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

[benb]

Originally Posted by paredown

Great rant--I did not know about the "travel" rules that give extra credits to established car makers for every vehicle they sell in CA. What a boondoggle--I now understand why the Fiat 500e is a CA/OR only vehicle...

Yah that article on medium about the travel credits is fascinating.

I was rooting for the Bolt when it came out but it's so weird how GM clearly doesn't want to sell it. Without ever reading about it I got the feeling that was going on when I went to try and see if I could get a Bolt test drive.

The thing with the Volt is super weird too cause most people seem to love the Volt so it was really weird they cancelled it, the Bolt certainly doesn't 100% replace it.

I wouldn't have much worries about a Tesla or other EV I think. I see tons and tons of Teslas ever day, too many to count, they have become incredibly common here. I've never seen one broken down.

I've seen a lot of Gasoline powered cars burning into the ground too so it's mostly delusional to think that's only a risk with EVs.. I've seen multiple Audis burning to the frame, Jeeps, Honda CRV, Chevy full size Van. Still super rare considering the # of years I've been driving.

Realistically if I tried to guess what vehicles I see broken down the most on the side of the road or being loaded onto flatbeds on the highway without signs of crashes it's high end German cars that look pretty new by a huge margin. Mercedes-Benz for sure would be what I think I've seen most frequently broken down.

[jm714]

I leased a Chevy Volt in July of 2018 to see what an EV was all about. My commute is 3.5 miles. I mostly charge at home on the 120v outlet, I can typically get a full charge overnight, which is 53 miles of range on the Volt for me. When I charge at EV charging stations they typically cost me about a $1 per 10 miles of charge. Gas is $3.79 a gallon in my neighborhood right now. I have 12,000 miles on the car so far and I am on my 4th tank of gas.

The Volt has changed the way I drive. I am quite content setting the cruise at 65 in the slow lane and maximizing my range as much as possible, sometimes I draft semis for more range. The farthest I have gone on a charge is 58 miles. My wife loves the change in my driving.

My gripe with the Volt is the sight lines, my high school senior son wont drive it because he hates the sight lines. When my lease runs out I will probably go to a full EV, because my mindset has changed to a point where I hate to burn gas.

I have a cousin in socal that makes trips to Portland on a regular basis in his Model S Tesla, he has all his charging stops mapped out for coffee, lunch etc where he sits down and reads a book until the car has enough range to get him to next stop.

[p nut]

Originally Posted by YesNdeed

...A rear drive wagon @ 275hp? Oh, I'm in! And 300 miles on a charge is plenty for most of the driving I do. For the rest, I'll suffer the limitation of planning my trips according to where stations will be in the future. As it stands, my car gets about 350-375 highway miles on a tank. All it takes is a little oversight, and suddenly even petrol stations aren't plentiful enough.

Although, if your ICE car runs out of gas, a quick call to AAA or a quick trip to the gas station, which is typically just a few miles to the next station, you're good to go. No need to tow the whole car (flatbed) to a charging station.

[nickl]

Originally Posted by paredown

Great rant--I did not know about the "travel" rules that give extra credits to established car makers for every vehicle they sell in CA. What a boondoggle--I now understand why the Fiat 500e is a CA/OR only vehicle...

The main reason that the 500e was only sold in a few states was that FCA stated they lost money on every one sold. Of course without making a major commitment to EV production this was inevitable due to the economies of scale.

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by jm714

...my high school senior son wont drive it because he hates the sight lines. ....

yeah, that's why he won't drive it!

I made my son drive a Prius.....

[rinconryder]

Another Tesla fan here. I have had a model S for over 2 years and love that car. This is coming from someone who isn't really a gear head so I can't attest to how it drives vs. say an M5 or porsche. But if you have been paying attention Tesla has really catapulted the car industry into a new direction. Big screens - tesla. Over the air updates - Tesla. Autopilot - Tesla. Using phone to access car - Tesla. And I am sure there are more. It's just a fantastic car in my opinion and I will buy another when the time comes.

