Electric Cars?
With how little I drive, an electric car might actually be worthwhile for me - assuming that it could be recharged in a reasonable time period. That's where this article about "faster" charging made me wonder. Consider:
Most Level 3 stations are considered “fast chargers,” but they don’t have to be. The conventional wisdom is that if an average EV battery can be charged to full in about a half hour, then it is a fast charge.
Which tells me that electric cars, at least with the technology available now, are useful for... maybe people like me. Now, how many drivers fit that profile? I don't know, but even for light commuters (my wife drives around 15 miles one way), it's simply useless. Why? Right now, a car trip doesn't have to be plotted out. If you notice you need gas, you pop into a station, and you leave 5 minutes later. With electric cars? Well, you better plan on staying wherever you are for awhile when you charge (the "fast" chargers are still awaiting standards, and the next level is an 8 hour wait).
I just don't see that working out very well for most use cases. Sure, you could use it for short trips - but heck, for less money, a hybrid or regular car will do the same short trips and also let you go as far as you want.
So... what's the market segment for this? I'm not seeing it.
Update: Popular Mechanics sketches out a scenario for 2020, when EVs have become somewhat widespread. The thing that popped out at me is how much more power generatio capability we'll need for that, never mind the time issues I outlined above...
Update 2: In the comments, it was proposed that instead of recharging stations, we simply have battery exchange stations. Well. There are two problems with that:
- At least at present, there are no standards in this area - a Tesla battery won't work in a Leaf, or vice versa
- The Leaf battery is 600 pounds. That's not a simple drop in/replace operation. Never mind the storage requirements for the supposed exchange station - any station about the size of a current gas station will run out of space quickly.
I pulled the weight from this article
Bottom line - electric cars are not practical for most real world uses...
Technorati Tags: electric cars
