I live in Germany and I've recently booked a cheap car with Hertz for a weekend trip. At the rental office, they offered me to upgrade to a premium EV for no additional cost, because most people rent a car for medium to long distance trips like I did, and the range, charging speed and charger availability makes driving an EV into too much of a hassle. We've had about 200 kilometers one way and a charger at the destination, so we went for it.
This made me think about the viability of EVs in places like Europe where inner-city driving is discouraged and there is a lot of public transit options. Among the people I know, if someone is thinking of buying a car, they plan to use it for leisure trips - public transport outside of major population centers tends to be unreliable and insufficient, and if you have kids, then it's straight out impossible to travel without a car. That's why convenience is king when people choose a car here - having to stop every 300-400 kilometers for an hour to charge your car is not something people would gladly plan for.
I guess that Americans might have different priorities, as everyone has a car that is being used within the metropolitan area most of the time, so this means more shorter trips with breaks that could be used for charging.
This made me think about the viability of EVs in places like Europe where inner-city driving is discouraged and there is a lot of public transit options. Among the people I know, if someone is thinking of buying a car, they plan to use it for leisure trips - public transport outside of major population centers tends to be unreliable and insufficient, and if you have kids, then it's straight out impossible to travel without a car. That's why convenience is king when people choose a car here - having to stop every 300-400 kilometers for an hour to charge your car is not something people would gladly plan for.
I guess that Americans might have different priorities, as everyone has a car that is being used within the metropolitan area most of the time, so this means more shorter trips with breaks that could be used for charging.