this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024
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[–] AcidOctopus@lemmy.ml 22 points 10 months ago (23 children)

New cars are ludicrously expensive, especially EVs.

The most I can afford to spend on a car is maybe £14K, and that's under the proviso that about £4K of that is my own money and the rest is a loan to be paid off over about 6 or 7 years.

So yeah, I'm going secondhand ICE with about 50K miles on the clock and praying it doesn't die before the loan is paid off (and preferably longer still so I can save a bit more towards the next one).

I'm all for EVs, but they've got to bring the price down, and they've got to get the batteries to last long enough for the secondhand market to be viable.

[–] highenergyphysics@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (5 children)

Most importantly. Where the fuck are renters supposed to charge these fucking things?

This is why mass EV adoption is not going to happen. Good luck convincing landlords to install chargers.

I’m not dicking around for 2 hours at a station every week waiting for a charge, let alone multiple times a week.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

At home? If you drive less than 30mi a day on average, you can plug into a normal wall outlet.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

That only works if you have an outside outlet. If you don't don't good luck getting the landlord to fit one.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Would they rather let you put one in than you run an extension chord from inside?

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 3 points 10 months ago

You're not allowed to make modifications to the property without authorization, so yeah they would much prefer you to run an extension cord from inside. Of course it's unsafe and inconvenient, but they don't care.

[–] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

How do you do that if you live on the 20th floor?

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Depends where you park, are there wall outlets by the elevators in parking garages?

[–] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not everyone can afford a place in a parking garage. For example, in my building they were only affordable for those who bought before the construction was complete, and expensive on secondary market.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

So it is street or lot parking then? If lot parking, there might be a building nearby with an outdoor outlet that one could see about running power from. There are devices that can monitor the power draw to reimburse. I realize it isn't as easy for EVs for everyone, but electrical power is everywhere. Of course public transit is better, but if that's not an option, look into how to get power to a parking spot so we can stop using gas.

[–] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 2 points 10 months ago

And even if there are chargers installed around the building, not everyone can park directly next to their home anyway. Our building has several hundred flats yet only a couple dozen parking spots around it. Sure, far from everyone there has cars at all, and some can afford a place in the underground parking, but that still leaves a lot of people to park on the streets around.

[–] Oddbin@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Look at Dundee for your answers.

[–] gian@lemmy.grys.it 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This is why mass EV adoption is not going to happen. Good luck convincing landlords to install chargers.

If you install a charger, you will get a 25% tax cut for the next 5 years, if not you will get a 25% tax increase for the next 5 years.

Seems pretty convincing to me ;-)

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 1 points 10 months ago

So I assume this is a Labour policy is it, because the zero chance of the Tories ever doing anything like that.

Having a positive effect on the world, that's not what they do.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Certainly something that needs to be addressed by them, or manufacturers will not be able to sell them. They will be punished unless they help with solutions.

I’ve seen several possibilities floated around here, so we have 12 years to build out one or more of them

  • landlords with off street parking can be incented or required to provide chargers, by zoning changes. Also at some point they won’t be able to find tenants unless they do
  • faster batteries will help reduce the wait time if you visit a supercharger once a week. It seems like we’re already down to half an hour to charge 5%—>80%
  • slow chargers at every destination (work, shops, restaurants) can keep you always topped off cheaply and without waiting
  • some street parking is conducive to charging, such as with pre-existing streetlight wiring
[–] echodot@feddit.uk 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

some street parking is conducive to charging, such as with pre-existing streetlight wiring

Some little old biddy is going to trip over the cable though.

With personal charges it's on your private property so there's less of an issue. The public street it becomes a problem

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)
  1. That’s one reason many chargers have short cables
  2. I really like the proposal someone here has, where you need to bring your own cable.
[–] echodot@feddit.uk 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I don't understand how either of those things fixes the problem though.

The cable has to be at least long enough to go from the lamp post to the curb which therefore requires it to cross the pavement. So it can't be any shorter than the necessary length plus the distance that is required to travel over the car in case the charger is on the other side. Most cables are already not much longer than that.

I also fail to see the benefit in people bringing their own cables, all that does is it means that the cable isn't there when you're not charging, but it's still a problem when you are charging.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

If the cable belongs to individuals:

  • they can be ticketed for causing a hazard to pedestrians
  • there’s no problem with an unused cable not being hung up
  • the part of the charger most likely to be damaged or vandalized is easily replaceable
  • a newly parked person can still charge, even if the previous one was vandalized
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