I’m from Germany, so I don’t know how it’s in other other countries, but here forget charging at home for a lot of people, because they don’t own a house and have no dedicated parking spot. Half the people here are renting only. That’s a lot of people. So I don’t see it as major perk, as I’m in that category and will only be able to charge at work (currently no infrastructure), charge at the supermarket (limited spots and slow charging) or visit a charging station (too expensive with their stupid high prices).
So that’s why, unless we get big changes, I’ll not get an EV any time soon or mid term. Everyone I talked to says the same, aside of those with home charging but that’s the minority.
Oh and btw, no one will pay more for an EV than for a combustion car.
It’s interesting to hear a German perspective on this. I know here in the US some places are requiring new apartments and condos to install ev charging in x% of the parking spaces, but that only helps with the new development.
There really needs to be a charging solution for people living in multi-family housing. Or at least prohibit condo associations impeding residents from installing their own charging on the parking space that comes with the condo.
Ford keeps thinking that they’re not selling cuz rednecks don’t like green trucks but it’s really cuz they want $80k for the baseline models that are never available to buy. I don’t want a $100k King Ranch edition, I just want a regular damn truck I can afford that doesn’t kill the planet, you morons.
Nope. The perks just don’t outweigh charging literally anywhere else.
Can’t tow more than 90 miles. It’s more expensive. It takes 20 minutes best case if you don’t have to wait for a charger.
The PHEV truck is by a long shot a better overall product than full ev truck.
Most Americans do not live in a trailer, which they need to tow for 90miles on a regular bases. In fact most probably have never towed anything.
20min charging after 3h drive is totally fine. There are people who actually like to take a break from driving, take a piss and eat something decent when on the road.
The reailty is that most Americans stay within EV range for months, only going to work, shopping and local social stuff. That means no gas station for months.
Nope. Y’all got to drop hand waiving away 20 minute stops lol, normal people do not stop that long.
And you’re correct that most folks stay under 80 miles. Which is why it’s a waste to have a full EV battery vs 80 miles of range. The 80 miles day to day is perfect and having a gas backup for longer trips eliminates any concern over range or having to wait an hour for a free charger.
On any kind of road trip… The only time I’m driving beyond the range of my battery. Taking a longer stop is not uncommon. Walk the dogs. Grab a bite. Done charging back on the road. I drove from Detroit to Madison with no issues. The reality is that most of the miles folks drive every day is within 50 miles of their home. Grocery store, work, school, day care, games a do for that and EV makes a lot of sense.
If you are big into camping and towing trailers every weekend which some folks do. An EV makes no sense. The power density for the weight doesn’t make sense. It’s why EV for commercial trucks doesn’t make a lot of sense either. Hydrogen will make more sense for those that need higher power density but want to be green.
PHEVs are below 50miles of offical electric range. In the real world it is lower. So nowhere close to 80 miles.
So you have a choice, fill up your car in a gas station on a regular bases or wait a bit longer when you charge up on a longer road trip.
Obviously ideal would be hsr for longer trips, but well.
If you cannot charge at home or somewhere else cheap I really wouldn’t bother at this point. UK we are slowly rolling out charging via lampposts, which will address the 30% of people who don’t have off road parking in the UK. We just need to speed up the roll out and make it a requirement for landlords to support renters installing chargers.
If you can charge at home and have an EV tariff then the savings are significant in the UK. We put between 400 and 500 kwh of charge into our EVs every month at a cost of 8p per kwh, so less than £40 a month. We get an average of 4 miles per kwh, so approx 2000 miles for £40 per month. Even assuming 50mpg for a petrol ICE that would be about £280 a month, significantly more if petrol goes back up again.
Ford exec is somehow ignorant of how many people live in apartments or rented homes where they can’t install car charging circuits.
That’s a city/building code issue though, they can force them to install charger even for rental units.
Also if you rent a home you’ve got outdoors plugs for sure, I tested on a leaf and it charged 25% overnight, enough to drive ~50km at highway speeds.
My daily commute is 75 miles (120 km) round trip. I could drive to work every other day or so.
Ok, so worst case you would have to use an actual charging station for 30 minutes every now and then or maybe never by just leaving the car plugged in all weekend (depending on which car you would get, the Leaf had a “short” range all things considered) IF you were commuting every day. If it’s every other day then you can do it out of a 120v plug.
I lived on the third floor of a multi family house and it sucked, but I was able to successfully charge my leaf 2-3 times with a heavy duty extension cord. I wouldn’t recommend it for daily charging, but even without a home charger, it was not out of commission because I couldn’t charge elsewhere in an emergency.
He did say “most”. But even if you live in an apartment you may not know it’s possible to charge at a home, just not necessarily your home. So it’s still valid even if apartment dwellers don’t benefit. I think it is true that “most” people think you have to find a charger and then sit there for an hour everytime you need to charge when in fact you rarely need to do a full charge from 0, and if you have a home charger, rarely need to find a charger. Charging stations are only needed when you are travelling long distance and not many people are doing that routinely. If you are then buy an ICE or plan longer journeys.
I think the biggest benefits though are much cheaper driving and instant, consistent power: no turbo lag, no gear changes, much quieter inside. I do occasionally have range anxiety, but then I’ve almost run out of fuel in an ICE before due to bad planning and closed service stations, so it is what you make of it.
There isn’t a good solution right now for apartments, but in Norway they had the idea to make street lights dual purpose with charging points inside. I think that could make life easier for everyone. They wouldn’t be fast chargers, but it would replicate the home charger capability for those who can’t have them. Infrastructure needs to catch up but I don’t miss queuing for fuel.
