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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

#161

Post by gambiting »

aphextron wrote: post #119
Eric_WVGG wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "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.

It's really not a big deal. Chargers are everywhere in urban areas. I've lived with an EV for two years now with just street parking.

Maybe everywhere in urban areas in certain US cities. I live in a mid-size EU city(<500k people) and there's just few charging points around me, which are pretty much permanent occupied.

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

#162

Post by stephengillie »

Zanni wrote: post #134
Eric_WVGG wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "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.

Range will solve this issue. For 18 months I charged my Tesla at Whole Foods, Target, etc, at a paltry 20mph charge rate. When my commute was 40+ miles round trip, that meant I had to charge a couple of times a week for multiple hours. Very frustrating. But when I got my weekly miles under my max range (180 miles) and started using a near-ish high-speed charger, I'd just catch a movie once a week, and my car would be…

My Camry Hybrid can have 500+ miles of range recharged in a few minutes. That's the "killer app" that electric has to beat, one way or another. Spending multiple hours recharging is like driving 30mph on the freeway.

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

#163

Post by gambiting »

billfruit wrote: post #158
stellar678 wrote: post #35

They neglected a huge part of the coming electric vehicle picture: lightweight, slow-speed electric vehicles. Almost 60% of US car trips are 5 miles or shorter. (2017 ref: https://nhts.ornl.gov/tables09/ae/work/Job63697.html , 2009 ref: https://nhts.ornl.gov/tables09/fatcat/2009/vt_TRPMILES.html ) Scooters, e-bikes, and electric cargo bikes (not to mention the human-powered versions!) will soak up an enormous portion…

It seems wasteful to use cars for short travel, esp for a single person or two persons. In third world people would use the motorcycle for such short travel, even if they had a car. And you can buy motor cycles that can go nearly 100kms on a litre of petrol.

The reason why it's not more popular in the 1st world countries is that a motorcycle/moped is yet another vehicle that you need to tax and pay insurance on, while you are already paying not a small amount of money for a perfectly usable car - why double your expenses? Not to mention that in a lot of climates riding a bike/moped is a really bad idea in winter without significant skill and gear.

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

#164

Post by lostapathy »

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.

where are you located that household 3 phase is available? Lots of hobby machinists would kill for that but it just isn’t available most places.

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

#165

Post by rgbrenner »

gambiting wrote: post #160
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.

So my local council doesn't even have the money to stay on top of fixing potholes and uneven streets , but will somehow find the money and will to put electric charging points everywhere? Yeah, I don't see that happening.

they put in parking meters to collect money. Are you sure they wouldn't put in charging meters with the equivalent price of gas? That's worth maybe 15k mi/yr / 30mpg * $3 = $1500/yr for the average user (assuming they use it regularly.. which apartment users would). That seems like a pretty decent incentive.

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

#166

Post by martythemaniak »

falcolas wrote: post #107
telchar wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're underestimating the Tesla supercharger network. It basically solves both of those problems (if you have a Tesla) and live in the vicinity of one - if you don't live near one then it still solves the second issue. The infrastructure is expanding rapidly, so your "unless" is a fairly safe bet.

What do you do if you don’t have a Tesla? They’re not exactly a mass produced value car. And that’s what you need for real penetration to the car market.

Well, all the other manufacturers are trying to match what Tesla has (and is still working on). Tesla's also going to bring a value-ish car in a couple of years.

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

#167

Post by [deleted] »

mabbo wrote: post #84
Eric_WVGG wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "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.

> I still can't fathom how electric cars are going to make more than a dent in NYC where most cars are stored streetside Consumer/taxpayer demand for a solution, like most problems in a capitalist democracy. I imagine streets where every nth parking spot has something that looks like a beefy parking meter, but will allow thick-ish extension cords to run from a car to it. Turn it on with an RFID tied to which house yo…

[deleted]

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

#168

Post by bobsil1 »

falcolas wrote: post #107
telchar wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're underestimating the Tesla supercharger network. It basically solves both of those problems (if you have a Tesla) and live in the vicinity of one - if you don't live near one then it still solves the second issue. The infrastructure is expanding rapidly, so your "unless" is a fairly safe bet.

What do you do if you don’t have a Tesla? They’re not exactly a mass produced value car. And that’s what you need for real penetration to the car market.

$35K Model 3 out early next year, the average selling price of a US car.

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

#169

Post by greglindahl »

stephengillie wrote: post #162
Zanni wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Range will solve this issue. For 18 months I charged my Tesla at Whole Foods, Target, etc, at a paltry 20mph charge rate. When my commute was 40+ miles round trip, that meant I had to charge a couple of times a week for multiple hours. Very frustrating. But when I got my weekly miles under my max range (180 miles) and started using a near-ish high-speed charger, I'd just catch a movie once a week, and my car would be…

My Camry Hybrid can have 500+ miles of range recharged in a few minutes. That's the "killer app" that electric has to beat, one way or another. Spending multiple hours recharging is like driving 30mph on the freeway.

And yet hybrid sales are low, despite your enthusiasm.

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

#170

Post by [deleted] »

stephengillie wrote: post #162
Zanni wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Range will solve this issue. For 18 months I charged my Tesla at Whole Foods, Target, etc, at a paltry 20mph charge rate. When my commute was 40+ miles round trip, that meant I had to charge a couple of times a week for multiple hours. Very frustrating. But when I got my weekly miles under my max range (180 miles) and started using a near-ish high-speed charger, I'd just catch a movie once a week, and my car would be…

My Camry Hybrid can have 500+ miles of range recharged in a few minutes. That's the "killer app" that electric has to beat, one way or another. Spending multiple hours recharging is like driving 30mph on the freeway.

[deleted]
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