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xkcd #2948: Electric vs Gas
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this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2024
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My EV sits in the driveway and soaks up excess production from my PV setup.
My main problem is it's never really empty enough.
If I'm on the road, a high voltage DC charger gets me from 10% to 50% in about 10 minutes. Barely enough time for a coffee and a leak, then it's another 2 hours of driving. Rinse, repeat.
Sure, you can't barrel down the Autobahn for 10 hours straight without stopping but who wants that?
I make a 9-10 hour drive to see my family multiple times a year. I normally stop twice to get gas and use the bathroom, and that's it. Sounds like you'd be adding most of an hour to my travel time each way. I've tried stopping longer and grabbing food, it's not worth it for me.
With that said, I drive 25-40 miles a day the other 360+ days of the year, so it'd really make much more sense for me to have a short range EV and rent something for travel when I have too much luggage to fly.
Maybe don't do that? Catch a train it's significantly cheaper anyway.
No passenger rail. It's car or a once a week bus that doesn't even stop in the town my family lives in.
That's an infrastructure problem you can help solve and regardless going on long trips for most people is 100% optional.
That would become a 15+ hour trip then...
Edit: On further investigation, it's also not significantly cheaper than flying, and is much more expensive than fuel for driving.
But much better for the environment, sometimes others matter more and when more people use rail it's more likely our country will catch up and build hyper train networks.
Sadly, yes. I live in Germany, and here you need a BahnCard50 (or better) for the train to be cheaper than the gas for driving.
you really ought to be stopping a few more times, i don't understand how so many people are just completely fine with driving for 3 hours nonstop
You should just live near the place you're driving to.
Oh my God, why didn't I think of that! Simply have more money, thank you internet stranger. My problems are solved!
Well I just think you should live closer but that's a great idea too. You should try that.
Real shit though, I can solve your problems. Just tell me what they are, I'll give you my best answer.
I'm glad you think I can afford to triple my rent, but that's not happening.
Edit: If you mean the road trip scenario, my family works in various different industries, and the opportunities are better in different cities. That's also not happening.
I do. We have family that we visit a few times each year. If I leave at 2am and drive straight through, we get there in 7-8 hours. If I make the drive during the day, it takes 10-13 hours.
Sounds like you need a train. Not a car.
Sure. But first you need to build one that takes me there.
For various reasons a car is often better for that kinda trip
Some real examples that are specific to the trip I take:
There is no rail service that goes there. It would be a combo of trains and busses that takes significantly longer and costs more than the gas.
Our dog comes with us, generally isn't allowed on mass transit, and the much longer trip would stress her out if she was.
There is little to no mass transit in the town they live in to get around once we arrive so we'd end up borrowing or renting a car anyway.
With limited amounts of time off, making the trip overnight adds a full day of getting to see our family to the trip.
The only other realistic means of getting there is flying but, I enjoy driving and hate everything about air travel. It's a pretty cheap flight for one person but becomes more expensive once you add in the rest of the family and the dog can't come.
Edit: formatting
I’m not wealthy enough for a PV setup.
And I love road trips. Some of the most beautiful areas of my country are 3000+ km from me.
Yeah EVs are a great solution for homeowners.
As an Uber driver, I want that. I want to be able to gas my car back up and go back on he road and keep earning money.
Congrats your are not the market target for EVs then, guess what that doesn't mean that the majority of the population isn't though.