I like how you never need to use a gas station again once you switch to an EV.
Discussion
Gas stations are cringe
Iāve never seen a clean gas station bathroom. And the food offered by gas stations is very basic.
EV charging stations tend to be located by coffee shops, restaurants, grocery stores, etc.
Much better experience.
Anyone that eats food from a gas station deserves whatever disease they're going to get.
Iāve thought about switching to an EV. I drive a 97 Honda Accord because I try to live cheap and stack sats. I like older vehicles because thereās less shit that breaks, and itās cheaper to fix. I am truly a pleb though.
EVs are a whole other rabbit hole. Not as deep and profound, but interesting nonetheless. I recommend switching to an EV when the time is right for you. At least itās fun to rent an EV and try it out. They have crazy acceleration and handling.
Yeah Iāve heard theyāre fast. Joe Rogan is always talking about how much he loves his Tesla. I might be renting a car in Florida soon, so Iāll see if an EV is an option.
I rented a Tesla Model Y and then decided to buy one. I also was driving an old Honda for >10 years. The Tesla feels like a space ship by comparison.
Damn, youāre gonna make me try it and give up my old 5-speed š My car has over 300,000 miles on it, and itās impossible to kill.
Donāt rent an EV if you donāt want to buy one. It will definitely seal the deal. The moment you accelerate and merge on the freeway for the first time, passing any car you want, it becomes impossible not to buy one š. Another benefit of the EV is you donāt have to worry about oil changes or smog checks. They are much less maintenance. Who knows, maybe your Honda will make it another 100,000 miles.
Iām definitely going to see if itās an option. I donāt know anyone who owns an EV, but I want to try it. I have a garage. Do you have your own charging station, or is that ridiculously expensive?
I just use a plug-in charger, which plugs into a regular wall outlet. That draws about 1 kilowatt, which is like a few miles of range per hour. So if you have a typical commute (~30 minutes), you should be able to just get by with just a slow wall outlet charger.
Wow thatās actually very cool. I didnāt realize that was an option. Okay, Iām gonna have to study this some more.
Yeah, the thing is that people see ridiculous ranges like you have on a modern Tesla, then calculate how much time you need for a full charge from a regular wall plug, then realize it is an absurdly long time, doesn't fit overnight, then decide EVs are stupid and gas is better.
But they mostly forget than:
1. US has 110V and it is slow, but that is only a US problem, since EU for example has 230V.
2. You can always upgrade your electrical infrastructure or install a dedicated EV charger (level 1 vs level 2 charging). Around here, I've heard that a good charging box costs ~2000Euros. Then you must add installation costs. That is for level 2 charging (relatively fast, but not supercharge).
2. They probably don't drive more than 20-30 miles a day, so they don't need to charge 300+ miles per night.
3. Charging 20 miles per night on 230V-10A (2300W) in EU is, assuming ~25kWh/100mi : 5kWh -> 5000W * 1h -> 2300W * ~2h. A bit more than 2 hours. So overnight, you can charge from 80 to 120 miles easily.
Apparently, I can't count to 4 ....
If you are going to get the Tesla Model Y, I recommend getting the long range version with ~300 mile range per full charge. There is also a performance version that has higher top speed and acceleration but sacrifices the range. EVs already have crazy high speed and acceleration, so having longer range is more important (e.g., for road trips).
Most people freak out about range, want cars with same range as ICE, but actually only do 15 miles to go to work... And 10 more miles for groceries...
Then once every 3 years, they do a longer trip with the kids and at that point they really need the range.
I would argue that in that scenario you can plan your trip to include the charging stops, meaning: 1 during every meal, 1 for restroom stop, 1 for coffee in the morning, etc...
When you drive more than 5 hours, you should not be worrying about 1 to 2 hours lost :( That also means that the charging infrastructure must be good and cars must have modern high speed charging. That is only my opinion.
So in that department, Tesla is a clear winner for now. I've seen horrific videos from the canadians at "TheStraightPipes" about Canada/USA "regular" charging points :(
"The moment you accelerate and merge on the freeway for the first time, passing any car you want[...]"
That is a downside too, IMO :
There are tons of people that don't like driving and often own small cars by necessity. These cars are often low power ICEs.
What happens when they all get the EV version with 100+HP with instant torque? (the ID.3 is 204HP and a Nissan Leaf is 150-217HP!!!).
Well, like when Tesla became popular, suddenly everyone started crashing its car and blaming the "autonomous driving"....
The issue will be even worth in countries where the roundabout is widespread, as people will have the habit of 10/20/30+ years of driving next to people having slow starting cars, hence thinking they can cut the priority like usual, only to find the car entering 2x faster and now be in front of them instead of slowing starting.