Why EVs Have a Long Road Ahead

[ccap41]

It's a good read about a pretty short road trip that sounds very inconveniently planned due to their ride being an EV. 

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/chevrolet/bolt-ev/2017/2017-chevrolet-bolt-ev-review-long-term-update-7/

I know @ocnblu will appreciate this. 😉

[Robert Hall]

Interesting read... too much drama and range anxiety for a simple road trip.   Electric vehicles and charging infrastructure still have a ways to go to beat the simplicity of ICE reality...I take off on a drive, knowing there are gas stations everywhere, it takes 5 min at most to fill up, and I have a 25 gallon tank and get 20 mpg, nothing to stress over...

Edited May 3, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[ccap41]

1 minute ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Interesting read... too much drama and range anxiety for a simple road trip.   Electric vehicles and charging infrastructure still have a ways to go to beat the simplicity of ICE reality...I take off on a drive, knowing there are gas stations everywhere, it takes 5 min at most to fill up, and I have a 25 gallon tank and get 20 mpg, nothing to stress over...

Exactly!

There just seem to be way more sacrifices than there should be in a $40,000 vehicle. 

[Robert Hall]

2 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Exactly!

There just seem to be way more sacrifices than there should be in a $40,000 vehicle. 

And the idea of $40k for a subcompact is laughable...

[ccap41]

Yeah it's a hard pass on full EVs for awhile yet. 

And this is an infrastructure in CALIFORNIA which probably has the most EVs on their roads! 

[Drew Dowdell]

I would totally do a Bolt as a second vehicle if it weren't so non-luxury inside. I still want the goods.  Make a Buick Electra and we'll talk.

[Robert Hall]

4 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

  Make a Buick Electra and we'll talk.

That name would be perfect for an EV....

[ocnblu]

How can this be somehow spun into a positive?  It's a complete joke, the electric car boondoggle.

[balthazar]

9 hours ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

That name would be perfect for an EV....

ONLY if it's at least 210" long with Brocade upholstery options and a 4 body trunk.

Putting it on a cramped, plasticy subcompact CUV with mood lighting & Apple car play would be an utter travesty. Some things should just be left alone. How many people live in Denver CO? That's how many thumbs down (times 2 of course) I'd give toward the idea of using 'Electra'. "It's derived from a fossil fuel destroying jet, but it sounds like 'electric' so it's great!"

Frankly, it's hard to puzzle out how simplistic & dumbed down the consumer has become. 'Car 1', 'Car A', 'Car A1', 'Car Type A'. Pathetic.

[Drew Dowdell]

16 hours ago, balthazar said:

ONLY if it's at least 210" long with Brocade upholstery options and a 4 body trunk.

Putting it on a cramped, plasticy subcompact CUV with mood lighting & Apple car play would be an utter travesty. Some things should just be left alone. How many people live in Denver CO? That's how many thumbs down (times 2 of course) I'd give toward the idea of using 'Electra'. "It's derived from a fossil fuel destroying jet, but it sounds like 'electric' so it's great!"

Frankly, it's hard to puzzle out how simplistic & dumbed down the consumer has become. 'Car 1', 'Car A', 'Car A1', 'Car Type A'. Pathetic.

I said nothing about the shape... just that if they made a Buick with Bolt dirty bits, I'd want it to be an Electra.  Frankly, if they just put it in the Lacrosse and increased the amount of battery capacity with all the extra room being a bigger car, that'd be fine.  Or do it on an Omega based car and load the empty drive shaft tunnel with batteries. 

[David]

On 5/3/2018 at 8:21 AM, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Interesting read... too much drama and range anxiety for a simple road trip.   Electric vehicles and charging infrastructure still have a ways to go to beat the simplicity of ICE reality...I take off on a drive, knowing there are gas stations everywhere, it takes 5 min at most to fill up, and I have a 25 gallon tank and get 20 mpg, nothing to stress over...

US limits gasoline fill ups across the country to 10 gallons per min maximum or 35 gallons per min for commercial diesel. Agree that right now there are more petro options than EV charging options.

Yet starting out in the 1900's, there were more water tanks and hay feed bags then petro stations as horses out numbers auto's.

We are in that same state now with EV compared to Gas.

[ccap41]

They had horse "fill-up" stations in the 1900's? 

[David]

On 5/3/2018 at 8:12 AM, ccap41 said:

It's a good read about a pretty short road trip that sounds very inconveniently planned due to their ride being an EV. 

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/chevrolet/bolt-ev/2017/2017-chevrolet-bolt-ev-review-long-term-update-7/

I know @ocnblu will appreciate this. 😉

Good read, thanks for posting.

It is interesting that One, he CHOSE to skip some places he could have charged at, he also passed right over that in a Power Outage, gas stations DO NOT work either!

There is some great info here, but he also ignores common sense in checking the details of knowing what DC fast chargers have limits and what ones do not. Lack of common sense is his own fault for spending more time than needed to get to where he wanted to go. He also points out he has a Tesla that could use the Proprietary charging systems across the state to get there much faster.

Multiple choices including his own lack of planning on charging stops and how long they would charge. 

What this shows is that we are at the beginning of the EV change over, there is plenty of work to still be done  and having a gas auto for road trips make more sense than an EV.

As Drew points out, for 95% of people, the BOLT makes a great daily driver.

His final quote at the end is a true fact of where we are at today with EV's:

EV technology has finally reached a point at which “range anxiety” alone is no longer a serious concern, but we’re not at the point where EVs and gasoline-powered cars are completely interchangeable. Until the gap closes, plan ahead and be prepared.

I see this as nothing but a positive showing that Petro auto's have a valid and long term use in society but so does EV's as local daily drivers.

Win / Win for both powertrains!

7 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

They had horse "fill-up" stations in the 1900's? 

Very common to ride into town, water and feed your horse as you took care of business.

[Robert Hall]

1 hour ago, ccap41 said:

They had horse "fill-up" stations in the 1900's? 

Horses also needed to off-load processed content as well as fill-up also.  

1 hour ago, dfelt said:

US limits gasoline fill ups across the country to 10 gallons per min maximum or 35 gallons per min for commercial diesel.

Non-sequitor, filling up the average car or SUV even from nearly empty is way faster than 45 minutes...

[ocnblu]

Way too expensive, even when stealing others' tax money, to use as an all-around vehicle.  By necessity it is a toy/second car and who's got money for that?  Don't make no sense.

[Drew Dowdell]

19 minutes ago, ocnblu said:

Way too expensive, even when stealing others' tax money, to use as an all-around vehicle.  By necessity it is a toy/second car and who's got money for that?  Don't make no sense.

EV buyers are no more stealing taxpayer dollars than you are getting Section 8 subsidies for driving on public roads. The gas tax you pay only covers 43% of the highway budget, so you best be paying up you thief!

[ocnblu]

I could pay 100% of my yerrly salary and Pennsylvania roads would still be the crappiest in this great nation.