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The biggest issue with real life is that we have to prepare for 5-6 sigma events, and they actually happen quite often. Otherwise the whole insurance industry s
by markus_zhang 2y ago
The biggest issue with real life is that we have to prepare for 5-6 sigma events, and they actually happen quite often. Otherwise the whole insurance industry should die away.
I think the biggest hassle is that we need to make sure that each place we spend vacation in has enough EV charging stations. We do go for distances that need intermediate filling/charging quite often (reads once per month perhaps) I never had to worry about that for my gas burning Tucson 2020. Even having to worry about it, having to do research about that is a hassle for ordinary people. We already have too much to worry about.
And then there is the issue of charing is way too slow. It may also induce excessive shopping at the charging station -- the most expensive places for drinks and foods.
And then there is the issue of long-term (read 2-5 days) power outage in Quebec early springs which occur more often than I want to believe (we just had one last year, and minor outages occur after EACH rain here and there). It does hit gas stations too, there are more gas stations than charging stations anyway.
And what benefit does EV give me? I don't care about driving experience. I'm insensitive to gas price jumps. And the cynical me believe that once we have more EVs the businesses would simply double the charging costs.
I'll probably switch to an EV eventually, but that's when charging stations are literally everywhere in Canada.
- tootie 2y agoI think realigning expectations ever so slightly can cure a lot of that. The cost of renting a gas car once a year or calling a taxi when you're stranded are comparatively tiny compared to retaining full-time ICEs just in case. I'm a city person so my default is no car and rent/taxi when I need one. My automotive expenditures per month probably nets out around $50 or so and I can handle any exigency.
- markus_zhang 2y agoI think "cost" consists of two parts: financial and mental. The financial side is probably negligible, but the mental part could be larger. But everyone has one's own needs so I fully understand your scenario.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 2y ago> The cost of renting a gas car once a year or calling a taxi when you're stranded are comparatively tiny compared to retaining full-time ICEs just in case That is because a lot of people have ICE cars already. If there were a lot of people like you, I suspect rentals would get more expensive. In addition, because of the likelihood of correlation (for example a blizzard that knows out power) you may have a bunch of people also wanting to rent he ICEs at the same time making them unavailable for you.
- recursive 2y agoAnd also, EV charging would a lot better than it is now. Gas stations are everywhere because the cars are everywhere. If EVs were the bulk of cars on the road, the charging experience would be better than it is now in the same way.
- coderenegade 2y agoSure, but electricity still isn't a great energy vector for mobile applications. A gas pump pumps at an equivalent rate of 3MW or so after accounting for thermal losses in the vehicle. To match that with electricity, someone is either dispatching capacity on demand, or you're already generating it and curtailing it, which puts to bed any arguments about efficiency. Electricity only really exists in a transient state, and has to be stored in bricks made up of complex materials that are harder to scale than equivalent chemical storage mechanisms. That's not the same thing as saying EVs have no place, because they clearly do, but I don't think that place is as a general replacement for a standard vehicle in societies that rely heavily on cars. I think they're a niche product there.
- recursive 2y agoI live in such a society. I replaced my ICE vehicle with electric 2 years ago. I'm not going back. They CAN be a replacement but not for everybody. This equivalent pumping rate thing is interesting but it doesn't really capture the whole thing. I don't have gasoline deliveries to my house. What about oil changes per year?