I think a lot of "the gas folks" really do get that. The problem is that, especially in the more sprawling metropolises, their lives are built such that a car with only a two gallon "tank" just isn't any use to them.
I have a good friend who lives in Surprise, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. She works in downtown Phoenix, about 20 miles away. So far so good, right? That's well within a Leaf's range. But she also not infrequently has to go to a satellite office in Mesa, which is another 20 miles on the other side of Phoenix. That works out to an 80 mile round trip, which is starting to get iffy for the Leaf. And this is Phoenix, so that means air conditioning in the summer isn't optional, especially when outside temperatures are well above 110°F -- and that _definitely_ makes it iffy. But, of course, it doesn't just stop there...her in-laws live in Surprise, which is about fifteen miles north of Goodyear and about 30 miles by freeway from Phoenix. She not infrequently needs to get her kids to or from school in Goodyear to their grandparents in Surprise -- and, of course, do this at the end or start of the schoolday and without any time to "gas up." Even if she's only working in Phoenix that day, that's pushing it for the Leaf -- and a recipe for disaster if that happens to coincide with a trip to Mesa. And, of course, in nearly all situations, leaves her without any "Murphy factor," without any room for contingencies, or options like going out of the way to some interesting place for lunch, or a quick trip to the airport to pick somebody up, and so on. Now, on the one hand, you could suggest that maybe she should live closer to work and her in-laws should move closer to her. For all sorts of reasons not worth discussing here, neither is an option, I can assure you. You could also suggest that maybe she could get an electric vehicle and her husband can keep a gasoline vehicle...but he actually works at the same office as she does, and their child-taxi and similar duties are shared equally. Juggling who gets the electric and who gets the gas would get awkward, especially if something came up at the last minute...and does them little good if the one has to go to Mesa the same day the other has to go to Surprise; whoever gets stuck with the EV gets stuck, literally, by the side of the freeway in hundred-plus weather waiting for a tow. And she's not at all an atypical case for somebody in the Valley of the Sun. Pretty much the norm, in fact -- especially amongst those with the disposable income that, until just very recently, has been required to even consider an electric vehicle. So she and the millions like her who live here really aren't realistic candidates for an electric vehicle, no matter how sweet the cars so often are nor the convenience of starting each day with a full "tank" without having to go to the gas station. Now, when realistic ranges, with the air conditioning running full blast in the Phoenix summer and the rest, get solidly in the 200+ mile range, and especially the 300+ mile range, and for "kid-friendly" minivans...well, at that future date, you probably won't be able to stop her from buying one. Until then? Best to focus on those -- such as my parents -- for whom today's EVs are a match made in heaven. They're still the minority, at least where I live...but it's a rapidly growing minority with every new generation of vehicles. Cheers, b& On Jun 6, 2015, at 6:52 PM, Robert Bruninga via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > One way to describe the new Paradigm that EV’s bring to daily living to the > typical gas driver is to say something like this: > > > > “Imagine if every day you came home and parked, you could stick a hose in > your gas tank and get 2 gallons every night for only $1 a gallon.” > > > > Well, that’s exactly what you get with an EV when you come home and plug it > into just your standard 120v outlet. Overnight, in 12 hours at 10 cents > per kWh, you pick up 50 miles range for only about $2 of electricity. And > the car is FULL the next day. > > > > Maybe then the gas folks will finally get it. > > > > Bob Bruninga, WB4APR > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20150606/5f924f9c/attachment.htm> > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA > (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 801 bytes Desc: Message signed with OpenPGP using GPGMail URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20150606/55f5ab4f/attachment.pgp> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
