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

[Carbonita]

Bloomberg April 2024 survey shows quite different responses. Large gap between Tesla owners and other BEVs, which could be due to fast charge infrastructure differences. With almost all USA moving to Tesla NACS away from CCS3, this may change, since Tesla superchargers are the most prevalent.

https://www.bloomberg.com/company/pr...g-intelligence

[robt57]

Originally Posted by buddybikes

Hybrid, 20 years and counting...

How many HV battery installs later?

Our kid has our 2006 Prius and it is on it's 3rd HV plant. Which isn't bad for the miles and age certainly. But last one was $4k installed few months ago. Car was free to him, so he decided the 4k was worth it for him. Car is still VG condition and incredibly reliable.

Not bothered doing the math, when you avg into your MPG/Gas costs, then amortize 3 HV battery replacements if your 55-60 MPG averages back in costs to effective 35 MPH costs. Emissions aside for sake of argument. In our Prius that's $6500.00 in HV battery in 275k.

[buddybikes]

We kept our 2007 until about 200K - 2020 traded in with original battery (daughters car).

2013 Lexus 200h on original battery

If we need a battery before replacing car (wife "never" wants another car..she's an accountant...) what success have people had with rebuilds.

Wouldn't EV be just worse?

[Carbonita]

Depends on the EV. Nissan Leafs notoriously had poor heat management, which killed battery quickly. Teslas always, and now others, have liquid heat management allowing batteries to last O(10⁵) miles with NMC chemistry. LFP cells have so low degradation that they're estimated to last decades. Dr Dahn has more details:

https://youtu.be/i31x5JW361k?si=MBv_y4qzCDibFMfe

Originally Posted by buddybikes

Wouldn't EV be just worse?

[buddybikes]

Friend just picked up her new Tesla. Loves the car but can't get Apple Play to work. Driving to Maine tomorrow, added up the miles and figured down to 17%...too much hassle charging with family stuff...driving the Subaru.

[dgauthier]

Originally Posted by alancw3

Interesting article on the percentage of EV owners that would buy another EV:

https://www.motor1.com/news/724788/h...an-switch-gas/

Originally Posted by Carbonita

Bloomberg April 2024 survey shows quite different responses. Large gap between Tesla owners and other BEVs, which could be due to fast charge infrastructure differences. With almost all USA moving to Tesla NACS away from CCS3, this may change, since Tesla superchargers are the most prevalent.

https://www.bloomberg.com/company/pr...g-intelligence

As Carbonita points out, there are big differences in information between these two articles. The motor1.com article states:

"(...) 46 percent of EV owners in the United States (...) want to switch to gasoline cars because of the inadequate charging infrastructure. "

While the Bloomberg Intelligence article claims:

"(...) prospective auto purchasers who already own an electrified vehicle are incredibly loyal to BEVs, with the report finding that 93% would stick with their current powertrain for their next purchase (...)"

Well, they can't both be right.

It's important to remember the fossil fuel industry stands to be a big loser in the switch to EV's, and they are fighting tooth and nail spreading anti-EV misinformation. It's hard to know who to trust.

If you want the *real* scoop, trust your friends. Have a beer with that buddy who drives an EV and see what he thinks.

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by buddybikes

Friend just picked up her new Tesla. Loves the car but can't get Apple Play to work. Driving to Maine tomorrow, added up the miles and figured down to 17%...too much hassle charging with family stuff...driving the Subaru.

Hate to break the news, but Teslas don’t have Apple CarPlay. There are a few apps that Apple and Tesla have enabled (podcasts and Apple Music) but none of the Apple CP interface is a thing on a Tesla. Unfortunate IMHO.

[Carbonita]

Tesla navigation in app or car will do a better job of estimating drive. Takes into account hills, speed, HVAC, weather. AbetterRoutePlanner works well too. The autopilot is astounding at making drive less wearying for me. Superchargers recognize car/account, so just plug in -- no fiddling with credit card. Charges at ~600miles/hour initially, as the system apriori optimizes the battery condition enroute. Between streaming audio and Bluetooth (and caraoke ) it's enough entertainment.

Originally Posted by buddybikes

Friend just picked up her new Tesla. Loves the car but can't get Apple Play to work. Driving to Maine tomorrow, added up the miles and figured down to 17%...too much hassle charging with family stuff...driving the Subaru.

