Every now and then, when our constantly-getting-older (but still not obsolete.. not even quite old yet) car needs some extra attention because of her age, we start looking around to see what could possibly replace her. This time around, there seem to be a few electric cars on the horizon which, I thought, would be worth at least some consideration. As usual, the problem is that all of them, as of now, have such a short driving range.. So, Tesla Model 3, Leaf 200, or Chevrolet Bold, which are supposed to deliver over 200 miles on one charge are, likely, the first electric cars that might be useful for something more advanced than city driving.
However, with all due respect to the technological advancements and more powerful batteries, this makes me wonder how is that range supposed to help at all. Just imagine being able to pass 100 miles and not a single mile more because you have to plan for the return trip. How long will it take to build the infrastructure required to quickly charge those vehicles? Yet, even if that happens, it will still be taking much more time to recharge the batteries compared to just a few minutes one has to spend on the gas station now to fill up.
So, what is all the hype? Seriously, I understand the desire to have a nice new technologically advanced toy, which is potentially environment friendly (potentially, since there is some evidence they might be not so good at that: http://www.cnbc.com/2014/12/16/all-electric-cars-not-so-eco-friendly.html). However, these cars are not practical at all. Even if they get extra 100 miles per charge, how is it going to help? City drivers don’t need that much anyways. Long family trips won’t really become possible just because of the relatively short added distance. And all those limitations come with quite a bit higher price.
All this makes electric cars not an option for us, at least not at this time. But I’m still wondering WHY are there such cars at all on the streets..