Not a minor consideration for most people buying a $50k automobile.
When you consider that all core EV tech is decreasing in cost rapidly, very soon you will be talking about $30K vehicles, not $50K. And one must also consider the significantly lower operating costs.
1) Not a small minority.
2) A particularly impactful minority since an apartment dweller is far more likely to buy a fuel efficient vehicle, drive less and mostly drive in urban areas. They are far more likely to buy an EV than somebody who lives with acreage and drives a pickup today.
I don't think the point about how apartment dwellers drive less and in urban areas is really relevant, since with 400+ km of range (a low-end Model 3) and charging at night, there is basically no utility difference between an EV and a gas car as long as you drive less than 400 km in a day, and even people living in the most exurban of places are unlikely to drive that far in a single day unless they are on a road trip.
Also, suburban families with two cars are more likely to get at least one EV imo, because for people that are really concerned about range, having one gas car still allows them to have gas car road trips.
What exactly compels them to add charging stations "quickly"? There's still new buildings being built all over the country and province without charging infrastructure. In 2020.
EVs, like other technology, has an S-curve adoption rate. Adoption starts out slow, then suddenly increases exponentially, then slowly flattens out as it reaches 100%. And, as time moves forward, the S-curves happen faster and faster. See how quickly smartphones took over the market, or digital cameras, or even the car over the horse and carriage. The number of EVs will grow exponentially, not linearly. Charging stations will follow suit, just as how gas stations and computer repair stores popped up everywhere when cars and computers got adopted.
The problem is that a lot of condos don't have a standard NEMA 5-15 outlet at every parking spot. And even installing that would be quite the undertaking in some of the older, larger building garages.
Condo dwellers tend to be sensitive to fee increases. So that critical mass is probably a decade out. You'd have to be at or close to more than 50% of owners wanting such infrastructure installed. And that's assuming, there's no tighter covenants for non-essential special assessments.
This is true, however, I do think the number of buildings that install them will increase quite quickly, due to the S-curve adoption rate mentioned previously.
Besides, even if someone's apartment building doesn't have charging, people can charge at work and at other locations. This is totally sufficient for most people, and it often comes with the advantage of getting the best parking spaces at work. This is quite common in Europe afaik.
You don't need them at service centres today. Because the volume of EVs isn't substantial. But that's not a solution that operates at scale. Imagine what would happen if 10-20% of the traffic went electric and decided to use Hwy 7 between Toronto and Ottawa. I can't imagine the communities en route would be happy at seeing traffic level go up several hundred percent. But yes, at the current growth rates of EV adoption, we're probably a decade away from having charging infrastructure at service centres being relevant.
When 10-20% of the traffic is electric, more charging stations will probably already exist. Otherwise, there would be a supply/demand imbalance, which would naturally get filled.
I can see myself buying an electric car, but I‘ve no interest in car sharing, that’s a taxi by any other name.
I sense a lot of car sharing proponents think that owning a car is a nuisance or financial waste. But no, I enjoy driving, I enjoy cars and like to own my transport. So, while I’ll buy both an electric car and motorcycle, if I want to go somewhere without parking I’ll call a taxi or Uber.
Maybe the case now, but what about when autonomy is solved (which will likely happen in <2-3 years, although regulations may take longer to be updated) and an autonomous electric taxi trip becomes cheaper (or about as cheap as) public transit?
