Quote:
Originally Posted by DAMILLER_SR
YET!
I don't own and EV right now, but the ones that I rode in gave you plenty of warnings as well as showed you where to recharge before things went to crap. I can't foresee that the amount of information available would be lessened.
Of course I also believe in the adage, as soon as you make something foolproof, the world invents better fools.
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I didn’t say wouldn't be ready in the future, stating that they aren't AT the point is a present tense term. The "fuel guage"? Well I don't blindly beleive in them either. Ask any pilot or boat captian and you'll get the same answer on the use of fuel guages. Don't trust them. Always know your rate of of fuel burn (reguardless of the fuel) and confirm what the guage is indicating.
I'll bet if you ask the "average" EV owner how long will the battery last if you are setting still with the heater or the air-conditioning running you'll get a blank stare back. The issue is the unforseen. That cute display may tell you that there's 50 miles range left but stop in traffic for a couple hours and see how that dissapears. I agree that SOMEDAY they will become viable but for today no. Unless you have the enormous funds of NASA to obtain the batteries, solar chargers, or nuclear reactors that they use an EV just doesn’t have the practicality of the fossil fueled internal cumbustion engine.
You can have all the infastructure in the world, a charging station on every corner, that doesn’t solve the most critical issue, time. Time is the one commodity that's always running out. The value of time increases with time. Utilizing time is the very reason for the sucess of things like microwave ovens, washing machines, fast food restaurants, home delivery, streaming services, etc. Ask any muscle car owner of a 1960's era car if range prevented their use of the car. It wasn't uncommon to have a 12-16 gallon tank and get less than 10 mpg. It was an inconvenience, it was expensive, but it only takes a minute or less to pump that much gas.
So CURRENTLY, CURRENTLY, let's say you get in your EV and head out to work and a few miles away from home you realize the car isn't charged for whatever reason. You thank your government for spending your hard earned money and building that nearby charging station. You stop, plug in, and then what? We can all arm chair postulate and "but, but, what if, they need to" untill the cows come home but the fact is it isn't ready yet. If it were, beleive me it would be marketed and sold. EV have been around for well over a 100 years. Now, as they were then, they are only practical for short trips with lots of time needed to recharge or as a novelty.
So while we can talk about it, dream about it, "see the potential opportunity ", whatever that won't change it. There are currentlymany, many companies with PhD physicist, engineers, and scientists working on a solution because it means a huge payoff for the breakthru. While battery storage capacity has come a long way I think the "finish line" has yet to become visible.