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Comment by Brakenshire | Hacker News Reader

It’s solved for people with driveways.

I have a drive way, and it’s not solved for me. My driving needs would require me to be frequently filling up at charging stations.

These kind of “it’s solved” statements are very much picking the facts to fit the conclusion, rather than the other way around. Pointing this out usually elicits a “well you should change your lifestyle to better suit the features of an electric car”. If you tried to say that about software features most of us would intuitively know how dumb it is, but it’s supposedly a much more reasonable argument when made about transport.

> My driving needs would require me to be frequently filling up at charging stations.

I don't think $40k electric cars (or even the long-range Tesla models) are for people who use cars for work and require frequent/long distances.

This is more for the guy who does 15-30km/day commute, then maybe few km to the mall and has a driveway in his house. Maybe once in a while does 100km trip to some mountain.

Best you can do for now is a hybrid.

My less than $40k Leaf has a 350km range. I charge at home, drive in the city, and use it in the weekends to drive long distances.

The only issue is when going to a city more than 300 km away, then yes, a 30 mins coffee. Charging stations are everywhere here (eastern Canada).

Genuine question- have you found winter temps to be much of an issue in terms of range loss?

There is loss, around 10%. One way to reduce it is to pre-heat the car while charging. Heat pumps in EVs are efficient/fast, and less annoying than waiting forever for a gas car to defrost.

There is also the additional friction from winter tires, and in summer drag from a bike rack. A bit similar to gas consumption, but does require planning stops on long trips.

Thanks for the reply. That's actually less loss than I would have guessed,I appreciate the info.

Not at all, there are a lot of people commuting 100+ miles per day in EV’s here in CA. A lot of people have mega-commutes because housing is so expensive. An EV gives you access to HOV lanes, which can cut commute times in half. And, you can charge at home while you sleep and never again waste even a minute at a gas pump.

It’s more than just “transport,” it’s the environment.

At one point, gas stations were hard to find and the horse/buggy reigned supreme. Gas cars were actually much cleaner then than the alternative. I’m glad we made that transition and I look forward to this new transition which will undoubtedly require at least a little change from just about everyone.

The importance of other factors don’t make UX obstacles magically disappear. If that’s the point a person is trying to make, then that’s what they should say. Not “UX is solved now”.

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