Electric Car thread
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Readytoride
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Maybe the truck industry. Or the public transportation industry with buses, maybe smaller busses. These two markets need/demand a longer range battery but if trucks and buses are made with swappable batteries they can be kept on the road longer and won't require massive infrastructure to supply/service their needs. Buses are unique because they use the same local central depot where recharging is ideal. Buses going 100 miles a day will be easy to recharge each shift. I can only see battery swapping if the buses have longer routes, like going interstate. Trucks use specialized fueling stations designed for long haul tractor trailers so setting up a facility at each fueling station to "drop and swap" might be a workable option if the upcoming electric trucks are equipped with identical batteries with easy disconnect/reconnect plug and play wiring.
Cars? Nope. Don't see swapping batteries happening at all. Most cars service as grocery getters and commuter transportation within easy range of Level 2 charging. Long distance drives are relatively infrequent for most of the population, and with the build out of Level 3s specifically for cars, plus the opening of the widespread national and international Tesla charging stations, automotive fast charging will be easier and more available. Plus bus and tractor trailer battery swaps won't be open to all the insurance and mechanical problems an automobile swap system could possibly incur. That's a big can of worms.
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That roadtax is a mess - 2.5 c / km on an ev or 2.1 c/ km on phev , designed to get back the equivalent to our fuel tax and allegedly used for road maintenance. Apparently each year the owner submits an image of the odometer AND has to keep this for 5 years. It sounds fair until you consider transport industries get their road tax back as tax credits, and local roads are actually maintained by councils so funded by a different system! I'd argue a phev only has the battery range for local trips , so when using nationally funded infrastructure on longer trips they are paying petrol tax anyway?
I'd also argue the 10% gst on the purchase cost goes a long way to that $3 k subsidy ( working on the average ev being $20 k more than an ice equivalent) .
It all adds up to a model favoring corporates. Not that I'm complaining - I work in a medical clinic , so theoretically we could purchase a fleet of ev's gst free , charge via solar and use vehicle to grid to make money overnight . Tax depreciate them over a few years whilst they clock up minimal km (eg clinic to hospital when the dr has ridden to work) . IF the fringe benefit tax exemption also happens we can provide ev's to staff as well. Ideally this would access fleet discounts , give us electricity stability during power outages and bush fire events, plus potentially encourage staff retention ( it's expensive training replacement staff with the modern tendency to job changes every few years) . Every couple of years those low km vehicles can be sold at appropriate prices to staff / their families.....lets just say I have 3 kids and they will be leaving for uni at 2 year intervals. I'll confess that under our previous govt it made more financial sense for the first to inherit an ice vehicle, and that road tax means the second will be inheriting a yaris cross rather than a phev mitsubishi. I'm NOT happy about that ! ( we came so close to buying an mg zs ev for her, but availability +/- uncertainty about the fbt killed that purchase)
Readytoride
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Our added EV fee for Virginia car registration is/was an eye opener. Way more than the folks with ICE cars would pay in fuel taxes annually. Don't know how they came up with the amounts to add onto the annual vehicle registration (probably just tossing dollar amounts into the air and seeing which ones floated the most funds from the rich bastards that dared to drive electric). I was shocked the first time I saw the cost of my annual registration when the state enacted that flat rate road use fee. The fee was much lower the following year, probably from the legislature being chastised on the fleecing of your average EV driver that couldn't write the additional fee off as a business expense.
Then the legislation last year decided that to make it "more fair and equitable" for those driving lesser distances in their EVs and/or fuel efficient cars. They would implement a program for fees based upon mileage driven. Starting with a very low registration fee, the state would collect a monthly fee straight from the car owner's account in the program (funded by the owner's bank account) for miles driven up until those monthly costs equaled the regular EV "added fee" usually paid at registration They gave a contract to a third party to supply a transponder which would be attached to the vehicle's diagnostic port.
Sounds good, right? Less miles = less fee? Thats what was promoted in lots of "feel good" literature for this program. All well and good ... until one signed up, created the required account, funded it from one's bank account agreeing that the program will automatically do withdrawls from the bank account to pay the fees for mileage used, and agreed to have the transponder attached to the car at all times to read the car's mileage. And then, only then, did the contract's fine print make an appearance. And what a doozy that was! According to the contract for a car owner to be in this program, all sorts of information was going to be collected by the transponder - the scope of which Big Brother would have been proud. I have a Prius that gets driven only rarely (it spends more time sitting in the garage while we use the EV daily) so I thought this "pay for only the miles driven" was a good idea, and signed up. Once I was in the system was when I received that contract which detailed (for the first time) exactly what the program collected beyond just daily miles. I read it with growing alarm at the invasive data collection, and by the time I'd finished reading the contract I walked into the garage, pulled that transponder off the car, and contacted the state's motor vehicle department I was withdrawing from the program effective immediately. They took their good old time sending me the postage label for returning the transponder while they tried their best to encourage me to stay in the program. Nothing doing. I'd rather pay 3x the flat fee than have all my movements and whereabouts minute by minute GPS tracked and recorded in a third party database somewhere. It wasn't just the miles they collected. Oh, no. It was a complete GPS tracked dossier of where I went, the times involved from start to finish, exact places and locations, the speeds of my vehicle, routes taken, etc. From the second the car was on until it was turned off, and then kept recording while my car sat unused.
