[combatentropy]

It seems to me like the ultimate solution is higher capacity. Imagine a car with a range not of 500 miles but 5,000. This is almost a round trip between New York and Los Angeles. I don't know how long a 10x advance in batteries would take. I guess they don't follow Moore's Law and we get that in the next few years, but maybe in the next few decades.

Then there is no need for network of charging stations. People just charge them overnight at home. They don't need fast charging. They just make sure they have enough for the day or, as a buffer, the next few days, which is a couple hundred miles. Most of the time the car's battery could be charged partially, like "only" a 1,000 miles of range. But before a vacation, you make sure you have it fully charged, or at least to a point where it covers your trip plus some buffer for the unexpected.

(EDIT: Sorry, you would have less need, not no need --- at least for something as pervasive as our network of gas stations. I was imagining even apartment parking lots having little outlets, but some apartments don't have parking lots and residents park in the street overnight.)

[andechs]

If you have higher capacity batteries, you're carrying around extra weight you're not using.

The long range model 3 has a 480kg battery. Unless there's a massive revolutionary discovery in battery technology, for 10 times the range, you're going to need to carry (and accelerate) 10 times more mass every time you stop and go.

[N1H1L]

I am a massive BEV fanboy - but I don't see 5000 mile EVs happening anytime soon, if ever. The current energy densities are already ~200 Wh/kg. We can go max to 700Wh/kg. So at most we will have 1000 - 1500 miles of range.

These are pretty hard physical constraints that no amount of research will solve.

[riffraff]

> People just charge them overnight at home.

I don't have a garage, I live in a building of 7 apartments and no-one has a parking place.

To charge at home I'd need to pull a cable from my second floor window across the road, or sometimes around the corner if I don't find a parking spot in front of the building.

So until we put a ludicrous amount of curb-side charging columns, we need fast charging.

(I seldom use the car tho, long live public transport)

[combatentropy]

Good point. I was imagining outlets eventually in apartment parking lots. But for the many who don't even have a parking spot, and have to park on the street, we still need some public charging stations.

[judge2020]

Apartments could install level 2 chargers in parking spaces or on the sides of buildings, but since they'd be an amenity there's usually not much ROI for them, especially in the current market as no well-kept apartment community is under 95% occupancy and has no issue filling vacancies.

[jatone]

doesnt really work. people don't necessarily park near their apartment. thats the point.

[fouc]

For battery health/longevity, you'd end up keeping that car charged to 50% at all times. So 2,500 mile range on any day.