Waiting 30 minutes is still a dealbreaker for a lot of people. How about switching out those batteries like propane tanks. I'll let someone else figure out the technical details of that.
Car makers call it "contingency anxiety," the urge to buy a mechanically
overqualified vehicle because maybe, once in a blue moon—or a
hurricane on a high tide—the car buyer might need the extra functionality.
The reality is that most Tesla owners will simply commute well within the regular range. Telsa is reducing the, "but how will we do the 4 hour drive to grandma's house for Thanksgiving" argument by providing an inconvenient -- but workable -- solution. They're betting that's enough to get a meaningful number of people over the hump.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732443980457810...
People constantly raise the question as to why people from the United States don't do this nearly as much as people from other countries. I've come to the conclusion that it's mostly related to this "contingency anxiety" you speak of. US citizens are so concerned about covering every possible situation they spend their time buying and building, but never actually go anywhere much. The few that do go have so much stuff their vehicles are huge and extremely heavy and they wind up having all manner of serious mechanical issues.
I drove Alaska->Argentina[2] in a dead-stock Jeep TJ with little more than camping gear[3] and didn't have a single issue the entire 2 years.
It's amazing how US Citizens will attack the "get out and go" approach by listing the 5000 things that could possibly go wrong. Before I left, I had people telling me (among other things) I'd die in an earthquake, get bitten by an exotic critter, catch H1-N1, get AIDS from a shoddy 3rd world blood transfusion, etc. etc. So much fear of the "what if"
[1] Details on Overlanding http://wikioverland.org/Overland_Frequently_Asked_Questions
[2] My blog http://theroadchoseme.com/
[3] The gear I took http://theroadchoseme.com/on-the-road
My guess: Superchargers will remain free as promised and the battery swapping will offer faster charging, but at a cost.
Cost reduction plays a huge (if not the biggest) consideration in going electric.
http://www.teslamotors.com/it_CH/forum/forums/cost-charge-an...
Linking to:
http://teslarumors.com/USA-Residental-Energy-Cost-2011-by-St...
But, then again, gas stations aren't exactly where I want to stop for 30 minutes every two hours. My 30 minute stops are rest areas, local or state parks, interesting restaurants, lakes, monuments, etc. It's rare that I want to spend 30 minutes at a gas station.
So, while I think stopping for 30 minutes every 2 hours isn't a big deal, and I don't think I'm way out of touch. But, since I wouldn't get to determine where I stop for 30 minutes ever 2 hours in the current Tesla scenario, it is a big deal. Presumably, and allegedly, this 30 minute problem will soon fade. I'm impressed that a cross-country trip will be possible this year. That's amazing progress; I'm blown away by Musk's vision and ability to deliver it.
Unless you are into amphetamines or falling asleep at the wheel, it is the only way to do it for any extended amount of time.
This is simply not a true statement.
It may be your personal preference, but it is not at all universal.
SF to Seattle is the really hard one. SF to Portland is something I can do (without starting absurdly early, or maybe even after a full day of doing other stuff), but going all the way to Seattle is hard, and stopping in Portland seems silly (since it's only 3h more to Seattle). Unfortunately, everything between Redding/Weed and Portland seems to be Methland.
http://drowsydriving.org/about/facts-and-stats/
Please adjust your driving behavior.
San Jose to Vegas is 523 miles, and doing that in 6-7 hours is quite feasible (although it's entirely possible for it to take 12-14 hours with traffic on I-5 and I-15 if things go wrong)
The trip back is usually done in one day, ~10am to ~midnight. This usually includes 2-3 stops for gas and food. I wouldn't mind these stops being half an hour instead of their usual ~15 minutes, but it would mean that I would have to leave an hour earlier, or get home an hour later. since I'd have 50-100 miles less range per "fill-up" with the top-of-the-line Model S, I'd probably have to make an extra stop as well.
Ultimately, I look forward to none of this discussion mattering in 10 years, at which time I fully expect 400+ mile range in self-driving EV cars that charge in 10 minutes.
***fingers-crossed***"The 12th round-Australia motoring event run since the first (1953) Redex, the [largely off-road 18,000km, 14 day] 1979 Repco is now acknowledged as the toughest long-distance rally since the continent-to-continent epics of the first decade of the 20th century. Like earlier round-Australia trials and the London-to-Sydney epics of 1968 and 1977, crews were expected to drive virtually non stop for days at a time with limited rest breaks. Nowadays this would be considered irresponsibly dangerous."
If that is the case, I am here to tell you that driving from Seattle to San Francisco in a single run is neither impossible nor even particularly remarkable. I make this trip two or three times a year, visiting my California-based family. I-5 is a smooth, easy, comfortable road, well engineered and well maintained. The challenge is not fatigue but boredom, especially through the long, straight sections in the wide-open countryside of Nothern California, where average traffic speed approaches 80 mph. Bring an interesting companion or some good energetic music and you're set.
A VW Jetta can get 45mpg if you're really lucky, with a 14.5gal tank, so about 650.
ML350 is about 700 miles, and the old TDI VW Passats were about a 20 gallon tank and good for about 1000 miles stock.
It's okay that the Tesla isn't going after that market yet, but getting them to change their habits for the car is unlikely to happen. That's okay!
That could be anywhere from ~430 miles, in which case you can probably get there by starting with a full battery and making a single charge stop, to more than 1400 miles.
Please be more specific as to the origin and destination.
To use a specific example, these people drive from Chicago to Kerrville which is about 19 hours according to Google Maps. Arriving in 24 hours would probably not be possible even if no time was wasted getting into and out of charging stations.
Edit reply: it's a few refills but each is quick and lasts longer than a battery charge. Would estimate 5 minutes for human needs every 3-6 hours is reasonable. I don't believe this is unusual long-distance driving behavior. And again, I don't think Tesla should be judged right now on their ability to cater to that market; we should be looking at how well Tesla serves those driving a couple hundred miles or several hundred miles in a more leisurely fashion.
Second, I don't know about you, but unless I'm dehydrated, I pee rather more often than once every six hours, and I definitely stop more often than that on the occasional ~800 mile road trip I take.
Assuming this game of telephone hasn't gone too badly awry, your friends are extreme outliers, not "a typical person in the US used to driving distances".
Edit reply: it's a few refills but each is quick and lasts shorter than a battery charge. Would estimate 5 minutes for human needs every 3-6 hours is reasonable. I don't believe this is unusual long-distance driving behavior. And again, I don't think Tesla should be judged right now on their ability to cater to that market; we should be looking at how well Tesla serves those driving a couple hundred miles or several hundred miles in a more leisurely fashion.
I grew up in the north east, which is about 200 miles away from London. A trip to London was an epic journey, involving a stop at a service station on the way.
If Tesla could partner with one service station operator, getting the super chargers in all of their stations, then all the worries of range anxiety would be all but solved.
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/25/135575490/sitting-all-day-wors...
Will Tesla license this design to the other car makers? They may have offered to, but Nissan/GM/etc are probably thinking why pay Tesla when they get the IEEE design "for free".
People wait 30 minutes or more to get their car washed already... Ohhhhh... Charge up and Car Wash together! That would be awesome!
Batteries in most electric cars are squeezed in every possible location. It's not just a cube you can slide out the side of the car.
If it was a cube, you'd either have to make the car really big or cut the range in half.
Maybe they've found some way around it with the Tesla, but it isn't usually just that they don't like the idea of battery-swap stations.
It's possible to remove the battery, but not trivial.