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Comment by berryg | Hacker News Reader

You are underestimating the life time expectancy of EV Batteries and the availability of charging stations. A holiday trip over in the northern countries in Europe (Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway) of around 3500 kilometers is very, very doable. There are charging stations everywhere. Even at remote mountain stations. Granted these countries are at the forefront of the EV car transition. Electrifying transportation is possible. Just as we were able to build a massive oil-infrastructure, we will and are able to build the necessary electric and battery infrastructure. Even in remote areas. You build charging stations with wind and/or solar power and a battery. That's it. It doesn't even need to be connected to the grid. They are already being build in Africa like this (and also provide power to local villages). They cost money to build of course, but the business model is there.

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> we will and are able to build the necessary electric and battery infrastructure. Even in remote areas.

It's even better than that. The by far most expensive part –connecting the power source – has already been done. All you need is build a charger. You don't need fuel deliveries so it's in fact a huge logistics simplification.

>of around 3500 kilometers is very, very doable.

...with EV market share at small single digits.

It's easy to imagine from some tech-utopian perspective, but scaling that up isn't straight-forward, and we don't know how the business or subsidization should work, or how much infrastructure needs to be rebuilt. Remember, EVs are far heavier than equivalent ICEs.

Surely it will get easier as it scales up. There are charging stations in spite of the low number of EVs.

I don't think any infrastructure will need to be rebuilt. EVs aren't that heavy. Certainly not as heavy as many vans.

> Remember, EVs are far heavier than equivalent ICEs. So, what's your point? They are heavier, but that weight is recuperated. Unlike ICE cars the distance they travel does, for example, not depend significantly on load.

> Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway

One doesn't belong with the others and hasn't remote mountain stations let alone mountains as the name implies. Did you think of Finland?

Netherlands are northern.

As an exercise, try the Tesla Go anywhere tool ( https://www.tesla.com/trips ). Note that this is only using Tesla charging stations which are merely a small part of the whole network. But a very convenient part. You plug in for 25 minutes and do a bathroom or lunch break or go shopping or watch a short movie - typically possible since the stops are at convenient locations for that.

Remember that you never need to think about any of this. You tell the car where to go and it will plan all the required stops for you.

You take 25 minutes to go to the bathroom?

If you're traveling with a family, yes, it will likely take 10 minutes or more. And as I said it's not just the bathroom, you just take a break. Get a sandwich.

Having used an EV for some time now, I don't want to buy one that charges much faster. Once the charging is complete you quickly have to leave the charging spot, because there are fees. So you don't want to be stuck in a queue at the bathroom or shop.

In any case, new chargers have improved to 250 kW and 350 kW is coming, so charging times can be down to 10-15 minutes if the car supports it. And let's remember that most people only need this for long trips, such as going on vacation. I never charge on a public charger day to day. I have not charged anywhere except at home for many months now.

If you are travelling with family and have some serious distance to cover, this many long breaks will cost you more hotel nights.

Source: did that with my family several times.

Also, people go on vacation more or less at the same time, so be prepared to be in a line before you can charge.

Oslo had a loooong line of teslas waiting to charge, last time I was there.

With people just having to sit inside, because if they leave they lose their spot in line.

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