That being said it is so low maintenance I forgot to rotate the tires resulting in my tires wearing unevenly.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by 54ny77

I'm waiting for an EV Cobra kit car with fake big block sound pumped through the stereo and side pipes. Hey, at least my calves wont burn.



Might be waiting awhile.

Plenty of traditional "performance" cars now play engine sounds through their speakers to emulate being in a too fast, too furious scene, so....

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[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Plenty of traditional "performance" cars now play engine sounds through their speakers to emulate being in a too fast, too furious scene, so....

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really?

[pdxharth]

We were a one car family until I changed jobs over three years ago. One full year of 15 mile commutes each way by bicycle made me realize I wanted a second car. Enter a two year old Nissan Leaf for $10K with 23K miles on the odometer. We figured we would keep it two or three years, then upgrade to something with better range. We had no idea we would fall in love with the damned thing! Yeah, it's a cheap car with ****ty visibility, and I don't like it much as a car, but I love the electric powertrain. And for 10 grand, it is worth every penny.

Our old Subie wagon died this year, and I was looking forward to jumping into a VW Sportwagen. My wife had other ideas and changed my mind. We bought a '16 Ford C-Max plug-in. It is a much nicer car than the Leaf and I hope it has enough room for our week-long car-camping trips that the Subie excelled at. We'll see.

So now both of us can drive to work when needed and not use any gas. We already plan to sell the Ford in a couple years and go full electric. Several friends have already volunteered to trade cars with us when we need the extra range for trips (including a friend with a Sportwagen).

Electric is the way to go. I am convinced. I will forever miss my beloved manual transmissions, but that's about it.

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

really?

Yes, really. Even great names like Porsche use the car’s audio system to augment the acoustic signature inside the cabin. From what I understand it is pretty transparent and can even be adjusted and disabled.

Fake, or augmented, exhaust note is a very real thing. Pun intended.

Porsche also calls their top of the line electric Taycan the Turbo S. Ironic for a car with no engine.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

really?

https://jalopnik.com/the-2015-ford-m...ise-1638853878

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[CAAD]

No personal experience as an owner but a buddy of mine has a Model S. It's a decent car. With the build quality, I wouldn't categorize it as being a luxury brand. It's just a piece of tech. Plus the screen leaked, door handle didn't present, he seems to be a beta tester.

My biggest gripe with electric cars are the batteries/charging times. Plus the current battery technology isn't sustainable. Fuel cell is the way of the future. Gas stations could produce their own hydrogen on-site. All you need is a water source and electricity to produce the stuff. Fast to fill up and about the same range as using unleaded. The problem is technology, and cost. Hopefully, they are still working on it. The cars are out there but the problem is infrastructure.

[joep2517]

My wife owns a Tesla Model 3. She's purchased it about a year ago. She loves it. She bought it b/c of two reasons - our environment and in the long run - the savings. So far, so good. Her only negative is it's a sedan - she has driven an SUV for 20+ years.

I'm a car guy. I grew up with a brother who would race anything he could drive. I was very skeptical. I spoke to a friend who owns a Model S and he explained the virtues of the car and how easy it was to transition from ICE to an EV. After driving it a few times, I fell in love with the car. The acceleration is amazing.

We are saving money but I cannot quantify it. My wife used to fill up her car weekly and it would cost around $30/week. I don't believe our electricity bill has increased that much.

[YesNdeed]

Originally Posted by p nut

Although, if your ICE car runs out of gas, a quick call to AAA or a quick trip to the gas station, which is typically just a few miles to the next station, you're good to go. No need to tow the whole car (flatbed) to a charging station.

Very true. But I remain optimistic that in the future AAA and possibly towing services alike (for a service fee) will have a means of supplementing a short range worth of charge for emergencies. If I'm out cell range and none of that is available, that would make for car pushing I'm not up for.

[YesNdeed]

Originally Posted by zap

Yes, probably one reason why some Tesla's combust. German manufacturers want to reduce that risk as much as possible.

That's pretty sound logic on the German's part, I'd say.