Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin
Electric cars head toward another dead end (reuters.com)
5 points by NoPiece on Feb 4, 2013 | hide | past | favorite | 2 comments


Real problem of electric cars in america. Coming from a person who REALLY wants an electric car:

I live in an apartment. The end. I cannot charge my car like I can with a gas car. I must plug it in overnight, which is impossible since I have no permanent driveway. And even if I did I would not have access to electricity for charging. I also live in New York. Here getting an electric car makes 100% sense, short driving distances, slow speeds, lots of stopping, the ideal environment for electric cars, and yet most new yorkers live in apartments/driveway-less houses not houses with driveways.

And I REALLY want an electric car. The savings would be great, and it would really help with the pollution in the city. But alas, it is not possible.

And of course driving cross-country. I have no way of filling up. It would make sense if I could pay some fee to gas stations to leech their juice while I stop there for say 15 minutes. That would turn any gas station into an electric charging staging, of course that requires the car to charge quickly.

And so the heart of it all: We need a REALLY - REALLY fast charging battery that can go about 100-200 miles. Once you have that, people charging weekly for ~ 15 minutes won't be such a terrible thing. And it's now practical as a car for anyone.

And FFS, we need low-end electric cars. Because super high-end cars like tesla will never get the adoption needed. A flood of low-end electrics would solve the problem of charge stations everywhere.


Have you tried something along the lines of an electric bicycle with cargo space, which is allowed on the subway?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: