To be clear, while I think cars like, say, the Nissan Juke or Vauxhall/Opel Mokka are ugly (looks only a mother could love and so on) they aren't a big problem. They are clearly being bought by some people who like the looks, the market is what it is.
The problem is things like BMW X3-7, Audi Q5+, Land Rover (Evoque/Discovery) and so on.
Most of these cars still have 5 seats, like a hatchback or a mini-SUV like the Juke. But while the Juke might weight 1300kg in its heaviest trim, the Evoque weighs over 2100kg.
I really think plug in hybrids would become dominant for a long time. At some point, it no longer makes sense to keep adding battery capacity to cover the infrequent long trips.
With Bev rsnge approaching 600 km and fast chargers abounding in many countries. Just how long do you intend a single journey to be. Most people don’t drive those distances without breaks and they can easily charge while having a coffees no need for phevs
I really think plug in hybrids would become dominant for a long time. At some point, it no longer makes sense to keep adding battery capacity to cover the infrequent long trips.
With Bev rsnge approaching 600 km and fast chargers abounding in many countries. Just how long do you intend a single journey to be. Most people don’t drive those distances without breaks and they can easily charge while having a coffees no need for phevs
I really think plug in hybrids would become dominant for a long time. At some point, it no longer makes sense to keep adding battery capacity to cover the infrequent long trips.
With Bev rsnge approaching 600 km and fast chargers abounding in many countries. Just how long do you intend a single journey to be. Most people don’t drive those distances without breaks and they can easily charge while having a coffees no need for phevs
I really think plug in hybrids would become dominant for a long time. At some point, it no longer makes sense to keep adding battery capacity to cover the infrequent long trips.
...
As EV battery prices fall per kWh the PHEV just stops making sense.
This remark is only made by people that have absolutely no clue about what it is actually like to drive long journeys with a car. How much coffee do you want to drink in a day? As someone with decades of experience driving long distances with a car, I can tell you that you will want to keep stops to a minimum and don't eat or drink along highways because everything there is overpriced & crap. On top of that, time is better spend getting at your hotel early, eat dinner at a good restaurant, go for a swim, take a walk through a beautyfull city center, go to sleep on time, etc, etc. Literally anything is better than waiting at a charging station.
I really think plug in hybrids would become dominant for a long time. At some point, it no longer makes sense to keep adding battery capacity to cover the infrequent long trips.
This remark is only made by people that have absolutely no clue about what it is actually like to drive long journeys with a car. How much coffee do you want to drink in a day? As someone with decades of experience driving long distances with a car, I can tell you that you will want to keep stops to a minimum and don't eat or drink along highways because everything there is overpriced & crap. On top of that, time is better spend getting at your hotel early, eat dinner at a good restaurant, go for a swim, take a walk through a beautyfull city center, go to sleep on time, etc, etc. Literally anything is better than waiting at a charging station.
You clearly have better bladder range than me! I generally stop every 2.5-3 hours on a long journey. I might not get a coffee, but there are plenty of places by motorways here that aren't overpriced for coffee, charging, etc. Stopping at the actual services is usually a mugs game, no matter what the country (though I will say the 1.50 EUR espresso I had on the Italian autostrada blew my mind compared to what £4.50 gets you here in a normal Starbucks, but that's another matter.)
A 10-15 minute stop every 3 hours is fine IMO. But everyone's different. Some EV's already achieve this e.g. Model 3 LR will do it. Something like the ID.3 requires 25-30 mins per stop.
Once a journey is over 800-1000km then I start looking at the train or flights, a car for that long is hell. Too much to concentrate on for 8 hours. Maybe autonomous highway cruising will resolve that but we're not there yet. ACC takes some of the workload off but certainly still have to be very attentive.
You still have neglected to consider while that extra 15-30 minutes stop every 3 hours is inconvenient for a long road trip, you would never need to stop for ordinary daily usage which is covered by home/street/work charging.
btw for that disabled transport topic. Here in Prague city provides transport for wheelchair users. It is heavily overbooked nowadays, so one needs to book its way half a year upfront. So not the most convenient, but it exists and is possible.
