ExxWhy wrote:
They have a ways to go to become a true road trip car. But for local trips, seems like it would work OK. Stopping every 150 miles for 30 minutes is a deal breaker on long trips for most people. Hybrids will have to fill that role for a while. Wondering if an easily changeable battery pack will be the answer. Stop in the "gas" station and the pack is changed in under 5 minutes and you are on your way.
Shouldn't take to much ingenuity to make a mobile charging platform on a tow truck. If you run out of juice on the road, call for a charge.
I don't think the infrastructure installation is that big of a deal, as long as the electric grid can actually supply the demand. Home charger install can be done in a day. Obviously commercial projects will take longer, but not that long if the demand is there.
I'm generally a skeptic, especially of anything that tries to call itself green. But I think this is going to work, of course with a few bumps in the road. It won't work because of any green BS marketing or govt mandates or even tax breaks. It will work because it will produce a better product for less $$. How quickly it can do that (and overcome some of these obstacles) will determine how quickly it becomes mainstream.
Agreed. Re the recovery vehicle. They kinda already exist. There is a small x amount kilowatt device that essentially mimics a quick charger and it just mounts on any standard tow truck. Just plug it in to the fast charge port of the car and it supplies enough of a charge to get to the next charger station.
Home infrastructure is easy. Any EV comes with a slow charger that you just plug into a standard wall socket. However for 400 bucks and up you can buy a level 2 charger that just plugs into a standard stove plug. We did that. WIFI controllable. IN our case our two cars share it as we tend to only plug the cars in once or twice a week.
Re the green thing. Most of the EV drivers we know are not green fanatics in any way. Most of us really enjoy the electric driving experience which we think is better in so many ways. As opposed to listing them just go for a drive and you'll see what I mean. But yah most of us like the idea of the vehicle having zero emissions while driving. Who wouldn't. If you had a choice of sitting in a closed garage for an hour with a gas engine running or a electric vehicle "running" which one would you rather be in. A cities air is just a bigger room. Everything pollutes, EVs pollute less. They also make for quieter cities as they have found in Norway.
The cars are now to the point where they are suitable for many lifestyles but obviously not all. We won't ever need anything longer than a medium range car but know those who need to wait for something longer range. I think pickups will be around for a long time yet as there is no export market for them so there is no reason to advance the technology to be competitive for overseas contenders. SUV's though, Teslas already have towing capacities of 5000 pounds and they do it VERY FAST so the SUV market will probably see some devolpment in the next decade.
We still go to our local gas station once or twice a month....usually to pick up a quick pick lotto. We still drive 10,000 to 15,000 kilometers per year...we just don't need to go to the pumps anymore and we don't visit the jiffy lube anymore. Kinda cool. :)
