Electric vehicles aren’t helping with the transition to electric vehicles. Cars are more expensive than ever. If one has a choice between an annoyingly necessary vehicle that can get them to and from work and take care of long trips, or something that costs the same (or more) and can’t even get you halfway across the state on a single charge, which would one with a limited budget pick?
I have some friends that tried to take the plunge with EV. They bought one used, so some age on the traction pack. Cold-ass winter came along, the car doesn’t do active thermal management of the pack. They could barely make it 24 miles between towns. Their next car will be a hybrid. Until EVs are priced similar and behave similar to ICE cars, it’s going to be a slow roll to convert people.
The “transition away from gas vehicles” and the “transition to electric vehicles” aren’t the same thing and shouldn’t be conflated.
The bulk of the transition should be to other forms of transportation, not simply subbing out disastrous gas automobiles for only-marginally-less-disastrous electric automobiles.
One problem is the lack of alternative transport options.
In most of the US, public transport just isn’t a thing. And things are too far apart for cycling to be efficient for commutes, grocery shopping, etc.
for those not from the US, I highly recommend watching the YouTube channel “Not Just Bikes” to get a better understanding of how absolutely dogshit the US is for anyone without a car.
Not only is public transit non-existent… you are nearly constantly under threat of being hit by a car as a pedestrian - as things like sidewalks, street crossing safe areas, etc. are all spotty at best… not to mention how trucks and SUVs now are bigger than ever so chances are higher than they’ve ever been before that you won’t be seen before being run over.
Yup can confirm. Leased a new car six month ago. Wanted to get an electric, but the downsides of electric cars just didn’t make sense. Much more expensive, and worse in winter. Cheaper to charge, but not at all enough to make up the huge extra cost.
When the Chinese make a cheap ev that is better than fuel cars, it’s going to become more profitable than Tesla.
Chinese are already doing that. They are way above and beyond in the advancements and got the cheap labor. It’s why we don’t see them it would kill the automobile industry. I’m sure they have lacking safety standards too compared to other countries, but I’m sure they’d patch that up to sell them. I read they got EVs under $30k and they have the first consumer.EV with a sodium battery; this means it’s more environmental friendly since it has no lithium, it doesn’t have the issue with cold weather causing lower efficiency, and it’s cheaper to make.
plugin hybrids to me are an important step. If it can do 10 miles without starting to use gas and the person plugs it in they will use very little gas.
The only problem with this idea is plugin hybrids should have been an important step. Why haven’t we already phased out pure gasoline vehicles for hybrid and plugin hybrid? We could have and should have done this when pure EVs were not yet practical.
But that time has passed. EVs are or could be practical for most uses, with current technology. Manufacturers don’t get to just build overpriced luxury vehicles and say “see, no one wants them: let’s go back to gasoline”. Not enough cheap EVs? We could if manufacturers would scale up, or if we allowed imports from China. Not enough charging stations? That’s just time and investment, and was rapidly changing at least up to Tesla’s layoffs. You don’t get to delay the build out and say “see, there’s not enough chargers”. Not enough raw materials? Huge discoveries in the last couple of years, and recycling ready to scale up as soon as enough vehicles are there. Not enough power in the grid? They only respond to steady growth in demand, and need that growth maintained over years. I suppose plug-in hybrid is better than gasoline but we’re really at the stage where EV technology is practical for most and the biggest impediment is just doing it
I mean for myself I could not plug one in and if you ever have dealt with a community like a condo getting permission to one off is only overshadowed by trying to get the place to improve the infrastructure overall in impossibility. I sorta hope incentives or regulations come along to make such changes easier.
Right, but the technology is there. The obstruction is legal/policy/who pays, so older technology shouldn’t have to be the answer.
I’m frustrated with this same issue at my ex’s condo. The entire complex is townhouses with assigned parking in front. It also has the service entrance in front, so a charger is a short cable under the side walk from a unit’s service entrance to a pedestal at their parking spot. Cheap and easy, and everyone pays their own electric bill. So why won’t they do it? Oh well, if my ex doesn’t want that fight, it’s not my problem
well and thats a bit easier than a building style. I can’t just run something in the garage. I kid you not but a guy had insulation put above his unit in the attic and they spent condo funds to have a lawyer go after it to remove it and when he fought back they had a guy take the insulation out. its freakin nuts!
