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Maybe the market for electric cars starts to get saturated, at least for the current state of the technology? There are several criteria that play a role: - pr

by rob74 2y ago

Maybe the market for electric cars starts to get saturated, at least for the current state of the technology? There are several criteria that play a role: - price - range (even people who make only a few long range trips per year, like me, might be dissuaded if they have to interrupt their trip for a long charging break - or buy a hybrid instead) - charging availability - if you park your car on the street, you are dependent on public chargers; if you have a shared (underground) parking garage, which is common here in Germany, installing a charger becomes a lot more complicated than for homeowners.

taylodl 2y ago
Help me understand this thinking. If you're only making "a few" long range trips per year, then why would you base your car purchase on those trips? Why not simply rent a car for those trips and make your car buying decision on your daily driving needs?
- rob74 2y ago
  Because renting a car, while it would probably make sense financially, is an additional hassle that I don't want to put up with? Especially if you live in a rural area, the next car rental may be pretty far away (and not reachable with public transportation), so it gets complicated fast. Getting and returning the rental car might even take longer than the break you need to take for charging, so you might as well take the electric car and use the break to rest...
  - taylodl 2y ago
    Full disclosure, I'm an American, and one thing we've done very well is made it super easy to rent cars. You arrive, go to the lot and pick out your car, and drive off. They take care of the transaction when you go to get out of the garage. Returning the car is just a drop-off. No interaction is even required. As far as getting to the car, I use the airport's car rental. In the States there are HUGE rental car inventory at the airports. I either have someone ride with me to go out and get the car, so I can drive the rental back and they can drive my car back, or I just uber out to the airport. For reference, I live 30 minutes away from the airport.

by rob74 2y ago

taylodl 2y ago

Help me understand this thinking. If you're only making "a few" long range trips per year, then why would you base your car purchase on those trips? Why not simply rent a car for those trips and make your car buying decision on your daily driving needs?

rob74 2y ago
Because renting a car, while it would probably make sense financially, is an additional hassle that I don't want to put up with? Especially if you live in a rural area, the next car rental may be pretty far away (and not reachable with public transportation), so it gets complicated fast. Getting and returning the rental car might even take longer than the break you need to take for charging, so you might as well take the electric car and use the break to rest...
- taylodl 2y ago
  Full disclosure, I'm an American, and one thing we've done very well is made it super easy to rent cars. You arrive, go to the lot and pick out your car, and drive off. They take care of the transaction when you go to get out of the garage. Returning the car is just a drop-off. No interaction is even required. As far as getting to the car, I use the airport's car rental. In the States there are HUGE rental car inventory at the airports. I either have someone ride with me to go out and get the car, so I can drive the rental back and they can drive my car back, or I just uber out to the airport. For reference, I live 30 minutes away from the airport.