Range anxiety is overrated

[basjoos]

Some additional factors affecting range anxiety are the reduction of EV range for winter driving and the gradual reduction of range as the battery pack ages. So a new EV with a 100 mile range that meets your driving need may not meet it when driving in -10 degree F temperatures or with 8 year old batteries. When a gas car encounters reduced range due to cold temps or an old, out of tune engine, you can always pop into a gas station to refuel, something more difficult and slower to do with an EV.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by SDMCF

The whole point of the article is that there are many people for whom existing vehicles have sufficient range.

And the point of many of our objections is that these scientists (or the reporters) seem to be blindly assuming that an average daily travel of 70 miles or less means that a 70 mile range is sufficient. But it's easy to show that this isn't always, or perhaps even usually, the case. For example, my approximate driving in the last week (which is pretty typical):

• *W - 0
  *T - 75 miles to lake
  *F - 5 miles to other lake
  *S - 25 miles to trailhead
  *S - 130 miles to friends' place
  *M - 0
  *T - 75 miles to lake

So less than 45 miles per day on average, but half of the trips exceed the 70 mile range.

[Xist]

What if you did your daily seventy-mile commute, barely got home and plugged in, and your wife, daughter, or handicapped deaf-mute nun has an emergency, and you cannot be there for them.

Hypothetical scenarios can get crazy, but emergencies do happen.

How about construction on your perfect commute requires you to find another way to get to and from work?

[Fat Charlie]

... and that's why I need the quad cab with the V8!

[rmay635703]

Since I own multiple vehicles I see the arguments against evs mostly meaningless or people could just own a volt

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

Since I own multiple vehicles I see the arguments against evs mostly meaningless or people could just own a volt

Except we aren't making arguments against EVs (or at least I'm not), we're making arguments against the idea that a 70 mile range is sufficient for most people. The argument would be just the same if the tank of an IC engined vehicle only held enough fuel for 70 miles, and you had to refuel it through a soda straw.

These days I'd be quite happy with a ~200 mile range, and even in the days when I used to make a regular 250 mile trip, Tesla's new 300 or so miles would be sufficient.

[redpoint5]

I don't have range anxiety, only financial anxiety. Why should I sacrifice range if the vehicle doesn't deliver the miles per dollar I can get in a conventional vehicle?

There are dozens of ways to get around occasional trips beyond the single charge range of an EV, but why should anyone be bothered with them if the vehicle doesn't have a substantial financial advantage over driving a conventional car?

The average household has 1.9 vehicles in the US. That means that many households have 2 or more, and could easily accommodate at least 1 EV. Again, it's pointless to the average person unless there is a significant financial advantage.

I have no doubt the cost to produce EVs will fall well below the cost to produce an internal combustion vehicle because it's a much simpler design. We've just had many more years to cut the cost of ICE vehicles and leverage economies of scale. Once EVs have some years behind it to increase volume and reduce production costs, people will be much less willing to fork over absurd amounts of money on a transportation appliance and will chose EV over ICE.

[Xist]

My second vehicle is a bicycle. I would not know where to park anything else.

How do I put a V8 on that? Tomato juice?

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Xist

My second vehicle is a bicycle.

Got a couple of those, too. Now if someone would just invent bicycle tires/tubes that are impervious to goatheads...

[botsapper]

Already know that you ecomodders are outliers with your yuuge long-range travels.

The report crunched the largest national household travel survey numbers; taking account of GPS data in all types of vehicle owners; topographical mileage, fuel economy data, even taking account of elevation changes and air temperature readings.
Their base point only on overnight fully recharged EVs. The lucky 25% of drivers never go further than 74 miles in a single day. The majority 87% math works, besides the same majority of those EV drivers also own an alternate vehicle too. Just in case, AAA members have EV Roadside Assistance, after 10-15 min charging, enough to escort & get you to a charging station.