The technology has existed for half a century; we could've gotten there with lead-acid tech if we actually fucking wanted to.
You serious? With lead acid? Range: 50 miles under ideal conditions. Battery weight: 2 tons. I don't think so. 
Most people don't need the range or power of a ICE vehicle most of the time. Even THAT 50 mile range is more than enough for a huge portion of the miles driven in the US every day; I'd bet more than half.
You're thinking of home-made golf-cart battery and forklift motor conversions from the 70s. The EV1 first-gen had lead-acid batteries and advertised 80 mile range; it was known to do much better according to users. It was literally loved by its users. Later versions used a NiMH pack which doubled that range. This technology is nearly 30 years old.
While no EV will replace all ICE vehicles, we certainly could've been MOSTLY EV long before I graduated high-school. If we really wanted to be EV, we'd long ago have figured out a business model that makes EV the first choice for daily driving and commuting, then ICE vehicles convenient and cost-effective to "borrow" or "rent" when you really need it.
mnem
We are fucking doomed.
On the FLAT. We have a van in our fleet that has a nominal 70 mile range. In effect it is more like 20-30 miles, and there are hills it will NOT GO UP. Very fucking practical. It's a modern Nissan, so it has a Li-ion battery.
I do 35-40 miles a day to and from work, and it's ALL HILLS. My Insignia diesel can do something like 70 mpg average ON THE FLAT. In my daily use it's between 35-40 mpg depending on which hills I have to negotiate. Add to that is the purchase cost: £1250. Now, find me an equivalent electric vehicle for that price. NOT FUCKING POSSIBLE.
NB: I'm not pissed at you Mnem (for once!), I'm pissed at the stupidly polarised arguments that miss ALL OF THE MIDDLE GROUND when it comes to EVs.
His price comparison vs a petrol car based on the most expensive electricity tariff he can find is highly misleading. Most people would be able to find a cheaper tariff. For comparison against his quoted figure of 38p/kWh I charge my car at the equivalent of 4.9p/kWh during the night or only 16p/kWh even if I charge it during the day.
And he points out that if you work from home that your electricity bills will rise. Somehow this also becomes a failing of the electric car
Maybe you can get electricity that cheap in upside-down land, but here I have to pay over 27p/kWh. Also I have nowhere to charge an electric car; I can't park outside my flat. I can't put solar panels on my roof because I don't have one.
Yes, and that's what I'm talking about too. You are the statistical outlier... the ends of the bell curve. Not to be rude, but
in this case, that's
probably most of the people where you live.
This is what I meant by "While no EV will replace all ICE vehicles, we certainly could've been MOSTLY EV long before I graduated high-school."Continuing to serve everybody in such a wasteful fashion... when the meat of the bell curve... commuting in particular... a large number, probably even the majority of the miles driven every day could easily be served by EV...
that is the middle ground I'm talking about.
The problem with that is it would require us all to step back and look at our daily lives the way I had to do about 20 years ago... and that's when my big E250 van and my pickup truck went down the road, because
living in the city, I literally needed them about twice a year. The rest of the time they were aught but a drain on my personal economy.The bottom line is that if we are to survive the next 50 years as a species, we "1st worlders" have to break the cycle of wasteful living at the rest of the world's expense. The rest of the world outnumbers us, they want their resources for themselves, and thanks to the current insane political climate, they have more guns
and more money.This has to start with our wasteful use of energy... and
the LCD for that is for the developed world to actually start developing again rather than stagnating as we've done for most of my adult life... starting with a homogenized electrical power grid that actually serves everybody, and getting that energy and the energy used for transportation
some other way than just burning whatever is most convenient.If we don't stop burning shit for the majority of our energy... and I don't care what fuel your talking about, it's the
not burning stuff for energy part that is crucial... in the next few decades, there's simply no chance of this planet being able to continue to sustain any of us meatsacks for the next 100 years.
Even if we don't fall victim to some nutbag like in
MI:4 who decides the best thing to do is cleanse the planet with nuclear fire so mother nature can start over again,
the end will be the same: Planet earth reduced to a smouldering cinder. Only difference is it will be a slow burn and generations of suffering, not a nice quick execution by ICBM.So, yeah. EV is not just some pie in the sky wishful thinking; it has to happen if we are to survive as a species. It is something we all need to be thinking about how we can personally make it a part of our lives... and the first part is making the infrastructure happen, so that those of us who want to actually try and make a difference actually CAN take the first step and buy some form of EV to push the rest of the world in that direction.
Stoopit soundbyte answers and the people who think they're clever are the reason we're in this mess to begin with; the culture of waste serves only to keep the uber-wealthy in the style they've become accustomed to. We as a species cannot afford this any longer.
mnem
*kicks soapbox into the closet for use again some other day*
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