Just witnessed this meeting of the minds on FB
Just witnessed this meeting of the minds on FB
People arguing about the price of gas, but as soon as someone mentions driving an EV they're "stupid" and woke
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Gas is too expensive!
EVs are not ready for the broad market. Sure, they work fine for getting to work and running some errands, but I wouldn't trust going on long road trips with them yet. Plus, changing the batteries when they wear out is wayyyyy too expensive, might as well buy a new vehicle at that point.
Most EVs hold a charge for over 400 miles, that's the same as a tank of gas now. For the vast, vast majority of Americans that will do for most of their driving habits. Most Americans commute to work and run errands around their house, even on busy days most Americans won't come close to 200 miles in a single day. Charging every night at home then makes it very reasonable.
For myself, we're a 2 car house, one EV and one gas, and gas is only used now for those (very rare) long journeys. Even those though are so rare that honestly renting a car is a valid alternative (while we're building the charging infrastructure).
The only real excuses right now are if you
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regularly drive over 400 miles in one trip, so for most people that's across their entire state, and plan on not being able to charge at all in the middle (which, if you're on the interstates now is pretty much a non-issue, and remember you can always rent a car if you're going on a super long road trip too if you're really worried about it. Even in the Midwest that was maybe once or twice a year that I went on road trips long)
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Rent or live where you can't install an EV charger in your home. This is a valid one, and I hope we start pushing for chargers in rental properties.
Not only are the points you made on EV good, but you can also fill up an EV at home. You never have to leave the house in the morning without a full tank ever again.
I don't think they realize this. If you have a garage with a charge port (which can be added fairly cheaply now) then you never have to worry about getting gas before work again. You just always leave with a "full tank"
And if you have solar panels and a smart charger, you can do it with just the excess power you'd be sending to the grid otherwise. Under the right circumstances you could just drive for free.
You can't fill up an EV at home if you rent, most of the time. Higher wattage charging requires a charger installation.
I'm a proponent of EVs and I'm looking forward to getting one at some point but "most" EVs don't hold a charge for over 400 miles. Many are offered with a high range option that almost meets this mark, but that's also under ideal conditions. I have several coworkers with EVs and we talk a lot about the range effects in the winter, or in hilly areas, etc.
Also you'd have to be crazy to plan out a trip that depletes your battery all the way, so that wouldn't be for a 400 mile trip.
One thing that's turning me off from EVs (currently) is the constant battling over charging standards. This creates more uncertainty than I'd like.
Towing and cold weather also play an important factor in the range as well.
I'll agree to add towing, but again unless you're a professional truck driver that's a very rare instance, and I'd point to my 2-car household thing as a solution. (Call me crazy but for those rare times I need a truck I rent one. The only times I toe are when I'm helping friends move and the only time I've needed a truck is bringing something big home from home Depot, and for both U-Haul has charged me max $20 bucks for the day)
For 99% of driving an EV is fine. The cold misnomer was true in the early days of EVs, but is pretty much solved now, but even then the 2-car household solves that again.
For the other 1% of driving you can easily rent a vehicle that suits your needs. After all, we don't all own moving vans just because we move occasionally.
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It takes me 28 hours to drive from South Florida to New Hampshire in my EV instead of 24 like Google says. That would probably be 25 hours with gas stops though. And it's actually kind of nice to get out and walk around while it's charging, especially since I bring my dog. Maybe other routes are worse for charging? I haven't had any issues.
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