4 ms·

How far do you drive every day? I knew an importer of fine foods that drove over 200 miles every day, but he was a bit of an outlier.

by db48x 3y ago

silisili 3y ago
Very rarely, daily. But about once a month I'll drive 250ish miles to sight see or visit family. And once a year or so, cross country.
- 26fingies 3y ago
  why not just rent a car instead?
  - gottorf 3y ago
    Not the GP, but many people prefer to make long trips in cars that they're used to and personalized to their liking. I've certainly been in rental cars whose seats have contorted my body uncomfortably, if nothing else only because I wasn't used to it.
  - nradov 3y ago
    Because most rental cars suck, and if you want an actual good one for a week or more they charge a fortune. And sometimes when you show up at the rental car agency the specific model you reserved isn't even available.
    - dzhiurgis 3y ago
      But you are essentially comparing driving sucky ICE car 365 days a year vs driving amazing EV 364 days a year + 1 day of very sucky ICE car.
      - nradov 3y ago
        No, that's not what I'm comparing. First, my ICE cars are hardly "sucky". They work great and get me, my family, and all of our stuff where we need to go safely, reliably, and affordably. Second, we're talking about road trips here so generally at least 4 days at a time. Any many of us do several such trips per year. Talk to any parent who has children involved in travel club sports.
        dzhiurgis 3y ago
        You clearly haven't driven EV if you think ICE don't suck. They suck, extremely suck. Especially old ones that lack modern tech.
        nradov 3y ago
        Nah. I've driven EVs. Modern ICE vehicles have all the same tech.
        earthling8118 3y ago
        I only own an ICE and it isn't even remotely a competition. EVs win, hands down.
- wolrah 3y ago
  > And once a year or so, cross country. The key is to not over-value this. If your daily driver is also good at a rare cross country trip then that's great, but how bad is it really if it's not and you need to rent a vehicle with different capabilities once a year? If you're comparing two vehicles and one of them is a better fit for your daily driving and regular recurring needs while not being the best for rare uses, while the other is better at the rare use cases while being worse every other day, it seems like an easy choice to me but a lot of people will entirely count out the first one because it doesn't do the rare things well. See also: The person who buys a pickup truck as a daily driver they use to commute from the suburbs to an office because they might buy a few 2x4s from time to time.
kemotep 3y ago
Charge times are a factor for me. I may drive less than 50 miles a day (within range that even a plug in hybrid could have enough range) but since I live in an apartment, I can only trickle charge from the 120v outlet in my unit’s garage. I cannot install a new higher voltage outlet and doubt my landlord would front that cost. Being able to confidently drive a few days without charging and not be constrained by my local limited fast charging infrastructure to be able to make longer trips on the weekends out of town is probably the biggest reason I have “range anxiety”. There are 4 charger stations in my rural town. I would have to drive at least 30 miles to find another 4. That and still having a few years paying off my current vehicle left are holding off my EV purchase for a while.
- nielsbot 3y ago
  We've been 120V charging while waiting for our 208V installation.. and it's fine? You end up charging all the time (1000W) so we just leave the car plugged in.
  - kemotep 3y ago
    That’s good to know! Still need to wait a few years before buying an EV makes any financial sense in my situation though.
- db48x 3y ago
  Depending on the efficiency of the car, you can probably charge 50 miles in about 10 hours on a 120v, 12amp charger. Most cars spend about that long parked overnight, every night of the week. That’s not trickle charging, btw, that’s 1.4kW of power. And if you have an electric clothes dryer then you probably have a 30amp circuit to plug into if you wanted. That’s easily 4× as much power. But it’s unlikely to be a good idea to replace your car while you still have a mortgage on an existing one. That’s just common sense.

How far do you drive every day? I knew an importer of fine foods that drove over 200 miles every day, but he was a bit of an outlier.

by db48x 3y ago

How far do you drive every day? I knew an importer of fine foods that drove over 200 miles every day, but he was a bit of an outlier.

silisili 3y ago

Very rarely, daily. But about once a month I'll drive 250ish miles to sight see or visit family. And once a year or so, cross country.

26fingies 3y ago
why not just rent a car instead?
- gottorf 3y ago
  Not the GP, but many people prefer to make long trips in cars that they're used to and personalized to their liking. I've certainly been in rental cars whose seats have contorted my body uncomfortably, if nothing else only because I wasn't used to it.
- nradov 3y ago
  Because most rental cars suck, and if you want an actual good one for a week or more they charge a fortune. And sometimes when you show up at the rental car agency the specific model you reserved isn't even available.
  - dzhiurgis 3y ago
    But you are essentially comparing driving sucky ICE car 365 days a year vs driving amazing EV 364 days a year + 1 day of very sucky ICE car.
    - nradov 3y ago
      No, that's not what I'm comparing. First, my ICE cars are hardly "sucky". They work great and get me, my family, and all of our stuff where we need to go safely, reliably, and affordably. Second, we're talking about road trips here so generally at least 4 days at a time. Any many of us do several such trips per year. Talk to any parent who has children involved in travel club sports.
      - dzhiurgis 3y ago
        You clearly haven't driven EV if you think ICE don't suck. They suck, extremely suck. Especially old ones that lack modern tech.
        nradov 3y ago
        Nah. I've driven EVs. Modern ICE vehicles have all the same tech.
        earthling8118 3y ago
        I only own an ICE and it isn't even remotely a competition. EVs win, hands down.
wolrah 3y ago
> And once a year or so, cross country. The key is to not over-value this. If your daily driver is also good at a rare cross country trip then that's great, but how bad is it really if it's not and you need to rent a vehicle with different capabilities once a year? If you're comparing two vehicles and one of them is a better fit for your daily driving and regular recurring needs while not being the best for rare uses, while the other is better at the rare use cases while being worse every other day, it seems like an easy choice to me but a lot of people will entirely count out the first one because it doesn't do the rare things well. See also: The person who buys a pickup truck as a daily driver they use to commute from the suburbs to an office because they might buy a few 2x4s from time to time.

kemotep 3y ago

Charge times are a factor for me. I may drive less than 50 miles a day (within range that even a plug in hybrid could have enough range) but since I live in an apartment, I can only trickle charge from the 120v outlet in my unit’s garage. I cannot install a new higher voltage outlet and doubt my landlord would front that cost. Being able to confidently drive a few days without charging and not be constrained by my local limited fast charging infrastructure to be able to make longer trips on the weekends out of town is probably the biggest reason I have “range anxiety”. There are 4 charger stations in my rural town. I would have to drive at least 30 miles to find another 4. That and still having a few years paying off my current vehicle left are holding off my EV purchase for a while.

nielsbot 3y ago
We've been 120V charging while waiting for our 208V installation.. and it's fine? You end up charging all the time (1000W) so we just leave the car plugged in.
- kemotep 3y ago
  That’s good to know! Still need to wait a few years before buying an EV makes any financial sense in my situation though.
db48x 3y ago
Depending on the efficiency of the car, you can probably charge 50 miles in about 10 hours on a 120v, 12amp charger. Most cars spend about that long parked overnight, every night of the week. That’s not trickle charging, btw, that’s 1.4kW of power. And if you have an electric clothes dryer then you probably have a 30amp circuit to plug into if you wanted. That’s easily 4× as much power. But it’s unlikely to be a good idea to replace your car while you still have a mortgage on an existing one. That’s just common sense.