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heh. This reminds me of electric cars. I've been happily driving one for 9 years.
Lots of people online and in person tell me "Electric cars aren't there yet. They won't work." Well, you must be correct then. I just handed down my first EV to my kid and bought a second one.
Battery situation could be better.
Sodium batteries seem promising, though density is lower than Lithium.
Anyone who says electric cars aren't there are making inaccurate statements at best and at worst are telling non-factual ones. The truth isn't that electric cars aren't ready, is that the energy distribution isn't ready. Only urbanized areas are prepared to offer that much energy at scale and living in an urbanized area you shouldn't need a personal vehicle for most of your travels anyway.
Side note, this is why I think plug-in-hybrids are the baby step we need to achieve first. Even with their obvious flaws they fill the gap between an internal combustion engine and full electric.
I bought a PHEV back in June (Ford Escape), have driven 1500 miles since and have yet to add any gas. For most daily trips the battery gets me there and back without using any gas. I love it and am excited for full EV for my next vehicle.
It’s all situational.
My wife could absolutely rock an EV for her 3 mile drive.
However, for road trips we don’t have enough charger coverage where we live, so alas we have an ICE
When is the last time you drove either down an unpaved washboarded road for 30 hours one way without any charging locations, and then back, and how did it fare? Also let me know how it works at -45 C.
I'm sure it works well for suburban/city streets, doubtful it works well for the above.
I'd be curious to know the stats of how many driving trips are done in cities vs your washboard example.
Well, "30 hours" disqualifies >50% of trips, because most trips are under 3 miles.
I'm not saying it's not a good option for the majority of people, I'm saying that there are definite use cases for gas vehicles which electric vehicles cannot fulfill at this time. The majority of my trips are short and are in a city, however if I had an electric vehicle, I'd be fucked the 2 times a year I have to make a drive like that because you can't carry batteries for an electric car like you can carry gas cans, and they won't be building charging stations in the middle of federally protected natural reserves. Furthermore, there are definite problems with electric vehicle range in low temperatures even for travel within a city. If electric vehicles met those requirements I'd be buying one immediately, but as it stands, a gas vehicle is simply more capable and is a better value when it comes to the money as a result.
Renting a gas powered vehicle could be an option for the two times a year needed.
It's the same argument when discussing why people need a pickup truck as their daily driver for the one time a year they need to haul a trailer or move a couch. When faced with the possibility of switching from a half-ton to a sedan, suddenly everybody needs to carry their refrigerator with them everywhere.
Valid counterpoint.