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Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

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Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#911
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.

You apparently don't live in the US, or at least not in the midwest. I know a lot of people who do trips longer than that. Many Canadians out in the middle do similar trips as well (well there are not many Canadians living in that part of the country, but the ones who are there do it)

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#912
post #665

I think EVs give me LESS range anxiety overall. In my gas car days, atleast once a month I was late for work or an event AND low on gas. Having to remember and think about getting gas was constantly on my mind because I have a pretty long commute. With an electric car, I start every day, always, with a full tank. No matter how late I'm running, I know there won't be a surprise that I need gas in addition to being lat…

It's funny how the people who suffer the most from range anxiety seem to be those who don't own EVs.

Funny how they self select out of something that they are worried about.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#915

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you in Wyoming?

No, Wisconsin.

There is no place in Wisconsin where it’s 45 minutes to a charger. The only states in the US where that is the case are Wyoming and Montana.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#916

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The "I want a pickup" idea does not tickle the same brain cells as the "I want an EV" idea. Very anecdotal but I disagree. My dream vehicle might be a hybrid pickup that sacrifices the frunk for an ICE that can give me much greater range if needed, while still having a full size battery I can use for around town and camping. Also, EV pickups are basically the perfect work truck for people using plug-in power tools.…

Dodge is building this for you next year - it is called the Ramcharger. It is a 190mi EV with a v6 generator for an added 400 miles of gas range.

I wish they would go with a 4 cylinder ICE. Probably could even go down to 3. I want an ICE that can just barely keep up when I'm running on flat ground with a trailer. When going uphill I want to drain the battery a bit (and then recharge downhill). I want to be able to drive for 11 hour towing a trailer, stopping to recharged and fill the gas tank (both at once please!) every 300 miles.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#917

The article nails it really. The core problem here is that a small minded swap from ICE to EV is only a mild implementation improvement on top of an already fragile transportation system that is riddled with problems. The government could really get the ball rolling by incentivizing a switch further by by adding more stick along with the current carrots, adding a carbon tax to make ICE vehicles less appealing, but th…

"and walking is made more viable at the stroke of a pen simply by changing the zoning and building code to actually allow people to build walkable neighbourhoods with retail amenities,..." This is an easy claim but unrealistic in North America. For the Boomers that have lived in single family housing for decades, those who also represent the larget voting block in most major cities, you're expecting them to forfeit t…

> Yimbys would do well to insist upon better replacement products.

I have long ago learned that I can't think of everything. By allowing someone else to think and rethink the problem instead of insisting on a solution we can do better.

We have many examples of mandated replacement products where the ground floor retail I so strongly went is intentionally left empty because there is no demand. We have many examples of other things that sound good in the design phase but turn out not to work out for whatever reason.

Thus I want to allow property owners to as much as possible do what they want. Some things they will try will turn out to not work out. Then they will try something else until someone hits on a winning idea and then all developers will copy that. Thus I will allow you to build a pig barn right next door: so long as your pig barn cannot be smelled in my yard I'm okay with it - in this way people can figure out how to build great neighborhoods without me having to work out all the details including about things I didn't think about.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#918

I want an EV to be more reliable and save me more money in the long run. EVs start out ~10k more than the Corolla most people should buying. They then compromise the long term reliability and maintenance cost with high tech gee whiz features. I’d sooner have manual roll up windows than touch screen controlled air vents. When you integrate sensors and software controls into every little thing, we know those things wil…

Definitely worth calling out how reliable and high quality modern ICE drivetrains are. I believe consumer reports found EVs to have a lower total cost of ownership after a few years: https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/press_release/new-analy...

With thousands fewer parts, cheaper fuel, and the time savings of not having to go to a gas station, EVs have a lot of things working in their favor to make them cheaper to operate.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#919
post #664

EV’s currently make the most sense for people who own a single family home or otherwise live in a community with readily available near-home chargers, where EV’s are on average more convenient than gas cars. People who rely on street parking and apartment dwellers would likely find EV’s more inconvenient than a gas car. We may be close to saturating the market for the former group. Another factor that could be at pla…

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…

I’m excited to one day own an EV, but the prices need to come down and charging infrastructure needs to continue to improve. I have a house that I’d do most of my charging at, but I want to feel comfortable driving anywhere in the country just like I currently experience with gasoline powered vehicles.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#920
post #810

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Off the shelf kits exist. There are also people who specialize in installing them. I think these kits don't take off because the people who are car nuts do some research about what type of performance can be expected from a conversion, and they conclude it would make the car worse overall. Worse performance, worse resale value. Classic cars are only possible to collect at all because of a lower level of proprietary c…

I was thinking more along the lines of a simple/reversible modification like existing propane conversions. I know there are people doing body off Tesla conversions and the like. I envision batteries + motor/bio fuel cell in the trunk or something. I believe Mazda is looking into electric motors inside of wheels/hubs and Honda was exploring hydrogen in push rod engines. I come from a hot rod family, so I understand yo…

I see what you mean. Propane conversions are way less intrusive than EV conversions. Propane is not very heavy or bulky, and you can use the same engine in many cases. I'm no expert on it but that's what I've gathered.

I think hydrogen and other chemical power sources have the best potential to replace fossil fuels. I think Toyota is betting big on hydrogen, and they know a thing or two about EVs. Researchers are looking at synthetic hydrocarbons now too. Eventually, that may become the best option.

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