95% Of All Trips Could Be Made In Electric Cars, Says Study

now subtract out people that live in apartments and don't have access to overnight recharging.

 

Keep in mind that that is 95% of all trips, not 95% of a given driver's trips. Only about 5% of my trips could be done with an EV (with today's range). All of our around town trips are done by walking. When we use a car it is for trips exceeding the common range of today's EVs.

Tom

 

Our empty nest scenario we need 2 cars that have no long trip limitations. Not ready for EV. But our neighborhood is a different story. When they built the development, they never figured every man woman and child would own a car, even high schoolers generally all have their own cars. Many families 4 cars or more. That third/fourth/fifth car could easily be EV, especially in 4-5 years if some bargains on used Leaf's are out there. And we'd have more parking space on the street too.

 

doesn't negate the stat, however they came by it. problem is, do you need a second car for the other 5%?

 

Or in my case the other 95%.

Tom

 

Congratulations - they fall w/in the 5% ...

next?

.

 

try again 26.4%

apartment units, as per 2000 census, is a lot larger than 5%

Historical Census of Housing Tables - Units in Structure

out of those unit how many landlords are willing to spend money and put in mass charging?

 

I suspect 1/4 of my trips could be electric, but that is about 5% of my miles.
3/4 are over 55 miles each way.

 

main problem is price right now... if they make 100 mile range EV for 30k, and make it Prius-like in its abilities (size, etc), I bet hundreds of thousands will buy it.

of course we still need charging infrastructure but that will come with sales.

it makes a lot more sense for us in europe because we drive mostly short trips in large cities, just like hybrids do, but i somehow feel that it is US and Japan that will take a lead in sales.

 

I think he meant apartments without recharging access. Most of my old apartment dwelling years could have accommodated electric vehicle recharging, for at least some of the residents.

 

imho i think the study is flawed and doesn't take other factors into consideration.

just because you only ask 106,681 commuters how long there commute is doesn't mean it's practical for them to switch to electric.

 

And what about multiple trips in one day? That last minute "oh s**t I forgot the milk" trip or the "you never said it was your Mothers birthday today, we'd better drop a card and present off" trip.

You've done your commute, you have 18 miles remaining and your next trip is 25 miles. Better have a second car to fall back on then.

 

These are reasons phevs like the prius phv may be most of the solution. They need to get the price down and the percentage of ev miles up though.

 

For these, I'd walk. I need the exercise anyway.

For others, I'd note that humans have an unlimited capacity to turn poor planning into emergencies. For many humans, experience is a good teacher, and resourceful can go a very long way. But for some individuals, there is little hope.

 

Or a Volt :mod:

The report also discussed commuting distance and totals per day. Of the 106,681 survey participants who drove to work every day in a car, 95 percent of them travelled less than 40 miles to work. (Volt works fine for that

The average daily drive total for urban-based cars was just 36.5 miles, while rural-based cars drove an average of 48.6 miles.


What it does not say is that unless they have a second car, 5% of your trips is still enough reason to need an ICE car, or a EREV like the Volt.
How often do people need awd.. but look how many buy them.

 

I do like EV's but was playing devils advocate.

So for the quick grocery run you'd walk? OK, 2 miles each way in the rain, when you have a car?

Poor planning into emergencies? OK, your boss has called, he needs you to return back to work asap for some important reason and he wants you NOW. A loved one has been involved in an accident and you have to drive to the hospital.

OK maybe get a cab but then why spend a big chunk of cash on an EV and then spend more on taxis every once in a while? It is logical to buy an EV and save money on petrol costs and then dip into those savings on a hire car or taxi in emergency situations. However, I have used this argument on my girlfriend when looking at the IQ EV or the new Renault ZOE but she won't have it. She likes the convenience of a petrol car. Agghhh

 

Or houseowners also not having access to overnight charging...

I'd love one, but I have no say in where I can park my car at night. It may be 3ft from my fence where I *could* make an outdoorsocket. I could be a 100ft away where I'd need to route the extensioncord over the parkinglot (not a realistic option...)

Everytime I vision myself plugging in my Model S , it's in a nearby for-sale-house with a garage, efficient floorheating (groundwater pump + compressor) and a huge roof I could easily put my 5kW of solarpanels onto. Right now I am constructing a frame (for the house I DO own) for just 3kW as that's all my roof will allow me to put there.
do not know where to put the other 2kW just yet