[Gibbon1]

To me more telling last time I looked two years ago some zip codes in Santa Clara Valley, BEV were 10-15% of new car sales. I went and checked again. Now it's 20-30% See below[1].

The way I see that is people in those places don't have automotive needs that are that different[1] than elsewhere. And 20-30% of them find BEV's to be viable enough option.

Take away BEV's are mainstream viable and not a niche product.

[1] Figure 2. https://theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/CA-city...

[2] Though I suspect they are less sensitive to range and price than other places.

[chrisseaton]

> The way I see that is people in those places don't have automotive needs that are that different[1] than elsewhere.

They live in a huge, built-up, tech-heavy area that's urban for miles around, with sealed roads and a regular grid structure. Their automotive needs are completely different to someone living in an isolated rural location.

[kemiller]

It seems to me that the ability to refuel at home is a good thing for rural drivers. Maybe they don’t buy Teslas, but this is a massive advantage when you don’t live near infrastructure. Autonomy will come last to rural areas, though. Maybe especially in California where they do really weird things with their rural roads.

[adrianN]

Almost everybody lives in areas with sealed roads and electricity. I'm reasonably sure that the majority lives in areas that you'd classify as urban.

[goodcanadian]

Quick googling suggests that it is 79% in the U.S..

[whenchamenia]

Glad I am pert of the marginalized 21, who seems not to matter. 'Flyovers' are people too, dispite the sv bigotry.

[adrianN]

Start complaining when a decent chunk of the urban population owns an electric car or stops owning a car and that somehow becomes a problem for you.

[flyingfences]

It is already a problem when national policy discussions practically ignore one out of five people.

[Gibbon1]

A friend lives in a rural location. Their needs are different. First off because the super markets and home supply stores are about 50 miles away. As is cheap gasoline. About half their driving is very short trips in town and long weekly trips to the city to buy groceries and supplies. And enough gasoline to get home and last the week. And get them back to the city next week.

So an electric car they could charge at home and would get them to the city and back would be 'fine'

[nradov]

BEV sales are high there primarily due to HOV lane stickers.