Well said, Ben! I love my leaf and it fits well within my life circumstances, but I recognize that there are many factors that dictate if an 80 mile range EV is at all practical. The city in which you live. Where you live relative to work. If you have kids who participate in after school activities. The terrain of your community. If you are a home owner. The climate of where you live. Etc. Every incremental increase in range opens up the practicality of owning an EV for more and more people.
I do not, however, think that EVs will need to increase their capacity to 300 miles on a charge before they become mainstream. I think that the tipping point will be closer to 200 miles if coupled with a reasonable long distance charging infrastructure. There will always be a segment of the population for which an EV will not be a fit just like today there is a segment of the population that lives in densely populated cities for which a gas car is not a fit. -Brandon On 06/06/2015 10:07 PM, Ben Goren via EV wrote: > I think a lot of "the gas folks" really do get that. The problem is that, > especially in the more sprawling metropolises, their lives are built such > that a car with only a two gallon "tank" just isn't any use to them. > > I have a good friend who lives in Surprise, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. She > works in downtown Phoenix, about 20 miles away. So far so good, right? That's > well within a Leaf's range. But she also not infrequently has to go to a > satellite office in Mesa, which is another 20 miles on the other side of > Phoenix. That works out to an 80 mile round trip, which is starting to get > iffy for the Leaf. And this is Phoenix, so that means air conditioning in the > summer isn't optional, especially when outside temperatures are well above > 110°F -- and that _definitely_ makes it iffy. > > But, of course, it doesn't just stop there...her in-laws live in Surprise, > which is about fifteen miles north of Goodyear and about 30 miles by freeway > from Phoenix. She not infrequently needs to get her kids to or from school in > Goodyear to their grandparents in Surprise -- and, of course, do this at the > end or start of the schoolday and without any time to "gas up." Even if she's > only working in Phoenix that day, that's pushing it for the Leaf -- and a > recipe for disaster if that happens to coincide with a trip to Mesa. > > And, of course, in nearly all situations, leaves her without any "Murphy > factor," without any room for contingencies, or options like going out of the > way to some interesting place for lunch, or a quick trip to the airport to > pick somebody up, and so on. > > Now, on the one hand, you could suggest that maybe she should live closer to > work and her in-laws should move closer to her. For all sorts of reasons not > worth discussing here, neither is an option, I can assure you. You could also > suggest that maybe she could get an electric vehicle and her husband can keep > a gasoline vehicle...but he actually works at the same office as she does, > and their child-taxi and similar duties are shared equally. Juggling who gets > the electric and who gets the gas would get awkward, especially if something > came up at the last minute...and does them little good if the one has to go > to Mesa the same day the other has to go to Surprise; whoever gets stuck with > the EV gets stuck, literally, by the side of the freeway in hundred-plus > weather waiting for a tow. > > And she's not at all an atypical case for somebody in the Valley of the Sun. > Pretty much the norm, in fact -- especially amongst those with the disposable > income that, until just very recently, has been required to even consider an > electric vehicle. > > So she and the millions like her who live here really aren't realistic > candidates for an electric vehicle, no matter how sweet the cars so often are > nor the convenience of starting each day with a full "tank" without having to > go to the gas station. > > Now, when realistic ranges, with the air conditioning running full blast in > the Phoenix summer and the rest, get solidly in the 200+ mile range, and > especially the 300+ mile range, and for "kid-friendly" minivans...well, at > that future date, you probably won't be able to stop her from buying one. > > Until then? > > Best to focus on those -- such as my parents -- for whom today's EVs are a > match made in heaven. They're still the minority, at least where I live...but > it's a rapidly growing minority with every new generation of vehicles. > > Cheers, > > b& > > On Jun 6, 2015, at 6:52 PM, Robert Bruninga via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > >> One way to describe the new Paradigm that EV’s bring to daily living to the >> typical gas driver is to say something like this: >> >> >> >> “Imagine if every day you came home and parked, you could stick a hose in >> your gas tank and get 2 gallons every night for only $1 a gallon.” >> >> >> >> Well, that’s exactly what you get with an EV when you come home and plug it >> into just your standard 120v outlet. Overnight, in 12 hours at 10 cents >> per kWh, you pick up 50 miles range for only about $2 of electricity. And >> the car is FULL the next day. >> >> >> >> Maybe then the gas folks will finally get it. >> >> >> >> Bob Bruninga, WB4APR >> -------------- next part -------------- >> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... >> URL: >> <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20150606/5f924f9c/attachment.htm> >> _______________________________________________ >> UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub >> http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org >> For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA >> (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) >> > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: signature.asc > Type: application/pgp-signature > Size: 801 bytes > Desc: Message signed with OpenPGP using GPGMail > URL: > <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20150606/55f5ab4f/attachment.pgp> > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA > (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
