What Factors Are Swaying EV Adoption in the U.S.?

I just saw a gas station where I was just planning on going inside to maybe buy a snack, but then I saw the sign said that it would only be attended between 6AM and 2PM. There was pay at the pump. I've also seen some gas stations that were exclusively pay at the pump, like one in Yosemite National Park. I wasn't sure if they had any requirement for human attendants because of safety reasons, but I was thinking that there are some requirements for self-serve gas stations to provide employees to pump gas for disabled customers.
Yes, there also some unmanned stations with vending machines up here as well, probably monitored by some pimpled kid gaming on his smart phone.
 
At least 2 days if fully charged. However, it's good to note that most EV's drive around with a high state of charge. Unlike my gas cars, that go well below 1/4 tank.
I’m thinking our 2015 Explorer gas chamber would not have been the ideal vehicle to be stuck in …
 
When all the sales pitch settles down people will see reality. It’s not like the movies. The battery goes pretty fast if you drive hard or it’s cold weather. I remember a guy with an early Model S at a car show. He made it seem the car goes everywhere on nothing. Heat and A/C, thats nothing, with actual laughing at the idea it is not nothing. People get entranced by sales pitches. They take a stance and build on it unrealistically. EV are great I think, but it is still a machine running off a battery, like a flashlight.
 
They are throw away cars at the moment. At the end of 7 or 8 years when you need a new battery pack, it'll cost more than the car is worth. Kind of a shame too as it takes 7 years for an EV to actually start making a positive carbon contribution...provided you believe in that stuff.
 
They are throw away cars at the moment. At the end of 7 or 8 years when you need a new battery pack, it'll cost more than the car is worth. Kind of a shame too as it takes 7 years for an EV to actually start making a positive carbon contribution...provided you believe in that stuff.
This is definitely worth looking at much closer. If the electric motors are in good shape, and the overall electronics are not fried, re-powering E cars might be a viable business. ( @AutoMechanic take note). I could imagine some government rebates to help with that depending on the government of the day.

I think there some actual numbers regarding the CO2 emitted manufacturing the original batteries somewhere on this forum.

Interesting post.
 
This is definitely worth looking at much closer. If the electric motors are in good shape, and the overall electronics are not fried, re-powering E cars might be a viable business. ( @AutoMechanic take note). I could imagine some government rebates to help with that depending on the government of the day.

I think there some actual numbers regarding the CO2 emitted manufacturing the original batteries somewhere on this forum.

Interesting post.
Yes, it depends on the source of electricity used to charge the car during its life. A grid like Quebec or Ontario will have a much shorter payback period than one like Alberta.
 
Fashion and fad? If a few neighbors get a new white ev appliance on wheels, it creates a lot of pressure to fit in. There are three white ones around on the street, all look the same, all as interesting as a box of cereal, to me. Why did they all get white. But they serve a good purpose, clean cars, nothing wrong with that.
White is my first choice of color.
 
They are effectively subsidized. The taxes, fees, and increased electricity costs are going to blow people minds once EV is here.


Plus the advent of demand period pricing. It’s already happening in some areas.

One thing is for certain, they will need lots of chargers on the routes going over the western passes. EVs and EV trucks are sitting for days waiting for things to open. They now say maybe on Sunday.
 
Can EV get me from point A to B on a whim, whether that be down the street or across the nation, with little downtime, in any driving situation/location/climate/living arrangement/location of potential stopping area. ICE or hybrid can do that, thats what matters to me. EV are great pure commuter cars for homeowners, but like edyvw illustrated above theres a thousand things they cant do reliably for many people with the current level of range and infrastructure. It will get there, I just think much longer than people think. PHEV is ideal for most consumers right now.
Would you use a one inch socket on a bolt that requires a half inch socket.
 
One of the biggest things for me is the grid in our area. It won’t be able to handle a whole town of EVs. It is very reliable and well maintained but was never designed for that kind of load. I also wonder where the battery materials will come from to mass produce electric vehicles at the rate ICE vehicles are already produced.
 
They are effectively subsidized. The taxes, fees, and increased electricity costs are going to blow people minds once EV is here.
Depends where you are. Here, our provincial electricity system operator sometimes pays other jurisdictions to take our power as our base production can exceed demand.... Having a few 100k electric cars plugged during those moments would make electricity cheaper for everyone in Ontario.
Also our electricity consumption is subsidized by our provincial government with lower prices, so it makes sense as a tax payer to change your vehicle fuel from highly taxed fossil fuel to government subsidized electricity.
For us we would need 1 gas/electric hybrid with todays technology for range and charging rates of pure electric vehicles. Our other vehicle could be a relatively short range electric, with 200km real range in the winter. We have 200amp service at our house but probably only use 60 max with only the electric dryer being a large load, so charging 2 cars simultaneously shouldn't be an issue at 40 amps each.
 
