Hacker News Reader

Comment by bruce511 | Hacker News Reader

It's interesting to see the way politics influences public opinion which in turn influences manufacturers, which in turn influence politics.

In Europe EV's have a positive political support, which means lots of sales, which means "all" European manufacturers have solid (and improving) offerings.

By contrast the biggest EV manufacturer is politically toxic to the very people likely to buy it. And oil companies lobby hard to keep anti-EV talking points alive. Which drives sales down, and manufacturers drop EVs from the range. Banning competition doesn't seem to help with making progress.

And yes, I get the "Europe short distances" argument, but how many Americans are really driving 300+ miles every day?

So, 20 years from now, will US manufacturers exist? Or will products from Asia and Europe be too far ahead?

View on HN

>And yes, I get the "Europe short distances" argument, but how many Americans are really driving 300+ miles every day?

Everyday? probably not many, but 300+ in a single day several times a year, well I bet it is quite a few. Visiting relatives at Thanksgiving and other holidays, summer vacations, sure some people take airplanes, but most aren't that well off. And if you have children visiting aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents, the only place I'd want to do a 40 minute charge for the next leg is maybe Buc-ees, which is in a pretty small part of the country.

Will this take me and my family where we need to go is a more important consideration than the daily commute for me, but perhaps that is not as common a sentiment.

Charging, for me at least, is usually a 10-15 minute affair which is faster than my family can use a washroom and stretch our legs. Several road trips per year in an EV is painless.

Towing things long distances is one of the few EV weak points I can think of, but REV trucks should mostly fix that too.

> but 300+ in a single day several times a year, well I bet it is quite a few.

And this hasn't been a problem in an EV for years. That's a single charge for almost all EVs now. And with fast chargers being almost everywhere, especially along highways, I doubt the actual time taken is very different.

If you don't take a single ~20 minute break in a 5 hour drive, you can beat it. I'm not sure that's healthy or safe though. If you have children this isn't even an option IMHO.

> Will this take me and my family where we need to go is a more important consideration than the daily commute

Totally your decision obviously. It's also why you see so many trucks and all terrain vehicles drive around for the 1 time a year that might be useful. The rest of the year you just pay for that in gas/maintenance/parking ease etc. Again, your decision and I'm not saying you should change, just playing Devils advocate

I only drive 300 miles a week. The problem is, I live in a apartment and there are no chargers at my workplace.

So stop at a supercharger once or twice a week on your way wherever. Im sure there's time in your week where you are mindlessly scrolling. Do that while charging instead of at home.

Sure that works, but now you have a worse version of the refueling experience you'd have with a gas car. Significantly slower for comparable prices and superchargers are still much less common than gas stations. Very tolerable on an occasion road trip. Less than ideal for everyday use.

While charging you can do other things - use phone, have coffee etc. Much more usable time than pumping gas.

Especially so for semi trucks too.

You don't need a 40 minute change. My Ioniq 5 will go from 30% to 85% in 20 minutes. On road trips I'm usually in and out in about 15 minutes which is aligned with my stop time with my ICE car. Why would you limit yourself to stopping at a single vendor like Buc-ee's? My EV is the best roadtripping car I've ever owned. It's a superior car, and it "refuels" quickly.

I do this frequently. A 15 minute stop for a biobreak and a takeaway coffee usually adds 100 miles or so on a modern EV and fast charger.

It's really not much (if any) inconvenience. If in a gas car you assume you are going to stop to take a piss and grab a drink or a snack or something anyway during the course of a long 300+ mile drive (very likely I'd say, unless you and your passengers are urinating into bottles), you'd still need to stop for gas at some point too when with an EV you are actually spending less time since it's "filling up" while you are in the line waiting for your skinny latte. You don't have to do all that then also stop to grab gas too, because your car filled up without you.

> ...sure some people take airplanes, but most aren't that well off.

Which highlights the other American failure: dismal rail transportation

We've been waiting for you to solve it. We know you, and only you, have the solution.

Trains aren't a panacea. See: https://gyrovague.com/2015/12/18/the-last-subway-line-in-jap...

Note: I'm not saying "don't build trains".

Not sure I see your point. That seems to be based almost entirely on Japan’s population crisis; Japan has lots of trains and fewer and fewer people regularly using them due to age. Simply irrelevant for just about anywhere else (except parts of Eastern Europe, maybe).

Do a few 500km trips in Sweden per year. We have lots of fast chargers so mostly not an issue, quick coffee/bathroom break, like 20 min is enough. Only time it was a bit of an issue was when it was minus 30c, had to wait 20 minutes for a charger where they didn't have many.

There are plenty of non-Tesla options available. The market in the US was already on the decline and then the federal incentive got pulled and demand has really stalled.

Speaking as a EV driver myself, the charging network in the US is really lacking. Charging times are fine but the ease of finding an unnocupied and working charger that you can drive up to and start charging quickly still too difficult.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com