Yup can confirm. Leased a new car six month ago but the downsides of electric cars just didn’t make sense. Much more expensive, and worse in winter. Cheaper to charge, but not at all enough to make up the huge extra cost.
Comment on Grocery stores promoting gas discounts are not helping the transition away from gas vehicles
skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de 2 years ago
[deleted]
1984@lemmy.today 2 years ago
HubertManne@kbin.social 2 years ago
plugin hybrids to me are an important step. If it can do 10 miles without starting to use gas and the person plugs it in they will use very little gas.
AA5B@lemmy.world 2 years ago
The only problem with this idea is plugin hybrids should have been an important step. Why haven’t we already phased out pure gasoline vehicles for hybrid and plugin hybrid? We could have and should have done this when pure EVs were not yet practical.
But that time has passed. EVs are or could be practical for most uses, with current technology. Manufacturers don’t get to just build overpriced luxury vehicles and say “see, no one wants them: let’s go back to gasoline”. Not enough cheap EVs? We could if manufacturers would scale up, or if we allowed imports from China. Not enough charging stations? That’s just time and investment, and was rapidly changing at least up to Tesla’s layoffs. You don’t get to delay the build out and say “see, there’s not enough chargers”. Not enough raw materials? Huge discoveries in the last couple of years, and recycling ready to scale up as soon as enough vehicles are there. Not enough power in the grid? They only respond to steady growth in demand, and need that growth maintained over years. I suppose plug-in hybrid is better than gasoline but we’re really at the stage where the technology is practical and the biggest impediment is just doing it
HubertManne@kbin.social 2 years ago
I mean for myself I could not plug one in and if you ever have dealt with a community like a condo getting permission to one off is only overshadowed by trying to get the place to improve the infrastructure overall in impossibility. I sorta hope incentives or regulations come along to make such changes easier.
AA5B@lemmy.world 2 years ago
Right, but the technology is there. The obstruction is legal/policy, so older technology shouldn’t have to be the answer.
I’m frustrated with this sane issue at my ex’s condo. The entire complex is townhouses with parking in front. It also has the service entrance in front, so a charger is a short cable under the side walk from a unit’s service entrance to a pedestal at their parking lot. Cheap and easy, and everyone pays their own electric bill. So why won’t they do it? Oh well, if my ex doesn’t want that fight, it’s not my problem
spongebue@lemmy.world 2 years ago
and can’t even get you halfway across the state on a single charge
This is the part that needs to be rethought. Depending on speed and stuff, I can go about 200 miles on a charge. Want to go farther? Fine! DC fast charging is, in fact, fast. Plug in, take a pee break, stretch for a minute, and get a bite to eat. In 20 minutes, you can get a lot of charge in most cars (granted, my Chevy Bolt needs a little more time but that battery technology is relatively obsolete)
We already stop on the road for other reasons. It’s not hard to combine stops, and it will only get easier as chargers get built up. Stop pretending we need to drive 500 miles without stopping, that’s dangerous anyway.
AA5B@lemmy.world 2 years ago
More importantly, people should give more priority to more common needs. I plug my car in when I get home, like my phone, and just always have a charge. It is so much more convenient to never have to go to a local gas station again. Much better than older cars where it seemed like I had to go every couple of weeks.
Yes, recharging my EV is less convenient on road trips, but it’s more convenient 95+% of the time
dingus@lemmy.world 2 years ago
It’s not more convenient 95% of the time if you don’t live in a place where you can just plug it in all the time. Until people are able to figure out how to get widespread adoption of EV charging stations in apartments and condos, EV adoption by the general public is significantly limited.
kent_eh@lemmy.ca 2 years ago
Want to go farther? Fine! DC fast charging is, in fact, fast
Sure, but those need to exist at the appropriate locations, ans be maintained in working order - neither of which is the current reality in a lot of places.
Add to that the lack of availability of affordable EVs and you are going to have the slow adoption we currently see.
.
I was planning to get an EV of some sort the last time my vehicle needed to be replaced, but there were none available at the time that fit my budget and my needs.
I still intend to have one relatively soon, but the practical realities are still an impediment.
AA5B@lemmy.world 2 years ago
Not sure how to react with this one. On the one hand, we need a bigger and better used EV market, but on the other hand, this shouldn’t have been a surprise. It’s sort of like buying a 20 yr old Corolla, then complaining it can’t haul gravel
grue@lemmy.world 2 years ago
The “transition away from gas vehicles” and the “transition to electric vehicles” aren’t the same thing and shouldn’t be conflated.
The bulk of the transition should be to other forms of transportation, not simply subbing out disastrous gas automobiles for only-marginally-less-disastrous electric automobiles.
johntash@eviltoast.org 2 years ago
One problem is the lack of alternative transport options. In most of the US, public transport just isn’t a thing. And things are too far apart for cycling to be efficient for commutes, grocery shopping, etc.
I hope that changes some day though.
njordomir@lemmy.world 2 years ago
I wish more people, more ordinary non-Lemmings, understood this.
Even if you can’t get everywhere with a bike, you can definitely go some places. Last year, completely on accident, I went a whole month only using my car twice. 90% of my trips were to the grocery store and other close-by destinations.
Electric cars are just an evolution of the status quo designed as a pressure valve to prevent the momentum for real change from building up.
JoshuaFalken@lemmy.world 2 years ago
For further than bike distance, it’s confounding why cities don’t have a tram system.
If something is being moved from one place to another, and back again, you would of course look for more efficient ways to move that thing. Use a box.
When there’s dozens of those things making the same trip, put them together in the same transport method. It’s not complicated. Factories don’t have people moving one product at a time to the next station. They have conveyor belts or similar to accomplish the task.
When needed, sure, have an electric car that someone could drive. But it’s not necessary for a good portion of the population.
AA5B@lemmy.world 2 years ago
Why Tram? While I prefer them as well and my area has some, this is the same scenario a bus can handle, and a bus is arguably better since it can go more places and be more flexible without infrastructure costs. For most places, we need to electrify buses and figure out how to make them a more appealing choice
Trains and trans are better at scaling for more populated areas but buses need to be part of that continuum
Zedstrian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 years ago
While many people in urban and suburban areas could effectively integrate bikes into their daily routines, it still ultimately depends where you live, given that many areas don’t have safe bike lanes or are simply too rural to be able to bike as part of one’s routine.