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EV adoption in US is happening faster than predicted

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Re: EV adoption in US is happening faster than predicted

#511

Post by krisoft »

P5fRxh5kUvp2th wrote: post #448
krisoft wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even conscientious cyclists who call “on your left” or whatever routinely underestimate the necessary reaction time and overestimate how far their voice will carry. You are absolutely right. As a cyclist there isn’t really any good way to reliably avoid startling a pedestrian in a mixed environment. Even if you do the even more conscientious thing and you slow all the way down to match speed with them, and then “wa…

> As a cyclist there isn’t really any good way to reliably avoid startling a pedestrian in a mixed environment. Why couldn't you just ask (or require) bicyclists to use bells or horns of some sort? Pedestrians would get used to the noise after a while.

I don’t understand the facination with the bell. In what way would it help with the situation as described? Do you think it would startle the pedestrians less than the human voice?

Re: EV adoption in US is happening faster than predicted

#512

Post by tpxl »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #465
tpxl wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Grid capacity is what blocks EV market share and will continue to be the blocker for the foreseeable future. A 2 person apartment where I live will consume ~400kWh of power in a typical month. Charging a 100kWh battery twice a month per person would double the power usage. We don't have the power generation, nor power delivery for that, nor will we have it for some time.

10% of your EV cost, added to your roof solves this at least by 50% of the year. Some places let you invest in solar farm that you then use power at all your abodes and at municipal chargers. FWIW we should have waaay more incentives towards adding rooftop solar + batteries than towards EVs.

Most people in most cities live in apartment buildings where solar doesn't do you much good.

Re: EV adoption in US is happening faster than predicted

#513

Post by danielbln »

ghaff wrote: post #500
usrusr wrote: post #494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you drive a lot? Drivers are very used to the audio disconnect. Before I did my licence I was a firm believer in "no earbuds on the road", but after a few driving lessons I got so used to taking in the traffic situation with eyes only that I quickly converted to an earbuds all the time cyclist. A few years later I stopped driving so much and my cycling reverted to ears-always-open without me even noticing.

I drive regularly. Yes, there is some degree of audio disconnect in a car. I also have various mirrors and sensors of various types. And I'm hopefully paying more attention than if I'm just walking around.

You are also a lot less squishy inside of a car.

Re: EV adoption in US is happening faster than predicted

#514

Post by 8f2ab37a-ed6c »

timbit42 wrote: post #476
8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #95

The thing holding me back as a renter is that a lot of buildings still don't have any way for you to charge your EV. So unless you're into hunting for available public charging sites, you're SooL.

Offer to pay your landlord's cost to put one in for you. Eventually landlords will be falling over themselves to install chargers so their apartments will remain rentable.

Depends on where you live. No landlord is going to fall over themselves for anything in SF (or other desirable areas) for a long time.

Re: EV adoption in US is happening faster than predicted

#515

Post by 8f2ab37a-ed6c »

s0rce wrote: post #508
timbit42 wrote: post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Offer to pay your landlord's cost to put one in for you. Eventually landlords will be falling over themselves to install chargers so their apartments will remain rentable.

That could be quite costly depending on the wiring locations in the unit and the total current capacity available. Personally as a renter in this situation I'd be pretty reluctant to pay for this unless its going to be saving me enough on gas to offset most of it. I guess if you really plan on a long term rental it might make more sense.

And it's one more thing for buildings to maintain, especially if not gated. In cities like SF it's safe to expect someone to try to dismantle that charger within days to try to sell it for parts.

Re: EV adoption in US is happening faster than predicted

#516

Post by rootusrootus »

koheripbal wrote: post #467
rootusrootus wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plausible, but I always come back to TCO. The real reason EVs are suddenly gaining traction is that prices for gasoline spiked and a lot of people are finally realizing that EVs typically cost much less to fuel. Think about how people suddenly start trading in pickups for compact cars when gas prices have spiked in the past -- and maybe that to save 25-50% on fuel cost. A bunch of people are realizing that going to E…

This doesn't take into account the cost of replacing the battery when it degrades over time, and the cost of the much more limited range, and the cost of a much much longer fueling time.

It doesn't account for replacing the engine on the ICE car either, which has about the same schedule as an EV battery.

I spent 5-10 minutes of my life every week keeping my last ICE vehicle fueled. I spend 15 seconds a day keeping my EV topped off. I've saved so much time not having to go to the gas station that I still come out waaaaay ahead even if I have to stop for 20-30 minutes to recharge on my road trip.

Re: EV adoption in US is happening faster than predicted

#517

Post by toomuchtodo »

s0rce wrote: post #507
crooked-v wrote: post #10

I suspect it would be even faster if there was a charging option for the many people in cities with their cars in shared garages, even one as simple as just having a lot of 240V outlets. It feels like something that's rather overlooked at the moment.

Rental units also, the last 3 places I've rented have had driveways but no ability to charge an electric car, there just isn't enough incentive for landlords to install them yet, maybe if enough people start driving EVs people will significantly favor units with charging amenities but I can't find anything.

I specially install EV charging at every property I rent to cater to EV owners. No premium for doing so of course.

Re: EV adoption in US is happening faster than predicted

#518

Post by elihu »

osigurdson wrote: post #486
elihu wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the solution for batteries in cold weather is to insulate the pack and heat the battery "coolant". Almost all modern EVs use liquid cooling of some kind. (Nissan Leaves are the exception; I don't know if they've added that in newer versions, but it's why Leaf battery packs were notorious for wearing out quickly.) I don't know if battery heaters are a common feature on current EVs. I'd think it would be partic…

Resistive heating using a battery offends my sensibilities. It takes beautiful low entropy energy and irreversibly converts it high entropy heat.

I can sympathize with that, but if the choice is between, say, using 1% of the battery capacity to heat the cell versus losing 25% of the capacity because they just don't work efficiently in the cold, going with the 1st option seems like the right move.

Although maybe that's not right... if a large amount of energy is "lost" when the battery is too cold, that energy has to go somewhere. If it ends up as heat anyways, maybe it's really functionally equivalent to having a heating element in the cell. In which case the solution is probably just to insulate the batteries better.

Re: EV adoption in US is happening faster than predicted

#519

Post by jeffalyanak »

endisneigh wrote: post #74

I love EVs. That being said I wish someone would make an enclosed bicycle/motorcycle that costs less than $2000. Something like that which can go 30mph and had space for 2 days of groceries would be enough for me to eliminate my car all together. I'm cobbling something similar now with a Class 3 cargo ebike, but rain sucks =/ The idealist in me says that electric ebikes could eliminate most of Americas problems in on…

In Europe there's a whole class of vehicles that are just enclosed quadricycles. They're limited to 45km/h and have some sort of weight limit, but they're great "city cars".

A lot of electric ones have been popping up, although many of them are closer to the $5000-9000 price point.

Re: EV adoption in US is happening faster than predicted

#520

Post by toomuchtodo »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #517
s0rce wrote: post #507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rental units also, the last 3 places I've rented have had driveways but no ability to charge an electric car, there just isn't enough incentive for landlords to install them yet, maybe if enough people start driving EVs people will significantly favor units with charging amenities but I can't find anything.

I specially install EV charging at every property I rent to cater to EV owners. No premium for doing so of course.

s/specially/specifically. Please excuse my typo!
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