5 ms·

There are many electric cars on the market that are just plain "old" cars: hyundai ioniq, renault zoe, peugeot e-208, etc... No subscription and they work quite

by Faaak 5y ago

There are many electric cars on the market that are just plain "old" cars: hyundai ioniq, renault zoe, peugeot e-208, etc... No subscription and they work quite well.

nicce 5y ago
But they are practically useless outside of cities. No range so they are not an option.
- notJim 5y ago
  They're not great for long roadtrips, but they would be fine for weekend or short trips to places with charging. For example, from where I live to the coast is about 80 miles, and many of the coastal cities have at least L2 and some L3 charging. This would be fine with many of these cars. You might not need to charge at all with some of them.
  - nicce 5y ago
    My scenario might be a bit extreme, but closest food store is 40 miles away. Closest charger is 200 miles away. (Talking from Europe) Visiting my parents take 300 miles trip (one direction), and requires charging stop. And this is considered here as relatively normal driving trip. And in winter, the range drops significantly. It is 7 month winter here. Why would I buy a car which is useful only for short weekend trips when there are better options available?
    - notJim 5y ago
      "It's not useful in my specific scenario, which I acknowledge is extreme, therefore the cars are useless outside cities." Not everything has to work for everyone in every situation to be useful. These cars are perfectly useful for many people, including outside cities.
      - nicce 5y ago
        This applies almost my whole country, including many others, maybe less extreme. It is a bit different outside of US, what I’m trying to say.
        notJim 5y ago
        It sounds like the charging infrastructure isn't there yet where you live. Doesn't mean the cars are useless for many many people, including people in rural areas. In the US, I don't think most rural people are 40 miles from the nearest food store, and I'd be surprised to learn that's true in most European countries either.
        quietbritishjim 5y ago
        It's usually the exact opposite way round – distances between things in the US are usually larger, not smaller, than in other countries. You only need to look at a world atlas to see that's the case, with a few obvious exceptions. What in Europe would be seen as an extreme road trip across a whole country (because it would take a whole day) would seem quaintly short by US standards (because it could be done in just one day). Hearing it said the other way round sounds very odd to me (and I'm not from the States, as my user name suggests).
        nicce 5y ago
        You are right, my mind was set for coastline which is very populated. This is not the case when getting more into the middle. But main concern was on charger locations. I don’t know what is their status in inland.
      - mleonhard 5y ago
        Your comment violates the site guidelines [0]. Please edit it and remove the personal insult. > When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3." [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- ketralnis 5y ago
  For you maybe. I live in a city, so something useless outside of a city is just fine by me. If they're "practically useless" and "not an option" then who's buying them all?
  - nicce 5y ago
    I had an impression that parent commenter implied it being as global solution. Instead, the others would need to still go for expensive long-range vehicles with subscriptions.
- jjk166 5y ago
  Plug in hybrids are the best of both worlds. You can have a small battery for use over normal day to day driving which keeps costs down, but when you do need to drive a substantial distance you can take advantage of the high energy density and quick refueling of fossil fuels. I got one recently and it's great, I have a long commute so I drive 400 miles per week, but I can charge at home and at work so I'm paying the equivalent of $1/gallon for 90% of my driving, and I only need to get gas like once a month. The monthly fuel savings compared to my last car are like half of my monthly car payment.

by Faaak 5y ago

There are many electric cars on the market that are just plain "old" cars: hyundai ioniq, renault zoe, peugeot e-208, etc... No subscription and they work quite well.

nicce 5y ago

But they are practically useless outside of cities. No range so they are not an option.

notJim 5y ago
They're not great for long roadtrips, but they would be fine for weekend or short trips to places with charging. For example, from where I live to the coast is about 80 miles, and many of the coastal cities have at least L2 and some L3 charging. This would be fine with many of these cars. You might not need to charge at all with some of them.
- nicce 5y ago
  My scenario might be a bit extreme, but closest food store is 40 miles away. Closest charger is 200 miles away. (Talking from Europe) Visiting my parents take 300 miles trip (one direction), and requires charging stop. And this is considered here as relatively normal driving trip. And in winter, the range drops significantly. It is 7 month winter here. Why would I buy a car which is useful only for short weekend trips when there are better options available?
  - notJim 5y ago
    "It's not useful in my specific scenario, which I acknowledge is extreme, therefore the cars are useless outside cities." Not everything has to work for everyone in every situation to be useful. These cars are perfectly useful for many people, including outside cities.
    - nicce 5y ago
      This applies almost my whole country, including many others, maybe less extreme. It is a bit different outside of US, what I’m trying to say.
      - notJim 5y ago
        It sounds like the charging infrastructure isn't there yet where you live. Doesn't mean the cars are useless for many many people, including people in rural areas. In the US, I don't think most rural people are 40 miles from the nearest food store, and I'd be surprised to learn that's true in most European countries either.
      - quietbritishjim 5y ago
        It's usually the exact opposite way round – distances between things in the US are usually larger, not smaller, than in other countries. You only need to look at a world atlas to see that's the case, with a few obvious exceptions. What in Europe would be seen as an extreme road trip across a whole country (because it would take a whole day) would seem quaintly short by US standards (because it could be done in just one day). Hearing it said the other way round sounds very odd to me (and I'm not from the States, as my user name suggests).
        nicce 5y ago
        You are right, my mind was set for coastline which is very populated. This is not the case when getting more into the middle. But main concern was on charger locations. I don’t know what is their status in inland.
    - mleonhard 5y ago
      Your comment violates the site guidelines [0]. Please edit it and remove the personal insult. > When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3." [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
ketralnis 5y ago
For you maybe. I live in a city, so something useless outside of a city is just fine by me. If they're "practically useless" and "not an option" then who's buying them all?
- nicce 5y ago
  I had an impression that parent commenter implied it being as global solution. Instead, the others would need to still go for expensive long-range vehicles with subscriptions.
jjk166 5y ago
Plug in hybrids are the best of both worlds. You can have a small battery for use over normal day to day driving which keeps costs down, but when you do need to drive a substantial distance you can take advantage of the high energy density and quick refueling of fossil fuels. I got one recently and it's great, I have a long commute so I drive 400 miles per week, but I can charge at home and at work so I'm paying the equivalent of $1/gallon for 90% of my driving, and I only need to get gas like once a month. The monthly fuel savings compared to my last car are like half of my monthly car payment.