Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly

Post by Marsymars » Sun, Sep 02, 2018, 5:20 AM UTC

rgbrenner wrote: post #165

gambiting wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So my local council doesn't even have the money to stay on top of fixing potholes and uneven streets , but will somehow find the money and will to put electric charging points everywhere? Yeah, I don't see that happening.

they put in parking meters to collect money. Are you sure they wouldn't put in charging meters with the equivalent price of gas? That's worth maybe 15k mi/yr / 30mpg * $3 = $1500/yr for the average user (assuming they use it regularly.. which apartment users would). That seems like a pretty decent incentive.

Post by grecy » Sun, Sep 02, 2018, 5:28 AM UTC

village-idiot wrote: post #114

All major changes are always far off in the future until they suddenly aren't. It's kind of amazing how often we keep being surprised by this.

Post by WillPostForFood » Sun, Sep 02, 2018, 5:33 AM UTC

HarryHirsch wrote: post #139

gfodor wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids used to ride bicycles everywhere, but they don't anymore. The gating function isn't the capacity for kids to transport themselves around.

Suburbs used to be higher density, but in any sprawling development that went up in the last 15 years nothing is within cycling distance any longer. The vain hope is that easier transportation fixes that issue.

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Sep 02, 2018, 5:38 AM UTC

kasey_junk wrote: post #89

tomjakubowski wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't seem all that hard to solve. My city, Los Angeles, reserves some street parking spots for electric vehicles and has installed outlets on the curb for those spaces. Also, if you live in a city, unless you "reverse commute" to the suburbs, you probably won't drive enough miles regularly that you'd need to charge every night anyway. Give it a fast charge every few days in a commercial garage while you run errand…

Who pays for the power? What % of spots are electrified? If we hit an inflection point how fast can they change that % and how does the answer to the question about payment change?

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Sep 02, 2018, 5:45 AM UTC

octorian wrote: post #79

GW150914 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have been saying that for a very long time, and every decade or two someone bets real money and loses horribly. I think the last time was Kamen thinking the Segway would change human transportation forever. Such visionaries tend to conveniently forget people who have families with kids, the price, and the fact that if their device can’t totally replace a car then it’s just an added expense many can’t afford.

This is why any half-measure is kinda a waste. The overhead to "rent something for the occasional need" is far more of a real-world hassle than people are willing to put up with. Also, having kids dramatically changes what you need in a vehicle, in ways that make any ride-sharing or rental option a significantly greater pain than it would otherwise be.