Again, the average is irrelevant unless you’re buying a dedicated second (or in my case fourth) car for commuting only.
It is the peak that matters.
Yep. I need my car to meet all my needs, not my needs on an average day.
Would it be ok if instead of a 100A electricity supply at home you had a 20A supply? After all, on the average day your load probably doesn’t exceed 20A, so that’s enough right? Same principle.
Silvaire wrote:
Again, the average is irrelevant unless you’re buying a dedicated second (or in my case fourth) car for commuting only.
It is irrelevant only if charging the car during peak length trips is unrealistic, which for most people it is not. At least in my part of the world.
Charging mid-day during peak length trips would be unpleasant and impractical for virtually every trip I make, in both the US and Europe.
In Europe I don’t often know the exact route I’m taking at the beginning of the day, nor would I care to figure it out, nor would I care to commit to a place to charge before setting out – if there were one.
Life is good, living in a box is not.
^This is exactly it^
95% of the journeys we do are 100km round trip or less.
95% for 1 or 2 people + 2 small dogs.
95% with enough luggage space for weekly shopping.
I have a garage and parking.
So a small-medium sized Electric car would work…
But at least a half dozen times a year we need to transport 4x adults and the dogs, and/or baggage. And we usually drive across Europe at least twice a year, easily doing 8+hrs of driving a day.
So we have a diesel estate car… 
Regards, SD..
skydriller wrote:
We just fly or take the train for these distances. Flying sucks big time, the time you save being fast in the air is wasted in the atrocious shopping mall experience of the airport and trains are their own kind of suffering.But at least a half dozen times a year we need to transport 4x adults and the dogs, and/or baggage. And we usually drive across Europe at least twice a year, easily doing 8+hrs of driving a day.
Flying or taking the train or renting a car makes sense due to the very low price of the car and that was factored in the decision.
Also, in 350km (more if you dare to recharge on the road) distance to Berlin, there are some acceptable options for holidays, too. The vaunted “range anxiety” is mostly felt by people with no experience. Not everything is fine, yet – I’ve been to Kolberg, Poland from Berlin for a short holiday. Charging on the way was basically only possible at one location (which worked out, but contained more anxiety than strictly necessary), but that’s more of an issue regarding the infrastructure than anything else.
Long distance driving, I find, is something that sucks completely. I think in the last 5 years, I’ve made only 2 road trips of more than 35 miles. A big thing is that motorway driving is terrifically dull, and you can’t do anything else other than sit and drive. Even on an airliner you can get up, and you can read a book. On a train you usually have internet access.
It’s just far easier to fly then go on the train, and if it’s not my own plane, I’d much rather take the train (living on an island means we do have to probably take 1 flight). The difference in enjoyment of journey travelling from London to Paris by Eurostar to flying on the airlines was tremendous, it’s so much better.
I know my situation is uncommon, few people live on an island, but not driving saves so much time. For instance, when we did a gliding trip to Aboyne, the year we drove it took 14 hours door to door (of which 3.5 was on the car ferry). In the Auster, the same trip takes only an hour and a half and you get to enjoy the Scottish Highlands.
I avoid motorways to the greatest extent practical. I think it’s so much better to see the places where you travel, not just seeing your end point destination. Most of my vacations are motorcycle road trips done this way, at least half of every day on the road, seeing, smelling and feeling the world away from the beaten path. That is living, as much fun as flying yourself in good weather: the view is not as expansive but the granularity of the available view is much better. The ‘driving’ experience is about equal, both are fun with the right hardware.
When I get old (80+ assuming I make it) I’ll do it in a very small gasoline powered convertible/cabrio car instead. We have one of those at home and it’s the next best thing. I pick all my vehicles with the driving experience in mind so driving my daily driver sedan is also OK, my last road trip was to pick up furniture my wife and I bought while on a flying trip but couldn’t bring home in the plane!
I’ve travelled in trains a fair amount, but wouldn’t do it by choice unless it were a trip I didn’t want to take, for business or the like. It’s incredibly dull, although I do remember one solo trip from Rome to Milan where it was enlivened by the company I found
CAT works where there is an unrelated continent and very large ocean between you and your vacation. It’s not traveling, it’s transport and you are the cargo. I’ve flown so many hundreds of trips to so many places that I can just turn my brain and senses off en route and just wait to start the trip.
It depends where you’re going and why you’re going there.
A road trip to Scotland is something I enjoy. From home it’s 6 hours to get to Edinburgh or Glasgow, and then the nicer part of it starts after that. A 2-3 hour road trip down into the south-east of England is something I don’t enjoy at all, so for me it’s all about the surroundings.
For intercity European travel I prefer a train if possible. For instance on recent business trips to Paris I have found the Eurostar much more civilised than flying CAT.
I’m never likely to use a train in preference to the car (within the UK) if paying my own way – the cost makes it a no-brainer.
