consult my ex wife in order to move closer to my son.”

“You know that’s not what I mean. Don’t twist my words because you’re angry with yourself for leaving and angry with Rebecca for daring to live her life.” He looked up, shocked. “I’ve seen her out and about the last few weeks - having fun. Bit of a contrast to when I last spoke to her, when I could barely understand what she was saying she was crying so hard.”

“I’m sorry, what? When did you speak to her?”

“I shouldn’t have-”

“Michelle, when?” He stressed.

“You were on the flight back here. She said she was at the airport and she wanted to apologise to me. She said she’d tried so hard to make things work for you in both countries. She asked me to look out for you once you got back. Wanted me to really make sure that you’d be ok. She was worried about you, she was… heartbroken, Ted. Utterly heartbroken.” Ted managed to find a kitchen chair before his legs gave out. “You foolish man. Did you really not have a clue?” He shook his head. “And now you’re torturing yourself every time she’s photographed leaving the house.”

“I had no idea she’d called you.”

“She didn’t want you to know. She just wanted to be certain that you’d have someone here to check in on you. I guess she knew you’d struggle with being away from the club. She clearly knows you better than you know yourself.” He gave an empty laugh. “But she’s not ok, Ted.”

“She looks it, she looks incre-. Never mind, she looks fine.”

“You were right the first time, she does look incredible. She’s also still heartbroken. Look at the pictures of her, Ted. Really look at her. That smile never reaches her eyes, she’s hanging by a thread.” She patted him on the shoulder and left him alone. He reached for his phone and scrolled back through. Michelle was right, he really concentrated, noted the tension in her shoulders, the dullness in her eyes, the automated smiles, and made a decision.

“Chelle, I need to-”

“Yes you do, Ted. You need to get on that 'Fuck You, Ted Tour' before the tickets sell out.” He looked incredulous. “What? That’s what she’s doing! Hoping that keeping busy and mentally saying ‘fuck you’ to you will heal her. Now pull yourself together and book a damn flight.”

“What about Henry, what about you?”

“We’re fine, we’ll figure it out. I’ll book something to join you next week and we’ll work it out once your brain is not completely at capacity.”

“My mom?”

“Should never have made you feel the way she did. The only person who can confirm what kind of dad you are, is Henry and guess what? He loves you, he’s happy and he wants you to be happy. That’s all there is, your mom’s opinion on this counts for nothing.”

He was at the airport before Henry was out of school.

From his flight, he arranged a place to stay and let Beard know of his impromptu visit. It took what felt like forever for a reply to come through. Eventually, he responded with a to the point: The boss is at a Bon Voyage party this afternoon for the Lionesses before they travel to Australia for the World Cup. It’s being held at the Sky Gardens. Keeley has called them up and added you to the guest list. Helpfully, Beard had also included a link with the location. Ted hadn’t specified a return date, and Beard didn’t ask. He stared at the invite email, which had just landed in his inbox. Go get her. The follow-up message arrived, interrupting his pensive freaking-out. He landed at Heathrow in jeans and a button-down shirt. Hardly the right attire for a red carpet event for women’s football. He sent a vaguely panicked message to the Diamond Dogs message thread and received a reply from Trent: It’s not about the clothes, it’s about the man. Stop stalling and go. So he did. Straight onto the train, straight into the city and then, following the directions on his phone to the looming skyscraper, which appeared to lean down to look at him. With the Sky Garden closed for the event, there was no queue, so he made his way to the front desk and handed them his phone with the invite on screen. They cross checked his information with their list and he was directed to the elevators with an “I’m sorry sir, the event has already started but you’re welcome to go straight up to join the attendees.”

The view was spectacular. Not the view across the Thames of the Shard, though that was impressive. The view of the who’s who of women’s football. England Lionesses milled around talking to club owners, managers and other players. Sponsors and executives filled the gaps and servers held trays of champagne aloft. He could already see Rebecca through the crowd, he could always see her. She hadn’t seen him yet. He made his way through the sea of people until he was spotted by the person she was speaking with. He had no idea who they were, but they knew him.

