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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

#981

Post by talldatethrow »

wakawaka28 wrote: post #791
talldatethrow wrote: post #90

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…

With a gas car, you can take off on foot and walk to a gas station or call literally anyone to give you a bit of gas. EVs on the other hand have to be towed if they run out. Also, it is far easier to predict how far you can get on a tank of gas, and they are like a mile apart or less in any slightly populated place.

Point is, for day to day driving, you never have to worry about this because you start your day with full range. So EVs get you the benefit of never having to worry about getting gas when late for something, and never having to get gas in general from your daily commute. The tradeoff is, the few times you do want to go further than your range, it's a bit harder. But since those trips are usually on my leisure days, I personally don't mind that at all.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#982

Post by danny8000 »

christiangenco wrote: post #778
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…

My wife and I own a single family home, a gas-powered car (Toyota Rav4), and an electric car (a standard range Tesla model 3). The electric car is much more convenient for us for city driving and the gas-powered car is much more convenient for road trips. Refuelling the Rav4 is an errand that takes time, planning, and mental energy. For my wife it's also a low-level danger: women find gas stations spooky, apparently.…

I agree: if you a part of a two-parent household, who lives in a home with off-street parking where you can add a charger, the best of both worlds is one EV (Tesla) and one plug-in hybrid (e.g. Prius Prime or Rav 4 Prime). Then you only go to a gas station on longer trips.

What percent of the US population falls into this demographic? And what percent of this demo already has one EV?

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#983

Post by water-data-dude »

I’d love to get an electric car, but I’ve just spent too much time and effort clawing back a scrap of privacy for me to be comfortable driving around in a mobile telemetry collection machine. It’s not just electric cars, obviously, but I can’t buy an old electric car from the pre-surveillance age.

Maybe things will change between now and when my current car dies.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#984

Post by talldatethrow »

talldatethrow wrote: post #90

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…

Side note, if you eventually drive 200,000 miles, getting gas every 300 miles, and each getting gas only takes 5 minutes between detour and pumping... You send 55 hours of your life getting gas for that car.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#985

Post by jjav »

epistasis wrote: post #571
patryn20 wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously. Just give me a NORMAL car with a modern electric drivetrain and I’ll be happy. I have my 4Runner for longer trips and “electric grid down because Texas is a 3rd world island in a 1st world country” situations. These electric cars are going for full gimmickry and just look like a giant long term ownership nightmare. Built to be disposable status symbols for your average American trying to appear wealthier t…

One minor comment, but if the electric grid is down, then it's likely you won't be able to pump gas either. At least, most gas stations have not planned to be functional without electricity.

In (most?) areas which typically experience longer outages (e.g. due to hurricanes) gas stations have their own generators to keep operating.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#986

Post by NooneAtAll3 »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #193
iknowstuff wrote: post #45

Dumbass "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.…

Correct. Tesla just closed another record quarter. And BYD just surpassed them as the largest EV producer in the world. Both of those things are true because the overall market keeps on growing very rapidly. Which means Tesla can break it's own records and yet not be the largest anymore because another company is growing even faster. We're in a major economic down turn because of things like global pandemics and othe…

lose*

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#987

Post by jjav »

talldatethrow wrote: post #90

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…

> With an electric car, I start every day, always, with a full tank.

If you can, that's nice. But that assumes being able to not only charge at home but to have fast charging infrastructure installed at home.

We charge at home but the car doesn't fully charge overnight. That works all right since my partner only commutes every other day. On occasions where two consecutive commute days (or other special trips) come up, there's a lot of range anxiety involved.

> I think EVs give me LESS range anxiety overall.

This is difficult to understand. Sure, it's nice if you can start on full charge at home every morning. Nonetheless, some day you'll need to go farther and then a gas car is inevitably easier and faster to fill up.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#988

Post by jjav »

tentboy wrote: post #858
olavgg wrote: post #689

Im grateful that the Norwegian gouverment sponsored me a top specced Porsche Taycan Turbo for half the price. Now I drive more than ever, because now driving is really fun. I will repay the Norwegian gouverment by announcing my move to Sweden. I cannot let my kids grow up in a country that spend tax money like a drunk sailor.

what does turbo even mean in the context of an electric car? not sure how you could have forced induction or why porsche would name it that

> what does turbo even mean in the context of an electric car?

It means marketing is now the boss of the company and engineers have no say.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#989

Post by jjav »

peebeebee wrote: post #433
qrybam wrote: post #289

We bought a new primary car last April, it was a toss up between an electric and a petrol/diesel, and we opted for a diesel car in the end. Reasons: range anxiety, and war anxiety. I want a Tesla, but the problem is that an electric car becomes a giant paperweight in an emergency. We have a secondary, small electric car and we use it for short local trips. There’s been more than a few instances where a lapse resulted…

Huh? What emergency? You will always have solar on your roof. I think in emergencies, gas will run out much quicker than electricity? And where do you live that you have a mess of public chargers? The quick charger network is excellent where I live (Benelux)

> Huh? What emergency? You will always have solar on your roof. I think in emergencies, gas will run out much quicker than electricity?

You're assuming having solar on your roof (most people still don't) but more importantly, assuming an emergency where you get to stay home.

For example when we had to evacuate due to California wildfires a few years ago, we left the EV behind. Doesn't have enough range to be a good evacuation car and who knows how busy charging stations were going to be with everyone doing the same.

We have gas cars too so no big deal. But having only an EV in such an emergency would be scary.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#990

Post by jjav »

realusername wrote: post #358
screye wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

That's because the American car market is pure nonsense, it's not a problem of EV. My own electric car is close to half the weight of a petrol F150. So the F150 uses more petrol and wears more tire as well. Those kind of massive cars are only needed for farmers and construction workers in the first place.

> My own electric car is close to half the weight of a petrol F150.

Looking at the Ford website, a F-150 starts at just over 4000lb. So your EV is a bit over 2000lb? Which one is it?

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