EVs are a bad choice for a high-use vehicle like taxis / ubers. You'd need to recharge every 30 - 40 trips; in an ICE, that's 2 minutes at the pump - in an EV that's an hour of time you're not making an income.
The drivers are consistently upset they hadn't switched sooner. What they tell me:
- They love the charging breaks at malls, etc where they can also take a deserved 20 min break.
- They love the entertainment between rides.
- They love the heat/cold remains on even when not driving - without "running the engine".
- They love not needing to use their brakes. Saving them money.
- They love that there are no fanbelts that can break, no oil needing to be changed, etc. Saving them money.
- One of them told me it is paying itself off 3 times faster than he had calculated because of the additional savings from maintenance.
In general what matters for humanity is using electric cars instead of selling it, that’s why there should be the focus. Though I guess me repeating it doesn’t help, as it’s a huge initial investment for taxi drivers :(
According to a Uber driver I asked about this, it's not a major problem for them either: The battery comfortably lasts half a day, and after that, it's lunch time anyways.
Or, using your numbers, you'd need to recharge after 5 hours of 6-8 trips per hour.
Looking at EV ranges, ranges inside cities are higher (unlike with ICE cars). Combine with lower speeds (i.e. more hours per mile) and more frequent stops, and it means a lot of "range" in terms of hours between recharges.
In NYC, the average taxi driver drives 180 miles per day. This is the total distance covered, whether they have a passenger or not, and including the distance to and from their home.
Tesla Model 3s have a range of 272 miles. Also it doesn't take an hour to recharge a Model 3. You can charge from 10% to 80% in 25 minutes at a Supercharger.
But as others have said, plugging in the car in a mall while having a lunch break is not a big deal, all people deserve a lunch break, they are not robots.
That's funny. In London, all the new "black cab" taxis are a custom EV (1) and the vehicle of choice for "minicab" taxis has long been Toyota Prius Hybrids. Though newer models such as Hyundai EVs are also present now.
That wouldn't be the case if you were correct, would it?
Charging 0% to 100% is about 45 minutes but no one does that because it's more expensive and worse for the battery.