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Comment by anon291 | Hacker News Reader

Europeans don't understand how sparse and unpopulated the United States is .

Even if they visit they visit the densely populated areas not realizing that most Americans regularly drive across areas where you may not see anyone for miles around. It's not that uncommon an occurrence. Most Americans will do something like this a few times a year. Many do it daily...

Canadians too

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To be fair, I'd wager that the vast majority of Americans live, work and travel within 100km of a gas station at all times. That number could be pushed even higher if you include distance from any ordinary electrical power outlet that could theoretically be used to charge an EV. It's true that parts of the Canada and the US are very sparsely populated, but EV adoption could happen (and is happening) across much of the region anyway because realistically it's still only a few people who regularly spend their lives hours away from any kind of service whatsoever.

Friend of mine lives in a small town. There is a gas station. The guy that runs it is an asshole and it's expensive either way. The cheap gas station is 75 miles away in town with the grocery and big box stores. When you consider the whole cycle of gas up in town. Drive home, hope you have enough gas next week to get back to town. An EV would be less hassle and stress.

Good point. EV can be more convenient, and plug-in hybrid gives you a choice you might not have had, otherwise.

No, the problem is many people cannot think within the new reality. Even in the US there are power lines almost everywhere (https://hifld-geoplatform.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/geopl...), so nothing prevents from installing chargers every 10-20 miles. It's not like a gas station!

Even then, I think most Americans overestimate their range needs. A stop every two hours is recommended for every driver to keep attention at safe levels, and even then there are bio breaks and the occasional coffee or drink or lunch.

> most Americans regularly drive across areas where you may not see anyone for miles around

83% of Americans live in urban areas. Why would they "regularly drive across areas where [they] may not see anyone for miles around"...?

Are you sure you're not just extrapolating from your own experience?

Road trips between cities or drives in the countryside

Average trip lengths in the US are only slightly longer than in the EU. Americans like to emphasize the vast emptiness of their country, but in reality a large fraction of the trips could even be done on a bicycle. I don't think that the requirement to plop down a couple of fast chargers in remote areas should stop us from replacing almost all fossil fuel cars with EVs (or, better, public transport and bicycles).

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