They are throw away cars at the moment. At the end of 7 or 8 years when you need a new battery pack, it'll cost more than the car is worth. Kind of a shame too as it takes 7 years for an EV to actually start making a positive carbon contribution...provided you believe in that stuff.
Thats true, battery and charging connectors to the ev car is a problem in colder climats without garage. Getting snow and ice in them and they get stuck or broken. Now replace them is very expensive. Also the VW ID3 for example you will avoid the warranty if the car is parked in -30C for 24h. EV will be a really problem in colder climats. To be honest i cant even afford a ev car since i do not want to own one outside its warranty.
 
Depends where you are. Here, our provincial electricity system operator sometimes pays other jurisdictions to take our power as our base production can exceed demand.... Having a few 100k electric cars plugged during those moments would make electricity cheaper for everyone in Ontario.
Unfortunately it wouldn't, it would just mean we are at least consuming those kWh rather than dumping them on the US market. While it's true that we've had periods in the low demand spring/fall where the market price has gone negative, it's not frequent (not a regular occurrence). What happens is that wind generation produces surpluses during periods of low demand and because that capacity is all contracted at a fixed rate and there's a clause for compensation for curtailment, no matter what we do with that power, it basically costs us the same or close to the same. The "best" scenario there is that we re-sell that power (export it) but the volume of power, and the nature of when it is produced, has tanked the market price (average is around $0.015/kWh) so we recoup very little of our actual cost.

If wind wasn't paid for curtailment, that would save us tremendous money, as we wouldn't have to worry about what to do with the power, we'd just reject it if we didn't need it, but that's not how the contracts were structured unfortunately.

Overall, more consumption would have the potential to slightly reduce rates (we'd spill less hydro, which is wickedly cheap) and we'd have more kWh over which to spread the fixed costs, but our surplus wind generation (I know it gets called surplus baseload, but wind really isn't baseload, despite being labelled as such, because of its production profile) is a big liability and we are really only going to start seeing costs decline once the contracts start expiring for both it, and solar, which is even more subsidized, but has much lower installed capacity and produces far fewer kWh.
Also our electricity consumption is subsidized by our provincial government with lower prices, so it makes sense as a tax payer to change your vehicle fuel from highly taxed fossil fuel to government subsidized electricity.
Yes, agreed. And it doesn't look like that subsidy will be removed anytime soon. I expect we'll be waiting for the contracts to expire and then it will be phased-out.
For us we would need 1 gas/electric hybrid with todays technology for range and charging rates of pure electric vehicles. Our other vehicle could be a relatively short range electric, with 200km real range in the winter. We have 200amp service at our house but probably only use 60 max with only the electric dryer being a large load, so charging 2 cars simultaneously shouldn't be an issue at 40 amps each.
Yes, we could get by with one full EV here too. We already have an electric car charger plug in the driveway.
 
Range has been “solved” for my needs - I just need the range to get cheaper and to charge faster.

350 mile range at 70 MPH is 5 hours. No way I’d ever drive over 5 hours without stopping for a break. I generally stop between 3 and 4 hours on long road trips.
No electric car can go 350miles at todays highway speeds. Regardless of cost. 220 is the real and practical highway limit. With enough cushion to reach a charger.

drove fast with a model 3 performance on the highway and he did not even make 180 miles. That’s reality.
 
These are "wealthy" people cars at the moment...meaning that you have a house, with a garage (probably climate controlled, semi-so anyway) and you have a 400A electrical service to your house.
Around here, for any new housing development to be approved by the "urban planning commissions" it has to be mixed use...meaning that 80% of the housing would not meet the required criteria, no place to charge your status symbol.

I think we would be better served by reviewing Newton's second law...maybe we would have a more profound impact if we didn't use a 4K Lb vehicle to transport a 120-220Lb person.
 
They are throw away cars at the moment. At the end of 7 or 8 years when you need a new battery pack, it'll cost more than the car is worth. Kind of a shame too as it takes 7 years for an EV to actually start making a positive carbon contribution...provided you believe in that stuff.
I think good aftermarket support might come along for EV batteries kind of like what's happening with 1st and 2nd gen Prius batteries.
 
Imagine the rent charge if that was the case.
In some high cost of living area, parking spot can cost $400 per month without charging already. If there's a charging spot that might be worth another $50-100 a month, or if it is a new apartment it may be worth another $100 a month because it is "upscale".
 
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