Bold prediction: if they manage to produce a battery capable of 620 mile range promised, it will essentially be game over for ICE cars. My bet is that next generation of Model S and X will easily be in the 400-500 mile rsnge.
As a Tesla Model S owner, you really don't need to fill your car in minutes. It's a totally different (but not bad) mindset.
Every morning my car is full, because I plug it in in my garage. So if I don't go more than 260 miles that day, it's plugged in the next night. It doesn't matter that it takes a few hours. My gas car was just sitting in the garage each night anyway doing nothing. How many hours does your car sit idle per day? Probably way more than enough to charge it for your daily driving.
For road trips, there are super chargers.
I was a bit worried, after hearing all the fuss about range anxiety and all that. Overall, charging has just been such a non issue.
More like they need to handle street parking. I live in the bay area, live in an in-law unit, and can only use street parking. Even then, this house would need some serious rewiring to be able to charge that car in any kind of reasonable amount of time. The woes of 1930's homes.
There is plenty of incentive for landlords to install charging points in apartment parking. Landlords who do that can lay claim to being "environment friendly" and add a $100 extra to rent, which people will pay because, well, who wouldn't want to be environment friendly?
Honestly, electric cars are sitting in a cultural spot from where they can't lose. You can make all the arguments in the world that electric cars have the same or worse carbon footprint as gas cars, but the public at large is convinced that "gas = bad", "electric = solar = good".
After some time of thinking and also talking to some Tesla owners, I decided to buy a Model S.
Sadly I have to say that for me the range and charging is, in fact, an issue for me. The range is just a little too short to get to my holiday apartment so I have to drive to a supercharger which is not directly on my way.
All this makes my travel about 1.5h longer than before. I for one would be very happy with a 200KWh battery in my Model S.
Yes, for a daily driver you don't need to recharge in minutes... But if you go on a trip you do. Super chargers are great, but not everyone wants to take along break every few hours of driving.
No. I disagree. When you have 600 miles of range, you're going to charge your car at home 99%+ of the time.
Even when you travel that should be enough for a full day driving, which means you will charge it at a hotel or whatever.
Only in rare occasions will the 30 minute fast-charging "inconvenience" you.
Once most EVs will have 100+ kWh batteries, the "slow charging" argument will die off. This is why I hope the 100 kWh battery becomes standard for 2021+ EVs, which should be cheaper than current 60 kWh batteries by that point.
Although I wouldn't discount most carmakers' laziness and greed for profits to keep the batteries a smaller size for as long as possible, unless Model 3 is refreshed with 100, 120, and 150 kWh battery options by 2021, which will force them to make the change, too.
That's 8-10 hours of driving at the speed limit in most countries. You need to be taking breaks of more than a few minutes if you're driving that kind of stretch.
