Electric transportation? The future or?

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Tesla was effective at establishing the paradigm of electric car as a gadget with wheels. Very tech forward, frequent OTA updates that refine and introduce features. Most of the other traditional car manufacturers have blown it in this regard - they just can’t crack the OTA stuff. Lots of press recently on how this is crippling VW (and their sub brands).

Ford is actually accomplishing it. Not only are they delivering updates that continue to improve on informatics but they’re actually delivering a pretty awesome self-driving experience. I’ll skip the details - you can read about Blue Cruise - but what I’ll say is that I feel like the Mach-E collaborates, instead of competes, with me. It’s a fun experience.

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42

Jim,
You and I might have to lineup at the Christmas tree in MachE’s huh……how fun would that be :+1:t2:

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Maybe we need this one……in black of course

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image1600×1200 305 KB

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Have a small EV and solar panels. 10000 free miles to work every year. Use the diesel 4x4 for longer journeys and snowy/icy days.

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45

My electric investment will be a fat tire e-bike that eliminates using a car around town.

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46

There is so much wrong with this way of thinking about EV. You are missing common use cases for cars, as well as the fact that gas stations are not the only way to fuel up.

I got my EV in December 2017. Since then, I’ve never visited a gas station (obviously), but only rarely do I visit a charger. I’d wager it’s been about ten times in the last six years.

How? Well, I think I drive my car like the vast majority of people and “fuel it up” in the best way possible.

Mostly, I drive less than 100 miles a day in the town I live in, or I will go twice or so that distance when driving to a nearby city. Rarely do I get into the high 200-mile range. The car can get ~300 miles without issues, and newer models of my car can easily do 350+ mile range. At 40mph (city driving average?), that’d be 8+ hours of driving. Shoot me if I have to drive that much – I’d rather not live my life in a car.

Every night I plug in at my garage at home. Every morning I have a “full tank” and more than enough range to cover my day easily. Night charging gives me hugely discounted electricity rates as well, so it’s dirt cheap, and I dont care if it charges all night, since I’m asleep.

When on road trips to faraway cities, which are very rare for me, I need to visit a supercharger (yes, Tesla). My car is old and slow charging, but it’s good enough to be done in the time period I have to take bathroom breaks for the kiddos and wife.

Now, this is on my 6 year old Model X. The newer ones have a longer range and charge way faster. The latest chargers are coming out to support the next generation of batteries. Those chargers are capable of 1kV at 615A. Even at a substantial drop and pulling off 500kW charging, we are talking about charging a 100kWh battery from 20% to 80% in 7 minutes. Unless you are already in your 80s, that’s happening easily in your lifetime.

The driving consumer world is mostly like Mrs.Rimmer (that includes me!). The driving industrial world needs far less infrastructure.

You clearly have principles involved with this choice. Unfortunately, you will end up with an inferior product. For now for sure.

I just ordered a Cake Bukk for fun in the forest :slight_smile:

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47

What about the EV downsides?
Much heavier weight of the vehicle at present compared to ice means accelerated wear on our roads that are already crumbling away as it is.
More wear on tires, brakes, suspension due to said weight.
Suffer an accident in an EV and if the battery pack suffers even slight damage then it’s likely a total write off.
Insurance premiums are hit hard by this.
Ice has had its day but EV is not the way of the future IMHO.

However it’s certainly better than a network switch debate!:grin:

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There’s a big drive (pun intended) here in the UK for all businesses, small to large, to have charging points. My employers business is medium sized. Until I joined the business they hadn’t considered PV panels for the roof.

Having spent the last 8 years working in the renewables sector it seem daft we aren’t all embracing PV.

I reference this as more and more places around where I live, such as your fast food restaurants, coffee shops are all having charging points fitted. PV can power EVC’s

For cars the tech is there for the ranges Danny makes reference to.

I drive a van and whilst the majority of the Amazon delivery vans in our area are electric, their range is poor. I see quite a number parked up charging to be able to complete their rounds.

I can and regularly do 300 to 400 miles a day for work. The last small van I trialled had a claimed range of 150 miles. Flat roads I guess. My area of England isn’t flat and I managed a range of 105 miles and it was done. Thankfully I got back to my office from a client meeting. My client didn’t have means to charge it whilst there.

If Toyotas hydrogen engine is a true starter, safe and reliable then that’s the drop in engine of choice I guess for those who need longer range, bigger vehicles.

Electric cars with batteries sadly cost lots to produce the batteries but also the disposal is tricky, expensive and not global friendly.

Time will tell for the true future of battery powered cars. The current tech in the Tesla’s is the standard to aim for and maybe they should be ‘sharing to be global caring’.

Near me, 2 gas stations have closed for full refurbishment. This isn’t just to cater for EVC’s, but to change the shop into a small grocery store where you’d be able to do almost a weekly food shop. This suggests they know they need to change as there will be a loss in revenue coming, although not soon enough.

