Dodge all in on electric too 500 mile range Ram

valhalla360 wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
EV`s are not going to make it except as a niche market.

Actually, EVs can make up a significant portion of the market.

The bulk of vehicles are owned by multi car homes and the vast majority of daily trips are well under 100miles. If your home has 2 vehicles, one EV that is used as first choice unless it's a longer trip, works very well with overnight charging in the garage. Replacing 50-60miles of range in a compact car, is doable with even a 15amp household outlet. This leaves the ICE available for longer trips. These EVs could easily represent 30-50% of the passenger vehicle market. So the main hurdle is financial, not technical.

Where they are limited is users who regularly travel longer distances and/or under heavy load conditions. They will struggle to charge overnight at slower rates and be forced to use fast charging stations which are still not that fast. These frequent long distance drivers are also likely to be more sensitive to losing a half hour to an hour doing a fast charge.

With a secondary group of those without a place to plug in at home/work, such that they would be dependent on fast chargers for most of their charging.

This is why I have a Bolt EV for the last 25 months.

I was actually a 6 vehicle family (the peak time when daughters needed vehicles). The Bolt EV price (lease or purchase) was cheaper than anything else at the time. It cost $100 more than the rebate to buy and install the charger (garage already had extra power). It has gone on two roadtrips that required charging. One trip was planned to give a small boost, the other trip was an adventure, with a single charger necessary to make the trip.

So I look at my Bolt EV as a teaching vehicle. To better understand charging (like charge warm, not after dinner in 20F), better understand range vs speed, how much regen, etc.

Today, my daughters will borrow that car for some uses. The teacher who delivers food to the homes of students during holidays, will come borrow the free car. The future son-in-law will borrow while pet/house sitting, and save 100 miles a day on his F150. The 21 year old when she needs to demonstrate the capabilities against a Mustang.

Will we get to all electric? My employer says we will. I think I will keep an ICE Express Extended Van and a Diesel 3500HD in my fleet for awhile. But I am excited for my reserved Silverado EV!