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Are US EV sales a disaster or a booming segment? The answer may be both

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Re: Are US EV sales a disaster or a booming segment? The answer may be both

#21

Post by happytiger »

I will never buy and EV as long as I’m beholden to the tyranny of PG&E’s constant gamification of my power.

They keep raising and raising prices and there’s nothing attractive about putting all my eggs in the electric basket in California as long as the rates are controlled by cartels.

PG&E will exploit any electric car progress for themselves and rip off their customers as hard as they can as soon as they thought they had a critical mass worth really rate exploiting and could get away with it.

I know lots of people disagree with me, but low institutional trust is the main reason we don’t have one.

That and we tend to buy and keep our vehicles for decades and I’m quite sure I don’t believe the rhetoric around durability and reliability.

When it’s truly a superior product from a quality and reliability standpoint and not a car body stapled to a battery with a smartphone quality warranty, and I have choice in how to fuel it beyond predatory power companies controlled by corrupt institutions, I’m in.

Nobody ever talks about the profound lack of diversity in the power suppliers, but it’s more than a minor existential risk to electric car viability in many parts of the country.

Re: Are US EV sales a disaster or a booming segment? The answer may be both

#24

Post by ProfessorLayton »

EVs are still too compromising or expensive. All I want is an electric no-frills version of my Civic at a comparable price. Honda themselves, or any other manufacturer, have been unable to offer that.

I have no interest in buying another ICE vehicle, so I'll continue to maintain my current car, but I'm ready to buy once they offer something I'm looking for.

Re: Are US EV sales a disaster or a booming segment? The answer may be both

#25

Post by whaleofatw2022 »

ramenmeal wrote: post #15
downrightmike wrote: post #6

EV utility is less than ICE cars, but far worse than commuter rail. Most of the pollution in the bay area is from car tires. So if they really want to clean that up, they need to switch to light rail and inter city express rail

Honest question, tires, or brakes? I was under the impression brake dust was the worst polluter. I'm sure tires aren't great either, but they should be equivalent between EV's and ICE cars. Brakes last significantly longer on EV's and therefore would help with pollution.

EVs -can- have worse tire pollution in some cases, i.e. low rolling resistance tires and increased weight compared to similar ICE.

Re: Are US EV sales a disaster or a booming segment? The answer may be both

#26

Post by bequanna »

happytiger wrote: post #21

I will never buy and EV as long as I’m beholden to the tyranny of PG&E’s constant gamification of my power. They keep raising and raising prices and there’s nothing attractive about putting all my eggs in the electric basket in California as long as the rates are controlled by cartels. PG&E will exploit any electric car progress for themselves and rip off their customers as hard as they can as soon as they thought th…

Isn’t this rate jump partially the result of rulings that made PG&E liable for damages from fires started by overheated transformers?

Re: Are US EV sales a disaster or a booming segment? The answer may be both

#27

Post by xenospn »

reducesuffering wrote: post #19
8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #3

For people living in apartments, with the building providing no way to charge your vehicle, especially when parked outside, the value proposition is a lot less tempting. Takes 5 minutes to get gas, gas stations are everywhere, but having to find a charging station for your EV and having to sit there for an hour or longer is just not appealing if the tradeoff is the good feelings of one's microscopic contribution to s…

> having to find a charging station for your EV and having to sit there for an hour or longer A Tesla can supercharge 200 miles in 15 minutes

If you can find a free charger.

Where I live (LA) there’s long queues more often than not.

Re: Are US EV sales a disaster or a booming segment? The answer may be both

#28

Post by The_Colonel »

downrightmike wrote: post #6

EV utility is less than ICE cars, but far worse than commuter rail. Most of the pollution in the bay area is from car tires. So if they really want to clean that up, they need to switch to light rail and inter city express rail

I think the push to get rid of ICEs is more due to global climate change effects rather than local pollution.

Re: Are US EV sales a disaster or a booming segment? The answer may be both

#29

Post by api »

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #24

EVs are still too compromising or expensive. All I want is an electric no-frills version of my Civic at a comparable price. Honda themselves, or any other manufacturer, have been unable to offer that. I have no interest in buying another ICE vehicle, so I'll continue to maintain my current car, but I'm ready to buy once they offer something I'm looking for.

> All I want is an electric no-frills version of my Civic at a comparable price.

The US car industry seems really determined not to allow anything affordable on the market. It's not just EVs. They also push overpriced bloated gas guzzlers.

Eventually someone will get a cheap reliable decent-range EV like you want into the market and steamroll the entire industry.

Re: Are US EV sales a disaster or a booming segment? The answer may be both

#30

Post by lostlogin »

ramenmeal wrote: post #15
downrightmike wrote: post #6

EV utility is less than ICE cars, but far worse than commuter rail. Most of the pollution in the bay area is from car tires. So if they really want to clean that up, they need to switch to light rail and inter city express rail

Honest question, tires, or brakes? I was under the impression brake dust was the worst polluter. I'm sure tires aren't great either, but they should be equivalent between EV's and ICE cars. Brakes last significantly longer on EV's and therefore would help with pollution.

> they should be equivalent between EV's and ICE cars

EVs tend to be heavier, so are harder on tyres.

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