In short, I was hoodwinked to sign up with the promise the program would only record miles driven. That was a lie.
Several months later I'm still waiting for an updated registration bill to pay the flat fee for the Prius, but have yet to see anything. They still have my bank account for the program online, even though my initial fee was credited back to me. Not happy with that, but at least it shows as having a zero balance.
Unfortunately, I do think this type of program was designed as a testing ground for implementing it as a regular thing in the future when there are more EVs on the road. I would hope, however, they will rein in the excessive, invasive amount of data collected to just the mileage alone. Until then I'll pay that egregious flat rate fee in order to keep Big Brother out of my life regarding my driving and miles on the road.
Sorry for the rant. The sneak attack after the initial sign-up still rankles me.
On a bright note my solar is doing a terrific job supplying all the power needed for charging my EV daily, and the annual cash benefit for the next 15 years from selling my solar energy credits on the open market (Virginia is one of a handful of states that is part of the new SREC program) more than pays for the road use fee on both my EV and the hybrid.
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The climate is changing ?? I agree : But man are you indoctrinated . Seriously do you actually believe what you just wrote . It's the narrative I have heard the last 50 years
Unfortunately man has been on a course to control the world from one kingdom since it begin . I don't see nukes going away . In fact what's described in Revelation 8 and 9 . Sure sounds like the effects of nukes .
We are the Generation of vast massive knowledge. But our wisdom has vanished
The new 2023 Prius PHEV does a 6.7 sec 0-62? And a decent 37 mile battery only range? What? https://jalopnik.com/the-2023-toyota-prius-is-the-prettiest-prius-ever-1849789502/
Taylor57
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My CA registration renewal seemed a tad on the higher side compared to my ICE cars...
Readytoride
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A combined EV for around town/ ICE for long distance travel. I like the idea. My current Prius comes with an abysmal 15 mile range on battery alone, and only if you don't go over 25 mph. This new 2023 should fit right in for most drivers, especially apartment/condo dwellers, for all their needs for the next 7 years before the transportation infrastructure starts pushing gas stations out of business. By then the BEV should have a range of 500-600 miles per charge.
That 6.7 second to 60mph had me laughing. If you've ever floored a Prius to get up a ramp to a highway, you are praying to every god in the heavens that there is no traffic coming, otherwise that poor tiny engine flogging itself with a tinny roar with the tiny pistons flailing up and down ready to die for the cause, just won't have enough power or enough speed to merge into 65-70mph traffic unless oncoming traffic takes pity on you. The Prius is phenomenally aerodynamic. It just has no umph for jackrabbit starts. At least mine doesn't, the poor dear thing. But I do love it. It never fails to try it's best.❤
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Taylor57
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My Kona EV is faster off the line than my Porsche Macan S!!
BigNerd
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About the new Prius plug-in... I used to be a PHEV proponent mainly from the range anxiety angle.
But after about 4 years of owning a PHEV, I almost never used gas and the switch to EV was so much better. No gas/engine smell in the garage, no ICE maintenance... and quieter drive and one-pedal driving is fantastic.
Toyota really needs to get on the train and start churning out a Prius EV and a Tacoma EV... forget the confusing BRZX4%?@PLB naming and make sure the wheels are bolted on.
But after about 4 years of owning a PHEV, I almost never used gas and the switch to EV was so much better. No gas/engine smell in the garage, no ICE maintenance... and quieter drive and one-pedal driving is fantastic.
Toyota really needs to get on the train and start churning out a Prius EV and a Tacoma EV... forget the confusing BRZX4%?@PLB naming and make sure the wheels are bolted on.
Yeah, shocked that that 2023 Prime will have 220 HP. Wondering what the pricing will end up being.A combined EV for around town/ ICE for long distance travel. I like the idea. My current Prius comes with an abysmal 15 mile range on battery alone, and only if you don't go over 25 mph. This new 2023 should fit right in for most drivers, especially apartment/condo dwellers, for all their needs for the next 7 years before the transportation infrastructure starts pushing gas stations out of business. By then the BEV should have a range of 500-600 miles per charge.
That 6.7 second to 60mph had me laughing. If you've ever floored a Prius to get up a ramp to a highway, you are praying to every god in the heavens that there is no traffic coming, otherwise that poor tiny engine flogging itself with a tinny roar with the tiny pistons flailing up and down ready to die for the cause, just won't have enough power or enough speed to merge into 65-70mph traffic unless oncoming traffic takes pity on you. The Prius is phenomenally aerodynamic. It just has no umph for jackrabbit starts. At least mine doesn't, the poor dear thing. But I do love it. It never fails to try it's best.❤
That said, even the current Prime accelerates fine within the city and then will go up to 85 mph on the freeway while staying in the EV mode. But true it’s difficult to merge on the freeway if other cars are going really fast.
You are not supposed to be able to afford it: That's the whole idea of keeping you limited on where you can travel
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You forgot to give Cousin Claus and Bill a shout out
Readytoride
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TForan52
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Decent humble brag.
How is bragging humble ? Is that part of the New Climate agenda Cop27?
TForan52
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Where have you been ? to make a seemingly modest, self-critical, or casual statement or reference that is meant to draw attention to one's admirable or impressive qualities or achievementsHow is bragging humble ? Is that part of the New Climate agenda Cop27?
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