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by Carbonita

Tesla navigation in app or car will do a better job of estimating drive. Takes into account hills, speed, HVAC, weather. AbetterRoutePlanner works well too. The autopilot is astounding at making drive less wearying for me. Superchargers recognize car/account, so just plug in -- no fiddling with credit card. Charges at ~600miles/hour initially, as the system apriori optimizes the battery condition enroute. Between streaming audio and Bluetooth (and caraoke ) it's enough entertainment.

Charging is great. That’s the best part. Autopilot is junk IMHO. The phantom braking events are too common and alarming. I rarely use it in anything other than light traffic, and for those who don’t know this system, I’m not referring to the Full Self Driving functionality that is a very expensive option - just the basic lane assist and adaptive cruise control. Below average.

As to navigation, yes it’s decent to get you to your destination but I’ve also had it give me extremely odd routes, like through industrial parks at 25 MPH when a through street is a couple blocks away, as well as other non-intuitive things. A friend used her phone with Google maps and once directed me to an alternate, and better, route by going one exit further in an urban environment at a sporting event. Tesla’s nav won’t let you run out of juice but as a general navigation tool isn’t optimal.

[Vertical]

The maintenance on our Tesla and Rivian are utterly minimal.

They are way quicker than virtually any car on the road.

They are both dynamically very exciting on twisty roads given the center of gravity is 1-2 feet of the ground, with ~50/50 weight distribution.

Charging infrastructure in the SF Bay Area and all our bountiful recreation opportunity means next to no compromises.

Way lower climate impact over the life of the vehicle.

We can charge our cars at my wife's work for free, so we pay next to nothing to "fuel" the cars.

Win.

[buddybikes]

Originally Posted by saab2000

Hate to break the news, but Teslas don’t have Apple CarPlay. There are a few apps that Apple and Tesla have enabled (podcasts and Apple Music) but none of the Apple CP interface is a thing on a Tesla. Unfortunate IMHO.

OK, have been in one of these once in my life, got things misunderstood...

[peanutgallery]

Originally Posted by Vertical

Way lower climate impact over the life of the vehicle

This, I do not see. Crazy large percentage of electricity is created using fossil fuels. Plus we've created another Saudi Arabia as far as raw materials

[Gsinill]

I am and always have been a car guy, but other than for nostalgia or special use cases where EVs are not there yet (e.g., towing), I cannot imagine buying another ICE vehicle at this point.
IMHO, an EV is just a better mechanical concept, e.g., regen braking, fewer moving parts, reduced wear and tear, etc.
I am not denying their benefits, but hybrids combine the cons of both concepts.

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by Gsinill

I am and always have been a car guy, but other than for nostalgia or special use cases where EVs are not there yet (e.g., towing), I cannot imagine buying another ICE vehicle at this point.
IMHO, an EV is just a better mechanical concept, e.g., regen braking, fewer moving parts, reduced wear and tear, etc.

This is kind of how I see it as well. The benefits I didn’t expect to see are the vastly reduced maintenance. I’ve had it now for more than 18 months and other than filling the wiper fluid tank and rotating tires while swapping out winter and summer wheels, have performed zero maintenance. There is next to nothing that is regularly scheduled.

And yeah, it’s super efficient. The battery has the energy equivalent of about 4 gallons of gasoline or maybe even less yet will go a nominal 330 miles. The reality is less but it’s still remarkably low usage of energy.

As my daily driver it’s been easy to live with beyond my hate for the screen interface through which all things need to go.

[p nut]

Originally Posted by Gsinill

I am and always have been a car guy, but other than for nostalgia or special use cases where EVs are not there yet (e.g., towing), I cannot imagine buying another ICE vehicle at this point.
IMHO, an EV is just a better mechanical concept, e.g., regen braking, fewer moving parts, reduced wear and tear, etc.
I am not denying their benefits, but hybrids combine the cons of both concepts.

I tried to be more accepting of EV’s. And almost bought one earlier this year (for the wife). But they just don’t work for me for a myriad of reasons. I live out West and for 200+ mile road trips, charging stations are a nightmare. I like to go far into the backcountry. And lastly, I like to row my own gears.

But if I were to get one today, the cybertruck would be at the bottom of the list. And a Rivian would be at the top.