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Comment by monero-xmr | Hacker News Reader

The convenience to me of being able to refuel anywhere quickly, plus the dubious carbon savings, plus the immediate discount on the car purchase (without any subsidies), makes it a moral purchase rather than a practical one. I am not very impressed by the benefits.

I like how EVs accelerate faster. Otherwise it would make my life way more inconvenient, which I surmise is a major blocker for most potential EV purchasers

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I guess it depends on your driving habits and homecharging situation, but after a year with my EV, I wouldn't go back if God came down and personally told me that every EV resulted in a baby seal being clubbed. Among the many advantages, never having to go to a gas station is so much better.

Why is going to a gas station difficult? I’m far more concerned about needing to charge in a pinch than needing to find a gas station

It's not difficult, but it's something extra. Now I just plug my car in the garage and it's always charged. Plus it drives so so much better (constant torque at any speed feels amazing, you can control the car very precisely), and doesn't stink and make noise.

I wouldn't go back either, even with the occasional 20-minute charge break on a very long trip.

If you can charge at home overnight, then your "tank" is full every morning. The logistics are a bit more complicated for long distance road trips though.

There are no gas stations on my route. I'd need to specifically drive to one.

And the one closest to my commute has a massive queue _every_ time.

I just rather drive home, plug in and the battery will be at 80-100% next morning, depending on how much I drove that day.

You must be the rare person with no gas stations near your entire commute!

That's what I get for living in a small town :)

The gas stations are on the main road that passes through the town, I don't use it for my commute, I literally have to go out of my way to hit a gas station - which is owned by my uncle (small town, I know)

Yeah that was my experience (not the seal clubbing) with my Model X in Europe in 2019. Great for the daily commute, never had to hit a gas station but on longer trips it's more planning. Sales of Teslas definitely increased faster than the charging network expanded, so while I never had to wait in 2019, the situation was different in 2022. Now I'm back at 13mpg and similar bhp. Still have good memories of the Tesla but in the states distances are longer and I just can't haul an RV with an EV. Even small trailers have quite the range impact.

Being able to charge nightly (when needed) at home has been a game changer for us. No more waiting in line at Costco or "we need to fill up the car before X". Car is always fully charged.

Plus for us at least, because we have a very low KwH _night_ rate, our EV is 10x cheaper to run than our ICE. It's a significant difference.

And that's not counting the environmental concerns.

Multi-day trips are another story. But we take very few of those.

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