... don't eat or drink along highways because everything there is overpriced & crap. On top of that, time is better spend getting at your hotel early, eat dinner at a good restaurant, go for a swim, take a walk through a beautyfull city center, go to sleep on time, etc, etc. Literally anything is better than waiting at a charging station.
With Bev rsnge approaching 600 km and fast chargers abounding in many countries.
...
As EV battery prices fall per kWh the PHEV just stops making sense.We have one small problem here. It looks like battery prices already hit the bottom as demand goes up and pushes raw material prices.
Current cell prices are very near the input costs. And those going up.
It might be just a temporary glitch caused by the pandemic. But right now it does not look for a bright green battery future.
That doesn't matter at all. Like most people, I buy a car to do long trips conveniently. In my case that is also the primary use of the car anyway. Cars get bought to suit 2% of the use cases. If you don't think that is true, then ask yourself why people buy cars with 4 seats to drive to work alone... IIRC you have a Golf GTE but drive that to work alone. Why didn't you get a Renault Twizzy?
BEVs will offer as good or better transport experience over time. The negatives are largely illusional or in fact will disappear as habits change
Inventing drawbacks or negating Bev because it’s not an identical experience is really nonsensical. The future will be different, car usage will be different too , things are changing
I've got no problems with a moving/camping trailer that has a massive inbuilt battery bank. That would actually be quite useful on a camping trip for powering/cooking various devices and it should theoretically increase the travel range of a vehicle by at least another 600km, provided it is in good condition.
Future SUV/BEVs would require a charging port at the rear of the vehicle for trailers only, bidirectional. There would also need to be a second cable going to the front of the vehicle dedicated for the trailers power supply to be used by the engine soley and a way to charge both battery banks, trailer and vehicle, independently of each other.
a hotel stay with breakfast at your table, instead of a muddy field with a gas stove.
So even if you feel EV isn't for you today I doubt you will be saying the same in 2025 - 2030. Meanwhile where are all the hydrogen models to compete with EVs?
You are forgetting charging costs... an ICE hybrid is cheaper to run over long distances for the next decade. Hydrogen comes second cost wise. I have already done that math and likely other, cost consience, people have done that as well. There is an 80% chance I'll skip BEV and 2 cars from now, I'll be driving around in an FCEV. Charging costs are what is going to limit BEV adoption.
You are forgetting charging costs... an ICE hybrid is cheaper to run over long distances for the next decade. Hydrogen comes second cost wise. I have already done that math and likely other, cost consience, people have done that as well. There is an 80% chance I'll skip BEV and 2 cars from now, I'll be driving around in an FCEV. Charging costs are what is going to limit BEV adoption.
ICE only becomes even slightly competitive if you exclusively use fast charging stations. If you charge at home or at night, it's between 1/5th and 1/3rd the cost per mile in the UK. Yes, even in this time of high energy prices. Then you add lower TCO like reduced servicing.
For long trips you can't charge at home so that is out.
And you seriously overestimate the cost of servicing a car or even TCO. Number 1 cost is fuel, number 2 is suspension & tires, number 3 is road taxes, number 4 is the rest but at this stage you are in noise.
Looking at the cost of my current car: I've spend about 35k euro on fuel, about 6k euro suspension & tires, another 5k euro on suspension, 4k euro to write it off and about 2k euro on servicing. Cost per km is around 21 eurocents.
Next car is going to be a hybrid and I hope to drive the cost per km down to 18 eurocents. If you actually know about the real servicing costs of a car, then you'd know a BEV is not going to be cheaper to maintain but more expensive due to more wear & tear on the suspension.
If you actually know about the real servicing costs of a car, then you'd know a BEV is not going to be cheaper to maintain but more expensive due to more wear & tear on the suspension.