The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period
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The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period
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Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period
#21) The Tesla just surpassed the Leaf as the most popular electric car (yes, even with the price difference).
2) Electric car perks are everywhere and rarely mentioned. Free charging, way better parking, fielding questions from curious onlookers, more cargo space, no noise, no warmup, no oil changes, etc.)
3) In the winter months in areas of the world with real seasons (read: not San Francisco area), cabin heating will detract significantly from your range on a long 20 degree F drive. Talking 25% less maximum range or so. You can mitigate it somewhat by using seat heat instead but I've found that passengers REALLY do not want to go that route (or worse, they want BOTH lol).
Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period
#3I've read fairly similar takes comparing EVs to the digital camera. I'm very interested to see what ends up happening, but my guess is the car market will be quite unique.
I do think the author is overestimating the importance of peripheral functions of cars.
Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period
#4As the long as the charging is not way faster I do not see mass adoption.
If you're using cars just in the city then charging is no issue but for long distance travel it is one. Only way is to own at least two cars but this can't be the solution.
Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period
#5Since people would start to want to buy cars more frequently because of the constant increate in performance/features (which the article is saying will be faster than the current state of motor innovation), would the car manufacturers be able to offer lower-cost models that would be bought every 3/4 years.
They could recoup the money from cheaper cars from the faster purchase cycle.
Or else move to a leasing model (this is becoming more popular with people I know in the UK, Ireland).
Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period
#6> There is a $7500 federal tax rebate on a new electric car, so the moment you drive it off the lot, its blue book value drops an additional $7500.
But isn't that fine because you got the $7500 anyway?
Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period
#71) The Tesla just surpassed the Leaf as the most popular electric car (yes, even with the price difference). 2) Electric car perks are everywhere and rarely mentioned. Free charging, way better parking, fielding questions from curious onlookers, more cargo space, no noise, no warmup, no oil changes, etc.) 3) In the winter months in areas of the world with real seasons (read: not San Francisco area), cabin heating wil…
1) the rich have more disposable income and there are quite a few techies with money to burn. The Leaf isn't that capable of a car. I will be watching GM to see if they can push the Bolt out in real numbers instead of compliance only.
2/3) and severe range drop in winter, driving with minimal heat because of the range loss, and more. Unless you are driving a Tesla which has that huge range buffer its not fun if you already are near you car's max range and cold weather sets in.
Give it five years and we might be in a cell phone phone like era, but it isn't decided still that all battery is how it will pan out. Batteries still suffer a horrible weight to KwH ratio that works against auto manufacturers trying to trim weight to increase range. Finally thirty minutes to recharge is fine if your home or going to be parked, otherwise its still a major issue.
Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period
#8Good electric car battery standard would solve almost all of the problems of electric cars.
1. The battery is where most development happens and where it's most needed. So you don't have to worry about your car getting too old too fast. Just get fresh battery.
2. Range: just swap the battery if you run out of juice. They could be rented like gas bottles are at service station.
3. Battery charge lifespan.
4. Potentially emerging fuel cells. They are just a way to burn something into electricity. Why do you care what kind of black box feeds you car some current?
How could this be done? Build robots at service stations that lift a battery pack into the bottom of the car. Good place could be where the spare wheel currently goes. Bottom of the trunk. You could steal mechanical locking from intermodal containers, just scale it down. And electric connectors could be upscale speakon connectors stolen from pro audio.
Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period
#9Most people buy a car every three years. Sounds similar to how often people switch cell phones. I don't think electric cars change much in regards to people always wanting something different or the shiny new model.
The awesome thing about the Tesla is all the over the air updates. Other car makers want you to buy the new model to get the new features.
I worked in the car biz for a long time.
Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period
#10Since people would start to want to buy cars more frequently because of the constant increate in performance/features (which the article is saying will be faster than the current state of motor innovation), would the car manufacturers be able to offer lower-cost models that would be bought every 3/4 years. They could recoup the money from cheaper cars from the faster purchase cycle. Or else move to a leasing model (t…
>would the car manufacturers be able to offer lower-cost models that would be bought every 3/4 years.
I think people buying new cars every 3 or 4 years is already the status quo, regardless of cost. That's the average lease/finance period (though financing duration is increasing).