Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by jbgt 636 days ago
If I may disagree: I live in a flat with a fully electric vehicle. It's just a matter of planning around charging a bit. Once you think ahead (and it's not dramatic), you don't notice anymore.

I find plug in hybrids make no sense: electrification is the future.
5 comments
wkat4242 636 days ago
I would really hate having to keep going out to move my car to a charger, then go out again to move it back to another parking spot when it's done (usually you pay a fine if you keep it at the charger). It's just so much work and it means I can't sit down and relax. And parking spaces in my area are extremely limited at night so every time I move I'd have to worry about finding one again (and a free charger too obviously which also seem to be extremely rare, I just know of one about 1km away)

For me a car is about convenience and having to worry about it and going out and doing things with it when I'm not even using it is the opposite of convenient. It should just be there and ready when I need it and forgotten when I don't. And it should be as cheap and low-maintenance as possible. If every parking space had a charger and I could just plug it in and forget about it when I park it, it'd be acceptable (in fact better than an ICE because at times I also had to remember to refuel it for an early trip). What adds to this also is that I don't really have a 'routine', my life is really ad-hoc.

So for me it would be a huge dealbreaker to have an EV until chargers are everywhere. But right now I have the perfect solution anyway which is not even having or needing a car at all :) My city has amazing public transport and 20 euros gets me an unlimited monthly travel pass. I don't even like spending money on cars, and when I did still own one it was usually a 1500-2000 euro old banger meaning that EVs are out of my price range anyway (even used ones will never be that cheap).

link
rafaelmn 636 days ago
> I find plug in hybrids make no sense: electrification is the future.

Those of us living in the present prefer to be more flexible and have the best of both worlds (electric commute, ICE for long trips)

link
JSR_FDED 636 days ago
Really, just a bit of “planning around charging”? The less predictable your life is the less this is an option. The most extreme example of this is Hertz having to walk away from billions invested in 100,000 Teslas. Short term renters simply don’t tolerate the uncertainties that EVs bring.
link
whatevaa 636 days ago
Maybe this person neighbours a Tesla supercharger, who knows
link
mgkimsal 636 days ago
> I find plug in hybrids make no sense: electrification is the future.

They make sense depending on how far away that future is, and I think that 'future' is way different for different parts of the world.

link
threeseed 636 days ago
I assume you live in the US.

Because in almost every other country there is a real lack of decent charging infrastructure.

Especially outside of densely populated areas.

link
oezi 636 days ago
I think Europe and China aren't doing so bad on charging infrastructure.
link
threeseed 636 days ago
It's not bad but it's nowhere near what the US has.

Not just availability of chargers but also the average kW rate.

link
oezi 636 days ago
The following link says 5x more chargers in EU than US (and twice as many EVs):

https://apricum-group.com/ev-charging-infrastructure-race-in...

Rapid charging is now widely available (certainly could be more)

link