How Much EV Infrastructure Is Necessary? - Quiz

[DavidM]

I came up with an awesome question to ask people whenever I hear them saying the charging infrastructure is inadequate. You can do this too. Tell them you want to ask them an important question, but you want them to think before answering quickly.
"If you were able to refuel your gas powered car at home, in your garage, how often would you use a public gas station for refueling, and would you really need for there to be a gas station on every street corner?"

I've found that people who really think about the question surprise themselves and reply by saying that they would only need to use a public gas station several times a YEAR! I follow up by reminding people that 95% of all EV refueling today happens at home in your garage. Then I ask folks if an EV could serve them well as a second vehicle in their household? Many say YES, if it was affordable. Interesting.

[tdelta1000]

I came up with an awesome question to ask people whenever I hear them saying the charging infrastructure is inadequate. You can do this too. Tell them you want to ask them an important question, but you want them to think before answering quickly.
"If you were able to refuel your gas powered car at home, in your garage, how often would you use a public gas station for refueling, and would you really need for there to be a gas station on every street corner?"

I've found that people who really think about the question surprise themselves and reply by saying that they would only need to use a public gas station several times a YEAR! I follow up by reminding people that 95% of all EV refueling today happens at home in your garage. Then I ask folks if an EV could serve them well as a second vehicle in their household? Many say YES, if it was affordable. Interesting.

Great question!!! It forces them to rethink their position on ICE and EVs.

[jerry33]

Agreed, a great question. The problem is perception. As long as EVs can only be counted upon to go sixty miles, like the Leaf, or have to have an expensive gas engine, like the Volt, the perception will be that either I'll run out of charge if I have to do more than go to work and back or I'll have to pay for both the gas and the electric maintenance which will make it just too expensive and too troublesome. Once the perception changes and most EVs get 250-400 miles wide spread adoption will take place very rapidly.

[richkae]

I think everyone who keeps asking for a 250 - 400 mile "affordable" EV is looking for the wrong thing ( when affordable is in the $30k to $40k range )
A 75 mile range EV that cost $12,000 would be far more revolutionary.
Cars in that class could serve as the 2nd car for most 2 car families, and the only car for some - which would be over 50% of the new car market.
With a charge plug at every workplace, apartment complex, strip mall, and fast charging along every major route, your range easily doubles for the one time per year you need it.
They need a lot of plugs, but the good news is vanilla 110v charges them overnight.

[jerry33]

I think everyone who keeps asking for a 250 - 400 mile "affordable" EV is looking for the wrong thing ( when affordable is in the $30k to $40k range )

If EVs are going to replace ICE cars, they have to be as good or better than ICE cars. If 250 to 400 miles is what my ICE car will do, I expect an EV to do the same--otherwise it fails the as good as test. Driving to work and back is 50 miles. What if I wanted to go someplace after work--that's easily another 25 to 50 miles. This is a no-brainer in an ICE car, I couldn't do it in a 75 mile car.

A 75 mile range EV that cost $12,000 would be far more revolutionary.

Assuming that it got 75 miles in the worst situation. Not 75 miles marketing 40 miles in real life.

Cars in that class could serve as the 2nd car for most 2 car families,

Agreed, but how many families have a new car as a second car? Aren't most second cars the car they didn't trade in when they purchased a new car?

and the only car for some - which would be over 50% of the new car market.
With a charge plug at every workplace

Unless the government mandates this, it's just not going to happen. Today most U.S. employers begrudge even having employees (unless they're in China or India), they sure as heck aren't going to give them any perks.

, apartment complex, strip mall, and fast charging along every major route, your range easily doubles for the one time per year you need it.

I travel more than 150 miles one way on any vacation I've ever taken. Doubling the range of the 75 mile car isn't going to cut it. EVs must be able to compete with ICE cars. So far the Model S with the 85 kWh pack is the only EV that can do that. Anything else is a limited use car. Sure, a limited use car will be fine for some people, but that's not the goal. The goal is to have most people driving an EV.

[smorgasbord]

If EVs are going to replace ICE cars, they have to be as good or better than ICE cars. If 250 to 400 miles is what my ICE car will do, I expect an EV to do the same--otherwise it fails the as good as test.

This is precisely why DavidM's logic is so good. It's not about any individual metric whether range, or how long it takes to fill, etc.: it's about what set of parameters make the car practical for your use.

[ckessel]

"If you were able to refuel your gas powered car at home, in your garage, how often would you use a public gas station for refueling, and would you really need for there to be a gas station on every street corner?"

I have a similar question I use:

Pretend you had a tiny gas station at home, it fills at drip speed so it'd pump about gallon an hour, but it only costs you 40 cents/gallon. However, you have to choose to only use that or use a normal gas pump when you buy your car. Which would you choose?

So far most folks picked 40 cents/gallon and even those that don't stop and think about that for a bit. Now, that's a sound bite so it leaves out important factors like the extra cost of a battery on the negative side and the rising EV charging infrastructure on the plus side, but it seems to be a good way to get them to start thinking about the value they really put on "endless range due to 5 minutes at a gas station".