So.... sitting on a highway in a dead-stop traffic holdup during a cold rainstorm (storm damage to the road) for 3 hours with the windshield wipers going, the headlights on, and the heater going ... would consume about how much of the average EV's battery capacity? This happened to one of our family members a few days ago a few miles from us.
Can EV's make it in these kinds of situations .... and in far worse scenarios in many areas of the U.S. and the world? How about use of energy-hog air conditioning hour after hour in high temperatures? Also, gas can be carried in a container to a stranded vehicle to get it going when out of fuel. What's the EV equivalent of this emergency help (other than the EV's driver sitting stranded in the sun a long time with a roll-out solar panel or sitting in the sun a long time with their vehicle's entire exterior surface being a solar cell)?
Can current EV technology and patched together refueling arrangements get some of us by, some of the time, in some places, good enough, given no unpredictable situations ... for short-trip personal transportation - yes. But IMHO EV's and the infrastructure to manufacture and support them for general use worldwide are a long way from being ready for prime time. Electrical storage technology will continue to be the limiting factor - Tesla's upcoming huge (lithium?) battery manufacturing plant notwithstanding.
Does anyone know what electrical storage technology (theoretical or in lab prototypes) can match diesel's energy storage capacity per unit volume? Also most folks probably gas up in about 10 minutes - this will be tough to match in an EV.