“Coach Lasso! What a pleasant surprise!” Rebecca, who still had her back to him, spun around so fast that the heel of her shoe twisted underneath her, sending her slipping backwards. He dashed out an arm to catch her at the waist and used his other hand to pull her up to standing. He could feel her trembling in his hands, she let go as soon as she was upright and able to, her eyes not moving from him.

“Well, I just had to see off the Lionesses and wish them luck for the World Cup.”

“I’m so glad you came. Rebecca, we’ll catch up later.” The woman patted her arm gently and left them alone. As alone as they could be in a room of a couple of hundred people. Rebecca grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and chugged it.

“Crushed it, boss.” He murmured just loud enough for her to hear.

“What. The fuck. Are you doing here?” She hissed. He hesitated.

“I’m not entirely sure. Can we go somewhere? Can we talk?”

“You can talk here. I’m busy.”

“I noticed. You’ve had a stacked out few weeks. Tennis, Formula 1, gigs.”

“Keeping tabs on me? I had a husband who did that once upon a time.”

“I’m worried about you.”

“You don’t need to be. I’m on my 'Fuck You, Ted' pity party where I go around and live my life like you didn’t leave a big gaping fucking hole in it.”

“I’ve been refering to it as the 'Rebecca Welton Fuck You, Ted Tour'.” He shrugged, she stared. “I’m worried about you,” he repeated. “Your smile ain’t the same, you’re tense.”

“Fuck you, Ted. These things happen when the person you love decides to walk away without even trying. Without even considering other options."

"I didn't have another option."

"Yes, Ted, you did. But you were so hellbent on being right that you chose not to see it. So now you have to live with the consequence of being wrong and seeing the truth. It's the shitty equivalent of having your cake and eating it."

"God, I love it when you talk like this. You're incredible."

"Do you know what, Ted? I know I am. It's taken a lot for me to see it, and at first, you were the biggest help in doing that. Then you fucked off back to America and I had to start all over again. So again, for what feels like the millionth time, fuck you. I'm not going to let you switch me on and off like a sodding light bulb. Excuse me, I have people to speak to here." She brushed past him. He caught her hand just in time, but she tugged it away from him and stepped outside onto the large viewing platform. He watched as she shook her hands and body out, trying to loosen up and relax, but it wasn't long before she clutched her chest, panic creeping across her face. He was pushing through the doors before she'd even had a chance to turn towards the window to seek him out. He maneuvered them to a corner of the terrace. The terror in her eyes broke his heart. He took one of her hands and placed it on his chest and then did the same with his own hand. Her heart pounded against his palm.

"Breath like me, baby. Nice and slowly in…." her free hand fisted at his shirt, anchoring her to him, "and out, slowly now, baby, I got you. Slowly, Becca, sweetheart." It took a couple of cycles before she was breathing regularly enough to let go of him, and another couple before she was able to speak. "I'll get you some water." He whispered once he was sure she was OK to leave for a moment. He kissed her forehead and let her rest. When he returned, he had water in one hand and champagne in the other. "Pick your poison, sweetheart." She took and downed the water and then took the champagne. He accepted a couple of chairs from a porter and guided her into the seat.

"Thank you. I can usually… I can usually stop them in time. I was just so angry, I couldn't focus." He took her hand and looked out at the view. "Why are you here, Ted?" Her voice cracked.

"Because I love you. And I'm sorry I wasn't brave enough to tell you before I left. Thank you for being the brave one."

"Fuck you for leaving. And thank you for coming home." She smiled over the edge of her glass, her heart rate recovering.

"Will you call off the 'Fuck You, Ted tour'?" She leaned in towards him, her eyes flicking down to his lips.

"Depends, will you call off being an oblivious fool?"

"Think I can probably work on that, yeah," he chuckled before wrapping a gentle hand around the back of her neck and pulling her into a kiss.

Rebecca Welton and Ted Lasso enjoyed the view at the Sky Gardens today at a leaving party for the Lionesses before they travel to Australia for the World Cup.

"Mom, look!" Henry pushed the article into Michelle's hands.

