Our Electric Vehicle Future

In 2016, I purchased a 2015 Venza that had 7,000 miles and brand-new tires for about $12,000 less than what a 2016 Venza would have cost.  This car was almost brand new.

I finally replaced the original battery and put a new set of tires on the vehicle after almost 7 years of driving on the ones that came with the purchase.  I figure these tires will last a good five years since I only average about 7,000 miles a year now.

In 5 years, I will be 80 years old, my wife will be 75 and we will take our two cars (2015) and sell them for whatever we can get for them and invest in an all-electric vehicle...  At 80/75, I doubt that we will be driving all that much.  However, for comfort in driving and ease of access, that all-electric vehicle will have to be an SUV.

As I understand it, there are 3 levels of charging:

Level 1 that uses household current (a three-prong plug) and takes a good 24 hours to fully charge.

Level 2 can be installed in the home but typically this will be the commercial version that will be available to the public.  Depending upon the capacity of your battery, this could take an hour to fully charge an EV.

Level 3 is super fast and probably will not be available to the general public for a while.

One issue about EVs is the size of the battery.  The larger the battery the farther the EV can travel and that sorta makes sense...  but, the weather is an issue, the speed is an issue, and the load inside the car is an issue for all batteries.

Batteries are measured in KWH...  and right now vary in size from 60 KWH to 100 KWH and a 200 KWH is expected in the near future.  Some experts say don't charge 100% all the time, even though there is the mindset to do just that.  Batteries are expected to last a good 10 years before they need replacing.  

What is also curious is that over time (and the more the battery is charged) there is a loss of distance capability...  In other words, if your car has a range of 350 miles, then the more you drive it, the more your range will also drop so that in 5 years, your range may only be 325 or 300.

Depending on the KWH of your battery and if you are at a level 2 charging station, it may take you 60 minutes to fully recharge and the cost of that electricity could be $30-$50 which is not much different than a current tank of gasoline.  If you don't have that larger capacity, then your charging time is going to be well over an hour.

My concern is that there are not enough charging stations to take care of everyone's needs...  and, companies are not going to build charging stations until they know there are sufficient customers to use them.  

So, the EV driver is going to experience a little pain at first unless their driving distances are short and just around town...  long distance journies are going to be a challenge...  especially if you have to wait for a free charger and then your charge takes over an hour.

Additionally, do we currently have the electric power capacity to power all these vehicles?

Maybe we need to look into hydrogen vehicles...