If the Tesla is any indication, I think the answer is "no". Is the average American interested in a very expensive car that takes 3-30 hours to "fill up"?
Tesla Motors - FAQs
Tesla Motors - FAQs
A full charge using the High Power Connector can be achieved in as little as 3.5 hours.Tom's Blog
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The car ships with a particularly easy-to-use High Power Connector that is installed in your garage by a qualified electrician. There is also an optional Mobile Connector that allows you to charge from any available 110v or 220v electrical outlet.
If the mobile connector is powered with a standard household outlet (120V/15A circuit, drawing 12A) the Roadster charges at a rate of about 8 miles of range per hour of charging, or more than 30 hours to charge a fully depleted pack. Connected to a 240V/50A circuit, drawing 30A, the rate jumps to about 40 miles of range per hour of charging, or about 7 hours to charge a fully depleted battery.Options — 2009 Tesla Roadster Convertible — Yahoo! Autos: MSRP $109,000
However, it turns out that there are regulatory roadblocks to Tesla Motors selling an EV power cable with a 240V/50A connector. Basically, it's illegal.
Price
• 40-Amp High Power Connector $1,500
• 70-Amp High Power Connector $2,000
• Mobile Connector $1,200
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2 comments:
For daily driving, it takes about 20 seconds to charge an electric vehicle: 10 seconds to plug it in when you get home and 10 seconds to unplug it in the morning. It's no more trouble than charging your cell phone. In addition, you never have to go to the gas station, never have to wait in line, and get out of the business of monitoring the constantly changing gas prices to know what station you should use.
For the 78% of Americans with a daily commute under 40 miles, charging overnight from a standard 110 outlet would do the job very nicely. Having a higher power connection makes it a total non-issue.
If your daily commute is over 200 miles, or you frequently go on long road trips and only have one car, then don't rush out to replace it with a pure EV just yet. On the other hand, if you have a car that rarely goes over 200 miles in one day, then an EV will serve your needs very well and you'll soon wonder why you ever tolerated having to refuel at a gas station.
Finally, quoting the prices for the Tesla connectors is very misleading. With mass production, the cost of those connectors will drop to nothing - they are just fancy extension cords with a chip that tells the car how much current it can draw and a relay for safety. It's expensive to make a few hundred of them but, like the cars, will be much cheaper when they are made by the hundreds of thousands.
On the regulatory issues with Tesla's mobile charger, Tesla is beta testing a solution this month and expects to be shipping the final solution in January.
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