Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada remains amazingly ignorant of what Tesla has accomplished

[brianman]

A significant portion of my work involves driving 250km+, working for 4 hours and then driving back with NO superchargers or fast chargers en route. These journeys are not yet compatible with BEVs without an overnight stay at a destination charger.

It sounds like you've made the wrong conclusion in your overall post. The last sentence quoted is more accurate.

The problem is not the car, but rather the usage pattern coupled with a route that is not modernized yet.

 

[SageBrush]

A significant portion of my work involves driving 250km+, working for 4 hours and then driving back with NO superchargers or fast chargers en route. These journeys are not yet compatible with BEVs without an overnight stay at a destination charger.

That is certainly an example, albeit an unusual one and with a presumption that you want to drive back the same day.
Are you always going to the same destination ? If so then putting in a convenient L2 outlet does not sound tooo hard.

 

[mspohr]

To get back to the topic, VW announced at the Frankfurt auto fair today that they would have electric versions of all 300 of their models by 2030 and would be building 4 gigafactories for batteries by 2025.
It does appear that they "get it" (helped with the large hammer of the diesel scandal), unlike Toyota which is keeping its head in the sand and hoping the whole EV thing is just a passing fad.

 

[MrAustraliaTax]

Are you always going to the same destination ? If so then putting in a convenient L2 outlet does not sound tooo hard.

No, I go to many different destinations.

The thing is, you can't spontaneously travel more than a certain distance in a BEV without risking running out of charge and needing a prolonged charging break. For ICE cars, this is a solved problem after 100 years of infrastructure build out. One day I hope the same will apply to BEVs. For now, long distance BEV travel still requires far more pre-planning and compromise than long distance ICE travel does.

 

[SageBrush]

For now, long distance BEV travel still requires far more pre-planning and compromise than long distance ICE travel does.

For you, in the Australia outback, granted.

Without a doubt an expanded supercharger network is desirable but in the meantime one or more good L2 sockets in each of your destinations does not sound like a pipe dream for the near future.

All the best!

 

[Ulmo]

When I read that a week ago, my immediate thought is that the Toyota CEO is just doing what he's paid to do, and abiding by some old agreement he signed when he started. Notice the wording is identical to the excuses given in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s; it makes me wonder if it was always a lie ever since the 1900s started. What he said is totally not true!

It means he's bought and we should just ignore him and his products. It also means whenever we hear repeated excuses like this, we should simply ignore them (as intentional misinformation); if anything, they have signal of (often exactly) what's not true.

 

[ecarfan]

The thing is, you can't spontaneously travel more than a certain distance in a BEV without risking running out of charge and needing a prolonged charging break.

I do not doubt that in your particular situation that is true.

But it is also true that for the vast majority of car owners in places like North America and Europe and eastern China and Japan, that is no longer true because of the Tesla Supercharger network. And that network continues to rapidly expand.

 

[dauger]

this is a solved problem after 100 years of infrastructure build out.

So you agree this is not a technological problem; it's an infrastructure or deployment problem. Put another way, in 1917 could a ICE car perform the travel about which you speak? I doubt it, and the problem is not ICE technology, but how many stations were built on the route(s).

So from a technological point of view, e.g., "do we have the technology?", yes charging is a solved problem. It's only a question of time and money invested before the deployment is complete. Looking at it that way, deployment has long been Tesla's biggest "problem", like building enough batteries to build enough BEVs for everyone, to meet enormous demand for Tesla's BEVs.

The "problem" you're identifying is a "supply problem", trying to meet large demand (you demanding more charging stations), a "problem" that every company would love to have.

 

[brianman]

To get back to the topic, VW announced at the Frankfurt auto fair today that they would have electric versions of all 300 of their models by 2030 and would be building 4 gigafactories for batteries by 2025.

At least a decade late to the party. Some areas might not even have owned personal transport by the time they deliver one.