Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

businessinsider.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

991–1000 of 1001 posts

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#991

Post by jjav »

usrusr wrote: post #558
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…

How many trips are done alone? And yet people don't buy single-seater cars. People also don't draw boat or horse trailers most of the time, yet they buy cars as if that was all they ever did. The reality is that car purchases have been driven by very rare usage scenarios, often even by completely hypothetical usage scenarios ("what if I'd have to compete on Nürburgring?“) long before the topic of BEV came up. The onl…

> And yet people don't buy single-seater cars.

I'll postulate people don't buy single seater cars because they don't exist. (At least in the US?)

I've long wished for a very small single seater car, something under 1000lb, only needs a tiny engine so it could have very high MPG and yet still be very fun.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#993

Post by ZeroGravitas »

mips_r4300i wrote: post #723
phtrivier wrote: post #487

A missing part of the "flawed" plan: it was relying on expectation that battery ranges would improve exponentially thanks to all the "breakthroughs" that were published on a regular basis to get views on tech news site. Except, no, it still does not work as a drop-in replacement, so you have to change the whole society instead, which sucks because we're kinda on a deadline here, aren't we ? To put it mildly "the engi…

A typical high end 18650 cell in 1997 was 1600mAh. A typical high end 18650 cell in 2023 was 3200mAh. So it took us 25 years to get a 2x density improvement in li-ion cells. We desperately need higher density but it is very slow going. The density necessary to "save" EVs for the layman is unfortunately not coming soon.

There's multiple layers of efficiency, the cell, the pack, the motor, the heater, aero, lightweighting.

And then the BMS, thermal management and charging improvements and greater provision all allow for smaller batteries (which reduces weight and allows for smaller batteries recursively).

Not to mention cost reductions in batteries and electrcity. Overall a 2023 EV is more than 2x a 1997 EV.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#994

Post by michaelcampbell »

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.…

> Refuelling the Rav4 is an errand that takes time

Sure.

> , planning

A little.

> , and mental energy.

C'mon now.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#995

Post by wakawaka28 »

talldatethrow wrote: post #981
wakawaka28 wrote: post #791

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

[dead]

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#996

Post by rtkwe »

Symbiote wrote: post #934
rtkwe wrote: post #731

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That depends massively on having home charging. If you live anywhere without it like an apartment complex, a high rise, with street parking only or a multiplex you'll have to count on charging at work.

In many European cities there are 7 or 22kW chargers on the street, used for overnight charging. Sometimes they're built in to lamp posts, more often they're independent.

That does make it somewhat possible but still depends on getting those limited spots. It's easier now while the cars are still relatively rare but it'll get worse unless chargers drastically outpace adoption of plug in vehicles. Right now if you're not a home owner charging at home is an iffy proposition for most people.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#997

Post by tourmalinetaco »

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.…

If you hate filling up at a gas station and want the convenience of it at home then fill gas cans next time you go and bring them home. You can even keep one in the car for on-the-go refueling, something an EV can’t do.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#998

Post by instaheat »

instaheat wrote: post #173

Good. I've been reading "Cobalt Red" How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives and it is deplorable how the Congolese people are treated. Maybe they'll discover or manufacture a material that can replace Cobalt that has the same thermal stability but by then it will be too late.

Downvoted for having compassion for people? Interesting.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#999

Post by instaheat »

zlsa wrote: post #237
instaheat wrote: post #173

Good. I've been reading "Cobalt Red" How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives and it is deplorable how the Congolese people are treated. Maybe they'll discover or manufacture a material that can replace Cobalt that has the same thermal stability but by then it will be too late.

LFP batteries[0] are cobalt-free and make up over half of the EV market as of mid-2022[1]. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_iron_phosphate_battery 1: https://m.energytrend.com/news/20220520-28100.html

Looking into this now - very cool!

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#1000

Post by averageRoyalty »

foobarian wrote: post #643
ecmascript wrote: post #623

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yesterday close to where I live there was a big queue that still isn't resolved in a winter storm (over 1000 cars got stuck). With a gas car, you can physically go and get gas and fill it up manually but an EV would run out of battery, die and would need to be towed. Maybe you live in a place where winter storms are not a reality but where I live the range isn't the problem it's the weather combined with the range. E…

Presumably you would have started your day with a full charge, and be unlikely to run out even if stuck for a day. We switched to an EV last month and what surprised me the most was the mindset change required - you need to treat the car more like a phone that you keep topped off, instead of the gas car you tend to run down to near empty to maximize time between refills. The big hidden requirement is to have a powerf…

I've been charging off a standard 10A/240v for years and have yet to have a problem. If you plug in at dinner and leave in the morning, that's 200km range overnight added. If you don't drive 200km that day, it rolls over.
Post reply on HN