Why I'm not buying an electric car yet... (rental, vehicle, SUV)
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They definitely need to expand these spots. Even upgrading to v3 alone would take care of most of this. Unshared charging is what will benefit the most.
They could improve the charge, cover the entire lot with a huge top cover of solar panels expand to three times the capacity.
However, most places aren’t like this and they can address the worst problem spots now.
I think is worst case scenario given that the 5 and 33 hwy were closed due to snow on Thanksgiving. This loaded up traffic on the 14 and 101. I've got a Tesla with free Supercharging, but I know better than to attempt a road-trip on the busiest travel day of the year during our region's first low elevation snow storm of the season. Instead, I drove 8 miles to my aunt's house in the next town over. I had enough juice if I wanted to drive back and forth 15 times before I would need to recharge...or I could have taken another vehicle. I don't think I would rely on solely owning one vehicle and I wouldn't want to own only electric vehicles. Diversity is good...I never understood folks that have multiples of the same model car.
I think is worst case scenario given that the 5 and 33 hwy were closed due to snow on Thanksgiving. This loaded up traffic on the 14 and 101. I've got a Tesla with free Supercharging, but I know better than to attempt a road-trip on the busiest travel day of the year during our region's first low elevation snow storm of the season. Instead, I drove 8 miles to my aunt's house in the next town over. I had enough juice if I wanted to drive back and forth 15 times before I would need to recharge...or I could have taken another vehicle. I don't think I would rely on solely owning one vehicle and I wouldn't want to own only electric vehicles. Diversity is good...I never understood folks that have multiples of the same model car.
That's true, but you'd hope that even for conditions like these, there's enough slack in the network to still make things relatively smooth.
Anyhow, it's known that Tesla is behind on the supercharger installation schedule they wanted which was probably due to the delayed rollout of Supercharger v.3 (since why roll out a bunch of version 2's when the much faster version 3 was supposed to be just around the riverbend). The question is that now that v.3 is out, are they planning to quickly pick up the pace given that they're doing pretty decently with sales and are nearing launch of a vehicle that is in a particular popular segment for the US?
I also can't help but think that once Tesla knew they were going to be late in the supercharger v.3 launch, then they should have launched a CCS adapter and should have had a much lower price for their ChaDeMo adapter so they can piggyback off of other networks that have launched and are in especially large concentration in California.
This type of thing is a rare occurrence. We’ve taken our Tesla on 5 road trips and never had to wait to charge. You’d be foolish to let an anomaly like this influence your buying decisions.
I’ll be a likely buyer in 10-12 years. My expectation is the battery technology, solar efficiency, and charging infrastructure will all take huge leaps forward.
I recall a business trip to the Florida panhandle, right after one of their major hurricanes. The power outage also knocked out most of the gas-station gasoline pumps. I had to fill up my rental car before returning it to the airport. Driving around, every nearby station had plastic bags over their pump-handles... they were only open for selling junk-food, not gas. It took an hour (or more!) to finally find an open gas station. I nearly missed my flight.
The reason to presently forebear from getting a EV is (1) the poor energy density of batteries, and (2) the tendency of most EVs currently available to either be SUVs or economy cars. Sporting-oriented cars, with the possible exception of Tesla and a few odd and heinously expensive exotics, simply aren't around.
Once there is an electric Mazda Miata, I'll be lined up to buy it. Even if that entails a multiple-hour line at every instance when I'd have to recharge it.
I’ll be a likely buyer in 10-12 years. My expectation is the battery technology, solar efficiency, and charging infrastructure will all take huge leaps forward.
I completely respect your perspective, but wanted to point out that if cost is a factor in any of the above components, you might find the sweet spot in slightly older of used versions. For instance, solar panels get more and more efficient each year where a 250W panel would cost you about $300 a few years ago and is now only $200. Meanwhile $300 today could buy a 300W panel. Similarly used EV cars with less range than the current offerings can be had at a fraction of the price.
The technology keeps advancing which causes the older tech to diminish in monetary value even though there can still be great utility value with the right user. In the case of solar, typically it is wise to not overspend on the most efficient panels unless you are limited to array design. However, if you're more interested in a breakthrough in the technology then by all means keep waiting.
This type of thing is a rare occurrence. We’ve taken our Tesla on 5 road trips and never had to wait to charge. You’d be foolish to let an anomaly like this influence your buying decisions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kwong7
I think is worst case scenario given that the 5 and 33 hwy were closed due to snow on Thanksgiving. This loaded up traffic on the 14 and 101. I've got a Tesla with free Supercharging, but I know better than to attempt a road-trip on the busiest travel day of the year during our region's first low elevation snow storm of the season. Instead, I drove 8 miles to my aunt's house in the next town over. I had enough juice if I wanted to drive back and forth 15 times before I would need to recharge...or I could have taken another vehicle. I don't think I would rely on solely owning one vehicle and I wouldn't want to own only electric vehicles. Diversity is good...I never understood folks that have multiples of the same model car.
How rare? Anomaly? This was 85 miles east in Kettleman City, CA...right off of the 5 freeway.
This is worse than a traffic jam because in a traffic jam you likely have alternative routes. You don't here. Makes you think twice about taking a Tesla (certainly on a holiday weekend) on a long trip, doesn't it?
I would like one as a second car, but the economics of it just does work out, not even close. The selection is too small right now, not many models to choose from. The only one I like is the Tesla Model S, the rest are just dog ugly and rather stupid looking.
For what the Model S costs, I can find something equally satisfying for much less. Maybe shortly in the future more models will come out at varying price points.
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