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Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

businessinsider.com

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Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#441

Post by pmontra »

mythhabit wrote: post #350
pmontra wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is concerned about the range of a gas car because we can fill their tank in five minutes and there are gas stations everywhere. The only times I've been concerned about the range of a gas car was when crossing Australia east to west on the Great Central Road on a Toyota Landcruiser. There was a gas station every 400 km and I couldn't skip one because the car couldn't do 800 km. Yet, we could refill in 5 minute…

In that case, I'd strongly advise anyone doing the same, to have enough fuel to cover 800km and some. If that means you have to lug 80L in jerry cans, so be it, because in such situations you cannot assume that those gas stations even have fuel, or it could be closed for the weekend. It would seriously suck to be stuck there for a few days because you do not have more fuel.

You are right. I'd advise myself to do that now. That journey happened 20 years ago so I don't remember the details. Maybe we did have some cans or maybe we were just fools used to the gas stations of Europe's highways.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#442

Post by burnished »

rappatic wrote: post #60

The article talks about range concerns as if they're simply incorrect or ill-founded: > Niedermeyer said that while an electric car can meet most people's driving needs, it struggles with edge cases like road trips because of the need to recharge. Since Americans have been promised a one-to-one substitute for their gas cars, this seems like a failure; an EV should be able to do everything a gas car can. This idea per…

I have driven from Seattle to Houston in an EV. On a couple odd trips it was more convenient than gas because everything is electrified and there are chargers that work off of 220v plugs.

But of course people feel concerned, they always do when they go from the familiar to the unfamiliar, or when they organize trips that make it difficult to get timely help.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#443

Post by scarlehoff »

lukas099 wrote: post #78
rappatic wrote: post #60

The article talks about range concerns as if they're simply incorrect or ill-founded: > Niedermeyer said that while an electric car can meet most people's driving needs, it struggles with edge cases like road trips because of the need to recharge. Since Americans have been promised a one-to-one substitute for their gas cars, this seems like a failure; an EV should be able to do everything a gas car can. This idea per…

People focus too much on edge cases when making life decisions, imo. > We need a dining room for when we have parties (has a party once every 2 years; room sits empty 99% of the time) > We need a guest bedroom (guests could stay at the hotel down the street) > I need a pickup truck (driver is an accountant who maybe picks up a couple bags of mulch from Lowes twice a year) I'm glad I live in a prosperous society where…

I guess this is a cultural dependent thing as well. In Mediterranean cultures I believe the preparation of the dinner (in a dinner party) would often be part of the social event.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#445

Post by thedays »

This HN headline is misleading.

The article makes it clear that sales of EVs in the US are still increasing but the rate of increase has slowed.

It says “…sales of EVs keep going up — a record 300,000 cars sold in the US in the third quarter of 2023 were electric — but the pace of adoption has markedly slowed”.

@dang - This headline should be changed to the article headline “What happened to EVs?”

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#447

Post by darkstar_16 »

I think this is a US only problem. People in the US probably take longer road trips than the rest of the world. When I take a Roadtrip, I need a 20 minute break every two hours anyway, and as far as I have seen that is enough for a charge for the next two hours. It's not perfect but I don't think it's as bad as the people in this thread are making it out be. I'm in Europe btw.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#448

Post by lukas099 »

mvdtnz wrote: post #161
lukas099 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People focus too much on edge cases when making life decisions, imo. > We need a dining room for when we have parties (has a party once every 2 years; room sits empty 99% of the time) > We need a guest bedroom (guests could stay at the hotel down the street) > I need a pickup truck (driver is an accountant who maybe picks up a couple bags of mulch from Lowes twice a year) I'm glad I live in a prosperous society where…

The edge cases are the important cases though. Those parties I throw are the highlight of my year. My parents staying here with me is important to me, I wouldn't have it any other way. Yeah I have a desk job but that landscaping work I do in my weekend is one of my favourite hobbies. I refuse to live my life as if these things aren't important to me. I refuse to average my entire life style down to my median day. My…

Let's say you're into fly fishing, so instead of a dining room you have a room for making lures, which you do every day. You can still have those parties and utilize that room; in fact, that room will look a lot more interesting, have more to talk about, probably be cozier because it actually gets used so its layout will have been refined through real-world testing. And you can still fold out a dining room table if you really need to.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#449

Post by eemil »

screye wrote: post #242
rappatic wrote: post #60

The article talks about range concerns as if they're simply incorrect or ill-founded: > Niedermeyer said that while an electric car can meet most people's driving needs, it struggles with edge cases like road trips because of the need to recharge. Since Americans have been promised a one-to-one substitute for their gas cars, this seems like a failure; an EV should be able to do everything a gas car can. This idea per…

I disagree. The sustainable alternative to EVs is hybrids, not gas guzzlers. Hybrids can be smaller, cheaper, lighter and gentler on the grid. Each of these matter. Heavier cars cause significantly higher road wear [1], particulate pollution [2] and occupy more space. EVs by necessity, are heavier. This is especially evident in America's favorite product categories : SUVs and Trucks. The Ford- F150 lightning is 1.5x…

I doubt there is any sustainable alterntive to a privately owned two-ton vehicle that is also a privately owned two-ton vehicle. They're all just incredibly inefficient, and pollute in their own way.

> Hybrids can be smaller, cheaper, lighter and gentler on the grid. Each of these matter.

EVs do not affect the grid as much as you would think, and might even benefit the grid once vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-home technology (+corresponding economic incentives) becomes more common. Think about it: right now we have enormous amounts of battery storage, sitting idle most of the time, that has already been paid for.

Most people do not charge their EV from empty to full every day, most people aren't using DC fast charging and not during peak hours. Most days the average EV owner probably drives 30 km and charges that amount at home, overnight.

There are probably millions of electric ovens/stovetops in any given country. If they were all turned on at the same time, it would definitely overload the electrical grid. But this doesn't happen, because of their sheer number. We can safely assume each oven will use a fraction of its rated power on average, possibly with a small peak when the average person gets off work.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#450

Post by elif »

Hugsun wrote: post #277
elif wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After taking an EV on a ~6500 mile road trip a couple months ago, I never want to road trip in a gas car ever again. Highlights: - by the 2.5-3.5 hour mark between charges, I'm ready for a 25-35 min break and its somewhere nice and not a gas station - stop anywhere and sleep with air conditioning for free - never have to use gas station bathroom - never have to calculate any routes or fuel stops - also no gas cars dr…

Which bathrooms were you using instead? How much charge do you get on these breaks? I assume they aren't charging stations.

They are all charging and bathroom stops. On the Tesla charging network, you are stopping at: malls, hotels, target, grocery stores, or occasionally restaurants. In the absolute worst case they are at a place like buc-ees or those highway access 'travel hubs' with a food court in the middle of the highway.

I've only had one stop ever where the bathroom was a hassle, it was a 'locked for paying customers', at a mall Starbucks in Arizona.

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