"It's about time, huh buddy?" She smiled.

~~~~~~

#ted lasso #tedbecca #tedlassoedit #ted and rebecca #rebecca welton #ted lasso fanfiction #rebecca x ted #ted lasso fic

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sula0kim · 2 months

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um sula's info page!

I will give all the credit to @skenisasleb for most of the way how is made

P.s theres a lot of text so be warned! And most of it is spelled wrong SORRY English is not my first language :((

WOOO LETS GET STARTED YAYAYAY

INDUCTION

Sula Morioka is a Mexican-Japanese girl that when to the famous town of South Park around when she was 7 years of age, she if fairly normal but she’s really a suspicious individual not really trusting everyone who se meets one of those people can be listed but that a long list. anyways like any Asian girl in the South Park elementary she is really into the classic yaoi storyline as she soon explore about sexuality and some what, soon she realized that she’s a pansexual

friendships and some what.

she’s really good friend with Andy as one they’re both Mexicans and they can communicate in Spanish as well they have the love for Chikimon they vibe really good and as well Andy helped sula with the whole Lexi’s death

But for kin is another story as sula didn’t trusted kin at first but soon sula began to open up with kin interacting more with him and learning his backstory a bit more. And when they get older they become into a sibling dynamic as well with Andy. Most of the time the 3 hanging out with each other in a daily basis to try and help kin in a way

PLOT AND FAN EPISODE

“EVERYONE GETS DEPORTED”

so every single Mexican (people who are at least 50% or more Hispanic) get well you know deported and also in a way for the Hispanic to stay the have to pay their own ‘American’ fee (mostly it’s a lot of cash, so in a hurry Sula’s parents tells all of her and her siblings to somehow find and job and get the amount for said fee. Now for the episode sula goes and gets both Andy and her self a job in a old but popular dinner (sula get to become a waiter and Andy a cashier)

in a turn of events the USA government makes a tiny change that only the children what was born in the USA land shouldn’t play the fee

‘A CHIKIMON ADVENTURE’

Sula has always been a chikimon fan ever since she was really young and so when chikimon go came out she became obsessed with the game as she tried to get her favorite chikimon pikpik. But not just any pikpik but a shiny pinkpik with perfect stat and everything, as she tries to get the chikimon she one almost gets run over by a truck, two walks into a dog fight, three she somehow founded a company and at the end her phone gets really broken and just dies as well her account is lost when she finally get the chikimon.

‘MUSICAL PROBLEM’

(This is a short one bc it happened to me and it was my only idea)

in the last year of fourth grade all of the fourth graders are taken for them to either pick an instrument to play, and sula chooses to play the clarinet and she gets written up and so fifth grade shows up and sula goes to get her instrument and they get her a ‘violin’ so she’s a tad confused by how different the instrument, and one night she’s trying to practice and instrument talks, sula pissing her self up.

so without a thought she break that ‘violin’ up

EXTRAS

Yay furry sula! Yes she’s a furry and her fursona is a coyote.

This is like something for like when TSOT but in as sula likes to be different she becomes into like of a therian. Don’t have it fully clear but I will update it soon I hope :p

sulas first appearance 1,2,3

#south park #my art <3 #south park oc #south park mini comic #sp oc #south park sona?#my art #original character #character sheet #character design #character art #umm idk what else #Also kin’s is next #>:3

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onesettleronebullet · 10 days

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JOHANNESBURG - The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said that the coloured community continuously gets overlooked for government job opportunities.

The red berets hosted a town hall meeting in Eldorado Park on Wednesday.

The party has been campaigning in the area over the past few days, doing door-to-door visits, clean-up initiatives, and speaking to residents.

Data from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) shows that about 22% of coloured people in the country are unemployed, second to black people at 36%.

EFF leader Julius Malema said that an EFF government would ensure that all departments in Gauteng were reflective of all the racial groups in the country.

18/04/2024

#die nuus #south africa #ewn

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saltedslugspine · 7 months

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south park cry log for main four boys - cartman

aaaaaand as we all suspected, in first place is cartman.

why he's crying:

pinkeye: in front of kenny’s grave

