[sho]

I think James May made a great point when he said it's not about range, it's about quick and ubiquitous charging. I wouldn't mind if my vehicle could only travel 300km... if I could have the confidence I'd be able to stop and top it up in just a couple of minutes no matter where I was.

Faster charging would really make all the difference.

[closewith]

The problem with fast charging, at least here in Ireland, is that it's significantly more expensive than petrol. Our family moved back from an EV to PHEV because we get the benefit of 90+% of our journeys being for free (from solar charging at home), but that last 10% is petrol that is always available.

There's also nothing more miserable than being stuck in a queue for a fast charger with a colicy baby. I've offered people cash to get to the front of the queue, although no-one's ever accepted money when they understand why.

[vasco]

> I wouldn't mind if my vehicle could only travel 300km... if I could have the confidence I'd be able to stop and top it up in just a couple of minutes no matter where I was.

This is called a motorcycle! Mine can do 260-280km on a gas tank, still does huge trips. Once batteries work like gas, you're absolutely right.

[boomskats]

> Mine can do 260-280km on a gas tank, still does huge trips.

How is this a motorcycle specific feature?

[nasmorn]

Cars are not built with such tiny tanks

[davedx]

Eh I much prefer my Model 3 to my wife’s Mach-E because of the longer range it has. Even with fast chargers on the motorway it’s inconvenient to have to stop regularly to charge and delays your journey. 450km is nice for the Netherlands; if I had 500-600km range then I’d only ever need to charge at home which is way better.

[carlmr]

For me 500km range is also the sweet spot. But it needs to be real range, like including heating in winter or AC in summer.

And while I only usually drive 300-350km in one piece, I don't want to buy a car where I have to fear that a drive of this sort ends up waiting to be towed because of battery degradation (500km will realistically be 450km in a few years), or because I missed the last charging station or got stuck in traffic with heating running, and the remaining few km dwindle in front of me.

It's rational to fear your phone being under 20% when you still need it. It's just as rational to have 20% buffer when charging your car battery.

[Ekaros]

Real range at motorway speed that is 120km/h in summer. My current cheap ICE has atleast 450 km total including 350 km or so at 120. Which to me would be sweet spot. I could get to nearest big cities and airports there and then back. And only have to think refuelling or charging in couple of days after.

In the end that is only two about 2 hour drive stints. And really spending time on those stints instead of getting to destination or being home later...

[hackernewds]

Not really. if your choice is a better ICE car at the same price point, why get an EV that has to stop intermittently and has failure modes like broken chargers. It has to be as good. And better

[speedgoose]

Thankfully they are often better. 95% of new car sales are EVs in my area.

It took a few years to get there, people don't necessarily know immediately what they like best.

https://elbilstatistikk.no/

[closewith]

Norway is an absolute outlier, driven exclusively by tax incentives.

In the rest of the EEA, EVs sales are plummeting.

https://www.acea.auto/pc-registrations/new-car-registrations...

[speedgoose]

Do you have a source about “exclusively“?

[itsoktocry]

Have you looked at the taxes versus incentives for EVs vs ICEs in Norway? If you need a new car and one is triple the cost (because the other is exempt from fees) what are you going to buy?

But yeah, it's for the environment, surely. Reverse the policy and see what happens.

[speedgoose]

I agree it's a strong incentive, but I'm not sure it's the only one. One example was during the cold wave last winter. ICE owners struggled quite a bit more than EV owners. You also have the problem that ICE vehicles are quite slow and laggy, unless you spend a lot of money on performance ICE vehicles but then they usually tend to be loud and uncomfortable.

[aidos]

Good and better by which metrics?

Different people have different requirements.

[amatecha]

Yeah, the amount of issues I hear about with chargers not working, and everything relying on using some app? I'm not installing a smartphone app to charge a battery! So far I'm not feeling too tempted about electric vehicles. I'll be happy to find something that avoids these shortcomings though!

[exitb]

It's not a technology issue, it's a service issue. If ICE cars were invented today, you'd need an app at a gas station too.

[amatecha]

No doubt. I hope there's more pushback against that crap.

[Hamuko]

EU regulations require charging stations to accept card payments by 2027.

[amatecha]

Nice, that's really good to hear! Hopefully other jurisdictions follow the lead there!