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Yesterday? If you only need typical commuter distances (less than 50 miles per day), then it's already practical to switch today. Go buy a Bolt / Volt / i3 / L

Yesterday? If you only need typical commuter distances (less than 50 miles per day), then it's already practical to switch today. Go buy a Bolt / Volt / i3 / Leaf / Zoe / whatever. Used ones are already around, and reasonably cheap. It's only really the edge cases that aren't super practical right now. (i.e., 'what about roadtrips?', or 'what about rural lifestyles', or 'what about cross-country trips', 'what about hauling a lot of freight', etc).

unethical_ban 9y ago
Urban = Core Suburban, inter-city = Fringe Your point stands, but your assumptions are a bit off.
niftich 9y ago
Range anxiety is real, and you're underestimating its magnitude. Today, gas stations are practically ubiquitous along major population and travel corridors, so there's a huge install base of infrastructure when you're stuck in unfortunate or unusual circumstances and you need to acquire more fuel. EV-related infrastructure has a lot of catching up to do, when your EV is one traffic detour away from being inoperable, because only dozens of charging stations exist in your area.
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  Charging infrastructure is getting near ubiquity. https://www.tesla.com/supercharger https://www.tesla.com/supercharger https://www.plugshare.com/ https://www.plugshare.com/
- maxsilver 9y ago
  > and you're underestimating its magnitude. I don't think I'm underestimating it. You are correct, EV infrastructure is poor or completely absent in most places. I mentioned the Volt and a i3 for precisely that reason. (I own a Volt for that reason). If you are worried about range anxiety, just buy an EV that has a gas backup generator, and you are fully covered in either situation.
derekp7 9y ago
To add to the edge case -- my normal commute is 50 miles a day. But on closing day of the sale of my old house, and purchase of the new one, I had two closings to attend to, in different locations. Had to drive from my old house to the one closing (about 30 miles in one direction), then to the closing on the new house (30 miles back, plus another 20 miles to get to that closing's location). Then had to drive to the storage unit to get a few things I needed for that night at the new house (bedding, some furniture items). An electric car with a 200 mile range would have had me extremely anxious. Oh, and when it was all over, still had to drive into the office for an hour for a meeting.
- GFischer 9y ago
  That's an edge case. Much as you wouldn't buy a moving van if you need it only once every N years, wouldn't this sort of examples be solved by Uber or similar? I know it sucks when you have a perfectly serviceable car :) but I wouldn't dismiss an electric car just because of this edge case when a solution is very simple.

unethical_ban 9y ago

Urban = Core Suburban, inter-city = Fringe Your point stands, but your assumptions are a bit off.

niftich 9y ago

Range anxiety is real, and you're underestimating its magnitude. Today, gas stations are practically ubiquitous along major population and travel corridors, so there's a huge install base of infrastructure when you're stuck in unfortunate or unusual circumstances and you need to acquire more fuel. EV-related infrastructure has a lot of catching up to do, when your EV is one traffic detour away from being inoperable, because only dozens of charging stations exist in your area.

toomuchtodo 9y ago
Charging infrastructure is getting near ubiquity. https://www.tesla.com/supercharger https://www.tesla.com/supercharger https://www.plugshare.com/ https://www.plugshare.com/
maxsilver 9y ago
> and you're underestimating its magnitude. I don't think I'm underestimating it. You are correct, EV infrastructure is poor or completely absent in most places. I mentioned the Volt and a i3 for precisely that reason. (I own a Volt for that reason). If you are worried about range anxiety, just buy an EV that has a gas backup generator, and you are fully covered in either situation.

derekp7 9y ago

To add to the edge case -- my normal commute is 50 miles a day. But on closing day of the sale of my old house, and purchase of the new one, I had two closings to attend to, in different locations. Had to drive from my old house to the one closing (about 30 miles in one direction), then to the closing on the new house (30 miles back, plus another 20 miles to get to that closing's location). Then had to drive to the storage unit to get a few things I needed for that night at the new house (bedding, some furniture items). An electric car with a 200 mile range would have had me extremely anxious. Oh, and when it was all over, still had to drive into the office for an hour for a meeting.

GFischer 9y ago
That's an edge case. Much as you wouldn't buy a moving van if you need it only once every N years, wouldn't this sort of examples be solved by Uber or similar? I know it sucks when you have a perfectly serviceable car :) but I wouldn't dismiss an electric car just because of this edge case when a solution is very simple.