chef aid: chef gets taken away AND there’s no more pecan pie

cartman’s silly hate crime 4000: wanting his mom in prison after romper stomper wouldn’t tell him how to break out

cartmanland: ended up losing his theme park

kenny dies: outside a dying kenny’s hospital door, on the stand trying to convince government to unban stem cell research (2x)

it’s christmas time in canada: turned away by the prime minister and he didn’t get any christmas presents

the death of eric cartman: thought he died (cried multiple times throughout episode, 3x?)

the return of chef: in the “flashback” not wanting chef to leave twice

imaginationland ii: trying to revive kyle

major boobage: emotional and taking in cats to hide in his attic

breast cancer show ever: annihilated by wendy in the fight

magaritaville: recounting a dream where a video game melted in his hands

pee: emotionally singing a song about minorities in water parks

201: learning he’s half ginger

poor and stupid: he can’t achieve his dream of being a nascar driver

it’s a jersey thing: kyle pushed him against a tree and threatened him

humancentipad: not allowed to get an ipad/in the hospital after being struck by lightning (2x)

1%: his stuffed animal, rumperstumpkin is killed

i should have never gone zip-lining: during the live action reenactment stranded on the boat

cartman finds love: nicole and tolkien broke up

let’s go, let’s gov: no one cares that he infiltrated the nsa

safe space: made fun of for weight

white people renovating houses: heidi is allegedly mentally abusive to him

doubling down: calling heidi apologizing, during montage at park and outside window, outside tolkien's house (4x in total)

no one got cereal: watching satan die

board girls: in office about how girls taking over everything

streaming wars part 1: begging his mom to get breast implants

dickinbaus: being forced to go back to his old house

total amount of crying: 35 times

as always, i am NOT counting fake or happy crying but if i missed anything, comment and i'll see if it fits the criteria! thanks for the love on this series!

#south park #south park fandom #stan marsh #kyle broflovski #kenny mccormick #south park funny #eric cartman #south park cartman #crying #crying stats #cry log #south park stats

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south-park-polls · 11 days

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South Park Song Tournament: Round 1 Stats

Biggest Sweep! (in terms of percentage)

Biggest Sweep! (in terms of votes)

Closest Tie! (in terms of percentage and votes)

Thats all! See you tomorrow for round 2 :)

#south park #south park songs #south park song tournament #my votes have of course been hidden to give an illusion of impartiality ;)

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spshipstats · 4 months

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what's the most popular jimmy ship?

“Most popular” is a bit of a subjective phrase, however by pretty much all accounts I feel confident in saying that it’s Jimmy x Timmy.

Jimmy Valmer x Timmy Burch

at 127 responses

61 people think it’s popular

44.09% of people ship it

13 people consider it an OTP of theirs

After that, it’s safe to say Jimmy x Leslie is #2 with 23 people believing it to be popular, 33.07% of people shipping it, and 4 people considering it to be an OTP of theirs. Third place is a little trickier, but I will say it’s a sort of tie between Kyle x Jimmy, Clyde x Jimmy, and Jimmy x Nathan (tie as in, depending on what stat you consider most important for “popular”, that changes which is #3).

#ship stats #south park #sp ships #sp #sp jimmy #jimmy valmer

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ponett · 1 year

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I've only been on newgrounds recently but it seems ok and I haven't seen people say anything bad about it, what's rancid there that I haven't seen yet? Also what is this new cohost site everyone is talking about? I can't tell if it's more like twitter or tumblr, or if it's gonna be like pillowfort where everyone forgets about it eventually

i am 28 years old and used to go on newgrounds every day in middle and high school and i have no desire to do so anymore. you're allowed to use it. many people do. i know the type of Big Name Internet Personality that comes from newgrounds, the kind of people who never quite outgrew their south park phase, and that's not the crowd i like to hang around. i also think that so many nsfw artists moving there after the tumblr porn ban is foolish when everyone knows the userbase of newgrounds is mostly teenage boys. and frankly, as an artist, i hate that it still runs on having people write 1- to 5-star reviews on your submissions. i do not need to see that one drawing of mine got 4.55 stars while another got 4.6. that is meaningless to me

