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This is what I've said before in this forum, until EV's conform to drivers habits they will remain nothing more than an impractical toy for the rich and a statement by others saying "see? I'm greener than you are"
Quote:
To achieve mass market adoption, however, cars running on electricity — or any other alternative energy source — must satisfy the three “C’s”: cost, convenience and connectivity.
Advertised savings over time in powering a car using alternative “fuels” so far have failed to persuade the average driver to buy.
Drivers appear unwilling to sacrifice the expected hundreds of miles in driving range between refuelings. Likewise, drivers demand refueling times equal to what they are accustomed — about five minutes at the gasoline station.
Further, there must be adequate infrastructure in place to enable large numbers of drivers to connect to an alternative energy source before that source can be widely adopted.
Until the fully electric car can satisfy all three C’s, any assessment of projected vehicle sales must reflect a variety of energy sourcing options, both traditional and alternative, all competing for market share.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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And, gas prices are dropping again. I paid $3.25 yesterday, but then today on my other car got a discount at Safeway thanks to Thanksgiving shopping and filled up for $2.76/gallon.
They are trying to make an EV a viable substitute, which is not going to happen. People only have so much money, and a car is a large purchase, many people are not going to limit their mobility with this purchase.
In a perfect world, people would have a car for every purpose, thus maximizing the efficiency of the car, but with limited income, people generally need a "do all" car, a criteria an EV does not meet.
Plus the crowd that would use them, apartment dwellers, cannot use them, so this is leaving out a large and most potential market segment.
The US is betting its future on fossil fuels for personal transportation.
Kinda like a retire couple betting all their savings on one stock, its not a good idea.
As someone said, its good to have options.
To all the people that say today's EVs are not perfect and don't meet all your needs, do you remember the first computers or the first cell phones? Others say EVs will not catch on because of the costs (typically 25-30k), but I see many people driving $50-70k SUVs. And smart apartment owners will be
providing charging stations in their parking lots just like they provide other amenities. None of the problems of today's EVs are unsolvable.
As always, follow the money. There is no large financial reward at stake for EV manufacturers or technology companies versus the current production companies, suppliers and better yet...petroleum companies. Guess who wins?
The US is betting its future on fossil fuels for personal transportation.
Kinda like a retire couple betting all their savings on one stock, its not a good idea.
As someone said, its good to have options.
To all the people that say today's EVs are not perfect and don't meet all your needs, do you remember the first computers or the first cell phones? Others say EVs will not catch on because of the costs (typically 25-30k), but I see many people driving $50-70k SUVs. And smart apartment owners will be
providing charging stations in their parking lots just like they provide other amenities. None of the problems of today's EVs are unsolvable.
The first computers and cell phones were not substitutes for an existing product; a better analogy would be the first mp3 player versus the walkman. Those both do the same thing, but the mp3 player was more expensive and had more features. Those extra features are what made the mp3 player a better value to people, which led to its increase in popularity.
The EV is a substitue product like the mp3 player was, however, as of now too many people feel the EV does not have better features than the current auto. The only different feature is it uses electric, and that is actually a detractor for many uses, especially when considering the price.
An EV is not a substitute product for people driving aorund $50-$70 suvs; the sole purpose of an EV is not to use gas, if someone is not conered with that, the EV has no use for them. If it is a money saving item, a person driving around such an expensive suv is not restricted by the current price of fuel. A perosn who could really benefit from the extra money saved will find the EV is out of their price range.
How many smart apartments are there? Why is it assumed apartments are going to want to invest in charging stations? How much is that going to cost, and who is going to be paying? Again, this counters the cost benefits of the EV. I have never seen a smart apartment, do have a number of how many there are, along with the business strategy of how the charging stations are used?
If someone wants to purchase an EV strictly for envirnmental reasons, that is fine, but many people do not have the resources to be so environmentally friendly. Many people have money to purchase just one car, and many times that car needs to have the ability to do multiple things. The restriction of use an EV has is too much for many people, especially when factoring in the price of one.
It's all about the infrastructure. Charging stations need to be built and battery performance must increase. Check out Byd auto and the e6. almost a 200 miles on 1 charge.
It's gonna take a while, but it i think there here to stay, and the costs will eventually come down. I hope so anyway, i think there pretty cool.
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