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Comment by hersko | Hacker News Reader

This is a terrible idea. As of 2019, NY has the largest percentage of people living in apartments vs houses [1]. Are you going to force apartment complex/building owners to install enough chargers for all the cars? How will this work for places like NYC were people mostly use street parking, are you going to force them to spend 40 min at a public charging station to refill their car?

Governments limiting consumer choices on such a broad scale is almost always a bad idea IMO.

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/798113/share-of-populati...

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I’ve owned a BEV for over a year and can’t charge at home. I rely on workplace + public charging. It’s been pretty great honestly.

You don’t have to spend 40 minutes at a charger either. That only happens if you want to go from empty to full. That’s bringing a gas tank mindset to a completely different paradigm. You charge when you can for how much you need at the time and you’re fine.

There can't be sufficient public charging in NYC in 2035. Most cars are parked on the street and parking lots where chargers could be installed are scant. Those who have to commute to work by car usually park on the street. NYC is the (slim) majority of NY State's population and a large chunk of the vehicle fleet. That said I could imagine a scenario where private parking garages become de-facto gas stations.

You can install chargers on the curbside.

Is that the solution? I don’t know, but honestly all of these issues are solvable problems and the idea that we can’t figure it out in 13 years says more about our self belief than it does about the tractability of the problem.

NYC should do what my London borough has done and turn every streetlight pole into an EV charging station. A fast update to the pole, an attachment that is about the size of a paperback book, and instant charging station. That is what allows people to easily use EVs in a city with nearly double the percentage of people living in apartments as NYC and where an actual garage is almost unheard of for any property costing less than $10M.

This is a big piece of the solution for street charging. Another piece would be mandated chargers at retail parking lots. Start with 5% of parking spots and increase that percentage as EV sales grow.

Plus parts of NYC rely heavily on Parking Meters which should in theory be even easier to adapt to chargers than streetlight: they've already got the credit card charging infrastructure for time spent parked in one spot, adding EV charging as a bonus utility to the parking prices already paid in theory should be easy.

If you wait for all problems to be solved before making a bold move, it will never happen. Is it your opinion that climate change doesn’t need bold moves? We should keep taking things slow and cautiously?

Maybe the deadline will be pushed back, but as the inconvenience or sharper need for charging presents itself, that is when people will actually address the issue.

Why would the charging be built out before it’s needed like your comment seems to suggest should happen? It is backwards.

I would add its just unrealistic. Right now the percentage of EV sales in NY is 1.5%. I recently bought a car and would have loved an EV, but there was nothing competitive on the market. I needed a large car (3 row) and pretty much no EVs exist in that market. EV SUVs cost a lot more too. They all mostly start at 40k+, compared to the top selling SUVs (e.g.RAV4, CR-V, Rouge), they start at 25-30k.

Plus, there are practically no used EVs on the market and you have to worry about charging. The car companies also have very limited availability for EVs so you can't even necessarily buy one. This makes sense because most are being sold at a big loss:

> In fact, these vehicles often cost $12,000 more to produce than comparable vehicles powered by internal-combustion engines (ICEs) in the small- to midsize-car segment and the small-utility-vehicle segment (Exhibit 1).

The car companies haven't exactly figured out what to do about EVs and are selling a few half-baked products at a loss just for show, but its not sustainable at these price levels. I'll be fine, sure I don't want to pay 20-30k more for a car, but I can eat the cost if I have to. But a lot of people will be screwed

https://evadoption.com/ev-market-share/ev-market-share-state...

https://www.newsweek.com/best-selling-suvs-us-2021-1607192

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/...

> This makes sense because most are being sold at a big loss

Your article is 3 years old and the economics of BEV production have changed rapidly in that time span. It quotes battery pack cost per kWh at $190-$210, but current prices are averaging closer to $132. [1]

The costs are primarily a function of scale, and the reason why there is limited supply is that you can’t scale manufacturing that fast. Within 2-3 years, major manufacturers will be pumping out millions of EVs and the economies of scale will really kick in.

> Plus, there are practically no used EVs on the market

The restrictions are on the sale of new EVs by 2035, so this is irrelevant. And to add, there will be a significant used EV market by then.

> The car companies haven't exactly figured out what to do about EVs and are selling a few half-baked products at a loss just for show, but its not sustainable at these price levels. I'll be fine, sure I don't want to pay 20-30k more for a car

Multiple manufacturers have released good products in the last two years, and you can buy a perfectly fine EV today for under 30k. (Nissan leaf, Chevy bolt)

[1] https://insideevs.com/news/552010/electric-car-battery-price...

> e.g.RAV4, CR-V, Rouge)

The Nissan Rouge, a smart SUV at a reasonable price point. The SUV can also be used as make up - to bring out a robust blush on cheeks and lips.

It's my understanding that they're not requiring BEV and thus won't require adding any chargers. Gas/EV hybrids are also an option.

Per the article they are limited to 20% of the total market, which seems like it may not be enough.

I overlooked that, thanks.

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