4 ms·

"Nobody is going to buy this thing. I commute 250 miles each way to my job, in my pickup truck. Call me back when Tesla makes a real car with real range. Anybod

"Nobody is going to buy this thing. I commute 250 miles each way to my job, in my pickup truck. Call me back when Tesla makes a real car with real range. Anybody who buys these now is a sucker." Because people keep saying shit like that. Tesla's range increases are a giant experiment to find out at exactly what point opposition to electric collapses.

ngngngng 6y ago
I heard a similar argument when I expressed to in an online community that I was going to pre order a cyber truck. "That thing can only two 14,000 lbs. No ones going to buy a truck that can only two that much, my F350 can tow 20,000 lbs, that's much more useful."
octorian 6y ago
"Nobody is going to buy this thing. I commute 250 miles each way to my job, in my pickup truck, hauling a load of lumber to a cabin 100 miles from civilization. There's no electricity out there. Call me back when Tesla makes a real car with real range. Anybody who buys these now is a sucker." FTFY. There's one of these in EVERY discussion of something Tesla releases :-)
- arethuza 6y ago
  To make your day I will add a post like that. A typical weekend for me involves driving ~150 miles to leave my car in the cold and wet in the middle of nowhere for 8 to 9 hours while I wander around some mountains. Only 2 superchargers in the country and their not between where I live and where I go. Is this unusual - absolutely (mind you plenty people here do similar things) - but range is an important factor to me. However, the main one is cost - absolutely no way will I spend more than £25K on a car.
  - bkor 6y ago
    > Is this unusual - absolutely Often these claims are made while saying that it's a normal requirement and that everyone has the same requirement, thus nobody will buy it. Cost is an important factor. I think a lot of people already would like to buy one, if they're way cheaper (also way cheaper than £25k). I've seen articles about new battery tech which focusses on cost quite a bit. So hopefully the cost of a new electric car will continue to go down. There's also a "law" somewhere which states that with every significant doubling of industry the cost will go down. It has to do with gaining more experience, not the usual "economies of scale".
    - arethuza 6y ago
      If someone makes an EV with 350 mile range, decent specifications and costs £25K I'll buy two. Edit: I don't care about performance - my current car as a 1l engine and it is fine.
  - Milner08 6y ago
    You use £ so I assume UK, but there are way more than 2 super chargers in the UK... So I assume youre talking about Wales as I dont think they have many. They do have plenty of other types of chargers though.
    - arethuza 6y ago
      Actually - Google seemed to get this wrong the first time I searched I'm in Scotland and there appears to be five superchargers and there are indeed other chargers. I'd say maybe half the time I go anywhere I drive through Perth - so that's not too bad. Still, I'm not going to pay way more money for a car that makes my days in the hills even longer! The cost aspect is by far the main reason I haven't bought an EV.
  - jansan 6y ago
    I was surprised to hear from a friend that he just ordered a fully electric Volkswagen Up! for 13k€. There was a huge discount plus some government subsidy that saved him 10k. It's a small car, but if only used within the city it absolutely makes sense.
jacobush 6y ago
For me it has always been at a range of 1000 kilometers. (600 miles.)
- csunbird 6y ago
  It is the same limit for me. The car should be able to go until I am tired driving it, which is around 6 to 8 hours driving at 120km/h, including breaks of 15-20 minutes each 3 hours. Then I can accept a 30-45 minute break to charge if I have to continue.
  - Klathmon 6y ago
    Tesla's are already very close to that right now. I used to drive from Florida to Pennsylvania fairly often, and in my model 3 it's a rough cadence of drive for 2.5 to 3 hours, stop at a supercharger for under 30 minutes, repeat until I'm there. And that's with the vast majority of the trip at 75mph/120km/h. It does get worse in the winter though, I need to stop more frequently like every 2 hours, and for more like 30 minutes per stop.
    - dahfizz 6y ago
      I think discussions of range alone are misguided for this reason. The state of charging infrastructure is just as important as the range of the car itself. The 300 mile range on a tesla is fine even for long road trips because the infrastructure is solid.
      - kazinator 6y ago
        Obviously, it's not fine for Klathmon, who minds the 30 minute charging stops. A much faster charging time could help independently of the range. Of course infrastructure outside metropolitan limits is important, since without that you're screwed and can't be even be having a discussion about annoying half hour stops in interstate driving.
      - octorian 6y ago
        > The state of charging infrastructure is just as important as the range of the car itself. And this is why I facepalm every single time I see a car manufacturer trying to make a "Tesla competitor" by focusing on getting most of the range with none of the charging infrastructure. (Or they assume the infrastructure is someone else's problem, that can be solved with some press releases about business agreements.)
agumonkey 6y ago
it's interesting to see the good old critical show: - cant be - wont work - will die - about to die - not as good as expected - door handle has a flaw <= when you reached petty daily criticism, it means you're part of the world maker now

ngngngng 6y ago

I heard a similar argument when I expressed to in an online community that I was going to pre order a cyber truck. "That thing can only two 14,000 lbs. No ones going to buy a truck that can only two that much, my F350 can tow 20,000 lbs, that's much more useful."

