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Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly

bloomberg.com

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Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly

#141

Post by jblow »

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #104
jblow wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Household wiring will anyway not have enough current capacity to support charging citation needed

Perhaps he's referring to the recommendations that Tesla has: " We recommend installing the Wall Connector with a power output to match the on-board charger of the vehicle, typically a 40, 60 or 90 amp circuit breaker. " https://www.tesla.com/support/home-charging-installation#wal... For comparison, the average home circuit is rated for 15 amps.

Last I checked, most homes in the USA had 220v 30A dryer outlets.

Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly

#142

Post by jblow »

rlkf wrote: post #72
jblow wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Household wiring will anyway not have enough current capacity to support charging citation needed

No need, because it is simply untrue: Electric vehicles can charge on anything from 1-ph 8A 240V, to 3-ph 32A 400V, all of which can easily be provided by common urban household wiring.

Not sure who is downvoting you. I charged my Tesla Roadster on 120v 15A for like 6 years.

Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly

#143

Post by taneq »

perl4ever wrote: post #127
astura wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no physical reason why there can't be municipal on street charging, even if it's "pay to charge." Think like parking meters. There just needs to be a demand for the initial infrastructure to be built.

I think there is a "physical" reason, or to be exact, a concrete logical reason why it will be difficult. We have X number of gas pumps. If it takes Y times the amount of time to charge a car as pumping fuel, then we need X*Y chargers for everyone to go electric. It's not just a matter of what's convenient, but of multiplying the infrastructure.

Yes, but the power grid is already in place (although it'll probably need upgrading, piecemeal, to handle the additional load). You couldn't run a gas pipeline to every kerbside parking spot but you could put a paid charge point there and it would pay for itself in no time.

Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly

#144

Post by theluketaylor »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #74
zizee wrote: post #45

I think that electric car adoption is going to have similar characteristics to digital cameras. I remember playing with an early digital camera and seeing a poor replacement for film, but with obvious benefits. Back then it was common to hear "serious" photographers pooh-poohing digital, and how it's many drawbacks would mean it would remain niche, and never replace film. It didn't take long and digial cameras improv…

> "I live in an apartment, I can't charge one, on the street" I agree with pretty much everything you said, but I still can't fathom how electric cars are going to make more than a dent in NYC where most cars are stored streetside.

Conveniently cities have already done a huge amount of the legwork for enabling charging at street parking thanks to street lights. It will be expensive no doubt, but so was converting gas street lights to light bulbs.

Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly

#145

Post by greglindahl »

syntaxing wrote: post #116
greglindahl wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah. That kind of fake "reply" really wrecks conversation -- you left me wondering if you had misunderstood, when instead you were just grinding your axe.

Huh, not sure how and what I am grinding my axe for? I was genuinely curious if there is a federal incentives provided that I don't know about which is very possible. For instance, for the 3D printing industry there are specific grants (free money essentially) to help small companies federally and state wide. Not sure why you find my intent replusive or with a hidden purpose.

As I said before, I don't have any information about new federal incentives -- I have owned an EV for 5.5 years and know about state and local incentives for everything you brought up... which is why I said "parts of the US".

Meanwhile, you made it clear in the other thread that you're mainly interested in federal incentives, which is what I was referring to as your axe. Nothing repulsive, just something unlikely to generate good conversation with people who have nothing to say about federal incentives.

Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly

#146

Post by api »

jblow wrote: post #142
rlkf wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No need, because it is simply untrue: Electric vehicles can charge on anything from 1-ph 8A 240V, to 3-ph 32A 400V, all of which can easily be provided by common urban household wiring.

Not sure who is downvoting you. I charged my Tesla Roadster on 120v 15A for like 6 years.

Apparently motels are having to crack down on "extension cording" now. Park near your room, crack a window, free fill up...

Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly

#147

Post by ioquatix »

mikekchar wrote: post #28
kasey_junk wrote: post #23

My big issue is that in the places that electric cars make the most sense (cities) it’s hardest to own them. What am I going to do, run a really long extension cord from my condo to the random parking spot I found around the block?

Interestingly, I went to a Nissan dealer in Japan (where I live) to ask the exact same question. They have a deal where you can spend the equivalent of about $30 per month and you can go to the dealer to charge your car (unlimited charging). It takes about half an hour and they have a waiting room with free coffee and a TV. Although I'm worried that they don't have anywhere near the capacity to handle the volume if i…

I walked past one of these in Japan and it even had a really nice kids play area, a cot/baby sleeping area, a TV area with consoles, etc!

Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly

#148

Post by drawkbox »

village-idiot wrote: post #114

All major changes are always far off in the future until they suddenly aren't. It's kind of amazing how often we keep being surprised by this.

Yeah wireless internet and mobile devices were talked about for a long time, then suddenly wifi/wireless networks and mobile devices appeared quickly and took over in a flash. Same with flat panel screens/tvs etc.

At some point a killer implementation of the technology and costs come together making new innovation possible and market ready, and it is such a benefit that going back is nearly impossible or at least more problematic and costly.

Even now, wired internet will go the way of the phone line when 5G or beyond are here, ISPs milking it until then.

With cars, electric will take over quickly when costs come down, non electric cars will be around for a long time but they will be more and more costly.

The change also creates such a growth market that it attracts tons of money/investment/marketing and it is a mad dash to get everyone using the new innovation, once it is business and market ready.

Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly

#149

Post by kasey_junk »

ioquatix wrote: post #147
mikekchar wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly, I went to a Nissan dealer in Japan (where I live) to ask the exact same question. They have a deal where you can spend the equivalent of about $30 per month and you can go to the dealer to charge your car (unlimited charging). It takes about half an hour and they have a waiting room with free coffee and a TV. Although I'm worried that they don't have anywhere near the capacity to handle the volume if i…

I walked past one of these in Japan and it even had a really nice kids play area, a cot/baby sleeping area, a TV area with consoles, etc!

How excited would you be to see those at a gas station? It implies a wait time I’d be concerned about.

Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly

#150

Post by MBCook »

stellar678 wrote: post #102
azeotropic wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America is not the Bay Area. Those short trips are across town to pick up the kids at school or take them to sports or go grocery shopping or other errands. In the snow. Uphill. Both ways. Nobody is going to use a scooter or an e-bike for that. If someone made an electric minivan, sure, that might soak up most of those trips, but for some reason nobody makes one.

Well, if you say so. Clearly your opinion about people's travel has a lot more validity than the research conducted by the American (err, United States) Federal Highway Administration.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a 5 mile trip.

What if three of that’s on the highway? Is that little electric scooter going to do 70 safely with all the SUVs around weaving in and out? Without me getting squashed?

And when it’s snowing heavily? And maybe there’s already a foot on the ground, plus a whole bunch of ice? You think a lot of people are going to want to do their 5 miles then?

Being on a motorcycle is pretty dangerous because cars don’t watch out for you. Being on a bicycle is far worse. Being on a little electric scooter on “real“ roads sounds like a death trap (again, saying nothing of large roads/highways).

Don’t say scooter lanes. That doesn’t seem to protect bicyclists.

Yes, all this can change. But right now it’s a BIG issue for small transportation replacing cars.

I’ve seen one or two people in the suburbs around me using tiny segues or high quality hoverboards. I just can’t see that catching on for any realistically sized group of the population the way everything works right now.

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