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Comment by monkmartinez | Hacker News Reader

> The only limitation is that there's waaaay less Superchargers than gas stations.

Hopefully this changes with time, but it is a GIANT limitation. Skiing around Arizona I have noticed all the chargers have EV's parked in them. I want to buy a used BMW i3, but the convenience factor is still a ways off for me. My Prius gets awesome mileage and I run the heater full blast in the winter and A/C full blast in the summer.

I have half a mind to put a giant DIY battery in the trunk. Wire in a dead man switch of some kind and run on pure 18650's around town... gonna flirt with the idea a bit more. My DIY electric bike has probably given me a bit more confidence in the area than I need, but YOLO!

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> "Hopefully this changes with time, but it is a GIANT limitation."

Look at it this way: There'll never be less chargers than on the day you buy your EV. Charging networks are expanding constantly, with more sites, bigger sites, and faster chargers. So the utility and convenience of an EV is only going to improve. If you can get by with the chargers that exist today in your region, it'll be even better in the future.

A Shell gas station near me in London [1] recently reopened after a renovation, and guess what? There's no gas pumps there anymore. Just ultra-rapid charging points.

[1] https://goo.gl/maps/LM4h7Xz8pwWxcPkeA

There will never be fewer electric cars either. I think this is a significant concern as whether demand will outstrip suply.

Hopefully charging stations will be lucrative enough, or hopefully good supply/demand competition kicks in -- few charging stations and high demand --> high prices to recharge --> more charging stations.

> Hopefully this changes with time

Looking at Europe, nearly every gas station is starting to get a fast charger installed (along major roads, at least). A couple of years ago there were waiting lines at super chargers during the yearly migration to the Alps, but I haven't seen any similar stories this year.

Most i3s I’ve seen have the range extender engine equipped

Capped at like 2 gallons of gas iirc because otherwise it wouldn’t qualify for the EV incentives

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