Not sure how to react with this one. On the one hand, we need a bigger and better used EV market, but on the other hand, this shouldn’t have been a surprise. It’s sort of like buying a 20 yr old Corolla, then complaining it can’t haul gravel
Electric vehicles aren’t helping with the transition to electric vehicles. Cars are more expensive than ever. If one has a choice between an annoyingly necessary vehicle that can get them to and from work and take care of long trips, or something that costs the same (or more) and can’t even get you halfway across the state on a single charge, which would one with a limited budget pick?
I have some friends that tried to take the plunge with EV. They bought one used, so some age on the traction pack. Cold-ass winter came along, the car doesn’t do active thermal management of the pack. They could barely make it 24 miles between towns. Their next car will be a hybrid. Until EVs are priced similar and behave similar to ICE cars, it’s going to be a slow roll to convert people.
The “transition away from gas vehicles” and the “transition to electric vehicles” aren’t the same thing and shouldn’t be conflated.
The bulk of the transition should be to other forms of transportation, not simply subbing out disastrous gas automobiles for only-marginally-less-disastrous electric automobiles.
One problem is the lack of alternative transport options. In most of the US, public transport just isn’t a thing. And things are too far apart for cycling to be efficient for commutes, grocery shopping, etc.
I hope that changes some day though.
for those not from the US, I highly recommend watching the YouTube channel “Not Just Bikes” to get a better understanding of how absolutely dogshit the US is for anyone without a car.
Not only is public transit non-existent… you are nearly constantly under threat of being hit by a car as a pedestrian - as things like sidewalks, street crossing safe areas, etc. are all spotty at best… not to mention how trucks and SUVs now are bigger than ever so chances are higher than they’ve ever been before that you won’t be seen before being run over.
Yup can confirm. Leased a new car six month ago. Wanted to get an electric, but the downsides of electric cars just didn’t make sense. Much more expensive, and worse in winter. Cheaper to charge, but not at all enough to make up the huge extra cost.
When the Chinese make a cheap ev that is better than fuel cars, it’s going to become more profitable than Tesla.
Chinese are already doing that. They are way above and beyond in the advancements and got the cheap labor. It’s why we don’t see them it would kill the automobile industry. I’m sure they have lacking safety standards too compared to other countries, but I’m sure they’d patch that up to sell them. I read they got EVs under $30k and they have the first consumer.EV with a sodium battery; this means it’s more environmental friendly since it has no lithium, it doesn’t have the issue with cold weather causing lower efficiency, and it’s cheaper to make.
plugin hybrids to me are an important step. If it can do 10 miles without starting to use gas and the person plugs it in they will use very little gas.
The only problem with this idea is plugin hybrids should have been an important step. Why haven’t we already phased out pure gasoline vehicles for hybrid and plugin hybrid? We could have and should have done this when pure EVs were not yet practical.
But that time has passed. EVs are or could be practical for most uses, with current technology. Manufacturers don’t get to just build overpriced luxury vehicles and say “see, no one wants them: let’s go back to gasoline”. Not enough cheap EVs? We could if manufacturers would scale up, or if we allowed imports from China. Not enough charging stations? That’s just time and investment, and was rapidly changing at least up to Tesla’s layoffs. You don’t get to delay the build out and say “see, there’s not enough chargers”. Not enough raw materials? Huge discoveries in the last couple of years, and recycling ready to scale up as soon as enough vehicles are there. Not enough power in the grid? They only respond to steady growth in demand, and need that growth maintained over years. I suppose plug-in hybrid is better than gasoline but we’re really at the stage where EV technology is practical for most and the biggest impediment is just doing it
I mean for myself I could not plug one in and if you ever have dealt with a community like a condo getting permission to one off is only overshadowed by trying to get the place to improve the infrastructure overall in impossibility. I sorta hope incentives or regulations come along to make such changes easier.
Right, but the technology is there. The obstruction is legal/policy/who pays, so older technology shouldn’t have to be the answer.
I’m frustrated with this same issue at my ex’s condo. The entire complex is townhouses with assigned parking in front. It also has the service entrance in front, so a charger is a short cable under the side walk from a unit’s service entrance to a pedestal at their parking spot. Cheap and easy, and everyone pays their own electric bill. So why won’t they do it? Oh well, if my ex doesn’t want that fight, it’s not my problem
well and thats a bit easier than a building style. I can’t just run something in the garage. I kid you not but a guy had insulation put above his unit in the attic and they spent condo funds to have a lawyer go after it to remove it and when he fought back they had a guy take the insulation out. its freakin nuts!
Not sure how to react with this one. On the one hand, we need a bigger and better used EV market, but on the other hand, this shouldn’t have been a surprise. It’s sort of like buying a 20 yr old Corolla, then complaining it can’t haul gravel