Cars have one core function: Effective Transport.
Ok..
With effective I mean: Transport me from A to B in the least amount of time with the least amounts of resources consumed.
Ok, I see where your going... +1 for electrics then....
Teslas cars are at their weakest at exactly that core function: They have limited range, a high price tag and take a long time to recharge.
Hmm... So this is where I loose you. All cars have limited range. You still need to put fuel in your ICE every 200 to 300 miles. There are expensive ICE cars too, somebody buys them. Teslas take a long time to charge when you charge at home and from a fully depleted battery, but not that long. They can be easily charged to full from depletion in the space of an evening to be ready the next day. The recharging time is significantly better at a supercharger. But your thinking too much with an ICE perspective. Can you fill up your ICE at home? I am sure if you paid enough you could have someone deliver fuel to your home, but why bother. You still need to spend 5 to 10 mins or more driving out of your way to go buy a dirty fuel every 200 to 300 miles you put in your car. With an electric you spend 10-15 seconds or less fueling your vehicle every day (the time it takes to plug it in). That is an incredibly improved fueling experience that most BEV critics have a hard time understanding.
How often do you drive over 200 miles a day? For most people, rarely. That means when you most practically use your vehicle, 99% of the miles you go A to B, your ICE fueling method is hugely at a disadvantage, always taking your time 5 to 10 minutes or more every 200 miles. So your arguing that ICE vehicles are so much better because 99% of the time they have a inferior fuel efficiency and inferior fueling system? And that 1% of miles that makes it supposedly easier to get from A to B makes it all worth it?
1) If you take 296 miles, you have to knock off 10% for battery degradation, and up to 30% if you want to drive at 80 mph, with less than ideal weather and an uphill road.
That leaves you with about 178 miles.
Exactly, even with incredibly crappy weather, going up hill, battery degraded and driving fast, your Tesla will have plenty of range to take care of your daily driving needs and get from supercharger to supercharger on long distance trips.
2) You will have to recharge for about 30 min for 50% or 1 hour or more for 100%.
On the supercharger highway you mean? Usually no need to charge for more than 50% or half hour. Perfect time needed to fuel and refresh your body for 2 hours more of driving on a long trip.
3) Most cars are parked curbside, so for most people there is 0 infrastructure in cities.
This is where BEV have the biggest hurdle. But look at it this way, we have this old ICE fueling infrastructure that's taken a hundred years to mature and fully develop. It's dirty. It requires these ghastly polluting fuel refinery's to make. Big stinky trucks to ship it to gas station to gas station. And someone with their hand out to take your money before they give you any.
Electricity can be cleanly and efficiently transported hundreds of miles through wires that don't need to move. We have already spent the money and have the need for this infrastructure. It's not going away. It can be powered by renewable resources and not limited to fossil fuels. The biggest challenge is getting the last 5 feet from the pole to the car. For a huge chunk of the population, that last 5 feet of access is already there. The only challenge is getting to the rest.
Electric cars are a long way away from overtaking ICE cars.
Of course that is true. Even if every car sold today was a BEV, it would take decades.
For this to happen, in my humble opinion Elon Musk needs to achieve the following:
1) Increase range by 100%
2) Decreases total costs of ownership by 50% (35.000 dollar car)
3) Decrease charging times by at least 50%
A 200 EPA rated mile, 35.000 dollar car misses the mark, as many gasoline cars have greater functionality (range, refuel times, infrastructure) at the same or better total cost of ownership. It would have to be a 450 mile EPA Rated car and charging times would need to plummet by 50% for the EV revolution to gain traction.
The EV revolution has already started to gain traction, thanks to Tesla. These things may be needed to address 100% of the car market, but we are a long way from needing to do that. The manufacturing is going to take time to scale up. Tesla is already going as fast as it reasonable can. The improvements in technology will scale up along with the scale of manufacturing. Gen3 or Model 3 is just one step in that process.