cohost is being pitched as a place for twitter refugees to go right now because of the musk buyout and because most users heard about it via leftist twitter, but it isn't really designed to be a replacement for twitter. it was designed to be a "fourth website" - a low-pressure, slower-paced, more chill site with no algorithm and no ads that you can check from time to time on top of the sites you already use, with a layout inspired mainly by tumblr. it reinforces this vibe by hiding most stats from view. follower counts are hidden like on here, but so are note counts, with the only visible stat being the number of comments on a post so that you can tell if someone added a new one. you aren't encouraged to constantly refresh to watch the numbers go up, there are no trending topics, there's no endless scrolling, you can just post and share what you want to and check up on it at a couple times every day

the staff also understands how people actually use these sites in practice and how certain features shape user behavior, so it cuts down on features that end up being tools for harassment. there are no quote tweets, just tumblr-style reblog comments and replies. people can't @ you randomly to put unhinged shit in your notifications. people can't dig through your likes for dirt. the search feature only lets you search tags, not post body content, so there are no term searchers. there's currently no ask box or DMs. (i enjoy answering tumblr asks, but it'd be insane to deny how much they've been used for harassment throughout the history of this site)

i'm not the most active on there currently, but it's refreshing imo. it's small scale, but that's the point, and it's already developing a culture of its own. for example, they let you put custom css and scripting in your posts (within reason), so people do wacky stuff like making the text go diagonal or putting a playable game of minesweeper in the post. this has been described as a "cambrian explosion of posting" that imo helps elevate it beyond the many attempts at Tumblr 2.0

#anon #ask

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techmomma · 13 days

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you know, I got an electric car and forgot to put my thoughts about it down here! so you know what, I'm gonna do just that.

So for the record, I have a 2012 Nissan Leaf. this is like a first or second gen pure electric car, so keep that in mind. newer electric cars are gonna have way better stats than mine will. mostly. (looking at you, tesla)

so, overall?

I genuinely love it. It's like the best car experience I've ever had. runs great, nothing's wrong with the car itself.

and yet I may still need to trade it in for a different car. which makes me very sad.

the reason?

there's no infrastructure for it. "but steph," you say, "maybe there isn't now, but it's supposed to be coming over the course of the next ten years."

yeah I thought so too. and yet, in the past eight months since I got my car, there are fewer electric charging stations. not more. maybe it's just my area, the south puget sound.

I'm going to go into more about owning an electric car under the read more. it's not too complicated, but it's definitely different than an internal combustion car, so there's a lot to take in.

so the biggest thing about owning an electric car is money's no longer really any issue. I can charge an entire tank, which can get me to work and a little farther (my car is an OLD electric car, newer ones can go much farther) for like, $2.50 at a fast charging station. plug into the wall? $0. pennies. my work lets me plug into a wall outlet so I essentially spend a big fat $0 on travel to work.

that part's fucking awesome. genuinely don't mind the short range for me because of that.

the thing about electric cars is you are replacing money with time. charging. takes. time. the newest, fastest cars, in ideal weather and temperature, still take about 20-30 minutes to go from an empty tank to full.

There's different levels of charging. It's basically slow, fast, and fastest.

Depending on the outlet strength and your battery capacity and weather outside, slow charging ("trickle charging") will take between 6-20 hours. Costs the least, takes the most time, but obviously if you're parking it and letting it charge over night, not a problem.

Medium charging will take between 2 and 6 hours, again depending on outlet strength, battery capacity, and weather outside.

Fastest charging ("supercharging," whatever) will take 30 minutes to 2 hours. Fastest time, but costs the most.

But again that's like. $2.50. The most I've ever been charged for a full tank was like... $6? Because it was a $2.50 flat hookup fee, and then the total charging time cost about $3.50, so all together $6. Again, for a full tank, that can charge while I'm working and be ready to go by the time I need to go home.

Now the other thing to keep in mind is weather WILL affect how fast your car charges, AND how fast it drains the charge. the colder the weather, the slower it will charge, and the faster it will drain. and this isn't like a "so small you can barely notice it" amount, it NOTICEABLY affects my mileage. this last winter, once the temps get under 40 degrees, I can lose like a quarter of a tank, and took about 3 times as long to charge at even the fastest charging station. keep in mind that this may be because my car is 11 years old, but just like with any electronics, weather and temperature will affect your car.