octorian 6y ago

"Nobody is going to buy this thing. I commute 250 miles each way to my job, in my pickup truck, hauling a load of lumber to a cabin 100 miles from civilization. There's no electricity out there. Call me back when Tesla makes a real car with real range. Anybody who buys these now is a sucker." FTFY. There's one of these in EVERY discussion of something Tesla releases :-)

arethuza 6y ago
To make your day I will add a post like that. A typical weekend for me involves driving ~150 miles to leave my car in the cold and wet in the middle of nowhere for 8 to 9 hours while I wander around some mountains. Only 2 superchargers in the country and their not between where I live and where I go. Is this unusual - absolutely (mind you plenty people here do similar things) - but range is an important factor to me. However, the main one is cost - absolutely no way will I spend more than £25K on a car.
- bkor 6y ago
  > Is this unusual - absolutely Often these claims are made while saying that it's a normal requirement and that everyone has the same requirement, thus nobody will buy it. Cost is an important factor. I think a lot of people already would like to buy one, if they're way cheaper (also way cheaper than £25k). I've seen articles about new battery tech which focusses on cost quite a bit. So hopefully the cost of a new electric car will continue to go down. There's also a "law" somewhere which states that with every significant doubling of industry the cost will go down. It has to do with gaining more experience, not the usual "economies of scale".
  - arethuza 6y ago
    If someone makes an EV with 350 mile range, decent specifications and costs £25K I'll buy two. Edit: I don't care about performance - my current car as a 1l engine and it is fine.
- Milner08 6y ago
  You use £ so I assume UK, but there are way more than 2 super chargers in the UK... So I assume youre talking about Wales as I dont think they have many. They do have plenty of other types of chargers though.
  - arethuza 6y ago
    Actually - Google seemed to get this wrong the first time I searched I'm in Scotland and there appears to be five superchargers and there are indeed other chargers. I'd say maybe half the time I go anywhere I drive through Perth - so that's not too bad. Still, I'm not going to pay way more money for a car that makes my days in the hills even longer! The cost aspect is by far the main reason I haven't bought an EV.
- jansan 6y ago
  I was surprised to hear from a friend that he just ordered a fully electric Volkswagen Up! for 13k€. There was a huge discount plus some government subsidy that saved him 10k. It's a small car, but if only used within the city it absolutely makes sense.

jacobush 6y ago

For me it has always been at a range of 1000 kilometers. (600 miles.)

csunbird 6y ago
It is the same limit for me. The car should be able to go until I am tired driving it, which is around 6 to 8 hours driving at 120km/h, including breaks of 15-20 minutes each 3 hours. Then I can accept a 30-45 minute break to charge if I have to continue.
- Klathmon 6y ago
  Tesla's are already very close to that right now. I used to drive from Florida to Pennsylvania fairly often, and in my model 3 it's a rough cadence of drive for 2.5 to 3 hours, stop at a supercharger for under 30 minutes, repeat until I'm there. And that's with the vast majority of the trip at 75mph/120km/h. It does get worse in the winter though, I need to stop more frequently like every 2 hours, and for more like 30 minutes per stop.
  - dahfizz 6y ago
    I think discussions of range alone are misguided for this reason. The state of charging infrastructure is just as important as the range of the car itself. The 300 mile range on a tesla is fine even for long road trips because the infrastructure is solid.
    - kazinator 6y ago
      Obviously, it's not fine for Klathmon, who minds the 30 minute charging stops. A much faster charging time could help independently of the range. Of course infrastructure outside metropolitan limits is important, since without that you're screwed and can't be even be having a discussion about annoying half hour stops in interstate driving.
    - octorian 6y ago
      > The state of charging infrastructure is just as important as the range of the car itself. And this is why I facepalm every single time I see a car manufacturer trying to make a "Tesla competitor" by focusing on getting most of the range with none of the charging infrastructure. (Or they assume the infrastructure is someone else's problem, that can be solved with some press releases about business agreements.)

agumonkey 6y ago

it's interesting to see the good old critical show: - cant be - wont work - will die - about to die - not as good as expected - door handle has a flaw <= when you reached petty daily criticism, it means you're part of the world maker now