this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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I think this is ignoring the fact that the average americans daily milage is so little (around 30 miles)that an electric car can be topped up off a Level 1 charger. Even more if you can get a level 2 charger.
So for most americans average driving, an electric car would be a boon, even if no independent in the wild infrastructure/charging facilities existed.
OK, but if you live in an apartment, where do you plug in that level 1 charger?
I would love to consider getting an electric car whenever I can afford a new(er) vehicle. But there's no way my landlord will let me run an extension cord from my 3rd story apartment around the building and around the pond between my building and the parking lot. It's sad that an EV would be so great, but its really a mark of privilege to own both in initial affordability and just having the place to park and charge one. Not that it matters, I can't afford anything other than my 24 year old Honda.
an extension cord.
This is just not a practical day-to-day solution. Most people don't have a parking spot right outside their window that they can reliably use for charging. There is often a sidewalk that the cord would have to cross, creating the opportunity for someone to trip and sue you. There is often landscaping between buildings and parking, creating the opportunity for the landscapers to accidentally run over your cord with their lawnmower. Some asshole is going to walk by and unplug your car and then you may be late to work.
Sure, you could it, but it's not a practical solution.
I mean, sure, when you dont want to do it, its easy to really cook up a convuluted scenario to justify not doing it.
I'm going to borrow a picture that somebody else posted. https://www.rent.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/apartment_building.jpg
Do you think its practical for extension cords to run from that building to most of the parking spots? It would be a spiderweb of a tangled mess.
I'm going to borrow a picture that somebody else posted. https://www.rent.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/apartment_building.jpg
Do you think its practical for extension cords to run from that building to most of the parking spots? It would be a spiderweb of a tangled mess.
Oh god, the horror of 6 cords. You're right, the world cant support such madness.
if you don't like EVs, thats fine. Don't gotta keep playing this game of "UNLESS ITS 1000% PERFECT, WE CANT HAVE IT".
I do like EV's! I'm looking forward to the day when its practical for me to have one. I want less vehicle maintenance and I hope that the cost to charge it is less than it would cost to put gasoline in an equivalent ice vehicle.
You're right that technically you would probably be able to run an extension cord for charging. I'm suggesting that this is a pain in the ass solution. Your landlord is going to tell you that you're not allowed to do that. The spots within reach of your house won't always be open.
Within the next 10 years, hopefully more charging infrastructure will be built. Currently, its not available.
If I wanted inexpensive transportation that's a pain in the ass, I'd just take the bus.
Level 1 charging works off of a regular power outlet
And if you only have street parking?
Is there a power outlet in the street? If not, it would be hard to use level 1 charging and wouldn’t really be relevant to bring up, would it?
Let me summarize the stream of these comments for you, as if it was a conversation between two people.
A)There isn't infrastructure for electric cars, particularly for those living in an apartment.
B)Level 1 charging is good enough for most people.
A)How is a person who lives in an apartment going to use a level 1 charger?
B)You just use a regular outlet.
A)But I live in an apartment, there is no regular outlet near my car.
B)(this is your comment BTW)Well then why did you bring up level 1 charging?
You're a moron.
It's kind of disturbing that they can't follow this.
Some apartments have outlets in them, this is a simple solution for those people. Not every solution will solve every problem for every person. Only a moron would expect that.
Haha. Alright, bud. All those people with the simple solution of parking in their living room will be so pleased.
Yeah no one parks in a covered garage or in a parking structure, so it’d be impossible for those people, who live in apartments, to use this simple solution. And it would be impossible to ever get electricity to street parking. You’d have to put it on the sidewalk or something. Oh, I mean, in your living room, because I’m the moron here. Thanks for the great discussion, genius.
I'm loving your solutions. Do you know what they call covered garages and parking structures with outlets and even your big brain idea of sidewalks with electrical outlets in them? They call those things INFRASTRUCTURE.
You should be loving the fact that this simple solution exists instead of being a random asshole cynic about it, yeah. The infrastructure is in place already for a lot of people to use this as a solution.
My dude, the comment at the top of this thread is stating that there isn't enough infrastructure to support most people buying electric cars. Sure, there's some infrastructure for some people to be able to charge their cars but its a significant barrier for many and an impediment to widespread adoption, causing a decrease in demand. You know, relevant information regarding the original post.
