With an electric car, I start every day, always, with a full tank. No matter how late I'm running, I know there won't be a surprise that I need gas in addition to being late.
Maybe you live in a place where winter storms are not a reality but where I live the range isn't the problem it's the weather combined with the range. EVs range go down during winter and it's already worse, the risk of getting stuck in a snowstorm is thus higher.
But yes, during summer and perfect road conditions an EV would be great. That is not the reality of my life though and that is just speaking about the range issues. I live on the country side as well and I need a car that can handle roads that are not in perfect condition. EVs are also generally sedans and wouldn't even fit my family while being a lot more expensive, adding the risk of freezing to death in the car is just making it a no-go for now.
ICE cars are really unsuited for places where the gasoline supply is not guaranteed perfect.
What exactly are you suggesting? That EVs can only supplement gas-powered vehicles? That people can use other people's garages for their own EVs?
> EV adoption is far from saturated.
Major car manufacturers are slowing down their EV production because the cars just aren't competitive. That's saturation. EVs are overpriced and dangerous due to fire hazards, and only realistic for rich people who have the time and money to play.
>By the time that is anywhere close to happening, I expect that charge station deployments will be significantly improved as well.
Speaking of charging, we would need a huge increase in electricity production to be able to support lots of EVs on the road. California recently saw this pain happen when EV drivers were asked to not charge their cars. Eventually, it may be mandated that your car be equipped with "smart" chargers that don't charge most of the time, to save the grid. The idea of mandating EV adoption is dead on arrival. Notwithstanding nefarious intentions, I guess the lawmakers are hoping for dramatic improvements in tech that almost certainly won't come.
I'm curious what data you've seen about the fire risk. What I've seen suggests EVs are safer.
Grid capacity problems, when they occur, are related to maximum load, not average. EV charging load is among the least time sensitive loads there are. In fact, there are programs running now that allow EV owners to sell power back to the grid during periods of high demand.
It's my perspective that for some drivers, like myself, EVs are more practical than ICE, not less. This isn't true for everyone.
Gas cars catch fire pretty often. Yes. But usually they are older cars, and they often catch fire when running or soon after running hard. It is very rare to mildly drive through your neighborhood, park, and then a gas car catches fire.
EVs are catching fire less than gas cars.... That are old and being driven hard. While being new. And parked.
That is a decent difference.
Which is understandable in a gas car. You either spend the 5 minutes today, or you spend it tomorrow morning. Same 5 minutes technically.
But to forget plugging in your car which takes 15 seconds, with the alternative being having to find a charger away from home, is something that I don't think will happen often since it's so easy to avoid such a bigger pain point.
The range concerns are overblown, I don't think it's fair to say that EVs have less hassle than a gas car
Back when I had feet, there were so many days where I had anxiety over forgetting to tie my shoes. Sometimes I would start the day with my shoes untied. Other days I'd obsess over which knot to use. And additional worries over my shoe becoming untied during the day.
I found out the solution to these problems wasn't about just remembering to tie my shoe tightly in the morning like an adult -- the real solution was to cut off my feet so I never needed shoes again!
If you can, that's nice. But that assumes being able to not only charge at home but to have fast charging infrastructure installed at home.
We charge at home but the car doesn't fully charge overnight. That works all right since my partner only commutes every other day. On occasions where two consecutive commute days (or other special trips) come up, there's a lot of range anxiety involved.
> I think EVs give me LESS range anxiety overall.
This is difficult to understand. Sure, it's nice if you can start on full charge at home every morning. Nonetheless, some day you'll need to go farther and then a gas car is inevitably easier and faster to fill up.