and the more things you have running, such as say wipers, or heat to keep your ass from freezing, those will also drain the battery faster/

aka absolutely do not get an older electric car if you live in a place that routinely snows or gets around freezing. maybe a newer one, but not an older one.

here is the kicker though:

I really would not mind all of this. it's a little bit more extra effort, but for the reward? god yeah it's awesome. combined with an absolutely wonderful driving experience (zero noise, SO smooth, great handling), there'd be no reason that I'd be considering trading in.

HERE is why:

you cannot CHARGE at every charging station. you can only charge at charging stations that have your specific charging plug.

so sure, there could be twenty charging stations within a mile of you. but if none of them have the right plug, then all twenty of them are useless to you.

if you do not have a tesla, and all of the stations in your city are only tesla stations, then you have no charging stations.

now at first, it's easy to think "well I just need enough to get to my destination."

no, my friend. you need at least enough to get to your destination, and then get to a charging station. whether that's a wall outlet (you wanna wait there for 7-20 hours?) or a fast charging station.

because what happens if you run out of juice on the road? you can't walk to a gas station, buy a can of gas, and walk back to get yourself on the road again. there are portable chargers you can get to keep like an extra can of gas, but can you afford a $3300 portable charger?

did you also know that some electric cars cannot be put in Neutral if they have no charge at all? meaning that you have to have enough charge for the tow-truck ride to a charger, or else the they have to bring a special tow truck called a wrecker? which will cost more?

"but steph," you say, "some of them have solar panels! isn't that enough to recharge it?" yes, technically. my car has a solar panel. it would probably take about 24 hours to recharge it... about a 1/12 of the tank, so not really enough to even start my car again. it's enough to compensate for the ambient loss of charge while my car sits idle, but nothing else.

another thing to keep in mind with charging stations is most will have enough for about 4 cars to charge at the same time, max. in the entire puget sound, I have not seen a station that can charge more than 4, maybe 5 vehicles at once.

most of these, yes, do have two chargers! if a station has 4 charging... terminals, I guess you could call them, and they each have 2 plugs, then in theory, you should be able to charge 8 cars at once, right?

no, because at a vast majority of stations, you can only use one of those charging plugs at a time. if someone is using the other plug, you cannot charge your car at the same terminal, and have to find a different one.

so here comes the other infrastructure problem: a lot of the stations that have multiple kinds of charging plugs (remember how you have to find a station that has your kind of plug?) will share a terminal with another plug.

this wouldn't be a problem, except most of the time, it'll be a majority of one type of plug, and then like a single plug of a different kind.

so let's say you have a non-tesla. at this one station, there's 4 terminals. each has 2 plugs. 7 of those are tesla plugs, and 1 is a non-tesla, and that's the one you can use.

there's only 1 car, using 1 terminal. all the rest of the stations are free. they have a tesla, and they can use any station.

unfortunately, they got there when no one else was around, didn't think about it, and are using the stall that has the single plug you can use. despite them having a tesla and being able to use any of the stalls, they're using the one you need. maybe when they got there, all the rest were taken, who knows.

either way, you have to wait until they're done to charge your car.

remember back to the fact that it can take 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the temp?

you can ask them to please move.

assuming they're waiting in their car. most people, since it takes 30 minutes to 2 hours, will leave their car to go do some shopping or whatever. so if you didn't see them and have no idea what they look like, then good fucking luck trying to find them to ask them to move.

so now you have to wait for them to go back to their car once it's done charging. they're going to come back when it's done charging, right?

in theory, yes. most stations (most!) will accrue charges if your car is done and you're leaving it there still plugged in.

not everyone gives a damn about those charges though!

so say someone doesn't care, and leaves their car there for 6 hours. in the space that has a single charger that you can use. they're not even using their car, and you can't charge yours for 6 hours.

