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Yeah, 5 miles a day would cover 99% of my driving lately. When the Aptera announcement came out, I analyzed my fuel receipts, and concluded that I would plug t

Yeah, 5 miles a day would cover 99% of my driving lately. When the Aptera announcement came out, I analyzed my fuel receipts, and concluded that I would plug the car in 2-3x a year (occasionally I find myself in Chicago or other day-trips), but the rest of the time solar would more than cover my usage. And that's assuming some hefty derating for latitude, cloudy weather, etc. I just don't drive that much, but when I do, it's places and times that aren't well served by transit so I very much need a car. If I go back to working at the office and solar only covers a portion of my driving, that would still likely mean plugging in once a month instead of once a week without the solar, which is still pretty cool. I think this article is "it's not a 100% solution so therefore it's a 0% solution", which is a pretty tired tactic at this point.

steveBK123 4y ago
The number of people who need a car and drive less than 5 miles a day is a small circle. Have you considered walking, biking, or an e-bike? It's recommended that people walk about 5mi/day anyway..
- myself248 4y ago
  I hadn't considered walking, never heard of it actually. Thanks, let me look that up!
  - steveBK123 4y ago
    It's pretty good, but big tech/auto doesn't want you to know this one trick!
- ramesh31 4y ago
  >Have you considered walking, biking, or an e-bike? It's recommended that people walk about 5mi/day anyway.. This comes up every time, and it's simply not an option for the vast majority of the US population.
  - steveBK123 4y ago
    Agreed, the vast majority of US population travels more than 5 miles/day. Once we are down to the subset like the person I responded to who claims to need a car AND to only travel 5mi/day or less.. maybe! Or I mean, isn't this why we have uber? If one was to drive only 5mi/day at 30mph, that means the car is not in use 99.31% of the time. Only driven 1,825 miles/year. What percentage of Americans drive less than 2,000mi/year? The average is closer to 15,000mi/year. Dealing with costs&time for car, insurance, regular maintenance, registration, emissions inspections, etc... for something you don't really use? A lot of these are fairly fixed costs regardless of mileage. Probably end up spending like $3/mile TCO at such low mileage rates.
- moralestapia 4y ago
  I only use my car once or twice a week for about an hour when I'm buying groceries and running some other errands. This kind of car is great for me.
- Spivak 4y ago
  The unfortunate reality is that 2.5 miles each way is a 50 minute commute walking and 7 minutes driving so in practice you get about 12 days worth of waking hours back a year before everything else you use it for. And it’s more comfortable — you can do it when you’re tired, sore, or sick, in the rain snow, and heat. There is nothing that is going to usurp personal vehicles anywhere but the very densest cities without changes that are infeasibly expensive and trample on people’s property rights. The new hotness is walkable areas surrounded by parking so you only need the car when you leave.

steveBK123 4y ago

The number of people who need a car and drive less than 5 miles a day is a small circle. Have you considered walking, biking, or an e-bike? It's recommended that people walk about 5mi/day anyway..

myself248 4y ago
I hadn't considered walking, never heard of it actually. Thanks, let me look that up!
- steveBK123 4y ago
  It's pretty good, but big tech/auto doesn't want you to know this one trick!
ramesh31 4y ago
>Have you considered walking, biking, or an e-bike? It's recommended that people walk about 5mi/day anyway.. This comes up every time, and it's simply not an option for the vast majority of the US population.
- steveBK123 4y ago
  Agreed, the vast majority of US population travels more than 5 miles/day. Once we are down to the subset like the person I responded to who claims to need a car AND to only travel 5mi/day or less.. maybe! Or I mean, isn't this why we have uber? If one was to drive only 5mi/day at 30mph, that means the car is not in use 99.31% of the time. Only driven 1,825 miles/year. What percentage of Americans drive less than 2,000mi/year? The average is closer to 15,000mi/year. Dealing with costs&time for car, insurance, regular maintenance, registration, emissions inspections, etc... for something you don't really use? A lot of these are fairly fixed costs regardless of mileage. Probably end up spending like $3/mile TCO at such low mileage rates.
moralestapia 4y ago
I only use my car once or twice a week for about an hour when I'm buying groceries and running some other errands. This kind of car is great for me.
Spivak 4y ago
The unfortunate reality is that 2.5 miles each way is a 50 minute commute walking and 7 minutes driving so in practice you get about 12 days worth of waking hours back a year before everything else you use it for. And it’s more comfortable — you can do it when you’re tired, sore, or sick, in the rain snow, and heat. There is nothing that is going to usurp personal vehicles anywhere but the very densest cities without changes that are infeasibly expensive and trample on people’s property rights. The new hotness is walkable areas surrounded by parking so you only need the car when you leave.