Automakers must build cheaper, smaller EVs to spur adoption, report says

Except they could totally fit a radio compatible with rear view cameras in a standard double din area, with a decent enough sized touch screen.

My double din aftermarket stereo I installed in my '07 Fiesta XR4 (ST150 for those not in Australia) is fully capable of all the inputs a modern connected stereo has, and more. It has an almost 7 inch touchscreen, has tactile media controls on the front and inputs for front, rear and a third camera, along with RCA's for Amplifiers and subwoofers. It also supports Bluetooth, Wifi and 4G via user provided SIM(although I don't use the 4G - I just hotspot it to my phone via WiFi) it also has Apple carplay and Android Auto supported.

Best part is it runs full fat android 10 and supports OBDII readers, meaning it's a built in scantool for my car.

My preferred setup in any car is tactile aircon controls, steering wheel controls, and tactile media buttons on the head unit. I don't like touch screens because you usually have to take your eyes off the road to use them. which is dangerous. Tactile controls are better because you can usually tell what they are just by feel and therefore don't have to look away from the road to use them.

So if it has one, I prefer it not be Tesla sized. I'd say 10 inches is my maximum, and small enough to fit in a double din is my ideal size. Especially given no two stock head units are the same, and some better than others - I'd like the opportunity to upgrade it if necessary without having to rip half my damned dashboard apart.

My current car you could slide out stereo using with 4 euro type head unit removal keys (you can however use some steak knives in a pinch if you don't want to spend the $2-10 for the keys) no dash disassembly needed.

My EV has 280km range and it's a bit short. I would prefer to have 450km.

Reasons:

• charging above 80% is slow and bad for the baterry, you also don't go to 0% before charging. so on most days I don't actually have 280km range, more like 200km

• I drive more during the weekend, usually just around 200-300km. I can charge for free at work but with 280 range I can't charge for the whole weekend which would be nice and would reduce my costs to nearly 0

• on longer trips 280km means a stop for charging about every 2h. Make it 3h and it would be perfect

280km is enough for daily driving but in my case, 50% bigger battery would a big improvement overall.

In my case I live in a place where cities are spread out and where it gets cold in the winter. My parents live 40 mile away and don't have an EV charger or a 220v outlet in their garage. Take 10% max range off in the winter, and I would have to use the only charging station (Tesla supercharger) or spend at least 6 hours charging at their house to be comfortable getting home in case of extra traffic or detours. I semi regularly drive even further, 80-100 miles one way. I'd have to stop to charge on my way there and on my way back in the winter, adding at least 30 minutes to an already 2 hour drive. There is also poor charging density on the route, so it has to be planned.

I drive a plug in hybrid now, and can get to work and home on battery only, but only in the summer and no extra stops or alternate routes are possible. People start getting antsy under a 1/4-1/8th tank of gas, it's worse with battery. Add to that I am able to charge at home, if you have to go visit a charging station because you live in a ln apartment or townhouse without garage space, you need at least 5 days of charge range between fill ups, because most everyone isn't going to want to add a 30 minute stop to charge daily.

I think it largely boils down to 2 things: How spread out things are in the US that can result in longer trips rather frequently, and the lack of electric car infrastructure.

These 2 things combined mean people are more concerned about the range that they can get compared to an ICE car. The only EV chargers I know of in my town are just down the street from me and are locked up 24/7 because they're on the property of an elementary school (stupid idea on the town's part putting them there). This would mean that if I had an at home charger and an EV with a 100 mile range, I could get about 45 miles out before I would have to turn around and come back to charge it. If I want to go to the city for something (a day trip to the museum, for example), that's 75 miles - one way. I used to make that drive daily in my old RAV-4 for work, and it isn't a big deal when the round trip would be a half a tank of gas, but that would mean about 25 miles of battery to find a charger once I get there, or finding at least one stop on the way up and probably on the way back as well. And that's in optimal conditions. I never saw any EV chargers on that commute in the 5 years I had that job, so it would probably mean going out of the way to find charging stations, which would add additional miles to your battery usage.

Once the charging infrastructure is more robust (and hopefully isn't monopolized by Tesla), I think this kind of thing will be much less of a concern, but people are still going to be bothered by it if they have to stop for long periods of time frequently in order to charge their car.

That is absolutely correct. 110-150 miles of range is exactly what I want. Actually, I was figuring 100 miles at and-of-life, which is basically 120, or or so, at purchase.

The reason I say I will not buy a sub-200 mile car is that one doesn't drive an EV from 100% to 0% charge. Everyone I know runs 80/20. That takes 40% off the top. A 200-mile car is only good for 120 without pushing the battery.

Those numbers don't even take into account the fact that when I do want to travel 100+ miles, I'm not doing it on city streets at 20 mph. Freeway driving can be expected to take at least another 15% off the EPA range, considerably more with climate control and music.

Suddenly, even with that 200-mile car, I'm looking at a drive to Sacramento trying to decide whether to over charge, stop on the way, or drive slow with no tunes and no AC. That's OK with me. I'm willing to make adjustments for the benefits of running electric, but I'm not going to get something that can't be used for longer trips.

They probably don't.

A surprisingly small amount of products need to malfunction before people get the idea that they all will.

I still hear about how my Samsung phone will explode any second now.

No, you're thinking of Teslas.

It's okay, you'll have money left over for the medical bills.

The models sold in my country haven't burst into flame yet, and they sold a lot of units here. Honestly, EV fire is my biggest worry, so I'll probably wait for another year before considering getting a chinese ev to see if there is no fire incidents or other dealbreaking issues, but they're looking pretty solid so far.