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Comment by ianpurton | Hacker News Reader

You can find a new sub 25K EUR car in Europe but the range will suck.

For example the VW Polo starts at 25K but if you want the bigger battery, its 35k.

The 25k VW ID.Polo has a range of ~300km. In Europe, that's way more than enough for >95% of trips for >95% of people.

around 150km in the winter, unacceptable range for a new car. A 28kWh ioniq could do that and they are cheap and come fully loaded.

My commute is 23km one way, and the shops are even closer. I'm the 95%.

The charging situation need to be factored in. Charging at home, it has enough range. Public charging, range buys the likely hood of charging convenience.

Public charging infrastructure in most of Europe is exceptional[0], especially for cars like the Polo, which is a car typically used in populated areas.

https://electroverse.com/map/48.43680,5.81610,4.50/

I wouldn't say execeptional.

There are many times I tried to charge and got asked to indstall apps or the charger wasn't working. Blocked by a petrol car.

Charging in europe comes with a learning curve.

For my commute I'd have to charge every 2-3 days in winter. Not a show stopper, but an extra 10k for more convenience is a bit much.

If you're charging at home, that's not a problem. It still takes less time (20 seconds a day) than going to the pump once a month for 15 minutes.

in the US, I go to pump twice a week to fill my small car(Miata gang) which gets roughly 38 MPG. Those two trips are maybe 3 minutes max combined.

If I where to go EV home charging instead, I'd need to have it more or less plugged in every night. Which of course isn't a shower stopper especially when fuel savings are factored in.

But in my case the MSRP of my car+ fuel costs+ time/convenience is a slightly better experience than if I had a full EV with it's associated MSRP/convenience.

I look forward to my first EV, cuz I know I'll have a "come to god" moment where I realize how much easier/simpler charging at home is.

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