Short-range electric vehicles
(Redirected from Short-range EVs)
So far, the best EVs seem to come at a high environmental cost - especially rare minerals
What if people were willing to drive cheaper EVs with less battery capacity
- Clearly this doesn't cover all use-cases. Road trips would still need longer-range vehicles. But for common suburban commutes
(...)( then again, maybe it's better to phase these out via walkability ) , maybe it would be enough?
Suitable battery types
Some battery types are less energy-dense than lithium-ion, but also less reliant on rare metals:
- Lithium iron (not ion) phosphate batteries (existing tech)
- Sodium-ion batteries (possible future tech)
How much range is reasonable?
Optimistic scenario:
- Suppose there were as many charging stations as there currently are gas stations. And/or
- Suppose most people could charge their vehicles at their homes.
- What's the minimum amount of range that would be needed for typical day-to-day usage?
[QUANTIFICATION needed]
Implementation
Ok so suppose there's a viable scenario - now we need to talk about the transition to it. There's a "catch-22" to overcome:
- Why would anyone buy a short-range EV if there aren't enough charging stations?
- Why would anyone build a lot of charging stations if not many people have EVs?
- Also, we can't expect long-range EVs to jumpstart the market, because they can't be sustainably scaled up enough.
- (which is the whole reason we are thinking about short-range EVs in the first place)
Ways to overcome this:
- This list needs to be written. I'm open to any possibilities, no matter if they involve capitalism or communism.
Marketability
This section is not written yet.