I’ve done some very long road journeys, 900+ km in a day, and having an EV would likely have added at least an hour to that day, even more if I was towing.
You do realize that 99.999% of people don’t drive anything like that on a regular basis right?
As someone who’s had an EV exclusively since 2018, several makes and models, and not near a massive metro area like NYC, LA, etc. where infrastructure has been extremely built out for a long time. I’ve made long trips, and the total time difference across an entire day of driving, accounting for stops for meals, bathrooms, etc. that would have happened anyway with an ICE vehicle, the trips were maybe total an hour and a half longer spread across that day.
Does it take more time on long distance trips? Yes. Does it actually matter when those long trips are usually going to be entire day or even multi-day trips anyway? Not really.
I’ve found non-EV owners usually still think of charging the car like filling it with gas, full every time with all the time it takes to fully charge. But you almost never fully charge the vehicle while on a trip, only at the beginning and maybe end. The batteries charge significantly faster when at a lower state of charge, so most travel happens in the middle between 20-70%. It’s faster to charge twice for 15 minutes at a fast rate, than taking an hour or more to fully charge each time. And the built-in navigation and charging systems take that into account along your route to optimize those stops to take advantage of those higher charging speeds. I also have noticed that non-EV owners significantly underestimate the amount of time they take when stopping to get gas, use the restroom, etc. The real world time difference between those quick charges where you can let the car sit unattended while you use the restroom, grab snacks, etc. versus having to stand at the pump and then do those things, is much closer than most people tend to think.
This is a really common, and really stupid argument people make.
Someone will say “an EV isn’t right for me because I do X”
And someone will almost certainly say something stupid that starts with the word “statistically”
I don’t give a fuck about what people do statistically, I care about what I do with my vehicle. And I’m not going to buy a vehicle that does 95% of what my current vehicle does.
I’m just pointing out that the common assumptions about EVs based on reading other online comments from non-EV owners may not be accurate.
You might not have those assumptions, but from my experience talking to thousands of people over the last nearly decade is that very few non-owners have it accurately. Most people think they use their cars much differently than they actually do, and a lot of people get stuck on the one or two times they travel long distance each year for a week or two, and ignore the other 50 weeks where they’re paying out the nose for gas and maintenance when an EV would make more sense for their daily driver, and then just renting something for the trip.
You do realize that 99.999% of people don’t drive anything like that on a regular basis right?
As someone who’s had an EV exclusively since 2018, several makes and models, and not near a massive metro area like NYC, LA, etc. where infrastructure has been extremely built out for a long time. I’ve made long trips, and the total time difference across an entire day of driving, accounting for stops for meals, bathrooms, etc. that would have happened anyway with an ICE vehicle, the trips were maybe total an hour and a half longer spread across that day.
Does it take more time on long distance trips? Yes. Does it actually matter when those long trips are usually going to be entire day or even multi-day trips anyway? Not really.
I’ve found non-EV owners usually still think of charging the car like filling it with gas, full every time with all the time it takes to fully charge. But you almost never fully charge the vehicle while on a trip, only at the beginning and maybe end. The batteries charge significantly faster when at a lower state of charge, so most travel happens in the middle between 20-70%. It’s faster to charge twice for 15 minutes at a fast rate, than taking an hour or more to fully charge each time. And the built-in navigation and charging systems take that into account along your route to optimize those stops to take advantage of those higher charging speeds. I also have noticed that non-EV owners significantly underestimate the amount of time they take when stopping to get gas, use the restroom, etc. The real world time difference between those quick charges where you can let the car sit unattended while you use the restroom, grab snacks, etc. versus having to stand at the pump and then do those things, is much closer than most people tend to think.
This is a really common, and really stupid argument people make.
Someone will say “an EV isn’t right for me because I do X”
And someone will almost certainly say something stupid that starts with the word “statistically”
I don’t give a fuck about what people do statistically, I care about what I do with my vehicle. And I’m not going to buy a vehicle that does 95% of what my current vehicle does.
I’m just pointing out that the common assumptions about EVs based on reading other online comments from non-EV owners may not be accurate.
You might not have those assumptions, but from my experience talking to thousands of people over the last nearly decade is that very few non-owners have it accurately. Most people think they use their cars much differently than they actually do, and a lot of people get stuck on the one or two times they travel long distance each year for a week or two, and ignore the other 50 weeks where they’re paying out the nose for gas and maintenance when an EV would make more sense for their daily driver, and then just renting something for the trip.