Gecko
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We harp on Lexus and Toyota a lot for not being further along with BEV development, but based on real life experiences with friends and owners, I am beginning to question real life viability of electric cars as someone's sole mode of transportation. I know the viability of it depends heavily on where you live and charging infrastructure, but I think we should be more realistic about use cases for people who aren't living in heavily urban/developed areas with short commutes.
I've had a few friends with electric vehicles now: Two Nissan Leafs, one Mercedes B Class, one BMW i3 and a Tesla Model S 75. The owners of all but the Tesla have traded them in on hybrids or gas powered cars, and these are good friends of mine, so we've talked a lot about their experiences.
At first, almost all of them loved the instantaneous torque and smooth operation - I hear that across the board. Going back to a car with a gas engine almost seems less refined and barbarian.
Next, I hear how much they love not having to go to gas stations and enjoy the simplicity of charging at home. Makes sense.
Then... the love affair pretty much ends. Range seems to decline significantly approaching the first year of ownership. Heading from the second into the third, it gets even worse. During cold weather, many say they uber or grab a ride with friends because range is already lower, but drops significantly throughout cold driving with no warning. Most of them have been left stranded at some point with a battery that lost charge without prior notice. These are all people who live in urban areas with total daily commutes of 20 miles or less (there and back). Range anxiety actually becomes very real.
I've talked to a few dealers who say the market for 2-3 year old BEVs is practically zero because the declining range and battery wear issues are well documented. It's not a risk many people want to take. Further, used cars receive lots of "charge it to full and send me pictures of the range" requests... as people want to check the health and range of the battery before bothering to come see it in person. Cars with significantly impacted range generally sit on lots gathering dust.
One sales person I spoke to told me they had a BMW i3 on the lot for 4 months and couldn't sell it because at only a year old, the charge would not go over 63 miles. Someone came to test drive it and on a 1 mile "test loop" as most dealers have, it dropped from a full charge of 63 miles to 39 - just during that 1 mile drive. Yikes.
As mentioned above, these are people who live in the city or within 15 minutes of it, and many of them reached a point where they had to drive to work and charge at work just to be able to drive back home and maybe go to the grocery store along the way. It seems like what starts as a good idea eventually becomes more hassle than its worth for a lot of these folks.
I've also had Johan dy Nysschen's Automobile interview in the back of my head for a while now, and I think a lot of what he said is right. BEVs suck up a huge portion of R&D and marketing costs, and result in losses for the companies who build them. In my own experiences, I feel like this is one of those instances where the realities of what most car buyers want is not necessarily aligned to what the media would have you believe. I'm not discounting the thousands of people who keep buying Tesla Model 3s, but that car is still new, was released to much fanfare, and has also had well documented quality and hardware issues, so I'll be interested to see what used values and owners are saying 12-36 months from now.
I've had a few friends with electric vehicles now: Two Nissan Leafs, one Mercedes B Class, one BMW i3 and a Tesla Model S 75. The owners of all but the Tesla have traded them in on hybrids or gas powered cars, and these are good friends of mine, so we've talked a lot about their experiences.
At first, almost all of them loved the instantaneous torque and smooth operation - I hear that across the board. Going back to a car with a gas engine almost seems less refined and barbarian.
Next, I hear how much they love not having to go to gas stations and enjoy the simplicity of charging at home. Makes sense.
Then... the love affair pretty much ends. Range seems to decline significantly approaching the first year of ownership. Heading from the second into the third, it gets even worse. During cold weather, many say they uber or grab a ride with friends because range is already lower, but drops significantly throughout cold driving with no warning. Most of them have been left stranded at some point with a battery that lost charge without prior notice. These are all people who live in urban areas with total daily commutes of 20 miles or less (there and back). Range anxiety actually becomes very real.
I've talked to a few dealers who say the market for 2-3 year old BEVs is practically zero because the declining range and battery wear issues are well documented. It's not a risk many people want to take. Further, used cars receive lots of "charge it to full and send me pictures of the range" requests... as people want to check the health and range of the battery before bothering to come see it in person. Cars with significantly impacted range generally sit on lots gathering dust.
One sales person I spoke to told me they had a BMW i3 on the lot for 4 months and couldn't sell it because at only a year old, the charge would not go over 63 miles. Someone came to test drive it and on a 1 mile "test loop" as most dealers have, it dropped from a full charge of 63 miles to 39 - just during that 1 mile drive. Yikes.
As mentioned above, these are people who live in the city or within 15 minutes of it, and many of them reached a point where they had to drive to work and charge at work just to be able to drive back home and maybe go to the grocery store along the way. It seems like what starts as a good idea eventually becomes more hassle than its worth for a lot of these folks.
I've also had Johan dy Nysschen's Automobile interview in the back of my head for a while now, and I think a lot of what he said is right. BEVs suck up a huge portion of R&D and marketing costs, and result in losses for the companies who build them. In my own experiences, I feel like this is one of those instances where the realities of what most car buyers want is not necessarily aligned to what the media would have you believe. I'm not discounting the thousands of people who keep buying Tesla Model 3s, but that car is still new, was released to much fanfare, and has also had well documented quality and hardware issues, so I'll be interested to see what used values and owners are saying 12-36 months from now.
