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Comment by jwr | Hacker News Reader

> On a vaguely related note, driving 3000 kilometers through Europe in an electric car was surprisingly nice.

Having done a number of multiple-thousand km trips in Europe in an EV (not a Tesla, nobody buys those anymore) — it's amusing how non-EV muggles think this is somehow an ordeal. It's just fine! There are drawbacks: you do have to use your brain and plan ahead more than you do when burning dinosaurs. But I found that the 20-30 minute stops every 2h really improve how I feel after a day or two of driving.

Agreed about prices: there is gouging going on with some crazy margins. When charging at home, an EV is 2-4x less expensive per km than a gasoline-powered car, but when fast-charging on a road trip the cost of energy is nearly the same.

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> But I found that the 20-30 minute stops every 2h really improve how I feel after a day or two of driving.

I honestly started considering this a feature. I am a huge believer in "productive friction" - where some things are intentionally made annoying or hard so that humans avoid them - and this is a really good example.

What is a non EV-muggle?

Muggles, in Harry Potter books, are non-magic people, who do not have magic, do not understand it, have a lot of misconceptions about it, and fear it. :-)

So you are the enlightened one because you drive an EV or what? I dont think that this divisive and patronizing attitude is helpful in this discussion.

Range anxiety is a fact, only recently electric vehicles have started to have more acceptable and practicable ranges and also, the charger network is evolving more and more. In winter the ranges are also reduced by about 10-20%.

So I dont think people cant see the "magic", the mass market is just risk averse and doesnt want to get stuck in the middle of the highway with 2 screaming kids in the back seat.

Also now that most European countries (and also the US) have stopped subsidizing EVs, the real costs are shining through, so maybe that 1.9L Diesel engine looks more attractive now again.

> so maybe that 1.9L Diesel engine looks more attractive now again

Sure, if you don't care about leaving a planet for your kids to live on.

But this discussion got derailed, I should not have used the muggle joke. I didn't mean to be condescending, but rather highlight how little people that don't drive EVs know about driving EVs and how they repeat the PR talking points that are being fed to us by the biggest money-making industry ever created in the history of mankind (the fossil fuel industry). Hence the mass market repeating things about "getting stuck in the middle of the highway with 2 screaming kids in the back seat" which somehow doesn't happen to people driving EVs.

Once EVs are good enough i am sure they will reach mass adoption. Lets let the market decide.

Im certainly no fossil fuel “muggle” that is beholden to this industry and wants to destroy the planet for “our” children, whatever this personal attack and scaremongering even means.

But this is just the level at which you EV evangelists discuss. Sitting on their high horse and using FUD and ad hominems, not being able to have a factual discussion.

If you think that EVs will solve all our climate issues then im sorry to disappoint you but this is not going to happen.

Stray anywhere off the main roads and suddenly your 'just fine' turns back into an ordeal.

And God forbid you come across inclines!

> draws swastikas to emphasize anti-fascism

> breaks windows

> sets cars on fires

>> nobody buys those anymore

surprised pikachu

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