this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
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Regarding the range problem, that is my personal conspiracy theory. It makes a lot of sense but no way that I or anyone can ever prove it.
Theory: Range was never a real problem and car manufacturers seeded that topic to journalists/press, as the companies already had the solution available before communicating the problem.
More range is done with a larger batteries, usually higher quality cells/chemicals. So making the car bigger and more expensive. That's what manufacturers desire to do and sell anyways.
It never was or is a real problem. They can just charge the customers more and it's solved.
As I've already seen posted, the real problem that cannot be easily solved is the charging time. Right now I 'charge' 0% to 100% in 1-2 minutes. No preparation, no special fuel, no special fees or subscriptions, no fuel stations only for specific brands, no apps, summer or winter same 1-2 min, no strain on the fuel tank by filling fast, sometimes waiting lines at the stations but they move quickly with 1-2 min per vehicle.
I don't see battery or charging tech anywhere close to that in the next 5, 10 or even 20 years.
That's hard to advance, with decades of research behind us and decades ahead, so car manufacturers focus on their favorite topic: range, where they can just throw their customers money at to solve it immediately.
I think the bigger societal problem is that people need to start thinking differently of how charging works. It won't and doesn't need to work like refueling.
What I mean is, nobody would refuel every day at the beginning of their 10km commute. What they'll do is commute for 2 weeks, and when the car is empty they'll refuel and then continue on their way.
With EVs, this can be different. Once chargers (and not even fast chargers) are placed on every major location, you don't need to go 0-100% in 99% of the cases. Getting groceries? Charge at the store for 30mins Going to the gym? Charge there for an hour or two Going out for dinner? Charge for 3h
The car doesn't need to go empty all the way. Obviously you can't do that with the current infrastructure, but with enough effort, that's easily achievable.
Those are various ideas regarding charging problematic.
I'm still on the range topic that people apparently see as the main problem with EVs but I don't. I'd be even fine with less range than the current top models offer.
Even that is wrong for the most part. People are at home for generally at least 10 hours. How many people would go anywhere to fuel up if they had a pump at their home? A standard type F outlet will get you about a 10km charge per hour. That is 80-100km per day which will fully recharge most people each day. If you go farther than that one of those days? Chances are you will be fully charged the following day.
That is all continent on those shower chargers being decently available for overnight parking though. That will be something that needs to be worked on.
The issue with fast chargers is that they are much more expensive (both to install and for the customer) and tougher on the grid due to their quick, large power draw. They are fine for the less than 1% of time you are going over 400km but ideally not needed much outside of that. But there will be a transitionary period where there is not that lower speed charging everywhere and people will get EVs while having to rely on those chargers. Hopefully governments can provide the right incentives and legislation that gets things to where they need to be.
Absolutely. But I specifically didn't mention that because it doesn't apply to everyone. Lots of people living in apartments don't have an outlet on their parking spot. But if you have, EVs are arguably more convenient than combustion cars already.