"But some people can charge their cars" is irrelevant when so many can't, because of infrastructure.
This word has lost all meaning for me. Infrastructure infrastructure
Ok you win the argument. Some people who live in apartments officially CANNOT charge their cars using a regular level 1 outlet because cantsurf cannot charge his car on the street.
Let it be known far and wide.
You're close, but you've still missed. My opinion (and I'm agreeing with the guy at the top of this thread) is that charging an electric car is impractical for such a large proportion of the population that it is slowing down electric vehicle adoption and that mass adoption is unlikely to occur until this infrastructure issue has been addressed.
And also that I can't charge my car on the street.
I didn’t miss your point, I dismissed it as irrelevant to what I was bringing up to the person I was responding to. Not everyone knows what “level 1 charging” means. I wanted to let them know it means a regular outlet. For whomever that applies, I hope they find it helpful. For whomever that does not apply, I hope the infrastructure continues to mature to help meet their needs, as it obviously will despite your cynicism.
At this point, I'm just curious to know where you live that makes you think that sidewalks have power outlets.
Here’s an article with pictures of a made up fantasy land where there are cars on a street and electricity on the street and the cars are somehow charging and whaaaaaaaaat https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/government-electric-car-street-funding/
Haha. That's great. That is some great infrastructure, which I hope is built soon, but which currently exists almost nowhere.
Yeah it would be like putting up giant wooden poles all over the country and wires running between them to somehow service hundreds of millions of individual homes, residences and buildings level impossible to get that kind of thing built. I guess we’ll never see it in our lifetimes. Time for you to fuck off now.
I never even implied anything like that. Don't try to straw man me just because you're saying silly things.
Just in case you didnt read the article you linked. It says, "Research indicates that one of the main hurdles to EV adoption in the eyes of car buyers is adequate charging infrastructure."
Hahaha
Except ice cars already solved the problem, you dingus.
Oh yeah, problem free ICE cars. Way to track the conversation.
Do they make wireless extension cords?
TBH if your daily mileage is only 30 or so miles, then you can do all of that on an electric bike.
Electric bikes suck in the Wisconsin winter
I hear that biking in the snow isn't actually bad. This is hearsay because it doesn't snow much where I am.
You wear your winter coat and snow pants, and get studded tires.
You don't have to worry about getting stuck going up an icy hill (because if its too icy to drive up, you can walk up it), granted not likely to be a problem in Wisconsin.
You don't have to worry about getting stuck due to low clearance (like the snow between the ruts that hatchbacks and minivans get stuck on) because you can just pick up your bike.
Also if a pedestrian slips while crossing the road, you probably won't kill them if you can't stop in time.
I guess the wind could be intense. What's your experience been?
Consider doing any of this in -20F even without the wind chill. Now consider the battery on that bike in those temps.
I've had it be so cold outside that the door lock latch on my entryway door for my garage was growing ice crystals. This isn't a door that's on the outside. This is the door on the entry from the garage to the house.
Now imagine trying to bike anywhere with that and what is essentially a salt/beet sugar slurry in the roads with no one giving you right of way it even being able to see in front of them because they're either drunk, on the phone, only cleared a 3" hole in their windshield or "you just came out of nowhere" ;)
But hey, the summers here are kickass
Hey thanks for more context I appreciate it.
-20F (-30C) is quite cold. How often is it that cold during commuting hours? It's hard to read too much into anecdotes re house latches freezing because there are so many peculiarities of individual houses. Range will definitely be reduced though.
I could see the ice melt slurry being messy and gumming up the bike's mechanics for sure. Not something I have experience with.
Yeah separate infrastructure makes biking a lot safer and so more attractive.
It's actually not as bad on average as I conveyed
https://weatherspark.com/countries/US/WI
I think a lot of it is wind chills, especially where I am since Madison, WI sits between two lakes.
It might be better on a regular fat tire bike and not EV here, though in the last few years EV has become insanely popular around here.
This is the way
You should be able to, but US non-car infrastructure is so abysmal that there's a strong chance you can't safely unfortunately
I currently bike or walk most places, but I also know that's not a common situation in the US. For me the car is only used for anything far enough away.
Ignoring how that would work even under ideal circumstances, do you propose that large portions of the country use a bike when it's below freezing? Because that's a non-starter, and no one will take you seriously.
I replaced 90% of my driving with an electric golf cart