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I’m ready to trade in my electric car

latimes.com

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Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#11

Post by barbazoo »

OnionBlender wrote: post #10
MilnerRoute wrote: post #4

Specifically, the author's worried there aren't enough charging stations to travel all around the state of California. I know there's efforts to build more charging stations, so that may improve somewhat. But my question is how do you charge an electric car if you live in a small apartment building? If we're all going to drive electric cars in the future, we're going to need viable ways for everybody to charge them.

My apartment building has charging parking spots but they cost an additional $50 per month, which is more than the money I would save on gas.

I'd probably still do it. It's not just about money and these cost will probably get cheaper in the future.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#12

Post by jaclaz »

obloid wrote: post #5

Once newer high density batteries make it into cars and we can get 500+ mile ranges I think it will help with a lot of these concerns. When your car's range is longer than most people are willing or able to drive in a single day then you can charge overnight at your destination without worrying about finding charging stations on the road.

But you still need finding charging stations at your destination.

This sounds a lot like an intentionally exagerated article, but the underlying issue might be real, if the (publicly available) charging stations do not increase in number according to the increase of number of EV's circulating there will be problems.

On the other hand if many more charging stations are created than what is needed, there might be a waste of resources.

I don't think that is an easy task to "balance" (at a state/country level) the amount of infrastructures as a function of EV's increasing adoption and - besides the numbers - deciding where exactly they are to be placed is another non trivial problem, there is the concrete risk of having many little used or unused charging stations while having queues in many others.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#13

Post by RajT88 »

_xerces_ wrote: post #7

She's not blowing past any muscle cars in her Kia Nero EV with a 0-60 of 6.5-7 seconds. I guess everyone in an EV assumes their vehicle is superfast?

She may have never driven a properly quick car. I would say, most people have not driven cars which can do a sub-7 time off the line.

My hatchback does 0-60 in about 7ish seconds, and that's pretty fun to do. I'm not likely to win too many drag races, though.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#14

Post by jwr »

Zanni wrote: post #9

Or ... trade it in for a better EV (i.e. a Tesla). The Supercharger network is much denser and more reliable than the patchwork of non-Tesla chargers. My anecdotal experience matches the author's of roughly a quarter of all public (non-Tesla) charging stations simply not working.

If you live in the US, that is.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#15

Post by jmclnx »

This is the chicken and egg issue. No one will build and/or maintain chargers unless there are lots of EVs. No one will buy EVs unless charging stations are easy to find/use.

I do not know why the US Gov did not choose to subsidize existing Gas Stations to build these. Instead they are putting these in places that are close to impossible to find.

I have said this before, until charging is as convenient and fast as getting gas, EVs will only be niche.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#16

Post by jwr »

_xerces_ wrote: post #7

She's not blowing past any muscle cars in her Kia Nero EV with a 0-60 of 6.5-7 seconds. I guess everyone in an EV assumes their vehicle is superfast?

Well, there is also the instant response to the gas pedal. A gasoline-powered engine, especially with a turbocharger, takes a while to respond, and the gearbox might need to switch gears. That could be up to 2 seconds until you start accelerating, and another 2 seconds until you reach top power output. In an EV, you press the pedal and everything happens instantly. Instant torque. All this makes a big difference in practical driving.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#17

Post by cinntaile »

barbazoo wrote: post #11
OnionBlender wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My apartment building has charging parking spots but they cost an additional $50 per month, which is more than the money I would save on gas.

I'd probably still do it. It's not just about money and these cost will probably get cheaper in the future.

For most people it is just about the money.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#18

Post by shireboy »

This to me is still the weak link. It’s not just chargers, it’s 30+ minute charge time. As great as electric is, an extra hour in the car on a road-trip with 3 kids is a tough sell. More chargers would help but it’s really battery tech and charge times that need a few more innovations before I’d consider for a car I might take a road trip in.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#19

Post by cs702 »

At the moment, ONLY Tesla has decent supercharging (i.e., fast-charging) infrastructure in the US:

https://www.tesla.com/findus

I regularly go on ~300-mile drives that need only a single charging stop, lasting 15-20 minutes, on my Tesla EV. By the time I've gone to the bathroom and gotten a drink, the supercharger has added 100-150+ miles of range and the EV is ready to go. All the stalls always work.

No other EV brand offers a comparable fast-charging experience in the US.

For city driving, I charge at home for around 1/3 the cost per mile compared to filling a comparable ICE vehicle with a poisonous combustible liquid.

Re: I’m ready to trade in my electric car

#20

Post by ZeroGravitas »

America seems really bad at basic infrastructure things.

They're in some weird kind of panglossian mindset where, if it's not working in the USA then that proves that it is in fact literally impossible.

So rather than sort themselves out and install some more plugs, they just shrug and give up.

I imagine a Chinese General pointing to this article and saying "see, their army will topple like Russia's in Ukraine did, it's all bluster, as a failing nation they can't even install plugs"

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