If you are driving an hour both ways every day in a cold climate, yeah, EV probably isn't the right fit for another couple of years. It's also an extreme end of usage. I imagine that a large portion of those people in a rural community don't drive more than 60 miles a day. It is also why the average commute per a person is not 125 miles but substantially less in the US.
For reference, 125 miles is about Louisville, KY to Indianapolis, IN.
125 miles is nothing in the US. It's not about commuting, it's about road trips to the next city, the next state. Sure most people are not doing that every day but they are doing that a few times a year to visit friends, family, and for business. And then what? Meticulouly planning your charges and timing your breaks? or taking a bus or a plane? If you've just spent $50,000 on an EV I would imagine you want to drive not worry about whether you are going to be stuck without a charge. EV success is about selling to the average driver, not EV and green enthusiasts.
If by meticulously planning you mean using a navigation system that most EVs come with, I don’t see why this is hard? Sure, Tesla provides better routing software than EV manufacturers, but this isn’t a hard problem (this is HN, so we should have some affinity for software).
It's the range between charging stops, not the range until you abandon the car and walk.
With the current 800V battery tech you need to spend 20-30 minutes charging per 2-3 hours of driving. It's not as fast as a pee-in-the-bottle cannonball run, but only about 10% slower than a normal ICE car trip time.
Check out actual times with https://abetterrouteplanner.com with a fast-charging car like a recent Tesla model or Kia EV6/Ioniq 5/GV60.
For reference, 125 miles is about Louisville, KY to Indianapolis, IN.
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