The use case determines if an EV has a lower TCO. EVs make the most sense for people with a decently long daily commute and can charge at home at residential rates. Teleworkers and people with shorter commutes may never make up for the higher up front cost. Also, if one takes longer trips that require charging away from home or worse, along the route, the case for a gas car (or hybrid) becomes stronger.
It is the only place in the solar system besides Earth where a human can survive without a space suit. Just a respirator and goggles would be enough.
The surface of Titan has similar pressure to Earth. A human would not need a space suit, just a heavily insulated suit to deal with the cold as well as a respirator and such.
'And it turns out that people don't like "woke preachy" any more than they like "Christian preachy".'
AMEN!
Seriously. A good example of non-woke preachy is the old Dragnet show from the late 60s. It was an interesting show for a while but whenever drugs were involved, it got incredibly preachy.
I think adding that infrastructure might be an issue. Larger depots might have a gas pump so a guy can go get a vehicle, move it to the loading dock, load it, move it to the gas pump and gas it up then park it ready for the mail carrier.
Most locations might not even have any gas pump, the carrier will have a gas card and fill it up as needed at a local gas station.
If you go with EVs, there will need to be a charging infrastructure put in to accommodate plugging in at every mail truck parking spot. This is a large cost that likely helped justify going with gas rather than EV.
The current LLV doesn't have AC.
Some depots might not even have a gas pump but instead might give the carrier a gas card and have them fill up at the local gas station. Buying a new gas vehicle means the current fuel arrangement doesn't change but if they go EV, they have to purchase infrastructure for charging.
I would think the battery replacement cost is pretty hefty. When you plan to use the vehicles 20+ years, you have to figure that every one will have at least one battery replacement.
San Francisco conservatives have zero power. Further, in California, conservatives have no power. Whatever is going on in San Francisco and California more broadly is not the fault of conservatives.
Charge time is the most important issue when it comes to any kind of trip. Assume your 300 mile range car (270 usable). There is a significant amount of planning required to find chargers along the route compared to zero planning for a gas car trip. Even a 3 hour drive for the weekend at the beach might involve some sacrifices (can I run AC the whole way or do I have to stop and get a quick charge?). Then you have to plan out where to recharge for the return trip which might not be convenient to where you are staying. (and do it all over again on the way back)
For those taking road trips that involve planned charge stops while gas cars can stop just about anywhere without planning. You can stop when it is convenient for the people rather than for the charging. And there is the issue that you can't fast charge past 80% so you effectively operate with 60% of the range when on trips (don't run down below 20% and don't charge past 80%) so that 300 mile range car is having to stop every 180 miles for juice.
"When I drive my hybrid and the gas is getting low, I begin to stress out because if I am somewhere unfamiliar I don't want to drive around trying to find a gas station."
Never had this problem with my hybrid. Gas stations are everywhere, most people don't run down to E before thinking about it and you can always top off anytime you pass a gas station.
"I remember when I was in college, being super stressed out, because we were driving back at 2am on E, with most of the Gas Stations being closed."
I have driven all night many times, unless you are in the middle of nowhere, gas stations are frequently open 24/7 (you pay at the pump these days). Truckers do this all the time. This is another case where almost no planning is really needed if you plan to make a long trip all night in a gas car.
Eventually, chargers will get to the point that they are everywhere but we are still a ways from that. As it is now, a long trip in an EV offers challenges and stress that gas cars don't have to deal with.
Range is an issue but the bigger issue is that chargers are not nearly as universal as gas stations (at least in the USA). You can start that 600 mile trip with half a tank of gas and no planning at all. When you roll into your destination, you don't have to worry about how much gas you have when you turn around to go back, you know there is a gas station nearby.
With an EV, a lot more planning is needed. Gotta have a full charge to start, have to already have a plan on where to stop for charging as well as a couple of backup options if that one is full. What if there is traffic or weather that affects range, you had better be ready to have early alternatives. The bottom 20% of range is emergency reserve so after that initial charge, you operate with 60% of the range available. Finally, at your destination, you have to find a charger to fill up for the trip back (or any driving around at that location).
The problem is that to make a trip using an EV, you have to have a certain one that can use certain compatible chargers that are nowhere near as ubiquitous as gas stations so planning and possibly side trips can be involved if the chargers are not right along the route (or down for some reason).
Same trip with a gas fueled car doesn't require much planning since gas stations are likely to be along the route in convenient places.
Eventually, charging stations should catch up and be plentiful but we are nowhere near that point now.
The whole concept of inequality is a bit confusing anyway. The wealth of a person is unlimited, you can always obtain more wealth and because of normal inflation, the total amount of world wealth generally increases. There is a limit of how little wealth you can have because you can't go below zero wealth.
Seems wealth inequality will always increase.
PHEV resolves the main issues people have with a simple BEV which is range and charging time. 30-50 miles of EV range but the flexibility to go further in hybrid mode and fill up at ubiquitous gas stations works for all use cases. The charging becomes easier since the short range means you can plug into a simple 110v outlet at home if you don't want to have a full 220 put in.
The downside, more complex but that is the tradeoff many will make until the range/charge time issues are solved with EVs.
A lot of people taking a long drive for vacation have multiple drivers. I do 10 hour drives from time to time and have never done it without at least one other driver, last time there was 4 of us so nobody drove more than once that day (and on the way back).
Had we had to charge an EV, there is no way we do that drive in one day, it would have taken at least two.
Charge time is the larger issue with EVs now, the range problem has been pretty much resolved.
False. For instance, in much of the USA, it is illegal to film police officers
I'm pretty sure that is not correct.
That's the thing about people who think they hate computers. What they really hate is lousy programmers. - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle in "Oath of Fealty"
