4 ms·

You and the eleven other people who use your vehicles this way would be well suited with one of the handful of EVs with a range extender.

eptcyka 3y ago
Handful? The i3 Rex? The Chevy "Discontinued" Bolt? There are none.
- saltcured 3y ago
  Isn't every plug-in hybrid an EV with a built-in range extender? I guess you don't like their performance specs, but there seems to be a sweet spot in the solution space that all the manufacturers are focused on. I wonder, is this due to technical limits and/or regulatory challenges, or mostly just consumer preference?
all2 3y ago
What charging stations will get me from Wisconsin to Washington state in a timely manner? I make the run in 40 hours over three days, typically. In terms of time cost, I'd spend up to a full day charging (not including overnight charging, which means finding hotels with charging stations). In terms of short term cost, I'd save close to a 1000USD in fuel, which would be lovely. In terms of long term cost, as soon as I have an EV I'm signing up for a 40000USD bill to replace the battery packs in the future. No ICE car has that pending charge. My current car, almost 20 years old, needs at most 2000USD of work to get it into 'pristine' condition. The issue with EVs is the sheer amount of infrastructure required to make them work, and all of that boils down to energy density. When batteries hit the same energy density as fossil fuels with the same environmental impact we'll be on to something. As it stands, the environmental burden and personal costs of EVs far outweigh the benefits.
- dublinben 3y ago
  Whatever, man. That's a lot of strawman arguments for why you can't drive an EV. You can plug things into ABetterRoutePlanner.com yourself, and see that a common Tesla Model 3 could drive from Milwaukee to Seattle in 35 hours and 19 minutes. That includes only 5 hours and 3 minutes of charging, all at Superchargers along the highway. If you upgraded to the Model 3 Long Range, which it sounds like you ought to, that shaves the total travel time to 33 hours even. The price of gas alone for that trip is more than half the cost of a direct flight. If you don't mind flying Spirit, it's less than a hundred dollars more. Since you care so much about the environment, you might appreciate that flying would also likely emit less CO2 than driving anyway.
  - all2 3y ago
    > Whatever, man. My guy, I have a perspective on life. There's stuff that I know, stuff that I've thought about, and stuff I don't know. The last of which outweighs the others. > You can plug things into ABetterRoutePlanner.com yourself, and see that a common Tesla Model 3 could drive from Milwaukee to Seattle in 35 hours and 19 minutes. That includes only 5 hours and 3 minutes of charging, all at Superchargers along the highway. I didn't know this! That's encouraging to know that we have the appropriate infrastructure to make this happen. I will actually consider a Tesla (or similar) as a possible vehicle just for this reason. I am still concerned about battery cell replacement costs as well as environmental impacts of lithium and other rare earth metals mining. There are other high capacity battery chemistries coming online -- I saw a sodium based battery article on HN just in the last two weeks -- that may make my environmental concerns less of an issue. > you might appreciate that flying would also likely emit less CO2 than driving anyway. Trees eat CO2. It's a common misconception that CO2 is somehow bad for the environment. When I say environmental impact, I'm not talking about climate change or CO2. Both of those take a back seat to the direct and immediate impacts of mining [0]. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/aug/24/nickel-mining-hidden-environmental-cost-electric-cars-batteries https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/aug/24...

eptcyka 3y ago

Handful? The i3 Rex? The Chevy "Discontinued" Bolt? There are none.

saltcured 3y ago
Isn't every plug-in hybrid an EV with a built-in range extender? I guess you don't like their performance specs, but there seems to be a sweet spot in the solution space that all the manufacturers are focused on. I wonder, is this due to technical limits and/or regulatory challenges, or mostly just consumer preference?

all2 3y ago

What charging stations will get me from Wisconsin to Washington state in a timely manner? I make the run in 40 hours over three days, typically. In terms of time cost, I'd spend up to a full day charging (not including overnight charging, which means finding hotels with charging stations). In terms of short term cost, I'd save close to a 1000USD in fuel, which would be lovely. In terms of long term cost, as soon as I have an EV I'm signing up for a 40000USD bill to replace the battery packs in the future. No ICE car has that pending charge. My current car, almost 20 years old, needs at most 2000USD of work to get it into 'pristine' condition. The issue with EVs is the sheer amount of infrastructure required to make them work, and all of that boils down to energy density. When batteries hit the same energy density as fossil fuels with the same environmental impact we'll be on to something. As it stands, the environmental burden and personal costs of EVs far outweigh the benefits.

dublinben 3y ago
Whatever, man. That's a lot of strawman arguments for why you can't drive an EV. You can plug things into ABetterRoutePlanner.com yourself, and see that a common Tesla Model 3 could drive from Milwaukee to Seattle in 35 hours and 19 minutes. That includes only 5 hours and 3 minutes of charging, all at Superchargers along the highway. If you upgraded to the Model 3 Long Range, which it sounds like you ought to, that shaves the total travel time to 33 hours even. The price of gas alone for that trip is more than half the cost of a direct flight. If you don't mind flying Spirit, it's less than a hundred dollars more. Since you care so much about the environment, you might appreciate that flying would also likely emit less CO2 than driving anyway.
- all2 3y ago
  > Whatever, man. My guy, I have a perspective on life. There's stuff that I know, stuff that I've thought about, and stuff I don't know. The last of which outweighs the others. > You can plug things into ABetterRoutePlanner.com yourself, and see that a common Tesla Model 3 could drive from Milwaukee to Seattle in 35 hours and 19 minutes. That includes only 5 hours and 3 minutes of charging, all at Superchargers along the highway. I didn't know this! That's encouraging to know that we have the appropriate infrastructure to make this happen. I will actually consider a Tesla (or similar) as a possible vehicle just for this reason. I am still concerned about battery cell replacement costs as well as environmental impacts of lithium and other rare earth metals mining. There are other high capacity battery chemistries coming online -- I saw a sodium based battery article on HN just in the last two weeks -- that may make my environmental concerns less of an issue. > you might appreciate that flying would also likely emit less CO2 than driving anyway. Trees eat CO2. It's a common misconception that CO2 is somehow bad for the environment. When I say environmental impact, I'm not talking about climate change or CO2. Both of those take a back seat to the direct and immediate impacts of mining [0]. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/aug/24/nickel-mining-hidden-environmental-cost-electric-cars-batteries https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/aug/24...