zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"NoneOfYourBiz" (goawaynowkthxbye) 04/23/2015 at 08:13 • Filed to: None

2

11

From now on, if a platform end-user agreement does not allow full account deletion, I will not post content to that platform.

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > NoneOfYourBiz 04/23/2015 at 08:20

1

My biggest concern would be “oops, forgot to plug it in last night” so now the battery is near dead. Or I don’t realize that after I’ve driven to work and there aren’t any charging stations nearby.

To mitigate that fear if they had a means of removing a battery and trading it with a charging station or gas station for immediate juice that would solve a lot. Think a big toner cartridge in a printer but in this case it’s a battery. Drop off the empty at the station, it spits out a new one, toss it in your car and you have an extra 50 miles or so. The station then charges the cell, monitors the health and orders a replacement or service if need be. if it became standardized across EVs much the same way plugs are now the cost would be driven down and overall help out concerned drivers.

CB > NoneOfYourBiz 04/23/2015 at 08:28

2

Your point about wanting to go places once you have a car since you have the freedom of availability reminds me of a conversation I was having with a friend. Neither of us have a car, and he mentioned that everything he needs and uses can be reached by bus. He then mentioned that it’s probably because he doesn’t have a car that everything is reachable by bus, and that he’d probably change his normal routines and go to further away places if he had a car. So I think that point is bang on.

NoneOfYourBiz > nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul 04/23/2015 at 09:01

1

Kinda like Tesla’s battery swap stations , “lite” edition. You could keep the main battery bank design but have a small, user swappable Li-Ion “pack” with an extra 50km boost.

Realizing this is a fuel-cell not a battery pack, this sort of thing:

http://puregreencars.com/Green-Cars-New…

Or “hybrid” but with a bias toward electric power, with the gas/diesel engine only to extend range .

Hiroku > CB 04/23/2015 at 09:09

1

It’s also true when you already have a car, but swap it to a much more fuel efficient one. You find yourself going places you generally wouldn’t before because it’d be too expensive.

RockThrillz89 > NoneOfYourBiz 04/23/2015 at 09:11

1

For me, it’s not just the range. It’s more the ability to charge it just as quickly as an ICE vehicle. I wouldn’t so much mind stopping every 150 miles (vs. the ~320 miles now in my Civic), if I could be at 100% again in about 5 minutes tops, in addition to that super quick charge not destroying the battery’s longevity.

Here’s my example of why I don’t like pure electric cars at the moment. My parents live, for all intensive purposes intents and purposes, 100 miles from me. So just far enough away that it’s not an every weekend thing to go see them, but not uncommon to for me to pop in once a month. With an EV vehicle, the current crop seem to be able to handle that drive. But that leaves me with about ~25-50 miles left to play with (not including Tesla in this, it’s not realistically in my price range). So I had better hope that conditions are perfect. I had better hope that I start off with a full charge. And I can forget about stopping by Charlotte on the way there (which I do probably every other visit). Also, forget popping in for a couple hours for supper. Not enough time to fully charge the battery.

And as for public transportation, I think the only option for me would be to take a Greyhound bus. (Actually, I would have to take Greyhound to Charlotte, then my parents would have to drive 30 minutes to pick me up, so that’s not reasonable.) AMTRAK doesn’t run between the two cities, and neither are big enough to have anything other than a chartered plan fly between the two.

NoneOfYourBiz > RockThrillz89 04/23/2015 at 09:27

1

Nailed it.

Yup, totally get you. My parents are closer than that but once I add in my friends who live at the opposite end of the city, and maybe another stop on another side of town, no matter how well I plan my trip, I’m pushing the edge of EV range. (Tesla is way out of my budget too)

Quick charge or battery swap stations along my route would let me use an EV but as you mention they don’t exist or take too long to top up.

In Europe, public transit infrastructure is much more developed and I could probably make this type of trip in a reasonable time frame.

Here, while I could make a “triple stop” trip via public transit, it would take all day instead of half a day, and I probably couldn’t hit up some of the places I want to because transit doesn’t go there, or I’d be using a cab for some of it and the trip would cost me more than having taken a car.

NoneOfYourBiz > Hiroku 04/23/2015 at 09:30

0

For sure, if I drove something that got significantly worse fuel economy than my 9 year old Elantra, I’d second guess a lot of spontaneous trips. As it is, even at 25mpg, I don’t even bat an eyelash, I just go.

Let’s say an EV gets a theoretical “100mpg.” That’s great and I might just take off and drive twice as far with it... but the range limitation would stop me.

Milky > NoneOfYourBiz 04/23/2015 at 09:34

1

To say the “shine is wearing off” seems wrong IMO. Everyone has known since day 1 EVs have range issues, its just that most people that have them live in a 2 car household. Everyone also still knows dinojuice isn’t sustainable and like you’ve said 95% of all trips could done in EVs now.

Just give battery-tech a little time and all will be right.

RockThrillz89 > NoneOfYourBiz 04/23/2015 at 09:37

0

I’m still not convinced that EV is the way to go, at least in the US. As you said, it probably works better in Europe; where I live, its not uncommon for people to drive 45 minutes to work, excluding traffic. It’s worked so far because governments have latched on to it since it was the closest alternative to possibly being mass market viable. But with out all the government subsidies, I don’t think Tesla would exist in the way it does now; i.e. it would be more regional, not mass market. I would still like to see more money dumped into hydrogen cars. Honda and Toyota haven’t given up on it yet, and to me that is pretty telling. If those two keep chasing it, then there must be something there (Japanese government subsidies?). But then again, I had to do a big high school research project with two friends, the topic was alternative fuel (2007, so about the time the Prius became the soup de jour), and I argued for Hydrogen.

NoneOfYourBiz > Milky 04/23/2015 at 09:39

0

Oh, for sure. I was referencing the article.

I look forward to being able to buy an EV that has the range I want, or access to charging infrastructure that makes range irrelevant.

This is more a commentary on the current state of EVs, not long term potential. I agree, hydrocarbon fuels aren’t sustainable. I would expect the aviation industry to be the last hold outs on account of energy density long after cars have gone electric.

Cé hé sin > NoneOfYourBiz 04/23/2015 at 10:02

0

“In Europe, public transit infrastructure is much more developed”

If you live in a large-ish town and want to go to another one, yes. Live somewhere small or in the country and you’re on your own, just as you would be anywhere.