Fuel costs have dropped quite a bit in the UK, our roads are as busy as ever. Some of the clients premises I visit are BMW/Mini car dealerships. They have not really seen a slow down in car sales, more so the larger engine vehicles.

Having 3 young children I worry what the world is going to be like for them and their children etc.

Back to the music threads now. :+1:

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Mr @AceRimmer , trust you :man_facepalming::rofl:

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Not sure if this has already been mentioned in this thread, but electric cars are super quiet.
Me and my wife walk a lot, as we enjoy the exercise. There is certainly a requirement for the pedestrian to have a heightened sense of awareness when crossing the road. The EV’s creep up on you! Speaking from near miss experience :grin:

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From the UK Highway Code

Rule 7

The Green Cross Code. The advice given below on crossing the road is for all pedestrians. Children should be taught the Code and should not be allowed out alone until they can understand and use it properly. The age when they can do this is different for each child. Many children cannot judge how fast vehicles are going or how far away they are. Children learn by example, so parents and carers should always use the Code in full when out with their children. They are responsible for deciding at what age children can use it safely by themselves.

A First find a safe place to cross and where there is space to reach the pavement on the other side. Where there is a crossing nearby, use it. It is safer to cross using a subway, a footbridge, an island, a zebra, pelican, toucan or puffin crossing, or where there is a crossing point controlled by a police officer, a school crossing patrol or a traffic warden. Otherwise choose a place where you can see clearly in all directions. Try to avoid crossing between parked cars (see Rule 14), on a blind bend, or close to the brow of a hill. Move to a space where drivers and riders can see you clearly. Do not cross the road diagonally.

Rule 7: Look all around and listen for traffic before crossing

Rule 7: Look all around and listen for traffic before crossing

B Stop just before you get to the kerb, where you can see if anything is coming. Do not get too close to the traffic. If there’s no pavement, keep back from the edge of the road but make sure you can still see approaching traffic.

C Look all around for traffic and listen. Traffic could come from any direction. Listen as well, because you can sometimes hear traffic before you see it.

D If traffic is coming, let it pass. Look all around again and listen. Do not cross until there is a safe gap in the traffic and you are certain that there is plenty of time. Remember, even if traffic is a long way off, it may be approaching very quickly.

E When it is safe, go straight across the road – do not run. Keep looking and listening for traffic while you cross, in case there is any traffic you did not see, or in case other traffic appears suddenly. Look out for cyclists and motorcyclists travelling between lanes of traffic. Do not walk diagonally across the road.

F For electric cars, use your bat senses to sense them approaching or you’ll get knocked over

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I take it that you are aware that a very large number of automobile owners live in multiple dwelling units, aka apartments, where overnight charging is not available?

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If they have cars, they must park somewhere overnight.

When I purchased the vehicle, I was in Brooklyn, living in a building with 58 units. New construction laws required a spot built per residential unit. I had a spot in a basement lot. I owned the spot, and I had a charger installed. In Brooklyn, however, I never came even close to driving 100 miles per day. It was probably more like 200 miles every week.

The infrastructure will come faster than expected, especially if you seek it out.

Unsure how other brands work, but brakes rarely get used in a Tesla due to regenerative braking. People see 200k+ miles without replacing their brakes/pads.

Tires are a different story. The biggest problem there is the awesome torque. You really do wear them out faster by accelerating so quickly.

I can’t speak to suspensions, but in about 3 decades of driving, I’ve never had a problem with suspension in any vehicle. Not saying it doesn’t happen, but it’s not on my list of concerns.

That’s just not true. The battery packs are modular (at least in the Tesla), and a damaged pack can be replaced independently.

If the ICE’s “days” have passed, I’m super curious about what you think will replace them.

One of the best aspects of the electric motor!

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54

Yup, just been told by my garage that I’ll need to replace my rear tyres in a couple of months. This is on a 2 year-old Skoda Enyaq that’s only done 12,500 km…

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Not the only source I have read this of late.

My choice for alternative to ice would be hydrogen fuel cell of the current (sic) available technology.

Toyota are quite deep into that so far.
We will see…

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56

whoa… what are those tires?

I’ll have had to replace Pirelli Scorpion 22" twice in 6 years (once for summer, once for winter). But that’s nearly 100k km.

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God knows - they came with the car. I just drive the car from A to B; I have never been interested in the finer points of cars.

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You have a model that is rear wheel drive only? With torque vectoring and the eco mode parameters I would think that tire shredding would be controlled by the loose nut behind the steering wheel. With an EV I would definitely consider all wheel drive to be the way to go.
Your Skoda looks like a lot of fun, I’d probably need many tires as well :wink:

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Yup, rear wheel drive, and definitely a loose nut in charge…

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Might have to install the egg between your foot and the go-go potentiometer :joy: Danny’s not kidding, sounds like you’re on race qualifying tires. That’s pretty excessive wear unless the kids are taking it to the drifting track.

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