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

The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

ideas.4brad.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 79 posts

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#11

Post by grej »

vlehto wrote: post #8

Good 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. Potential…

The idea makes sense. There was an Israeli startup that was trying to do this exact thing that didn't make it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Place

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#12

Post by forgetsusername »

glossyscr wrote: post #4

As 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.

>If you're using cars just in the city then charging is no issue but for long distance travel it is one.

Yeah, I'm also curious how this pans out. Generally, people traveling long distances on the Tesla SC network route say, "No big deal, I stop for 20 minutes to stretch, charge, and away I go."

But what does that scenario look like when there are millions of EVs on the road? Imagine it took 20 minutes to fill up with fuel? The lines would be horrendous. Travel during prime vacation time and they already are on some routes.

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#13

Post by JonnieCache »

spo81rty wrote: post #9

Most 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.

>Most people buy a car every three years.

This is shocking to me. Are you in the US? I'm pretty sure it's more like 10 years here in the UK.

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#14

Post by freshyill »

spo81rty wrote: post #9

Most 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.

> Most people buy a car every three years.

This is an absurd statement.

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#15

Post by ollie87 »

JonnieCache wrote: post #13
spo81rty wrote: post #9

Most 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.

>Most people buy a car every three years. This is shocking to me. Are you in the US? I'm pretty sure it's more like 10 years here in the UK.

Really? I live in the UK. I and most of my family changes their car around every 3-5 years.

I'm about to chop my current car in after 2.

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#16

Post by [deleted] »

JonnieCache wrote: post #13
spo81rty wrote: post #9

Most 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.

>Most people buy a car every three years. This is shocking to me. Are you in the US? I'm pretty sure it's more like 10 years here in the UK.

[deleted]

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#17

Post by ghaff »

JonnieCache wrote: post #13
spo81rty wrote: post #9

Most 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.

>Most people buy a car every three years. This is shocking to me. Are you in the US? I'm pretty sure it's more like 10 years here in the UK.

Pretty much the only people who own cars for just 3 years are those who are leasing.

The average car on the road is over 11 years old in the US and average length of ownership for new cars is over 6 years. [1]

[1] http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/07/29/Here-s-Why-American...

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#18

Post by ctdonath »

lectrick wrote: post #2

1) 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…

Georgia just ended their EV subsidy. You could get $5000 tax credit on leasing a LEAF for 2 years. That amounted to a free car for two years, in an area where EVs are the perfect commuter car. As a result, Georgia fast developed a huge EV market - which disappeared the moment the tax credit ended.

No surprise LEAF sales just crashed below Tesla's.

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#19

Post by mhandley »

lectrick wrote: post #2

1) 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…

Why don't electric cars come with a tiny kerosene cabin heater as standard? A small heater would take up little space or weight, could be easily refueled at home so not need a detour to a petrol station, and be much more cost effective than adding extra batteries just to provide cabin heat. Sure, it's not zero-emission, but the efficiency of a kerosene heater can be pretty good (much better than an internal combustion engine) and it might go a long way to increase the usefulness on cold days.

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#20

Post by eloisant »

jstanley wrote: post #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?

Maybe, but when you buy your car it's important to realize that these $7,500 are not just free money, they have a direct impact on your car resell value.

So if you buy a leaf that starts at $30,000, get rebates to $20,000, you must remember that since anyone can get it new for $20,000 that's the actual "new" value to take before you apply depreciation.

In other words you're not really buying a $30k car for $20k, you're buying a $20k car.

Post reply on HN