5 ms·

Ignoring the hype, Tesla cars aren't better objectively from a purely functional approach. If I fill my current vehicle with diesel, I can drive 500 miles, fill

Ignoring the hype, Tesla cars aren't better objectively from a purely functional approach. If I fill my current vehicle with diesel, I can drive 500 miles, fill up the tank in less than 15 minutes and drive back. With a Tesla or any other EV, I will spend several hours at charging points. EVs are great for local rat runs to the supermarket or nearby restaurants. However, they are still painful if you want to travel more than 100 miles. Battery technology improvements will arrive. However, it takes time to productionise research prototypes. During one of my holidays, I drove a self-charge BMW rental. It technically could still be sold after 2035. However, it had an electric range of less than 50 km before it switched to petrol. Car manufacturers will lobby for such loopholes to be allowed well beyond 2035.

alkonaut 4y ago
> Tesla cars aren't better objectively from a purely functional approach. I think this isn't as clear cut as it might sound. It depends on the usage pattern, local fuel cost etc. I drive a diesel too, but my next car will be an EV. If you have cheap gas and/or regularly travel so far you need to charge on the road, then both the economy and convenience goes down the drain very quickly. But if like me you have electricity at $0.10/kWh, you have 3x25A wires to your house, you can charge in your driveway, you very rarely need to charge on the road, and the diesel price is $10 per US gallon then the economy and convenience is completely different and much more favors EV.
jnsaff2 4y ago
This is your uninformed opinion. I own one, I have never spent more than an hour waiting for any charge. The waiting time is also not wasted, I'll go eat or work on the laptop. Cumulatively over the year I have definitely spent less waiting at a charging station than I did with the fossil car I had previously. Most of the time it's just charged itself overnight when I slept. It is SO MUCH CHEAPER to drive the EV than it is the ICE. Fuel cost ALONE pays for the monthly payments. Let alone having a modern car, better ergonomics, etc.
- ChancyChance 4y ago
  Do you hear yourself? You are admitting you have to stop for an hour any time you do a long trip, and apologetically claiming you can find something useful to do in that time. What kind of bs propaganda did you swallow? When I’m doing a road trip I don’t want to add one hour minumum per every few hundred miles, assuming I can find a charging station. Range limitations are the second reason why people don’t buy EVs, behind required home infrastructure expenses (a hidden one time tax). My partner and I both drive cars that are almost 20 years old, so do our parents. Oil changes, tires, and a monthly fill up for $60 or trip fillup of $120 for about 700 miles. That’s it. Todays EVs are like cell phones from 1985 with styling that appeals to the Pokémon generation.
  - jnsaff2 4y ago
    My fill up for 1100km is less than 10EUR. The only time I remember charging for 1h was when the charger happened to be a free 50kW charger. Why not. During road trips it's much more like 15 minutes every 3 hours. Completely enough to keep going until people inside the car can't take it anymore, not a limitation of the car/battery. You make it sound like the stopping part is the hard part not sitting in a car that long.
  - fnordpiglet 4y ago
    I drive for about 300 miles, or five hours, then charge while we stop to stretch, eat, go to the bathroom, and the car has another 300 miles on it, at which point we stop for the night because we’ve been driving for 10 hours. It’s about the least painful experience I’ve ever had. But this is also very much a point in time discussion. I’ll wager in 5 years EV come with enough capacity to drive a full day without break or longer. The reality is that today 5 hours of continuous drive time is plenty of time to warrant a break long enough to recharge to capacity unless you’re big on deep vein thrombosis and drive with a catheter.
- Gareth321 4y ago
  Waiting an hour to charge sounds horrific. That charges also takes much longer than filling a tank. And what if you need to recharge multiple times on a trip? I agree with the user above. EVs are awesome for short trips. They're terrible for long trips. We hope this improves over time.

alkonaut 4y ago

> Tesla cars aren't better objectively from a purely functional approach. I think this isn't as clear cut as it might sound. It depends on the usage pattern, local fuel cost etc. I drive a diesel too, but my next car will be an EV. If you have cheap gas and/or regularly travel so far you need to charge on the road, then both the economy and convenience goes down the drain very quickly. But if like me you have electricity at $0.10/kWh, you have 3x25A wires to your house, you can charge in your driveway, you very rarely need to charge on the road, and the diesel price is $10 per US gallon then the economy and convenience is completely different and much more favors EV.

jnsaff2 4y ago

This is your uninformed opinion. I own one, I have never spent more than an hour waiting for any charge. The waiting time is also not wasted, I'll go eat or work on the laptop. Cumulatively over the year I have definitely spent less waiting at a charging station than I did with the fossil car I had previously. Most of the time it's just charged itself overnight when I slept. It is SO MUCH CHEAPER to drive the EV than it is the ICE. Fuel cost ALONE pays for the monthly payments. Let alone having a modern car, better ergonomics, etc.

ChancyChance 4y ago
Do you hear yourself? You are admitting you have to stop for an hour any time you do a long trip, and apologetically claiming you can find something useful to do in that time. What kind of bs propaganda did you swallow? When I’m doing a road trip I don’t want to add one hour minumum per every few hundred miles, assuming I can find a charging station. Range limitations are the second reason why people don’t buy EVs, behind required home infrastructure expenses (a hidden one time tax). My partner and I both drive cars that are almost 20 years old, so do our parents. Oil changes, tires, and a monthly fill up for $60 or trip fillup of $120 for about 700 miles. That’s it. Todays EVs are like cell phones from 1985 with styling that appeals to the Pokémon generation.
- jnsaff2 4y ago
  My fill up for 1100km is less than 10EUR. The only time I remember charging for 1h was when the charger happened to be a free 50kW charger. Why not. During road trips it's much more like 15 minutes every 3 hours. Completely enough to keep going until people inside the car can't take it anymore, not a limitation of the car/battery. You make it sound like the stopping part is the hard part not sitting in a car that long.
- fnordpiglet 4y ago
  I drive for about 300 miles, or five hours, then charge while we stop to stretch, eat, go to the bathroom, and the car has another 300 miles on it, at which point we stop for the night because we’ve been driving for 10 hours. It’s about the least painful experience I’ve ever had. But this is also very much a point in time discussion. I’ll wager in 5 years EV come with enough capacity to drive a full day without break or longer. The reality is that today 5 hours of continuous drive time is plenty of time to warrant a break long enough to recharge to capacity unless you’re big on deep vein thrombosis and drive with a catheter.
Gareth321 4y ago
Waiting an hour to charge sounds horrific. That charges also takes much longer than filling a tank. And what if you need to recharge multiple times on a trip? I agree with the user above. EVs are awesome for short trips. They're terrible for long trips. We hope this improves over time.