WillBigly t1_is15oci wrote on October 12, 2022 at 3:30 PM

Inb4 conservatives drive gas cars despite faster speeds, longer range, cheaper, more quiet, less maintenance, better for planet, no social tension

Tallonius t1_is1jjks wrote on October 12, 2022 at 5:01 PM

Inb4 new electric cars are not free! Its a huge investment to get one,I would love a nice new EV,as would millions of other ass end of the market motorists like me. but the problem is , my fully paid for £500 "junker"(its actualy a very decent older car) costs me nothing other than fuel (before you whine it does 50 to the gallon and does not smoke)To exchange that for an EV i would immediately have to take on debt of over £200 a month, on top of soaring food electric and heating costs, to have a car that then wants charging , adding to the electric bill, (granted removing the fuel bill currently about £20 to £30 per week)So your fucking glib assesment that its conservatism that makes people drive ICE cars is wrong, Its MONEY or more to the point, the lack of it!

[deleted] t1_isi35z7 wrote on October 16, 2022 at 3:45 AM

My first hard drive cost 200 dollars and stored 20MB. You can by a thumb drive now days for seven bucks that stores about 1600 times what that first drive cost. My point: economies of scale and improvements in materials and technology will decrease the cost of EVs. Not thousands of times, granted, but 30-40%. Also, in time, there will be EV clunkers too.

AwesomeDragon97 t1_is2qn8w wrote on October 12, 2022 at 9:38 PM

Faster speeds: I haven’t heard anything about electric cars driving faster, but it doesn’t really matter since highway speed limits are way slower than the maximum speed of modern cars.

Longer range: Electric cars currently have a significantly shorter range than gas cars since batteries are less energy dense than gasoline. Either battery energy density will improve or we will switch to hydrogen instead.

Cheaper: Most electric cars are much more expensive than a gasoline car of equivalent specifications.

More quiet: You are correct on this one.

Less maintenance: There are less moving parts which usually equates to less maintenance, however the massive cost of replacing the battery every ten or so years will eliminate any advantages in this area.

Better for the planet: It depends. If the grid is using mostly renewables and nuclear then yes, but if the grid is mostly coal then it won’t be better for the planet. Plus you also have to account for the environmental issues regarding creating and disposing lithium ion batteries.

No social tension: I don’t really know exactly what you mean by this, but it electric cars won’t magically solve climate change or something.