America's plan to replace gas guzzlers with electric cars was doomed from the start
www.businessinsider.com
The sudden slowdown in electric car sales is a symptom of a much uglier problem.
  • @Jode@midwest.socialEnglish
    0•5 months ago

    They completely whiffed on the most important and obvious part. That whole article could be replaced by the words “THEY’RE TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE”.

    • @ted@beehaw.org
      0•5 months ago

      The article doesn’t whiff on this, it lays out why it’s too expensive.

      1. The strategy was to replace gas cars with EV 1-to-1 to solve the climate crisis and save the car industry.
      2. Gas cars have gotten bigger over the years because of marketing, bravado, “safety”, and regulation-skirting.
      3. EV-makers have largely bought into that and made all these huge EVs.
      4. Huge EVs require bigger batteries which are more expensive in raw materials and manufacturing.
      5. Huge batteries are heavy and dangerous.
      6. Range anxiety has encouraged even more oversized batteries on already oversized cars.
      7. Huge batteries are the main source of cost, meaning EVs end up being a luxury.

      So, yes–they are too damn expensive, however a vehicle that meets our actual needs wouldn’t be, if it existed in North America.

      • @jw13@beehaw.org
        0•5 months ago

        Large batteries are a must-have to get anywhere near a comfortable range.

        I wonder if larger battery packs fit in small cars. And it would also push the price beyond the level that people expect to pay for smaller cars.

        • @ted@beehaw.org
          0•5 months ago

          Range anxiety is what pushed me to buy a Bolt over other EVs, but I do find that practically I don’t need as many kms as it offers, especially in the summer.

          Opinion: 400km is overkill for city driving in warm climates. Half the battery/range would be fine for virtually all daily use. I know everyone will anecdotally state their use case on why 200km is insufficient, but that’s basically what the article is saying is part of the problem.

          • admiralteal
            0•5 months ago

            People also forget that rental cars exist.

            For the handful of actual long-range drives a typical person needs to take in a given year, it’d almost certainly be cheaper to rent a different car rather than spend extra to get a huge-range EV. But relatively short-range EVs are basically not a thing because of how universal these range anxieties are. Not to even mention that the available rentals aren’t a great situation either, given how universal it is for people to own these long-range vehicles.

            Our society is a damn prisoner’s dilemma.

            • Osa-Eris-Xero512
              0•5 months ago

              A lot of that range anxiety will start to evaporate as charging (both slow and fast) becomes more ubiquitous. If I can charge to 80% in 15 minutes I don’t need a lot more than 2-3 hours of drive time on a single charge, so long as there’s a charging station at that interval.