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I am pretty sure that electric cars are going to take over the car market. Tesla has shown that electric cars can be more desirable than combustion engined ones

by _ph_ 9y ago

I am pretty sure that electric cars are going to take over the car market. Tesla has shown that electric cars can be more desirable than combustion engined ones. They are also the best way to reduce the environmental impact of cars. Currently, the market share is limited by the higher price and more so even by the small number of different electrical models offered. The price does not matter if you cannot get the car model you want in the first place. So any threats of fossil car sales is about accelerating the switch and push car makers into quickly offering a wider variety of electric cars. As soon as electric cars cross 50% market share, combustion engine cars probably will become less desirable and difficult to sell. So a total ban should not matter too much then, the trick is getting to 50%.

danenania 9y ago
As much as I would like this to happen soon, I see the 30 minute charge as main ux impediment that needs to be overcome before they can really go mainstream. People simply aren't going to want to wait that long. It needs to be comparable to getting gas or it's a dealbreaker imo.
- _ph_ 9y ago
  The key to that is to have the car charge, when it parks. Then even modest charge speeds are sufficient to keep your car charged all the time. You would only have to wait for a recharge when going long distance>300 miles in one drive. There electric cars would be slower than combustion engined ones - unless you take breaks anyway, which would make the charge time mostly vanish. But yes, electric cars have tradeoffs too. As a plus you never have to refuel in day-to-day driving and there are all the other benefits of electric propulsion (comfort and environmental impact).
  - danenania 9y ago
    That's a good point--requires quite a big infrastructure push though to get there. Seems like a bit of a chicken and egg problem, as it will be hard to justify the spending required to make charge-while-parking sufficiently ubiquitous until electric cars have a big market share, but I'm not sure they can get that market share without a good charging story like the one you describe. Tough problem.
    - _ph_ 9y ago
      It is happening. Here in Germany, you often will find at least one or two charging spots at malls, and a lot of supermarkets have set up charging spots too - as soon as they are regularly occupied, more can be added easily. Also, about 50% of all car owners could addd electricity to their garage or parking lot without a large investment. Some cities are experimenting with adding plugs to street lights.
majewsky 9y ago
> They are also the best way to reduce the environmental impact of cars. From an individual perspective, maybe. From a city-planner perspective, the best way to reduce the environmental impact of cars is to deploy public transit. (And the Chinese know that: https://twitter.com/yicaichina/status/867494851511672832 https://twitter.com/yicaichina/status/867494851511672832 )
- _ph_ 9y ago
  I stand to my sentence: they are the best way to reduce the environmental impact of cars, as you have cars. If you get rid of cars, that is of course even less environmental impact. I am a big supporter of public transit - personally I always use public transit to go to downtown (Munich, Germany), as it is much more convenient and even cheaper.

by _ph_ 9y ago

danenania 9y ago

As much as I would like this to happen soon, I see the 30 minute charge as main ux impediment that needs to be overcome before they can really go mainstream. People simply aren't going to want to wait that long. It needs to be comparable to getting gas or it's a dealbreaker imo.

_ph_ 9y ago
The key to that is to have the car charge, when it parks. Then even modest charge speeds are sufficient to keep your car charged all the time. You would only have to wait for a recharge when going long distance>300 miles in one drive. There electric cars would be slower than combustion engined ones - unless you take breaks anyway, which would make the charge time mostly vanish. But yes, electric cars have tradeoffs too. As a plus you never have to refuel in day-to-day driving and there are all the other benefits of electric propulsion (comfort and environmental impact).
- danenania 9y ago
  That's a good point--requires quite a big infrastructure push though to get there. Seems like a bit of a chicken and egg problem, as it will be hard to justify the spending required to make charge-while-parking sufficiently ubiquitous until electric cars have a big market share, but I'm not sure they can get that market share without a good charging story like the one you describe. Tough problem.
  - _ph_ 9y ago
    It is happening. Here in Germany, you often will find at least one or two charging spots at malls, and a lot of supermarkets have set up charging spots too - as soon as they are regularly occupied, more can be added easily. Also, about 50% of all car owners could addd electricity to their garage or parking lot without a large investment. Some cities are experimenting with adding plugs to street lights.

majewsky 9y ago

> They are also the best way to reduce the environmental impact of cars. From an individual perspective, maybe. From a city-planner perspective, the best way to reduce the environmental impact of cars is to deploy public transit. (And the Chinese know that: https://twitter.com/yicaichina/status/867494851511672832 https://twitter.com/yicaichina/status/867494851511672832 )

_ph_ 9y ago
I stand to my sentence: they are the best way to reduce the environmental impact of cars, as you have cars. If you get rid of cars, that is of course even less environmental impact. I am a big supporter of public transit - personally I always use public transit to go to downtown (Munich, Germany), as it is much more convenient and even cheaper.