Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

theglobeandmail.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 545 posts

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#271

Post by wffurr »

flyingfences wrote: post #197
kennywinker wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ebike/scoot to transit hub, trains to commercial areas. It’s not rocket science.

Bikes and scooters are great (provided there are safe riding lanes and trails) until there's any weather. If I have to show up at work looking presentable then biking through a downpour simply isn't an option. If there's any sort of snow or ice on the ground then biking simply isn't an option.

It's not hard to wear rain gear or budget some time to clean up once you arrive at your destination. Any sort of plan to encourage active commutes should also include facilities in workplaces for this sort of thing.

Snow and ice: not as big a problem as you think. Cities and towns can plow and salt bike paths even easier than they do streets. You can also put studded tires on bicycles if you're in a particularly snowy area. See Oulu, Finland or Winnipeg, Canada for cities with plenty of winter cyclists: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/feb/12/ice-cycles-no...

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#272

Post by Eric_WVGG »

vonmoltke wrote: post #224
Eric_WVGG wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

8.6 million New Yorkers humbly disagree.

Staten Island and the western halves of Queens and Brooklyn are not what I would call "high density". I don't think the northern part of the Bronx would count, either.

Well that’s true… but for the purposes of this discussion, I think any residence that doesn’t have a garage qualifies.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#273

Post by ChuckMcM »

Sadly, if you started putting outlets on the side of street poles in the Bay Area you would attract camper vans rather than EVs. (cue the story of the guy who drove to LA using RV parks to recharge)

Its an interesting question though, EV parking lots would seem to make a lot of sense. And certainly it would seem that HOAs for apartments and condos could benefit from them if they charged a bit for the power.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#274

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

Reason077 wrote: post #83
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it feasible to put in hundreds of high voltage chargers?

Perhaps not today, because there aren't enough cars to use them - demand needs to catch up. But yes, it's feasible to fill entire parking lots with outlets at every parking spot. There are already examples of this in Norway. The outlets can be built to share and distribute available power, so the grid connection required is not as huge as you might think. In practice this isn't an issue, as it's unlikely that every o…

It's 1.4 kW / Tesla charging at 120 V [1]. That's basically one 15 Amp breaker per charging station. A 30 Amp breaker buys you two cars at once. That's a lot of circuits to run out to the parking lot.

https://www.pluglesspower.com/learn/tesla-model-s-charging-h...

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#275

Post by wffurr »

dannyking wrote: post #253
flyingfences wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bikes and scooters are great (provided there are safe riding lanes and trails) until there's any weather. If I have to show up at work looking presentable then biking through a downpour simply isn't an option. If there's any sort of snow or ice on the ground then biking simply isn't an option.

Yes. You also need to factor in things like having young kids. Before I had them taking an ebike to a train would make perfect sense. Now though, without a car it would be incredibly difficult to get them to daycare and make it to work on time without waking up before Dawn.

You can't put the kids on the ebike to daycare? Seems like that would be faster and easier than dealing with a car.

Just wait until you start in on the total mess that is school drop-off when every parent decides they have to drive their kid to school. Much faster to breeze past the stopped traffic on a bicycle, unstrap the kids and send them on their way, and bike to the train.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#276

Post by wffurr »

dtwest wrote: post #138
wffurr wrote: post #127

Yet another reason the real answer to the climate crisis isn't EVs - it's public transit, bicycles, e-bikes, scooters, e-scooters, walking, etc. All these other modes are much lower impact on the environment than purchasing and operating an EV, much less an ICE.

That doesn't work in many low density areas (prime example is American suburbia). So your answer for those people is to make them move to a more dense area that can support such solutions. Which isn't a bad idea, but it's a much harder thing to accomplish.

Or build out infrastructure in those areas too. In suburbs, there's plenty of room for separate bike paths and trains. It doesn't require everyone to move into Soviet-style superblocks and towers.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#277

Post by scarejunba »

secabeen wrote: post #254
pjc50 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personal contribution to the environment?

That's a big one for me. It's the largest thing you can probably do to reduce global warming, personally. EVs are also faster to accelerate, and more fun to drive.

Well, not the largest. I'm doing something better. I offset all my carbon and drive an ICE SUV. I'm actually carbon-negative every year.

I do contribute sulphur oxides and all that stuff, but global warming is driven less by those.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#278

Post by neogodless »

zip1234 wrote: post #238
kelnos wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think your point hits to the heart of it for many people's situations. You can fit car-charging into your routine if you make some very specific changes to your routine to accommodate it, and you must make possibly several hours of time for those changes every X days, or else you'll have a car with a flat battery and no quick fix that will let you complete your regular car-requiring errands. If that errand is "go g…

What if workplaces add chargers as a benefit? I've seen several do it near me. People then just plug their car in at work.

> Any solution that requires a certain behavior is unnecessarily coupling that behavior to transferring energy into transportation.

Remember when we coupled health insurance to employment? (Also, what if I want to retire next month, but I still drive an EV? Now I'm stuck spending hours of my retirement waiting for my car to charge somewhere? First world problem, I know...)

These ideas are OK for a few people. But then wealthy people with wealthy employers are perhaps less likely to be "garage orphans" to begin with.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#280

Post by makz »

thehappypm wrote: post #221
makz wrote: post #153

I thought it was illegal to own a car without having a parking spot. I don’t know really, can someone clarify?

It is not illegal to own a car without a parking spot. Where did you even hear that?

Plenty of places, but maybe I misunderstood it. I thought it was illegal at least in the United States and Japan. I don’t know for sure, I don’t live in either country.
Post reply on HN