this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2023
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Electric Vehicles
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I straight up don't want a new car. Between the cost, the lack of buttons, god awful design, driver assists, privacy concerns, and everything else, I don't want one. Newest I'd get would be like a 2010 model.
EVs are newer than that, and in my experience feel like Im driving a macbook rather than a car. Sure all new cars feel like that, but evs especially.
Also battery degradation.The price to swap the battery usually outweighs the cars worth. With skateboard designs, you have to take out the entire interior. The engineers fucked up.
I also like to do road trips. Im not stopping for an hour every 300 miles, fuck that. Even my long-weekend trips are often 400 miles or more.
eGMP cars (Hyundai/Kia) need 20 minutes of charging per 2-3 hours of driving. It really works — I've driven across Europe twice now, and often my coffee breaks take more time than the car needs to recharge.
The battery tech has advanced significantly in the last 10 years. Leaf used to be 24kWh, now it's 40kWh for the same price. If the trend continues (and likely will thanks to economies of scale ramping up), by the time you need to replace the battery in today's EVs, the replacements will be cheaper and better.
Unless they adopt the cell phone model and just make you trade the car in.
Someone at the end of those trades has to do the replacement, which will dictate second-hand car value.
BTW, batteries wear gradually, and a battery with 70% of capacity may be annoying for a car, but is still valuable for stationary energy storage (for solar). To me that’s another optimistic factor that can reduce actual replacement cost.
They will not pass these savings onto you.
Over 4 hours solid of driving? That tiring and a solid bladders. Just take one break after two, get a drink, snack, go for a wee. With an EV, a rapid change too. Less hard drive, and cheaper EV battery.
4 hours is not that far.
Regardless of it's motorway, town or country roads, four straight hours is a long drive. I just don't want to do it. I'd get the train when it's practical to. Then sleep and read the whole journey. Driving, I'd take a break driving every two just to get a drink, snack, wee and stretch legs. Turns out two hours is about right.
"Driving for long periods: Research has found driving deteriorates after two hours of continuous driving, as you become less able to concentrate, and slower to react to hazards. The longer you drive, the more rest you need to recover driving performance. Breaks are therefore recommended every two hours."
https://www.brake.org.uk/get-involved/take-action/mybrake/knowledge-centre/driver-fatigue
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/rac-research-reveals-safety-risk-how-long-do-you-drive-without-stopping/
Oh I see, you're from the UK. Yeah, no wonder you can't drive for four hours, the government said you shouldn't.
Dude, I just said I find driving tiring. Plus it wasn't government link I gave you. In big empty countries, maybe you don't need to concentrate as much. Long straight roads with no one else on them. So maybe it's longer before a break is needed, but four hours still seams long.
battery degredation is a big one I hear alot. All I can say is, you wont need to replace anything if the data continues to be far better than even two years ago. I have a now-older model EV and its a few % down after 3-4 years, I expect to be well above 80% in another six and I do alot of miles. What i’ve noticed is as i’ve got used to it, ive learned and understood how and when I need to make allowances. Even today for example I did 200 miles and in summer I can do my usual trip in one stop with a little left over - as the temperature changed as I went over a hill peak I lost 15 miles of range so I made an additional stop.
Generally the biggest thing to get my head around is the efficiency rating. Many new EVs are getting 2.5kw/mile average but because the battery is larger you dont notice it. Mine gets double that easily but the battery is smaller, less weight etc but its actually really cheap to run because its very efficient. I think the new Hyundais are getting 6-7miles per kw, which is superb, but, the bigger brands like Ford and Jag are really poor by comparison. What I mean is, the mass market is going backward and innovators are more expensive. Ive long maintained we are 5 years away from being ready, and my next EV will be hopefully far superior in 6 years time