[ruswick]

This is exactly what I thought when I read this. It's incredibly pretentious and doesn't come off well.

That said, electric cars are more accessible than ever. The leaf starts at only $21000, which is in the range of most new-car buyers.

The real problem is the lack of diversity. There are very expensive electric sedans like the Teslas and the i8, and then there is the leaf and plug-in prius. But, there are not downmarket electric compact sedans, minivans and true SUVs. If you want an electric vehicle, you either have to shell out $800 a month or get stuck with an odd-looking hatchback. I really hope manufacturers begin rolling out new form factors for their EVs sooner rather than later.

[KirinDave]

Well the other problem is that many electric cars assume you have the facilities to charge them on your own. Home ownership should not be a precondition for car ownership.

Certainly I could _afford_ a Leaf or a Tesla if I wanted to make room for the payments. I'm more concerned how to charge it if I don't own a garage, and I'm sort of grossed out by how nearly all literature on the subject just totally glosses this over.

[zaroth]

To the extent that 1) cities allow designating street parking for EV vehicles in residential areas, 2) that vehicles standardize on charging texhnology, 3) that the cost of building a charging station can be amortized over the useful life, I think that you will see on-street charging options for your EV.

With the right level of standardization and getting some of the costier components inside the car instead of at each outlet, I wonder how much it costs to embed an outlet in the asphalt right next to a parking space, if you were wiring say, 100,000 residential street parking spaces?

[ruswick]

Very true. I live in a a city where there are quite a few places to charge, but I imagine that there are millions of people who would be interested in an EV but don't have access to the infrastructure.