EVs vs PHEVs

I was considering whether to buy the new Nissan Leaf when it is (eventually) released in Australia.  The problem is range, still.  Or rather, range, plus the absence of superchargers.  The distance between our town and Melbourne is 260 kms (there and back), and the range of the Leaf is 240 kms (150 miles)  That would be OK if there were lots of superchargers in Melbourne, so we could park and charge in the city while we did our shopping/went to the theatre/dined out/visited our children, before driving home with a full battery.  But there aren't--at least not for Nissans.

Most of the time, there'd be no problem with range.  We could drive from our town to our favourite beach, which is 80 kms there and back, or to the supermarket, or to visit fairs and wineries in nearby towns.  But not being able to drive to the big smoke when we want to, 2 or 3 times a year, is a problem.

For widespread acceptance of EVs, we need a supercharger network, but for a widespread supercharger network we need lots of EVs.

Buy a Tesla, I hear you say.  They've got a very wide network of superchargers, even here in backward Oz, if you include "destination chargers" at hotels and motels.  Look how many there are within a few hundred kilometres of Melbourne.  By comparison there are just six non-Tesla superchargers in this whole region shown on the map.

But even a Model 3 Tesla, however much I covet one, is beyond my price range these days.  More to the point, it's beyond many people's price range.  Not everyone can afford the sort of classy luxury and style a Tesla offers.

It is true that most car journeys are very short, as this chart below (from CleanTechnica) shows. The vast majority of trips are under 20 miles (32 kms)  That is true for me too--we'd only want a long range and/or a supercharger network occasionally.  For most of the time, a Nissan Leaf EV would be perfectly adequate.

But.

I am an EV enthusiast, and I would love to have one, but in fact I'm thinking of buying a plug-in hybrid.  Me!  Because most of the time I will be using it as an EV, so no emissions, no pollution, a clear conscience.  Yet on long trips, I wouldn't have to worry about finding a supercharger.  And the problem for all EVs except Teslas, is that I expect many people will make the same decision for the same reasons.

EVs are now close in cost to ICEVs.  Soon, what will delay wide acceptance will not be the up-front costs but the absence of a decent supercharger network.  Eventually there will be enough EVs on our roads to make a supercharger network profitable, and that will eventually allow EVs to become widespread.  Eventually is too slow.  Tesla saw the problem early on and obviated it by building a huge network of superchargers.  No other car maker has bothered, even Nissan, the first car maker in the world to make an affordable EV.  And sadly that will keep EV sales way lower than they should be if we are to rapidly slash CO2 emissions and air pollution.

It would be a shame to buy a PHEV when I would like to make a clean break with fossil fuels.  Anyway, I think the Toyota Prius Prime is hideous! Perhaps it's time for Nissan to talk to Tesla and help double the supercharger network by building its own network with some sort of reciprocity agreement.  But why would Tesla agree?  It has a huge competitive advantage with its extensive network of superchargers.  Sad!