3 ms·

Free Transportation for Life

3 points by benackles 14y ago

lmm 14y ago
Right now the battery is basically a consumable, and the replacement cost is comparable to your gas expenditure (though in one lump, rather than spread out over several year)
quanticle 14y ago
* They can dump 150 miles of drive time into your car in an hour I appreciate that it's a massive improvement over existing charging technology but compared to a gasoline pump, it's pitiful. A gas pump can dump 300 miles of drive time into my car in five minutes. Secondly, sure, the Model S has a range of 300 miles. But that's at 55 mph. Now, tell me, does anyone actually drive at 55 mph on the freeway? Moreover, does anyone ever drive at 55 mph without AC, radio, or heat? All those things will cut into the range of the Model S. I think that one of the things holding back EV adoption is the fact that Americans have been lied to so often about battery capacity. We have "6-hour" laptops whose batteries barely last 3. We have "24-hour" MP3 players whose batteries are empty after 8. We have cell phones whose batteries barely last through a day of light usage, despite manufacturer claims that the battery will last "up to" 36 hours. Given the typical consumer's experience with battery powered devices, is it any surprise that they're extremely leery of battery powered cars? A dead MP3 player or laptop is a minor annoyance. A dead car (especially a dead car which can't be refueled or jump-started easily) is a major inconvenience. In order to engender consumer trust, Tesla has to do more than just publish a simple optimistic "300 miles at 55 miles an hour!" blurb. They need to give the consumer detailed information about what affects the battery life of the car. How much does driving at 70, rather than 55 cut down my range? How much do I lose for using the AC? The heat? Even if these Supercharger stations become ubiquitous, I still want these questions answered because, unlike the people caught in Elon Musk's reality distortion field, I do think that an hour spent twiddling my thumbs at a gas station is an hour wasted.

3 points by benackles 14y ago

lmm 14y ago

Right now the battery is basically a consumable, and the replacement cost is comparable to your gas expenditure (though in one lump, rather than spread out over several year)

quanticle 14y ago

* They can dump 150 miles of drive time into your car in an hour I appreciate that it's a massive improvement over existing charging technology but compared to a gasoline pump, it's pitiful. A gas pump can dump 300 miles of drive time into my car in five minutes. Secondly, sure, the Model S has a range of 300 miles. But that's at 55 mph. Now, tell me, does anyone actually drive at 55 mph on the freeway? Moreover, does anyone ever drive at 55 mph without AC, radio, or heat? All those things will cut into the range of the Model S. I think that one of the things holding back EV adoption is the fact that Americans have been lied to so often about battery capacity. We have "6-hour" laptops whose batteries barely last 3. We have "24-hour" MP3 players whose batteries are empty after 8. We have cell phones whose batteries barely last through a day of light usage, despite manufacturer claims that the battery will last "up to" 36 hours. Given the typical consumer's experience with battery powered devices, is it any surprise that they're extremely leery of battery powered cars? A dead MP3 player or laptop is a minor annoyance. A dead car (especially a dead car which can't be refueled or jump-started easily) is a major inconvenience. In order to engender consumer trust, Tesla has to do more than just publish a simple optimistic "300 miles at 55 miles an hour!" blurb. They need to give the consumer detailed information about what affects the battery life of the car. How much does driving at 70, rather than 55 cut down my range? How much do I lose for using the AC? The heat? Even if these Supercharger stations become ubiquitous, I still want these questions answered because, unlike the people caught in Elon Musk's reality distortion field, I do think that an hour spent twiddling my thumbs at a gas station is an hour wasted.