OT: Electric Vehicles--anyone driving them or seriously looked at them?

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by Alistair

nothing in the lightweight roadster space today - maybe an EV Boxster in a few years (but also likely double the price of a Mazda).

doesnt mini have/had a model here?

they do:

[AngryScientist]

Speaking of which has anyone here looked at the above electric mini? My wife and I had one of the first north american base model gas cars years ago and it was a ton of fun. I really miss that car. It was a bear to work on though, I imagine electric takes all that hassle away. I bet these are a hoot to drive.

[coreyaugustus]

I'm all about the EV becoming ubiquitous. Especially since enforcement on loud mufflers is anecdotal at best. (Yes, I'm an old grump.)

I wonder if the conversion kit market will heat up at all. I love my 3 series wagon, but it's a turbo 4-cyl and BMW doesn't make an electric version yet. (Not that I want to go to the expense of buying another car.). But if there were a dependable conversion kit for it, I'd be all over that. The next request would be a hoist, some wrenches, and space to use them. Ooh, or older model vehicles, which should be even easier since there's less programming required.

It seems like an inevitability that the next car I own will be electric, which is fine so long as Right to Repair statutes get stronger.

[paredown]

Originally Posted by Alistair

The base Tesla Model 3 stickers for $39,000, just just barely squeaks into the sub-$40k range.

But, yeah, still no true EV economy car.

My wish list...
- EV Honda Ridgeline - the Rivian exists, but at double the price of the Honda.
- EV Mazda Miata - nothing in the lightweight roadster space today - maybe an EV Boxster in a few years (but also likely double the price of a Mazda).

Either of those choices would be sweet.

I just noticed that for 2024, the EV is no longer the base Ford Maverick--it's the 2l gasser, and the EV is a $1500 add-on. So it still comes in at around $27k plus destination charge, but this is a substantial hike from the $20k or so they introduced it at...

[cgolvin]

My addition to the wish list is the wagon (er …*estate?) category. Unfortunately, it seems like most OEMs think that Americans only want SUVs (it would be hard to argue with their data on this point, I guess). It doesn't matter to me since I recently bought an Ioniq 5 and don't expect to be in the market for another car for a long time, but I would have paid a premium for a wagon. (Wish I could have justified one of those Taycan GT models, that's a killer EV wagon.)

[dancinkozmo]

pretty crazy when the cost to replace a battery is more than the car is worth....

https://driving.ca/column/lorraine/o...ace-ev-battery

[coreyaugustus]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

(Wish I could have justified one of those Taycan GT models, that's a killer EV wagon.)

Oh, heck yeah. Those are hot, though more range would be nice.

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by coreyaugustus

Oh, heck yeah. Those are hot, though more range would be nice.

I have not found range to really be limiting and it has a cost too. More batteries = a heavier car, which in turn hurts efficiency.

Most of the time I am ready for a quick break anyway when my car needs to bump up the batteries. The only time I charge to anywhere close to 100% is the first charge of a road trip. After that most are 10%-60% or so. The charge speed drops way off on most cars after about 50% SOC (state of charge) while using a fast DC charger.

[kppolich]

Originally Posted by dancinkozmo

pretty crazy when the cost to replace a battery is more than the car is worth....

https://driving.ca/column/lorraine/o...ace-ev-battery

Same could be said for folks driving around in older cars. When the engine goes an engine replacement is more expensive than the value of the car.

[benb]

Same with transmisisons.

Most people who have a Subaru w/CVT like mine say the CVT replacement instantly means you have to get rid of the car. Just googled and saw a receipt for $11,500 for a CVT replacement at a Subaru dealer, so that verifies that.. that's close to 2x an estimated trade-in.

Most people with an EV seem to never really ever need to replace the battery. Fearing it seems to be a talking point.

There has been a lot of FUD the last 6 months about sales growth on EVs slowing.. but apparently the last quarter set new records for sales. Slowing of growth is just because as EVs as a % of all cars sales grows the growth rate cannot stay the same. It's going to gradually get smaller and smaller.

It also strikes me a lot of the people who are constantly buying a new car every 2-3 years have already bought EVs. People who keep cars a long time are still keeping their cars a long time. At some point you can't sell more cars if all the frequent buyers have already bought one.. you need to wait/depend on the long term buyers wearing out their cars.

I read /r/electricvehicles on Reddit from time to time. It amazes me how much money the people there are burning on getting new EVs. Some of the readers appear to be getting a new EV every year and some people buy a car and then replace it after 6 months. Early adopters who behave like that are going to distort figures early on in the curve.

[robt57]

Originally Posted by Alistair

But, yeah, still no true EV economy car.

Bolt for sure IMO. My wife avg over double mile/kWh than my friend Tesla S FWIW.

And Nissan Leaf too.. There is also KIA Soul EV, although I've not seen one in the wild...

[merlinmurph]

Originally Posted by dancinkozmo

pretty crazy when the cost to replace a battery is more than the car is worth....

https://driving.ca/column/lorraine/o...ace-ev-battery

There are answers to that. A local university, WPI, has done a lot of research on that and has developed patented processes for fully recycling lithion-ion batteries and producing new cathode materials that are better than the original.

https://www.wpi.edu/news/charging-ahead
https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...than-new-ones/

[Alistair]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Speaking of which has anyone here looked at the above electric mini? My wife and I had one of the first north american base model gas cars years ago and it was a ton of fun. I really miss that car. It was a bear to work on though, I imagine electric takes all that hassle away. I bet these are a hoot to drive.

Unless they've updated it, the range was a total non-starter for anything but a city run-about.

[Alistair]

Originally Posted by kppolich

Same could be said for folks driving around in older cars. When the engine goes an engine replacement is more expensive than the value of the car.

This isn't a Ferrari, it's a 6 year old Hyundai, it doesn't even cost $50k for a brand new version.

I can't think of many 2017 model year cars where the cost of a replacement gasoline engine would exceed the cost of a brand new replacement. And having to completely replace an engine (new core and all) would be extremely rare.

[zap]

Originally Posted by kppolich

Same could be said for folks driving around in older cars. When the engine goes an engine replacement is more expensive than the value of the car.

Oh, it gets better. One maybe two year old Ioniq 5's.......junked/recycled.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEXieo06ta8&t=10s