obviously, no one is going to wait six hours to START charging their car. so you go to find a different charging station.

I hope you can find another one within range, because you run out of charge.

yeaahhhh, remember the whole "there are now FEWER charging stations than there were when I first got my car"?

the piece de resistance?

not every charging station is in working order. sometimes they are broken or out of order when you get there.

there are apps to help you find ones that work, and work for your type of plug. one of the most popular is PlugShare. even with this, stations are not always updated, and sometimes stations just don't exist when there's supposed to be one. or it happens to be broken that day, and no one's been there that day to leave a comment that it's broken.

in addition, I have found stations that SAY they're superchargers, but in reality, they charge sometimes slower than a wall outlet. because the fun part is stations can say they charge UP TO so many kilowatts. but on average, it's only a fraction of that. so you're paying about $2.50 for what should be about $.30. ain't that fun and not at all sleazy and frustrating when you don't have enough charge to get to a different station, so you know you're going to be there for several hours when you thought you were only going to be there for a half-hour?

now, again, my car is 11 years old. the type of charging plug it has, ChadeMo, is being phased out. the newer charging plug types are CCS and tesla plugs. so that is absolutely a factor.

but I have also seen the same things being said with CCS and tesla plugs. fewer stations, even for the ones that work.

and... isn't that a problem too? if my type of plug can be phased out and become obsolete, then what will happen to the other plugs? who's to say that these newer plugs won't be phased out either?

there are... questionable adapters being made for charging plugs. it's not as easy as switching adapters for your computer though, and you're look at about $200 for an adapter, and for several thousand for a chademo adapter, which is still being tested.

You wanna carry around an adapter that you have to remember to take with you, every time your charge your car (and take it back with you, when you're done charging) that cost you a couple grand?

and so, to bring everything back around:

I love my car. best car experience I've ever had. it costs me so little to use my car, especially considering there's things I don't have to do anymore--like I don't have to worry about oil changes!

but because of mostly external factors? I am losing usability of my car. within an 8 month period, I went from like 5 or 6 stations I could charge my car at, to about... 2, within a 16 mile radius. 16 miles.

if there were just those 6 stations, like there were when I bought my car 8 months ago, this wouldn't really even be a problem. and I'm in a decent area for charging stations!

in the entirety of the Seattle area, there was a SINGLE charging station, that I could use. I had to leave the city before I could get to another one, miles outside of it.

my car is perfectly fine. it doesn't even have 100k miles on it yet, and could probably go another 100k before I have any problems. but I am, in all likelihood, probably going to have to find someplace to trade it in.

Because there's no infrastructure for it, and what infrastructure IS there seems to be getting actively worse.

So all in all, to finish things up.

How is driving an electric car? Is it worth it?

I love my car. Driving electric cars kicks ass. They're smooth and quiet and like, a dream for someone who likes quiet. When usable, they're cheap, you can do a lot with them, and newer electric cars will have much more range and versatility than mine!

But... does your area have the infrastructure for electric cars? Does it have the infrastructure for your car specifically?

And will it continue to have that infrastructure in the future?

And unfortunately, the only way you're going to know that is finding someone who's already been driving electric in your area, and has been driving a car similar to the one you want.

there's no real way, currently, to predict how feasible it will be for you without first or second-hand experience. you cannot predict it on paper. so unless you've got money to blow, it's going to be a very risky investment. but I suspect if you're reading this, you're not going to be one of those people who has money to blow.

for now? if you're really adamant on electric, go with a hybrid for now. I absolutely do not think, certainly for my area (which is pretty urban and honestly pretty great for electric cars. yeah, all things considered) the infrastructure is there for it. And if you don't live in a major urban area, you almost DEFINITELY do not have the infrastructure for purely electric vehicle.

I really hope all of this has been helpful for you! Feel free to ask questions, I am more than happy to offer my opinion!

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