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Re: simplicity Posted by JerseySaab [Email] ![]() ![]() In Reply to: simplicity, Snowmobile ![]() ![]() |
The main issue with electric cars today is the same problem they had during their initial spurt of popularity in the early 20th century - the problem of a portable source of electric power that is truly competitive with gasoline-powered cars in terms of cost, energy density, longevity, and recharge. (To compare with filling a gasoline tank in a few minutes that's a hell of a lot of electricity to transfer in a short period of time!) The lithium-ion battery does not really fill the bill, it is a stopgap.
Saving money on maintenance would certainly be a good thing, but not when you're looking at much higher initial cost for the vehicle and the near certainty of a hugely expensive battery replacement down the road. Additionally, a complexity specific to Tesla is that what is supposed to be "your car" is so tightly tethered to the manufacturer that the factory can make changes remotely on the fly to basic functionality. I certainly don't want that.
Lithium-ion batteries do take the electric car out of the 1970s glorified golf-cart stage to where they're somewhat practical under specific limited conditions. They're not competitive at all with the characteristics or cost of a gasoline-powered car though.
I'm sure at some point that will change but we're not anywhere near there yet. Since I'm not interested in going into debt for a car, for me electric cars will not "arrive" until I can purchase a fully-functional old one that will yield the same utility as an old Saab for a couple or few grand without the need to sink a huge amount of money into a new battery. I'm not holding my breath for that one.
->Posting last edited on Sat, 18 May 2019 05:51:02.
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