Japan Has More Car Chargers Than Gas Stations • Hacker News Board

Re: Japan Has More Car Chargers Than Gas Stations

#41

Post by selectodude » Sat, Feb 14, 2015, 6:45 AM UTC

closetnerd wrote: post #39

emj wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Sweden all personal transport by car takes 45 TWh per year, if everyone converted to electric cars/hybrids it would be 13 TWh. That's what the propaganda says anyway. Since most personal transports by car are so short it's in the sweet spot for electric cars.

Interesting what those number might mean. I expect energy consumption to be in favor of batteries, but didn't expect that much.

Internal combustion engines are only about 20 percent efficient, and that ignores the energy spent pulling the dinosaur puree out of the ground. In comparison, electric engines are about 85-90 percent efficient.

Re: Japan Has More Car Chargers Than Gas Stations

#42

Post by justincormack » Sat, Feb 14, 2015, 3:04 PM UTC

lotsofmangos wrote: post #21

cpwright wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it is that hard, it just isn't as useful. I have a tank in my basement that holds 300 gallons of heating fuel (basically diesel); and it is pumped to my boiler. Instead of diesel it could easily be gasoline to a car; but why worry about delivery, etc. when there is already a large infrastructure to fuel my car and the marginal benefits are tiny. Whereas, if I bought an electric car; having the charger w…

For a lot of people it is one less thing to work into their routine. For other people it is hassle. Round where I live no houses have driveways or garages, so the only electric vehicles I have been seriously researching have been motorbikes that can fit through the front door and as much as I think electric cars are the future of much of transport, the charging cable problem hasn't yet been seriously addressed for hi…

In London there are 1300 public charge points so far. I have seen people just running charge cables out of their front window to the kerbside. Garages are not very common in centralish areas. So I think bringing it indoors is pretty extreme.

Re: Japan Has More Car Chargers Than Gas Stations

#43

Post by walshemj » Sat, Feb 14, 2015, 3:25 PM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #22

cpwright wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it is that hard, it just isn't as useful. I have a tank in my basement that holds 300 gallons of heating fuel (basically diesel); and it is pumped to my boiler. Instead of diesel it could easily be gasoline to a car; but why worry about delivery, etc. when there is already a large infrastructure to fuel my car and the marginal benefits are tiny. Whereas, if I bought an electric car; having the charger w…

People who already have a tank in the basement are pretty rare. How much effort/money would it take to install a new tank, plus a car-compatible pump? Compare with a couple hundred bucks for an electrician to install a 240V outlet, and a few hundred more for a charger (if you don't just use the one that comes with your car).

And Gas/Petrol has different safety rules/laws you would probley need to have your home gas tank inspected every couple of years.