The energy consumed in making an electric car far exceeds it's supposed value. And then there's the resources used to create it.
Another eye-roll on the entitled attitudes of some people... "A veteran EV driver, now on his third BMW i3, he tells The Driven that driving to Adelaide and back in an electric car, “I felt like a third class citizen. You’re out the back of some old power station, you’ve got to run a big long lead to plug into a dodgy power point. “I’m a tax paying citizen and I’m driving an EV, why haven’t we got infrastructure to service us?” he says. The bigger question (at least to me) is why he didn't consider those limitations before making the buying decision? I believe the EV manufacturers should bear the responsibility of providing "charging stations." No tax dollars pay for gasoline stations that I'm aware of.
Al, We are in the infancy of electric cars. Support and service follows product.. Why are you against electric vehicles? They are the wave of the future, they will get cleaner more powerful,more efficient as the technology matures. Tesla and the others are the Benz of the modern auto age.
I don't have confidence in the power grid as it is, with "rolling brownouts" during heated summer days. How on earth will that support the wave of EVs?
The first electric-powered car was built by Thomas Parker, a British inventor, in 1884. The first gasoline-powered car was built by Karl Benz in 1885.
My daughter has a Mini Cooper that is gas/electric. She can plug it in, in her garage at night and charge it up overnight, and when she is working in town, she really does not need to buy gasoline. When I went with her to Orlando, the hotels where we stopped had charging ports at some of the parking spaces, so she was able to charge the car up at night. If her battery does get low when she is driving a long distance, then the gas motor kicked in, and while it is running, it also recharges up the battery. My oldest son in Idaho has a Prius, and so does his wife, and they love that car, and often make trips across Washington to the west coast to visit my grandson in Tacoma. As far as charging stations, what i read before was that the Tesla corporation was going to build a network of charging stations, and outfit them with solar panels, so that they would not use any kind of power to charge up the vehicles, and the batteries that they charged in the day would give enough power to recharge vehicles that came in at night. If I could buy a newer car, I would definitely like to have an electric vehicle, something like an older Nissan Leaf, or even an older Prius. I don’t drive very far, and i could charge it every night if needed, although most of them have a battery that would last for more miles than I drive in a whole week. Here is a map that shows just the Tesla charging stations in the United States, and I am sure that there are lots more, since most of the larger hotels also have parking spaces with charging ports.
I can’t understand why that would be; can you please elaborate, @Ken Anderson ? If a private company owns and operates the charging station, then the people who use the facility would be paying for it, in one way or another. As an example, when Robin is staying at a hotel, she does not pay extra for the charging station, but it is undoubtedly built into the charges from the hotel. If you stopped at a Tesla charging station, it is free if you own a Tesla, and you pay for charging if you have a different brand of car. If the charging stations belonged to a city, or municipal utility, then I can see how that would be paid for with taxes, just like anything else that people have to pay for with taxes. https://www.evconnect.com/blog/who-pays-for-electric-car-charging-stations/
Our nutso governor is paying (with our money) to have electric charging stations set up around southern Maine. I assume they will be at the state rest stops or interstate islands, but am not sure of the details. It's her way of showing her green credentials at our expense, which is always the case with green credentials.
My local power district has a charging station that anybody can access without charge. I asked them who was paying for the free electricity and of course never got an answer.
Interesting. So it appears that with the efficient BMW, it's a wash. If I still lived outside of DC I might own an electric today...or at least a hybrid. One thing that would push me that way is the new Direct Inject engines that are having problems with oil dilution (especially Hondas.) Short drives where the engine does not warm up enough to burn off the fuel are the killer. My commute used to be 3 miles, and my shopping trips were under a mile. I've driven beaters before and rented when I wanted to take a trip. I'd do the same thing if I owned an electric.
Of course, if we would get over our [fill-in-the-blank] regarding nuclear energy, electric cars would may WAY more sense. And there are lots of applications that are gonna demand improved battery technology. I really wonder what's next. Of course, Bubble Memory has a brief moment in the spotlight before other technologies cast a shadow.
I would like to see a new street legal category of automobile. All cars made now will do 100+ mph and go hundreds of miles to a gallon or charge. We need a street legal utility type vehicle for doing around town errands and other short trips around the area. Electric would be perfect. No need for more than 60 MPH and 100 miles per charge. It won't be allowed for the interstate. It should be cheap.
The issue becomes what people would do for their "real vehicle"needs and whether they would just go ahead and get a "regular car" for the incremental up-charge. What you've put forth brought to mind images of golf carts toodling around some enclosed retirement communities.