I don't disagree that range is an issue for many (but not all) people, but there are several logical errors in directly translating ICE range to EV range:
1) If you take 800 km as the range that people demand in an ICE car, it does not necessarily follow that they would demand the same range in an EV.
Going to a petrol station every day would be much more inconvenient than plugging in a car every night, so (for those EV users who are able to charge at home)
their maximum daily range would be a more reasonable number to use.
Is that why we had this wireless charging topic , because it was so easy to plug in your car every day? Not too mention those who have to find a charging spot coming home in the parkinglot,
there is a trend of people moving to live in cities, which means apartment buildings.
Additionally many ICEs do not get 800 km to a tank, mine gets around 230 miles / 370 km and many modern small cars are more like 500-550 km real-world miles per tank.
My last three cars from 1999 up to today were Opel stationwagons, with engines with the most hp so not the smallest and they did 600km , 760km and my current one does 800-1000km on a 60 litre tank.
Perhaps a difference between the US and Europe, but indeed smaller cars have smaller tanks but I pray I never have to travel to south of France in a small car like that.
2) The marginal cost of increasing the size of an ICE tank is small, manufacturer's therefore have an incentive to make it large enough to appeal to customers who want long range
even if they are a small fraction of total customers. e.g. it may be the case that a majority of ICE customers would be happy with half the tank size,
but the manufacturer makes it bigger at low cost to sell a few % more cars.
Agreed with the first part, not the second. Holiday travel on a black saturday as we call it here in Europe you want to drive the 1000kms and only have to wait in line at the gaspump once.
Last year I spent 4 hours waiting in line in Luxembourg to fill up my tank, I wish I just drove further but going off the highway you are trapped.
3) Huge numbers of people do not fill their petrol tanks to the top, I see these people at petrol stations putting in £5 here and £10 there when they get to nearly-empty
True but those people can't afford an EV, not even a second hand EV
I might be discriminating here but the last time I did that I was out of a job.
I see some kids that have to pay themselves do this, students generally speaking the people that look at the gas pump and put in €25 instead of filling her up have money-issues.
And then we are in Europe where you have to pay $7,50 a gallon today.
There are people for whom EVs are not currently and may never be a good choice.
For some people it is a good choice I don't argue. But that is not the topic now is it?
The topic is when does it become mainstream. Mainstream is the average of carowners.
Look what the average car sold today is and ask why that is, you get your answer right then and there.