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A ski friend of mine has a house on an airstrip in Florida with an airplane in the garage. An air traffic controller who had to retire at 55. He drives between Vermont and Florida in a Tesla a half dozen times per year.
Why would I want to even suffer the brain damage of worrying about where I could, or would go with an EV?
Exactly.
Gas is good until the last drop. EV batteries have a buffer in their SOC (state of charge) that only allows it to run down to 20% "empty" and charge to 80% "full". While this slows battery capacity degradation, they've already sort of beat it to the punch by crippling a full 40% of untapped capacity in the name of a stable output voltage. It's an inherent disadvantage of electric power from any kind of chemical cell. No advance in BATTERY technology will change this. They can double capacity but it's still 40% unusable capacity due to harmful side effects to reliability if used.
Neat. Not really though. I'm pretty sure most people who own electric cars view them as daily commuter cars, and are alright with that. Is it really that hard to grasp that people might own a 2nd vehicle that might be better suited for long road trips or towing the boat or whatever.
I see, people who only need one car need to buy another car.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bfrabel
When people talk of electric cars inability to take long road trips it's kind of like saying people who own Toyota Corolla's are stupid because they can't haul full sheets of plywood in them.
It is nothing like your one off example.
People in the US drive long distance miles more than once a year. I can only imagine how much fun it would be to stop for 30-45 minutes every 200 miles (or less depending on the vehicle, weather, and traffic speed) or get to the only charger in the area and find it is not going to work with your vehicle.
FYI - the Toyota Corolla has a range of about a 500 miles. To cover 500 miles starting with a full charged Chevy Bolt, you would need at least an extra 2 hours (assuming Fast charging) added to your travel time.
If someone wants to go this route, seems to me a plug-in hybrid would be the way to go, use it as an EV for short trips, use the gas engine on longer trips.
I'm a bit surprised that the Volt got dropped, it seems to me to be a decent hybrid car, if you want a bigger car. I could see 4 regular sized guys taking a road trip in a Volt and enjoying it, both from a standpoint of enough room, and not necessarily having to stop to charge up frequently. A ;lug-in Prius would also work, if you don't need/want as much room.
If someone wants to go this route, seems to me a plug-in hybrid would be the way to go, use it as an EV for short trips, use the gas engine on longer trips.
I'm a bit surprised that the Volt got dropped, it seems to me to be a decent hybrid car, if you want a bigger car. I could see 4 regular sized guys taking a road trip in a Volt and enjoying it, both from a standpoint of enough room, and not necessarily having to stop to charge up frequently. A ;lug-in Prius would also work, if you don't need/want as much room.
The Volt is in every way the idea commuter car for all-EV M-F, with a gas tank for long range weekend driving. Magazines shoot it down every chance they get, and compare every new EV to Tesla. It's propaganda. Many people don't want a Tesla. But you'd never know it by reading magazines and online articles.
The places where EVs are sold the most in the US are on the coasts. The population density of the Northeast is high, and urban areas are close together. Unless you make regular trips between San Francisco and LA or Boston and Washington, for example, an EV will be a perfectly sufficient vehicle. I don’t think there are many people who take cross country or hundreds of mile long trips regularly in their cars.
well, we could not rely upon EV for our daily routes.
besides, they are too expensive for us, even with incentives.
the current state of EV is not something with which we want to gamble $30K.
however, EV is the future. just like HDTVs got better and cheaper, EVs will too.
by the time EVs get That Good, i expect autonomous will be That Good as well.
The places where EVs are sold the most in the US are on the coasts. The population density of the Northeast is high, and urban areas are close together. Unless you make regular trips between San Francisco and LA or Boston and Washington, for example, an EV will be a perfectly sufficient vehicle. I don’t think there are many people who take cross country or hundreds of mile long trips regularly in their cars.
Nope.
We have winter here in the Northeast. Winter is not good for batteries. We live in north NJ and ski most weekends in VT. It is 255 miles and 4:15 diving time one way. There is no way we would want to add another 30-60 minutes each way in order to make sure we get to the mountain. We rent a place, so forget about charging at night beyond a 120v plug - if you can find one with 4 feet of snow on the ground. The temp gets below zero F at night on a frequent basis.
EV would work as a commuter, but even on 200 mile trips in the winter you are going to have to stop for 30-60 minutes to get to your destination if you have an EV. That is horrible.
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