Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US • Hacker News Board

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#831

Post by avgDev » Thu, Jan 04, 2024, 5:29 PM UTC

arbitrary_name wrote: post #824

atestu wrote: post #664

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in that first group and I don't see how it makes the most sense. They are not more convenient. I can "charge" my gas car in 2 minutes basically anywhere in the country. I'm going on vacation next week, driving with 2 young children. It'll be about a 11 hour drive which is not crazy for a US vacation. I don't want to plan where I stop and stop for 45 minutes to fuel up with 2 toddlers in the car. And they're all m…

>It'll be about a 11 hour drive which is not crazy for a US vacation Uhhhh, that's crazy to me. I don't know anyone who drives that far for a holiday, especially with kids.

During COVID, I drove 24 hours to Florida. Longest stint of driving was 16 hours.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#832

Post by mgaunard » Thu, Jan 04, 2024, 5:29 PM UTC

I live in a city that's built for pedestrians and public transport. I have a twenty year old car because there is no value in selling it, but otherwise a car is pretty useless; I mostly use my bike instead.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#833

Post by mayneack » Thu, Jan 04, 2024, 5:29 PM UTC

zelon88 wrote: post #828

> While bigger batteries allow drivers to travel farther between charges, they also make the cars heavier, more dangerous, more expensive, and worse for the planet. Bigger vehicles in general are safer than smaller vehicles. If you are in a 2,000lb car with a 5 star safety rating, you will still probably be killed in an accident with a 6,000lb truck that has a 3 star safety rating. Despite all your advanced driver ai…

Safer for the occupants, not safer overall.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#834

Post by postalrat » Thu, Jan 04, 2024, 5:30 PM UTC

zelon88 wrote: post #828

> While bigger batteries allow drivers to travel farther between charges, they also make the cars heavier, more dangerous, more expensive, and worse for the planet. Bigger vehicles in general are safer than smaller vehicles. If you are in a 2,000lb car with a 5 star safety rating, you will still probably be killed in an accident with a 6,000lb truck that has a 3 star safety rating. Despite all your advanced driver ai…

I'd love to see a small 2,000 car with a 5 star rating that's built like a ramp that redirects the collision from larger vehicles over the roof.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#835

Post by garte » Thu, Jan 04, 2024, 5:31 PM UTC

Reading this thread gives me the creeps. So much entitlement. As if owning multiple cars or being able to drive 1000s of kilometres for holidays is a human right.

Having kids and reading this thread is fucking depressing.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#836

Post by roc856 » Thu, Jan 04, 2024, 5:31 PM UTC

The headline is incorrect. The article clearly says that sales are up, but the pace has slowed. Acceleration and velocity are different.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#837

Post by themaninthedark » Thu, Jan 04, 2024, 5:33 PM UTC

kaiken1987 wrote: post #730

atestu wrote: post #664

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in that first group and I don't see how it makes the most sense. They are not more convenient. I can "charge" my gas car in 2 minutes basically anywhere in the country. I'm going on vacation next week, driving with 2 young children. It'll be about a 11 hour drive which is not crazy for a US vacation. I don't want to plan where I stop and stop for 45 minutes to fuel up with 2 toddlers in the car. And they're all m…

Realistically having done road trips, it's stopping every 3 hours and it's not 45 minutes, it's basically the amount of time it takes to get 2 kids out of the car, in to use the restrooms, and back into the car.

That depends; When I had toddlers, like the parent, I would often drive at night while they were asleep.

Now they are older and we travel more in the day but it is around 4 hours and have to schedule a meal.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#838

Post by ianai » Thu, Jan 04, 2024, 5:33 PM UTC

agloe_dreams wrote: post #761

a-posteriori wrote: post #743

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Market-share is a cumulative metric, representing the sum of all purchases over several years. Sales is a flow metric, representing the sum of purchases in a given year. Market-share can increase, yet sales can be down in a given year. Not everything is a conspiracy.

Sales were actually up, the title is just wrong and is editorialized by the submitter. The article has a different tile.

It changed since they submitted the article. No need to assume ill will.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#839

Post by zelon88 » Thu, Jan 04, 2024, 5:34 PM UTC

mayneack wrote: post #833

zelon88 wrote: post #828

> While bigger batteries allow drivers to travel farther between charges, they also make the cars heavier, more dangerous, more expensive, and worse for the planet. Bigger vehicles in general are safer than smaller vehicles. If you are in a 2,000lb car with a 5 star safety rating, you will still probably be killed in an accident with a 6,000lb truck that has a 3 star safety rating. Despite all your advanced driver ai…

Safer for the occupants, not safer overall.

They are safer overall because if you don't choose one, you are at a disadvantage. There is no risk to owning a larger vehicle. Conversely there is a risk with owning a smaller vehicle. When designing a vehicle for safety it is the primary objective to increase the safety for the occupants. They are the customers of the safety product. I am not paying for features that diminish my safety for the safety of people that aren't in my car. Other people can be responsible for choosing the safety features that they believe are most effective. Whether they choose correctly or not is not my problem.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#840

Post by ProllyInfamous » Thu, Jan 04, 2024, 5:36 PM UTC

Tennessee's state parks are (almost always) FREE TO ENTER, and all of the EV-chargers within (Rivian-badged, will charge anything) are FREE TO USE — and yet I rarely seen them used, even at those within city urban areas (i.e. very easy to access).

I think until electric vehicles can reliably and safely work (in leiu of e.g. a Tesla Powerwall &c) in both directions with the grid plug-ins

...and until legislatively we can STOP PENALIZING EV ADOPTION WITH ANNUAL FEE INCREASES UPON EVs, only. E.g. in Tennessee, EVs (& Plug-in-hybrids?, IIRC) the annual registration fee is about 4x a gas-only vehicle [so $120, instead of $30, depending on county].

Only then can we fully justify lugging around 2000 pounds of LiFePhos...