I’d like my wife to consider an electric vehicle. Her obvious objections are related to range and charging times. Those are the major hurdles for most anyone considering an EV at this point. Especially since there are great options at most ends of the pricing spectrum. For me personally, I’d be ok with an EV boasting a range over 200 miles of charge. We have another car we can use for longer trips, even if its range is only around 250 on a tank. I can at least fill that one up quickly and keep us moving.
For the average consumer, I think the “magic number” with respect to curbing range anxiety is 300 miles. And the interesting thing is that a 300-mile-range EV could show the owner that in reality they could’ve made do with a bit less. Charging at home, even on a Level 2 charger is more than fine as well. You’ll start to treat charging your car like you do your smartphone. The clear exception being that you can plug in your phone anywhere.
The charging infrastructure is growing at an exponential rate, with many Level 3 chargers at these fresh stations coming online. So charging speed could soon eclipse overall range on the EV shopping priority list. Still, we’re not quite there yet per the average consumer. So I think when the 300-mile-range EV is the norm and not the Tesla exception, more electric-focused dollars will flow towards dealers.
What say you? Is 300 enough or do you want more? Are you good with less?
Leave a Reply