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I'd wager that most automobile use day-to-day doesn't come close to 800km stretches. Would it not be interesting enough if electric cars managed to replace all

I'd wager that most automobile use day-to-day doesn't come close to 800km stretches. Would it not be interesting enough if electric cars managed to replace all the fossil-fueled, city-driving cars? Even with that point aside, I don't think one can write off Tesla based on a snapshot of charging infrastructure at this instant. There are already concepts like Better Place that involve swapping out batteries instead of waiting to charge the one in your vehicle. A little less ambitiously, DC Fast charging stations (already installed in places like Los Angeles, Wash. state and Oregon) charge EVs up to roughly 80% of capacity in around 30 minutes. My point isn't that the system is perfect, or that these concepts completely solve the range issue with EVs. Comparing charging options now to even one or two years ago shows a substantial difference in potential (heh), so it seems a little myopic to say "I can't do this right now perfectly so it will never happen".

tsahyt 14y ago
Good point on the city cars and yes you're right, predicting the future has never gone well and I can't predict how the infrastructure is going to look like in a decade or so. However, the hydrogen fuel cell technology is here now and it works well yet there's very little hype around it. Hybrids and EVs on the other hand are hyped to hell and back while (for the time being) they are just not good enough. Hybrids, yes, obviously. But they don't solve the problem. Additionally those batteries weigh quite a bit. Unnecessary weight == wasted energy.
- wutbrodo 14y ago
  Thanks for the insight; I had heard about hydrogen fuel cells as far back as 2002, but only in a very theoretical sense (plus I was in middle school back then...). They definitely do look promising; my guess regarding why there hasn't been much hype around them is that (per Wikipedia) they've been prohibitively expensive until rather recently (in 2002, hydrogen fuel cell cars were estimated to cost $1mn, $300k in 2009, etc)[1]. That being said, it does like it's approaching cost-effectiveness in the near future. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle#Fuel_cell_cost http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle#Fuel_cell_cost

tsahyt 14y ago

Good point on the city cars and yes you're right, predicting the future has never gone well and I can't predict how the infrastructure is going to look like in a decade or so. However, the hydrogen fuel cell technology is here now and it works well yet there's very little hype around it. Hybrids and EVs on the other hand are hyped to hell and back while (for the time being) they are just not good enough. Hybrids, yes, obviously. But they don't solve the problem. Additionally those batteries weigh quite a bit. Unnecessary weight == wasted energy.

wutbrodo 14y ago
Thanks for the insight; I had heard about hydrogen fuel cells as far back as 2002, but only in a very theoretical sense (plus I was in middle school back then...). They definitely do look promising; my guess regarding why there hasn't been much hype around them is that (per Wikipedia) they've been prohibitively expensive until rather recently (in 2002, hydrogen fuel cell cars were estimated to cost $1mn, $300k in 2009, etc)[1]. That being said, it does like it's approaching cost-effectiveness in the near future. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle#Fuel_cell_cost http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle#Fuel_cell_cost