Electric Cars Soon Will Cost Less Than Gas Cars, Research Suggests

Re:Electric Cars Soon Will Cost Less Than Gas Cars, Research... by YSFEJ4SWJUVU6 on Tuesday May 30, 2017 @06:32PM (#14449099)

A car that gets 250 km on the European NEDC test cycl will only get 150 km when driving at leisurely highway speeds with AC loaded (for example Nissan admits to this on their very own website for the Leaf); and even less than that at actual motorway speeds.

But it's all right. I mean, just for road safety you should take a 30 min break after every hour on motorway unless you're some sort of superhuman. Who could argue it's not a perfectly decent range for travelling? (edited for clarity)

And you can spend that time just thinking where to invest all the money you save from oil changes.

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Re:Electric Cars Soon Will Cost Less Than Gas Cars, Research... by linkregister on Tuesday May 30, 2017 @07:38PM (#14449451)

> What do you think: do inconvenient facts go away with a down vote?

Whining about internet points is annoying.

I agree that a Leaf isn't practical for longer trips. EV viability will improve with easier access to rental cars for longer trips. Zipcar doesn't have the coverage necessary to do this in most cities. Maybe Getaround will improve to the point where it's practical.

I consider most EVs to be equivalent to being 100% reliant on public transit; good for commutes, but unacceptable for recreation. And that's okay.

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Re:Electric Cars Soon Will Cost Less Than Gas Cars, Research... by cr0sh on Wednesday May 31, 2017 @05:51PM (#14456213)

> I mean, just for road safety you should take a 30 min break after every hour on motorway unless you're some sort of superhuman.

No need for being a "superhuman". All you need is plenty of Mountain Dew, a gas station burrito, a few No-Doz, the window rolled down and the music turned up!

The miles just fly by.

I've easily done 10 hour, 800 mile trips only stopping for gas once or twice. I'll grant that was in the past when I was younger, but even today two or three hours at a stretch would be no problem (heck, just to drive from here in Phoenix to Tuscon would take that long - why stop?).

> And you can spend that time just thinking where to invest all the money you save from oil changes.

I do my own oil changes, and maybe spend a grand total of a few hundred dollars a year doing them. Honestly, I probably spend more on fast food per year (now that is really something I would love to drop - if only it wasn't so tasty at times).

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Re:Electric Cars Soon Will Cost Less Than Gas Cars, Research... by greglindahl on Tuesday May 30, 2017 @06:41PM (#14449151)

I don't think you'll see anyone saying that a car with 150km of actual highway range is good for long-distance trips. Which is why a bunch of carmakers are building or planning cars with much longer ranges, similar to Teslas, which are fine for road-tripping.

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Re:Electric Cars Soon Will Cost Less Than Gas Cars, Research... by KirinDave on Tuesday May 30, 2017 @06:53PM (#14449222)

Yeah uh, you don't lose 40% of your range on the AC even in a Leaf.

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Re:Electric Cars Soon Will Cost Less Than Gas Cars, Research... by YSFEJ4SWJUVU6 on Tuesday May 30, 2017 @07:00PM (#14449262)

Of course not, nor did I claim that. However, driving at highway speeds contributes the other part and these figures are pulled straight from Nissan's own web page. (The exact figures are: driving at highway averaging 88 km/h with outside temperature 30 degrees Celsius and using AC – cabin temp is not told – would give you a range of 152 km. Rated at 250 km NEDC.)

Driving at highway speeds obviously isn't a big part of NEDC rating for EVs.

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Re:Electric Cars Soon Will Cost Less Than Gas Cars, Research... by KirinDave on Tuesday May 30, 2017 @07:24PM (#14449391)

I think Nissan's being a bit conservative there. But I deliberately avoided the Leaf because it's such a first gen car.

The Leaf is much worse off than the Bolt or even a 500e when it comes to this. My bolt, I've worked out it is about a 7% range loss using A/C on those hot MtV 280 commutes.

I've driven to Watsonville then back to SF in one day and been comfortably in my range in a Bolt. So... it's getting good very fast. I really do like my car.

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Re:Electric Cars Soon Will Cost Less Than Gas Cars, Research... by greglindahl on Tuesday May 30, 2017 @07:15PM (#14449339)

That's why nobody claims NEDC rating is useful for highway trips. You first replied to gsnedders, and I don't think he was talking about a NEDC rating, he appeared to be talking about an actual range.

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Re:Electric Cars Soon Will Cost Less Than Gas Cars, Research... by YSFEJ4SWJUVU6 on Tuesday May 30, 2017 @08:07PM (#14449589)

Maybe. I don't know. NEDC rating is what you can sort of get in slow city driving, and city driving is what a car with that sort of range is made for.

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Re:Electric Cars Soon Will Cost Less Than Gas Cars, Research... by greglindahl on Tuesday May 30, 2017 @08:28PM (#14449676)

We were talking about cars with 200km-300km of actual range... the whole point of the discussion is that newer electric cars have significantly improved range compared to the previous generation.

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