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Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
541–550 of 1001 posts
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#542For myself, someone who actually wants an electric car, a big part of the hesitation is that I'll have to basically give up my garage to our cars. As is, it's basically a detached workspace - so my family having to park two cars in there makes an electric car a massive loss of usable square footage. It would also likely mean having to rewire my garage which had an actual Fusebox from the 70s - a cost I'd love to avoi…
There are outdoor chargers, if you have a driveway. Also note that in city/commute use BEV needs to be charged about once a week, not every night.
I’ve thought about that. There is a fence immediately right of my driveway and an alley immediately left. I have very little space to install any sort of pole, and as I live in Minnesota, what little space I do have is needed badly for snow storage. It’s already a problem, last winter the snow was stacked above 6 feet either side.
The left side of my garage potentially has room for a charger to be mounted to the face of the garage, the right side does not.
How long are the cables generally? If I could charge both cars from the left of the garage with like extra long charging cords it could maybe be workable if not a tripping hazard. I also wonder how flexible the cables are in -20°F to -30°F weather? Do they get stiff/brittle?
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#543I won't buy any car, electric or ICE, that comes with a data connection to someone else's server. That appears to include all EVs.
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#544The 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…
Hybrids are indeed really neat but I think your math is off.
Yes EVs are heavier but 1,000lbs more is not causing the type of wear to roads that you think it is. Model y is something like 4,300lbs. Max load capacity of a semi is 80,000lb distributed across multiple axles. Most trucks are probably not loaded to max but I could see the axle weight hitting 20k lbs.
Heavier vehicles are definitely going to need heavier compound tires or potentially cause more wear on the tires. I don't think tires is a worthy argument. Even a Hybrid is going to be consuming tires and then you are going to have to get into the argument of which is the lesser evil, potentially increased tire wear or increased point of use pollution.
The grid is just fine. Most charging happens at night and EVs have the potential to reall help out the grid. There is a large push for smarter home devices to min/max use depending on the grid condition. In times of overgeneration, EVs can soak up that energy.
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#545Earlier 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…
I’m assuming you don’t live in the United States or have never had the reason to take frequent road trips.
You can tell who these people, they say things like: "I don't mind waiting an hour to charge every 300 miles because I have to use the bathroom and stretch my legs".
That's all well and good when you are on a long trip once a year. It's unfathomable to stop that often, for that long, when traveling regularly.
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#546The 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…
So what am I supposed to do, never host my friends or family? Never go on road trips?
2 to 4 times a year is a hell of a lot more often than "never". If I can only afford one car, why wouldn't I get one that fits _all_ my needs? If I can only buy one house, why wouldn't I get one that fits _all_ my needs?
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#547Earlier quoted context omitted.
I bought a used Model 3 for a little under 40k with a payment of about $500 / month. I was previously spending $500 / month in gas. The vehicle is literally paying for itself based on my usage. Now, if you’re driving less the math may not work out but the cost of fuel alone has to factor into those annual maintenance costs.
> I was previously spending $500 / month in gas. To me this seems extreme, what would you say the average gas price is for you and what cars do you drive and what's their fuel efficiency?
I drive to a neighboring town 2-3 times a day and I was driving a Dodge Durango that got 20/27mpg.
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#548Dumbass "journalists" with the usual clickbait. Explicitly MORE people are buying EVs: > Sure, sales of EVs keep going up — a record 300,000 cars sold in the US in the third quarter of 2023 were electric The only thing they're seeing is "but the pace of adoption has markedly slowed" -- no shit, have you seen the interest rates and price diffs? And which manufacturer grew the most? Oh that's right the only all-EV one.…
Dumb or bought by corporate interests?
In the EU we are constantly being fed this kind of drivel by journalists that echo the Volkswagen group's usual arguments almost verbatim, I don't think it's just chance.
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#549The 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 find it hilarious that this comment was written just three years after the height of COVID closures.
During that time I was so happy to have access to my home gym, to have a spare bedroom we could turn into an office, etc.
You're welcome to make the personal bet that a pandemic was a once-in-a-lifetime event, but it's amazingly self-righteous to criticize others who prepare for edge cases.
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#550In the UK we now have two holdups to futher adoption:
- road tax is going to start ramping up (already!) for electric cars
- ditto BIK tax