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[–] SilverBanana ago 

First cars were way more inconvenient than a horse with carriage, less reliable, way more expensive and were only toys intended for rich people. It was slower, uncomfortable and could not go as far. There were stables along the roads, but not garages.

Same with any first implementation of a vehicle, e.g. planes were expensive hobby of ultra-rich.

http://www.earlyamericanautomobiles.com/1900.htm

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[–] hypercat 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Didn't we spend billions of dollars on infrastructure upgrades for cars? Like paved roads, freeways? We also created big infrastructures for subways and electric trolleys.

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[–] DeepFriedPickles 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago  (edited ago)

We did. But a) it was gradual. Car infrastructure took centuries to install and it still isn't complete. There are many parts of Canada and the US that still have the same shit dirt roads horses would have travelled on. and b) this one I've already stated. There was HUUUUUUUUUGE incentive to switch from horses to cars. Namely time saving capabilities. And time is money. Aside from this idea of being green electric cars have zero advantage over gas cars. We were more than willing to spend billions of dollars on trains and cars because they were a colossal improvement over the other option, horse and wagon. I doubt we will want to spend billions in infrastructure on a minuscule improvement.

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[–] hypercat ago 

I have lived almost 40 years and never have I ever driven a road that my car did not go on (82 toyota tercel, 93 toyota truck, 2010 toyota tacoma ALL 4 cylinders). 28 states. Mexico and Canada. One time I was worried because I was worried about a steep hill and rain, but I don't think I have even been out of service on the cell for years. I camp, I fish, I go do things in a desert, put better wheels on an electric, or make an electric truck. Not hard.

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[–] GreatDrok 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

There's electricity everywhere. Seriously, it is everywhere and at significantly high amperage that here they're putting EV chargers in old phone boxes. Think about that for a second, all those old phone boxes needed power delivered to them and initially our telecom companies started putting wifi stations in them, and now they're putting 7kW EV chargers. I can drive all over the country and know that there are chargers all over the place. Sure, most of the time I drive in the city but if I need to go long haul, there are fast chargers every 100Km or so and now there are a lot of other places too.

Electric cars were the best choice when cars first appeared because petrol was difficult to source and even carrying a can of petrol wouldn't be enough to guarantee that you could get to your destination. The infrastructure to support petrol cars took decades but it is messy stuff and costs a lot to move. Electricity is everywhere and we already have wires all over the place to carry the stuff. As for batteries, they're getting better all the time and there are batteries in testing with 10x the energy density of current tech and that will allow even lorries to be electric. We're already seeing plenty of electric buses and electric motors have a lot of benefits over the ICE mainly to do with efficiency (petrol engines rarely achieve more than 30% efficiency with most of the energy you bought going straight out the exhaust while electric motors are 90% efficient) and torque range where vehicles simply don't need all those gears that an ICE does just to stay in the efficient power band. A lorry with an electric drive train would be much more effective than a big stinking diesel and it will come.

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[–] DeepFriedPickles 1 point -1 points (+0|-1) ago 

You actually haven't been out in rural areas have you?

I live in Canada and there are some places where you can drive for hours and see nothing. Nothing. In the suburbs and cities (where phone boxes are) it won't be a problem. Nobody ever said it would be there.

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[–] epsilona01 1 point 1 point (+2|-1) ago 

Not to mention that cars, like horses, were able to provide their own supply lines. Horses and cars can both haul fuel, be that horse feed or gasoline. Not so much for electricity.