Do electric cars need to be recharged frequently when traveling long distances?
If one has a car with a small battery, recharging will have to be done multiple times when traveling long distances. France is planning EV rentals as the next step up from the public electric bicycle hire system that’s very popular in Paris and some other cities. In the odd case that one needed to travel long distances, one could use a hired electric vehicle. Better Place envisages people using a cheaper battery for their urban use, while turning to a battery swapping station to put in a battery with a larger capacity on the odd days that one wanted to travel to another city. Then, when returning to one’s home town, the battery is swapped back for a cheaper battery. One would only need to swap the battery once or twice during one’s travel between cities, or recharge the battery with a rapid charger at service stations or at night from a standard domestic power outlet. The cost would be similar to what one now pays for gasoline and maintenance associated with such travel.
