Overview:
Electric Vehicles are a key part of our tomorrow and how we get there. If we can get all the fossil fuel vehicles off our roads, out of our seas and out of our skies, we'll have a much better environment. This community is where we discuss the various different vehicles and news stories regarding electric transportation.
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My EV is quite possibly the most poorly planned decision of my life.
I live in an apartment and cant charge it overnight. Its a leaf so it only has l2 slow charging and Chademo charging; i live in the US so it doesnt exist -- an adapter costs $750 minimum. I charge for 3 hours every week to go a maximum of 70 miles at a time. When its cold out, thats 4 or 5.
I don't regret it at all, unironically, genuinely.
I have said it a million times. Whenever I drive a car with an internal combustion engine it feels so incredibly primitive.
Loud, too much vibration, slow start up, doesnt even sound like a spaceship
Forget what you read online
... What was I doing, again?
tries to check history
navigates to profile page and reads it
What's my name again!?
So, how does this affect the rapidly growing percentage of people that can't afford a house to charge their vehicle at? Most LT rentals I've looked at in the last decade+ don't offer that amenity, and I'm not aware that affordable solutions are available for said renters... 🥲
First, let's actually specifically define the problem. This has nothing to do with home ownership and everything to do with specifically living in rented apartments, not rental units in general. The typical person can meet 100% of their commuting needs by plugging an EV into a regular wall outlet. Unless you're a fringe case hypermiler, the same outlet you use to power or charge whatever device you're accessing lemmy on can cover your commute. So let's not blow this out of proportion and pretend it applies to everyone who rents.
We're talking only about the portion of the population that:
Some searching suggests there are about 23 million apartment units in the US. So we're really only talking about 10% of the population here. People renting other housing types may not be able to install a 240V charger in a garage, but they can literally just use any 120V outlet.
For the 10% of the population that lives in apartment units? For these folks, they can continue to do what they already do - fuel their vehicle at a paid facility. The same thing every single ICE vehicle owner does. The absolute worst case scenario for EV ownership is the that charging your EV becomes as big of a hassle as fueling up an ICE vehicle. And the more people own EVs, the more landlords have to discount their outdated apartments without EV charging capability. At some point we'll just pass laws requiring EV charging. In most areas they already have parking minimums. The cost to add a bit of wiring is a rounding error in the cost of building a parking garage.
I appreciate the writeup, though one salient fact is that rentals rarely offer parking spaces within reach of one's home, nevermind that they're often communal when they do. Until the traditional act of the fill-up changes to an at-home after thought, adoption'll continue to struggle, IMHO.
As an EV owner, I have a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to people's opinions on EVs here. Many will approach me to genuinely ask about the car, the range anxiety, recharge, etc because they are curious and thinking on getting one.
Then there's "the others". People who for some weird reason hate EVs (especially now that gas is over 2€/lt) will approach me to throw hate on them parroting the usual silly remarks about battery degradation, range, lack of "engine sound"... And it's funny because I never open up a conversation about my EV, you won't see me trying to forcefully talk about it... so when I tell them that I don't care if they like EVs or not, they get even more pissed because they just want to shit on them and hope that I get upset or something? Idk, in Italy there's this kind of people who need to show others how noisy their car is and how manly they are for driving a car that is noisy.
Idk, in Italy there’s this kind of people who need to show others how noisy their car is and how manly they are for driving a car that is noisy.
Oh how I wish that was only an Italian thing
As I've grown older, I've come to realize that many people (too many, IMHO) are not only only somewhat aware* of cultural stereotypes but also seem to willingly, if not proudly adopt them as a vital ingredient to their persona. Like some vibe coders/script kiddies copy-pasting themselves an identity from barely-skimmed "data" they got from a friend of a friend who "totally knows what they're talking about, bro." 🙄🤷🏼♂️
*at least, that's what they'll tell you, ofc.
Living in the inland northwest US I’ve never had anyone approach me to talk about EVs one way or another. I’ve been driving a Kia Niro EV for a year now. Not even the few times I’ve been into North Idaho.
I don’t think I’d be bothered too much by some EV hater trying to be an ass either though given I’m not the one eating shit at the gas station. Charging from flat to full would cost me $6.40 at home… where I essentially do all my charging at 10¢ / kWh
For some people the politics or aesthetics of their choice of car outweighs the economics or convenience.
I am not rich enough to be one of those people.