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For me, it's not really the range at all, it's what you do at the end of the range. Charging stations are rare and slow, fuel stations are common and quick. I

by creato 8y ago

For me, it's not really the range at all, it's what you do at the end of the range. Charging stations are rare and slow, fuel stations are common and quick. I don't see why gas-electric hybrids, with say, 20-50 miles of electric-only range aren't more popular. That would eliminate the vast majority of fossil fuel usage [1], and avoid this problem entirely. It also seems a lot cheaper than loading a car with hundreds of miles worth of batteries. 1. http://www.solarjourneyusa.com/EVdistanceAnalysis.php http://www.solarjourneyusa.com/EVdistanceAnalysis.php

losteric 8y ago
The public is always reluctant to change established behavior and expectations... mass adoption requires revolutionary change that overcomes perceived functional and financial costs of switching, or evolutionary change with no perceived cost. So EV will see mass adoption as soon as people can top up at a "charge station" in under 3 minutes and get 200+ mile range - because that's what people expect from "a car". The public doesn't care about the evolution of implementation details like gas vs electric. The beautiful part is that once home charging is no longer required, people will be happy to charge at home! We are an adorably irrational species. Alternatively, there is a revolutionary path: autonomous vehicles. If AI-EV offered completely hands-off transportation, no driving or maintenance required, people would happily ignore any perceived transition costs. However, this path seems unlikely in the near future.
- dplavery92 8y ago
  >The beautiful part is that once home charging is no longer required, people will be happy to charge at home! We are an adorably irrational species. The problem isn't that people are unhappy to charge at home now, it's that if and when I need to travel more than 200 miles without stopping at home, I need supporting infrastructure (and planning to find it) or to use another vehicle.
  - wastedhours 8y ago
    Plus, I live in an apartment block with the under-building garage not having any plug sockets. Unless I drape an extension lead down 5 storeys and about 150m away, I can't see the upgrade path at the moment. There probably are sockets closer, but it's not as simple as "park and charge", but either "lobby the building management and get sockets installed" or "find a hacky solution with long cables".
not_kurt_godel 8y ago
> I don't see why gas-electric hybrids, with say, 20-50 miles of electric-only range aren't more popular As best as I can tell, Priuses are essentially an incremental evolution towards this. Check out Prius Prime vs the regular Prius. I imagine the main reason it's less popular is because of the higher price but they'll probably become more popular over time as Toyota works on bringing it down.

by creato 8y ago

losteric 8y ago

The public is always reluctant to change established behavior and expectations... mass adoption requires revolutionary change that overcomes perceived functional and financial costs of switching, or evolutionary change with no perceived cost. So EV will see mass adoption as soon as people can top up at a "charge station" in under 3 minutes and get 200+ mile range - because that's what people expect from "a car". The public doesn't care about the evolution of implementation details like gas vs electric. The beautiful part is that once home charging is no longer required, people will be happy to charge at home! We are an adorably irrational species. Alternatively, there is a revolutionary path: autonomous vehicles. If AI-EV offered completely hands-off transportation, no driving or maintenance required, people would happily ignore any perceived transition costs. However, this path seems unlikely in the near future.

dplavery92 8y ago
>The beautiful part is that once home charging is no longer required, people will be happy to charge at home! We are an adorably irrational species. The problem isn't that people are unhappy to charge at home now, it's that if and when I need to travel more than 200 miles without stopping at home, I need supporting infrastructure (and planning to find it) or to use another vehicle.
- wastedhours 8y ago
  Plus, I live in an apartment block with the under-building garage not having any plug sockets. Unless I drape an extension lead down 5 storeys and about 150m away, I can't see the upgrade path at the moment. There probably are sockets closer, but it's not as simple as "park and charge", but either "lobby the building management and get sockets installed" or "find a hacky solution with long cables".

not_kurt_godel 8y ago

> I don't see why gas-electric hybrids, with say, 20-50 miles of electric-only range aren't more popular As best as I can tell, Priuses are essentially an incremental evolution towards this. Check out Prius Prime vs the regular Prius. I imagine the main reason it's less popular is because of the higher price but they'll probably become more popular over time as Toyota works on bringing it down.