Most apartments don't have parking. And I can't see charging stations lined up on every street. There's barely room for bikes or pedestrians now. And then all the cars need to park correctly on every street. Can't speak for Germans, but most drivers in the US aren't great....
Electric Car Ownership - Any Experiences?
- Thread starter Umbran
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Mustrum_Ridcully
Legend
I have no idea how much more common it is for German apartments is to have a parking spot linked to. Germans like to complain, so our drivers are of course all horrible, except myself of course, but I strongly suspect German drivers are indeed better than Americans. Our driving license requirements seem considerably stricter, and legal requirements to maintain a car also seem stricter. (Of course, this might depend on what state you're compared to in the US).
And of course, our streets and cities are built differently, too. And we tend to have better public transit options in places where you'd find a lot of apartments without parking spots.
I tried to move to Europe, got outvoted when I was reminded about grand kids coming....
schneeland
Hero
Yeah, there's pretty fierce competition for space between different modalities of transport in cities right now. And both rents and purchasing prices have gone up pretty steeply already in the last decade.
I suspect, this is starting to move beyond the limits of this forums, so I'll keep it at: it's not clear to me how to scale up electric mobility to the whole population right now, not even on a 20 year scale.
That being said: that shouldn't deter anyone, because, as mentioned up-thread, I think the driving experience is great, for some scenarios they already work well, and the likelihood of achieving zero local emissions seems much higher using EVs than for potential other options. So long-term, I also expect them to be the preferred option, at least for urban and sub-urban spaces. It's mostly that I'm not sure how long "long-term" will really be.
Myrdin Potter
Hero
On a few of the topics here.
EV chargers are fine in places with reasonable density. Driving around the SF Bay Area where I live, there are plenty.
It really breaks down out of those areas. I drove to KC from LA when younger and there is no way there will sufficient charging to drive across Nebraska and Kansas without the government getting involved. A lot of the interior U.S.A. west and Midwest already is an area where you need to be careful about filling up your gas tank as gas stations can be few and far between.
And I am originally from Canada. Montreal (my home city) to Windsor would be fine. Once you get past Vermont, Montreal to Miami is probably OK. Toronto to Saskatoon? Good luck.
My company offers free EV charging. The chargers are constantly breaking down. This is a huge issue. My daughter relies on public charging and she constantly has to work around broken chargers.
In California, you can put your own charger in an apartment parking garage and the law enforces your ability to do it. The law also overrides HOA rules.
EV chargers are fine in places with reasonable density. Driving around the SF Bay Area where I live, there are plenty.
It really breaks down out of those areas. I drove to KC from LA when younger and there is no way there will sufficient charging to drive across Nebraska and Kansas without the government getting involved. A lot of the interior U.S.A. west and Midwest already is an area where you need to be careful about filling up your gas tank as gas stations can be few and far between.
And I am originally from Canada. Montreal (my home city) to Windsor would be fine. Once you get past Vermont, Montreal to Miami is probably OK. Toronto to Saskatoon? Good luck.
My company offers free EV charging. The chargers are constantly breaking down. This is a huge issue. My daughter relies on public charging and she constantly has to work around broken chargers.
In California, you can put your own charger in an apartment parking garage and the law enforces your ability to do it. The law also overrides HOA rules.
It isn't that it isn't manageable to have lower gas mileage. I just find it... kind of offensive.
And, it makes me shop for a used Prius C to replace the one we lost, I guess.
Yeah, but the same can be said for the Interstate Highway system, so maybe that's something that'll happen, eventually.
While clearly I'm a proponent of EVs, that doesn't mean I think other modes of transport shouldn't exist for where they are needed. So, maybe for hauling around the interior, yeah, gas engines will stick around for a while.
I would just prefer folks took a more thoughtful look at their choices. In the suburbs and urban areas, EVs can be a better choice. And the number of bighonkin' pickup trucks and SUVs that their drivers really don't need is staggering.
Well, the reason most (urban) apartments don't have parking is that most urban apartment dwellers don't have cars! Most urban dwellers don't need cars.
Moving urban areas into the future is probably best done with expanded public transportation options. Let the roads of Manhattan be filled with electric busses, not personal cars.
Myrdin Potter
Hero
I have been driving my Lexus Hybrid 300h for quite a while (2nd one of that model) and it gets great mileage. Prius are still available and Lexus has an upscale version of it.
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