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For most people, their daily trips are well within the range of what an EV can do. And most people don't do long trips every week. Personally, I try to optimiz

by jopsen 2y ago

For most people, their daily trips are well within the range of what an EV can do. And most people don't do long trips every week. Personally, I try to optimize my life to avoid spending a considerable part of it in a car. With charging at home EVs are just easy. For long trips charging every 2-3 hours isn't too bad (most humans benefit from a break anyways).

Swizec 2y ago
> And most people don't do long trips every week Most people don’t own multiple cars and wouldn’t rent a car for those rare use-cases when they already own a perfectly fine car. It may be overall cheaper to do that, but people don’t think that way. One or two annual holiday roadtrips to go see the family and oops that EV starts looking like an annoying option. Every friend I have who doesn’t own a house and bought an EV ended up returning it because of how annoying the charging was to deal with. It’s not that charging was _hard_, it’s that they had to think about it. edit: this may be an urbanite take. Even folks with cars don’t really use them to commute regularly. Semi-rare trips only.
- mjamesaustin 2y ago
  I enjoy road trips far more since getting an EV. It's nice paying half as much or less in fuel costs. Tesla's charging network is excellent, and I'm glad it's opening to all EVs on the market. I used a third party charger once and the horrible user experience made sure I never will again.
- lkbm 2y ago
  It's only 57%, so a good chunk who don't, but according to [0], the median US household does own two cars. I assume that a fairly large majority of married people have multiple cars (between the two of them), and only a very small minority of unmarried people do. [0] https://www.autoinsurance.com/research/car-ownership-statistics/ https://www.autoinsurance.com/research/car-ownership-statist...
- jopsen 2y ago
  > Every friend I have who doesn’t own a house and bought an EV ended up returning it... Yeah, if you don't have a private parking spot, charging is a deal breaker. I wouldn't be surprised if apartment blocks with shared parking lots/garages eventually add charging. But yes, this requires more infrastructure. And won't be solved for street parking anytime soon.
potato3732842 2y ago
People who are spending new car money are not going to settle for a product that requires planning and effort to be used outside of one's daily routine. This is also why 3-row SUVs and half ton crew cab trucks have proliferated as much as they have.
- Workaccount2 2y ago
  I have found that people who are considering buying a new car and immediately rule out EV's mostly do so out of confusion and misunderstanding. My father for instance wouldn't get one because he will drive to the beach a couple times each summer, and does not want to have to deal with waiting while charging. However, he is also the type who stops for rests while driving. But he, being old and stubborn, didn't want to hear it.
- Sohcahtoa82 2y ago
  > People who are spending new car money are not going to settle for a product that requires planning and effort to be used outside of one's daily routine. Maybe YOU won't, but others will. I paid $60K for my Model 3 Performance. Yes, I chose to plan out my charging stops when I take my annual 1300 mile road trip from Portland to Santa Clara, or my recent 2,400 mile road trip from Portland to San Diego. But I CHOSE to plan them. You don't HAVE to. The car's built-in nav will easy plan charging stops for you. I just choose to plan them out ahead of time (Using ABetterRoutePlanner.com) to min-max my charging time. IE, I can tell ABRP "This will be a stop where I expect to spend at least 30 minutes", and it will adjust the rest of the charging plan accordingly. Or I can tell it to stop at specific chargers that might have a specific place I want to eat, or whatever, but my usual workflow is to set all my destinations (actual destinations, not including chargers), hit Plan Drive, and then make some minor adjustments to the charging plan. I suppose in some way, I'm sort of proving your point. But it's not nearly the chore you make it out to be. In fact, I actually enjoy the planning. Of course, one person's joy is another's drudgery.

by jopsen 2y ago

Swizec 2y ago

> And most people don't do long trips every week Most people don’t own multiple cars and wouldn’t rent a car for those rare use-cases when they already own a perfectly fine car. It may be overall cheaper to do that, but people don’t think that way. One or two annual holiday roadtrips to go see the family and oops that EV starts looking like an annoying option. Every friend I have who doesn’t own a house and bought an EV ended up returning it because of how annoying the charging was to deal with. It’s not that charging was _hard_, it’s that they had to think about it. edit: this may be an urbanite take. Even folks with cars don’t really use them to commute regularly. Semi-rare trips only.

mjamesaustin 2y ago
I enjoy road trips far more since getting an EV. It's nice paying half as much or less in fuel costs. Tesla's charging network is excellent, and I'm glad it's opening to all EVs on the market. I used a third party charger once and the horrible user experience made sure I never will again.
lkbm 2y ago
It's only 57%, so a good chunk who don't, but according to [0], the median US household does own two cars. I assume that a fairly large majority of married people have multiple cars (between the two of them), and only a very small minority of unmarried people do. [0] https://www.autoinsurance.com/research/car-ownership-statistics/ https://www.autoinsurance.com/research/car-ownership-statist...
jopsen 2y ago
> Every friend I have who doesn’t own a house and bought an EV ended up returning it... Yeah, if you don't have a private parking spot, charging is a deal breaker. I wouldn't be surprised if apartment blocks with shared parking lots/garages eventually add charging. But yes, this requires more infrastructure. And won't be solved for street parking anytime soon.

potato3732842 2y ago

People who are spending new car money are not going to settle for a product that requires planning and effort to be used outside of one's daily routine. This is also why 3-row SUVs and half ton crew cab trucks have proliferated as much as they have.

Workaccount2 2y ago
I have found that people who are considering buying a new car and immediately rule out EV's mostly do so out of confusion and misunderstanding. My father for instance wouldn't get one because he will drive to the beach a couple times each summer, and does not want to have to deal with waiting while charging. However, he is also the type who stops for rests while driving. But he, being old and stubborn, didn't want to hear it.
Sohcahtoa82 2y ago
> People who are spending new car money are not going to settle for a product that requires planning and effort to be used outside of one's daily routine. Maybe YOU won't, but others will. I paid $60K for my Model 3 Performance. Yes, I chose to plan out my charging stops when I take my annual 1300 mile road trip from Portland to Santa Clara, or my recent 2,400 mile road trip from Portland to San Diego. But I CHOSE to plan them. You don't HAVE to. The car's built-in nav will easy plan charging stops for you. I just choose to plan them out ahead of time (Using ABetterRoutePlanner.com) to min-max my charging time. IE, I can tell ABRP "This will be a stop where I expect to spend at least 30 minutes", and it will adjust the rest of the charging plan accordingly. Or I can tell it to stop at specific chargers that might have a specific place I want to eat, or whatever, but my usual workflow is to set all my destinations (actual destinations, not including chargers), hit Plan Drive, and then make some minor adjustments to the charging plan. I suppose in some way, I'm sort of proving your point. But it's not nearly the chore you make it out to be. In fact, I actually enjoy the planning. Of course, one person's joy is another's drudgery.