Lots of logistics that the industry needs to get through, and lawmakers seem to think it's all easy-peasy and can force it on anyone...city or rural folks. My wife and I were discussing how it would ever work for us in next few years. Maybe as a commuter, we could make it work. We see lots of Teslas running around here, so others are figuring it out. Haven't seen many EV trucks, but a few. The ones I have seen are not generally working trucks like construction, farm, etc. they are just commuter drivers in town and their trucks are not very dirty or hauling anything serious, if you know what I mean.
If EVs are going to have traction in the industry, I can complain and resist, or I can figure it out. But clearly at this point in time EVs appear to have too many hurdles for our family.
So, for our household, this is what we came up with...
1.) We would have to get an electrician in to wire our garage so we could plug the thing(s) in every night. Three-stall garage currently, all plugs are only on one circuit. We have a beer/bait fridge running out there, and we have a fur freezer. Plugging in three vehicles would not work, obviously. Need an electrician to make that happen, thus some costs upfront before we even brought one EV home.
2.) EVs need to be cost-effective, not cost prohibitive, for us and our driving habits. I haven't found this to be the case yet. I need a truck and two cars if we go all in.
3.) If we want to road trip anywhere, say to see our very good relatives who we see a few times year and live about 6 hours to North in WI, we need to be able to charge it quickly at key points ALONG our route and charge them timely. Gas stations today we can find anywhere and we can be in/out in a few minutes and back on the road. Long charging times are not acceptable. Hunting for a place to charge quickly when meter is low, also not acceptable. And what do we do for charge if power is out for some time?
4.) I like getting service on all our vehicles at one place, locally, with a team/business we trust. Those are fairly limited today for specific EVs and models.
5.) Battery life and range are important. I have a 20 mile round trip daily to work, so does the Mrs. (10 in, 10 out). it adds up, but I like living far from the busy and living out where its quiet and I can still hear frogs in ditch on way home, and see stars at night.
6.) Vehicle longevity is important, too. We can go 7-10 years typically on our fuel burners, can we squeeze that out of an EV without major repairs and battery replacements? A well-cared-for fuel burner can go a very long life. I haven't seen any rechargeable battery do that, small or large scale. Not my drill, not my flashlights, not a standard vehicle battery today either.
7.) Performance in extreme weather...we can be 20 below in winter and we can be 100+ in summer. That's hard on standard auto batteries. I can only get maybe 3-4 years out of a standard battery. Same with a lot of stop/starting in those extreme conditions, its a draw on the battery for sure. Hey, I got a few stops to make when checking coyote traps in middle of night, middle of winter, and I ain't calling the Mrs. to come to pick me up because I'm out and about having a good old time while she is trying to sleep...and I all of sudden need a ride home along with all of my equipment and maybe a catch or two. We all know how that phone call would go.
8.) I never thought about the weight matter before you guys discussed it in this thread, but it makes me think does that impact my garage floor, my driveway? say for example is my concrete structurally sound enough to withstand the additional weight parked over several years in those areas?
Long story short, EVs can work for us but there are quite a few boxes to check yet, and our lives here ain't there yet.
Jim
Last edited by jabNE; 04/21/23 08:31 AM.
