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

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

Most of the car manufacturers push the limit, and as they say in racing, it's only cheating if you get caught. VAG got caught. MB got caught at the same time and their story was lost in the background noise.

Case in point. Bosch was part of the Dieselgate scandal. Open a hood on any European car, and many others, and you'll see Bosch ignition components.

VAG is moving pretty quickly to electrify its fleet and has very interesting offerings from each of its brands. It absolutely has a vested interest in making EV charging easier and more accessible.

We got money from MB, Audi, and Bosch from the diesel scandals. It was kind of a nice windfall. Still have the cars … really like them.

[zap]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

VAG is moving pretty quickly to electrify its fleet and has very interesting offerings from each of its brands. It absolutely has a vested interest in making EV charging easier and more accessible.

Agreed.

Some of the rebate monies to install ev chargers in homes comes from the VW settlement. Mercedes has a pretty diverse portfolio of ev's and is going to be building a charging infrastructure in the US as well.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by zap

Mercedes has a pretty diverse portfolio of ev's and is going to be building a charging infrastructure in the US as well.

All I can say is that as this continues to expand the chargers d@mn well be interoperable with the rest of the cars on the road. Those guys need to come up with a standard and stick to it. Imagine if a Ford only ran on gas from a Ford station, a Chevy from a Chevy station, etc.

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by Louis

All I can say is that as this continues to expand the chargers d@mn well be interoperable with the rest of the cars on the road. Those guys need to come up with a standard and stick to it. Imagine if a Ford only ran on gas from a Ford station, a Chevy from a Chevy station, etc.

Nothing that can't be fixed with a couple of paper clips ...

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by Louis

All I can say is that as this continues to expand the chargers d@mn well be interoperable with the rest of the cars on the road. Those guys need to come up with a standard and stick to it. Imagine if a Ford only ran on gas from a Ford station, a Chevy from a Chevy station, etc.

Well, governments in north America have jumped into the neo-liberal free market rabbit hole and as such are deathly averse to any type of regulation. We shall have to deal with an endless mirage of non-standards for a long time to come.

[72gmc]

Originally Posted by Louis

All I can say is that as this continues to expand the chargers d@mn well be interoperable with the rest of the cars on the road. Those guys need to come up with a standard and stick to it. Imagine if a Ford only ran on gas from a Ford station, a Chevy from a Chevy station, etc.

Big opening for someone to develop and sell adapters, like all of those global outlet adapters you can buy at the airport.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

We got money from MB, Audi, and Bosch from the diesel scandals. It was kind of a nice windfall. Still have the cars … really like them.

I got a *lot* of money from VW, more from Bosch and rolled some of it into an Audi diesel. I might be buying another shortly. Lovely cars.

[saab2000]

I’m home now. For anyone interested in the semi-long road trip experience I can only report that it was very similar to a road trip in a gas car. A few more short stops and a couple of longish stops that doubled as food breaks, mental breaks, bathroom breaks, etc.

Fear of road tripping in the Tesla, at least in the eastern half of the US, is completely deflated.

The trip was easy.

[Mr. Pink]

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/brok...ry?id=97389275

[jimcav]

that "article" about the poor NY college student with the EV doesn't give any details on the horrors of the lack of software to find charging stations.

I'm about at least 12-24 months out from considering EV for one of our 2 modern cars (I have some vintage 60-70s muscle for fun/nostalgia, not for really getting anywhere), but when I checked before x-mas there were several apps that gave good info on charging places between me (SoCal) and southern Indiana, and then onto DC area. That is the only true long distance trip I do.

I think I used better route planner, and even did a trip plan up to hurricane UT, as I try to get up there once a year and wondered how much "worse" it would be in EV. About an hour longer in a chevy bolt than my normal stopping in my truck that gets about 13-15 mpg depending on prevailing winds net elevation gain.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by jimcav

that "article" about the poor NY college student with the EV doesn't give any details on the horrors of the lack of software to find charging stations.

I'm about at least 12-24 months out from considering EV for one of our 2 modern cars (I have some vintage 60-70s muscle for fun/nostalgia, not for really getting anywhere), but when I checked before x-mas there were several apps that gave good info on charging places between me (SoCal) and southern Indiana, and then onto DC area. That is the only true long distance trip I do.

I think I used better route planner, and even did a trip plan up to hurricane UT, as I try to get up there once a year and wondered how much "worse" it would be in EV. About an hour longer in a chevy bolt than my normal stopping in my truck that gets about 13-15 mpg depending on prevailing winds net elevation gain.

Do those apps tell what chargers are non-functional, because that's a real problem? Also, I don't think that they tell if the charger(s) are currently in use, which could mean a long wait.

[jimcav]

Originally Posted by MikeD

Do those apps tell what chargers are non-functional, because that's a real problem? Also, I don't think that they tell if the charger(s) are currently in use, which could mean a long wait.

when I did the route to UT, I could click on the charge location and it would show the details of what/where it was, how many chargers, and whether functioning. I don't remember it showing 'in use' or not, but I used the web-based planner, not the actual phone app.

I'm sure others here who actually have an EV can comment on the effectiveness of what they use. Per my wife's friends with a Tesla, however that Tesla system works, it has been good for them (although the longest trip I've heard discussed is about a 5-6 hour car ride).

[PSC]

Tesla app works great for Tesla specific chargers. We use PlugShare for finding other chargers.

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by jimcav

when I did the route to UT, I could click on the charge location and it would show the details of what/where it was, how many chargers, and whether functioning. I don't remember it showing 'in use' or not, but I used the web-based planner, not the actual phone app.

I'm sure others here who actually have an EV can comment on the effectiveness of what they use. Per my wife's friends with a Tesla, however that Tesla system works, it has been good for them (although the longest trip I've heard discussed is about a 5-6 hour car ride).

I just did a 1900ish mile Tesla trip. Roughly. Out and back and it would have been more than one day in an EV or a gas trip because I’m not doing solo 900 mile days anymore, regardless of propulsion method or energy storage method. It was different than a gas car but not that much different. My buddy and I traveled from the upper Midwest in two Tesla Model Ys to the Florida Panhandle.

The only place we ran into charger confusion was in Birmingham, Alabama. It appeared as if the navigation system routed us around a couple of inoperable chargers in Birmingham and sent us to a charger where we both actually had to wait a bit. This is highly unusual if you’re not in a super high EV density location like LA or Las Vegas or in between. Otherwise it was pretty seamless. My experiences are documented in past postings. We waited about 20 minutes each for a charger.

My experiences only reflect Tesla Supercharging, which was mostly positive. It’s not quite as spontaneous as filling up an ICE car but at the end of the day it’s not ultimately so different either.

It is my understanding that other brands are less reliable and widespread but I have no experience with them. The industry needs standardization and growth in terms of distribution, quality and reliability for EVs to become ubiquitous. Without these changes it may wither and die on the vine.

Commentary: Tesla? How many people know the story here? No offense to the troubled genius on whom the name is based: Nikola Tesla. People need to know who he was. Our world would be much different without his vision. Elon Musk wishes he were Nikola Tesla but he’s not, at least not with alternating current and the revolution this brought to the world. Maybe with commercial rocketry, but not really with electricity. At least the name honors the real visionary.

[oldpotatoe]

I remember driving to Lost Vegas..either out of St George, or Overton, NV..there's a sign, 'last gas for 260 miles' or some such..Maybe driving to Salt Lake(?)...wonder if there's a 'last chance for trons' signs there now?

What's coming..now in Europe and other places. Any other mega-oil companies seeing the future besides Shell?