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Current EVs are really expensive and pretty much a luxury product. There's reasonable fear about finding charging stations if you don't have a Tesla. The plug

Current EVs are really expensive and pretty much a luxury product. There's reasonable fear about finding charging stations if you don't have a Tesla. The plug seems to be converging to Tesla now. Needs one more iteration in battery tech so we can reach 450 miles EPA and under 40K USD. It's not that you're going to drive 450 miles but there needs to be enough cushion left for degradation, optimal charge cycles, winter, etc. so you can atleast go 300 miles without any issues for the entire life of the vehicle. Long term, EVs are definitely superior and simpler tech in terms of maintenance, but the current gen isn't fully there yet. Tesla is ahead right now in terms of product maturity and seems to have enough margins to be able to discount. I'm really excited to see what they offer with their next platform.

jghn 3y ago
> so you can atleast go 300 miles without any issues for the entire life of the vehicle. I see this line brought up in every single conversation. But I always wonder how many people have sat down and analyzed how often they actually drive XYZ miles in one go. I'm not saying that *no one* has this problem, but I would bet good money that the majority of folks who believe they do don't encounter this very often. For instance with myself I know that I would need to rent a car once every year or two given current battery ranges. But that's pretty much it.
- vsskanth 3y ago
  I just drove NYC to CLT in a day. I encountered rest stops with Tesla chargers but not anything else. Great if you have a Tesla but would really suck otherwise. If you have a family, flying gets expensive real quick so you have to be able to drive 8-10 hours for vacation if needed maybe twice a year. Obviously none of this applies if you have a second gas car.
  - jghn 3y ago
    Sure. I even some people will needs this. What I was wondering out loud was how many people actually look at the number of overly long journeys they make and compare it to their perception of the number of overly long journeys they make.
- gottorf 3y ago
  > But I always wonder how many people have sat down and analyzed how often they actually drive XYZ miles in one go. You actually landed on precisely the qualitative difference: with gas cars, nobody has to sit down and analyze it due to the state of existing gas infrastructure, but with EVs they are faced with that analysis. It's a layer of complexity on top of what is already a process that people don't enjoy (buying a car). > For instance with myself I know that I would need to rent a car once every year or two given current battery ranges. I know you have an implicit YMMV there, but it's worth stating explicitly. I live in a place that's sufficiently rural and lower-income that people choose to make a 1000-mile round trip instead of flying; and when people routinely make such long road trips, they much prefer to do so in their own car that they've personalized to make it comfortable, instead of being at the mercy of whatever the rental car company has.
  - jghn 3y ago
    > but with EVs they are faced with that analysis It's a good point, and fair. Or for instance I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds the whole soup of connectors, brands of chargers, etc to be confusing. And yeah. In contrast I went about 15 years without a car at all. And in the several years I've owned this car there was only a 1 year period where it was *necessary* (my partner had a commute where they had to drive). So for me any existing battery is more than enough for 99% of my life.
  - rcme 3y ago
    I do a lot of 600-1000 trips. I definitely prefer to rent. Driving long distances messes up your car, especially the interior. But, usually I’m going some place for many weeks and renting is too expensive.

jghn 3y ago

> so you can atleast go 300 miles without any issues for the entire life of the vehicle. I see this line brought up in every single conversation. But I always wonder how many people have sat down and analyzed how often they actually drive XYZ miles in one go. I'm not saying that *no one* has this problem, but I would bet good money that the majority of folks who believe they do don't encounter this very often. For instance with myself I know that I would need to rent a car once every year or two given current battery ranges. But that's pretty much it.

vsskanth 3y ago
I just drove NYC to CLT in a day. I encountered rest stops with Tesla chargers but not anything else. Great if you have a Tesla but would really suck otherwise. If you have a family, flying gets expensive real quick so you have to be able to drive 8-10 hours for vacation if needed maybe twice a year. Obviously none of this applies if you have a second gas car.
- jghn 3y ago
  Sure. I even some people will needs this. What I was wondering out loud was how many people actually look at the number of overly long journeys they make and compare it to their perception of the number of overly long journeys they make.
gottorf 3y ago
> But I always wonder how many people have sat down and analyzed how often they actually drive XYZ miles in one go. You actually landed on precisely the qualitative difference: with gas cars, nobody has to sit down and analyze it due to the state of existing gas infrastructure, but with EVs they are faced with that analysis. It's a layer of complexity on top of what is already a process that people don't enjoy (buying a car). > For instance with myself I know that I would need to rent a car once every year or two given current battery ranges. I know you have an implicit YMMV there, but it's worth stating explicitly. I live in a place that's sufficiently rural and lower-income that people choose to make a 1000-mile round trip instead of flying; and when people routinely make such long road trips, they much prefer to do so in their own car that they've personalized to make it comfortable, instead of being at the mercy of whatever the rental car company has.
- jghn 3y ago
  > but with EVs they are faced with that analysis It's a good point, and fair. Or for instance I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds the whole soup of connectors, brands of chargers, etc to be confusing. And yeah. In contrast I went about 15 years without a car at all. And in the several years I've owned this car there was only a 1 year period where it was *necessary* (my partner had a commute where they had to drive). So for me any existing battery is more than enough for 99% of my life.
- rcme 3y ago
  I do a lot of 600-1000 trips. I definitely prefer to rent. Driving long distances messes up your car, especially the interior. But, usually I’m going some place for many weeks and renting is too expensive.