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

[Brian Smith]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

How does the air conditioner on electric vehicles operate out of curiosity? What spins the compressor ? Thinking of a traditional ICE car; modern cars have eliminated the need for belt drive power steering pumps and obviously EVs don’t need an alternator so that leaves the large load of the AC compressor. How’s that work?

Are you truly a scientist of some sort and yet are asking without an expectation about how, absent being a wasteful accessory drive belt, a means of gas compression might be made to work? Really?

In reality, maintaining the presence of a 12V bus for EVs, in addition to 12V DC storage, has been a source of reliability issues for some, and so what seems "obvious" to you about the need for an alternator might actually also not be as true and obvious as it seems. Part of developing the next iteration of the most affordable EVs is actually involving the abandonment of the supply chain ties to the historic 12V standard in favor of a higher voltage DC control apparatus/sensor suite.

[batman1425]

Where I live EVs are very common and in the city, it makes perfect sense. For 99% of the driving I do, it would be the perfect fit and if I could afford one, I'd already have one. But alas, still driving the ICE station wagon. Once the price differential for the EV option is a bit more manageable and ranges are reliably into the 500mi+, which I'm betting will be in the next 3-5yrs I'm in.

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

How does the air conditioner on electric vehicles operate out of curiosity? What spins the compressor ?

An electric motor.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by Polyglot

There is really nothing worse than driving a stick with heavy clutch pedal while sitting in a traffic jam in excess heat (returning from the beach.)

+1 on that 100%. A MT in bumper-to-bumper traffic really stinks. Luckily I don't get stuck in that very often.

[vtsnowplow]

Raining for the ram 1500 electric. They did not seem to screw up the looks and might have the longest range when it comes out.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by vtsnowplow

Raining for the ram 1500 electric. They did not seem to screw up the looks and might have the longest range when it comes out.

I'll go way out on a limb here, and say that I bet they didn't hire the design team that did the Rivian...

[KinPer]

Originally Posted by kppolich

A/C in my Tesla is silent and the whole dash is a vent so thats nice. Running it at a moderate temp and fan speed dings about 3% of total battery life using the onboard 400volt battery.

The heat pump is the real star of the show, saving range vs forced air.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyGgrkeds5U
The app also lets you turn on/off heated seats, steering wheel, defrost, pet mode, and notifies you if a door is left open or a window is left down so you can 'roll' it up via the app.


More importantly is the Tesla app that lets you vent the windows with a touch of a button and also schedule the car to be at your desired temperature and pre-conditioned any time of day. You can also set max internal temps that will automatically turn on the AC

I don't really understand what a pet mode is. What's the temperature? And for which specific pets, is it not specified?
A comfortable temperature for a dog might be one temperature, but for some lizard it might be another.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by KevinC View Post
What do the naysayers gain by continually by to post the same comments over and over again?
We get it, you’re resistant to change…

There will not be a hard and fast one size fits all solution to anthropomorphic climate change. Nor will every proposed solution turn out to be as effective as initially billed.

To do nothing until the perfect solution exists is a sure fire path to failure.

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Living in an echo chamber and surrounding yourself with people who only support your decisions is not really great either. To be fair, the second half of your argument here has been said also 100x in this thread.

I believe potential EV customers would want to hear both the plusses and the minuses of ownership, not just the best stuff.

As to the last sentence, I dont know if I agree with that with regard to purchasing a vehicle. I believe if someone owns a good, efficient gas car right now, it may not be the "path to failure" to just hold onto it, continue driving what they already own, and not buy anything new.

No kidding, discussion group, discuss or not. If ya get tired of the 'rhetoric', don't read it or comment.

As for a 'place to start', on a LOT of subjects....the level of knowledge, experiences and expertise here on this forum is amazing...on everything from EVs to, shudder, chain lube and tubeless tires...

I'll often go here to see what others think, or start an 'OT' thread and get great advice. Even on EVs...

[Smitty2k1]

Originally Posted by batman1425

Where I live EVs are very common and in the city, it makes perfect sense. For 99% of the driving I do, it would be the perfect fit and if I could afford one, I'd already have one. But alas, still driving the ICE station wagon. Once the price differential for the EV option is a bit more manageable and ranges are reliably into the 500mi+, which I'm betting will be in the next 3-5yrs I'm in.

Curious what you're driving now. Chevy Bolt is under $30,000 MSRP and that's pretty affordable for a new car these days. Also curious what you need a 500 mile range for rather than the existing 300 mile ranges?

I'm not an EV owner myself but I don't see any shortcomings from the current fleet.

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

How does the air conditioner on electric vehicles operate out of curiosity? What spins the compressor ? Thinking of a traditional ICE car; modern cars have eliminated the need for belt drive power steering pumps and obviously EVs don’t need an alternator so that leaves the large load of the AC compressor. How’s that work?

A small electric motor. Same way the ac in your house works.

[kppolich]

Originally Posted by KinPer

I don't really understand what a pet mode is. What's the temperature? And for which specific pets, is it not specified?
A comfortable temperature for a dog might be one temperature, but for some lizard it might be another.

Putting the car in pet mode just puts a nice message on the screen for people walking by to say 'hey its XX degrees in here, I'm fine.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8S50Xd9v08

You get to set the temp to whatever your pet desires.

[KevinC]

Yup, antoropogenic. Used the wrong $5 word.

I’m not a EV owner yet. My current vehicle is not quite 4 years old and has only 31000 mi (6000 mi by my hand in 18 mos). Certainly not going to ditch it any time soon. I don’t advocate useless consumerism under any circumstances, not even bikes.

I realize this is an OT thread on the niche discussion forum.
Per the OP “anyone driving them or seriously looked at them” still make me question the comments about lack of “convenience” and “how Es are currently generated”
The coolest thing to me is that EVs are already so clean and efficient using current mixed generation. As the grid greens (it will), so will your EV. Try that with a 1, 10, or 20 year old ICE! Also, precious metal recycling isn’t common yet, but with increasing demand and rising prices it will be. Get in now on the ground floor!

EVs aren’t for everyone at the moment, understood.
If you haven’t driven or considered one, is this thread for you???

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by KinPer

I don't really understand what a pet mode is. What's the temperature? And for which specific pets, is it not specified?
A comfortable temperature for a dog might be one temperature, but for some lizard it might be another.

The latest Tesla firmware lets you select the type of pet, e.g. “Lizard-Doodle, 20-30 lbs” .

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by Smitty2k1

Curious what you're driving now. Chevy Bolt is under $30,000 MSRP and that's pretty affordable for a new car these days. Also curious what you need a 500 mile range for rather than the existing 300 mile ranges?

I'm not an EV owner myself but I don't see any shortcomings from the current fleet.

GM stopped making the Bolt. Nothing but high priced EVs from them now as they lost a lot of money on the Bolt and it was subject to a massive recall due to battery fires.

Edit: It looks like you can still buy one now. Not sure if they are still building them now or what I saw online was from current inventory.

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by MikeD

GM stopped making the Bolt. Nothing but high priced EVs from them now as they lost a lot of money on the Bolt and it was subject to a massive recall due to battery fires.

The Bolt is still being sold. The Equinox EV will be coming out soon at the same (roughly) $30k price.