Electric Car thread

[BigNerd]

EVs are not practical right now for any time of distance trip. I own one. For instance, in March, I'm going from Palm Springs to Scottsdale for Spring Training. 278 miles plus or minus a few miles. I have zero confidence I could charge up anywhere between here and Phoenix along the 10 Fwy. I know, the Charge Point and other apps show chargers, but I dont buy it. Whenever I needed a charger, it was either out of service or I could not find it. My next car will take good ole petrol...

Just rent an ICE for your occasional road trips.

EVs foreverrrrrr!!!!!!

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

Just rent an ICE for your occasional road trips.

EVs foreverrrrrr!!!!!!

I don't think you believe that's an actual solution. A couple months ago my wife needed to rent a car for a business trip. She couldn't get one, all gone. In my situation of needing to tow 3800#, I went to Uhaul to get a tow dolly to take my GMC Jimmy to the shop. They wouldn't let me rent it because their compuer said that my full size Sierra couldn't pull 5000#, not much point in trusting any place like that cause they'd probably tell me their trucks for rent can't pull that much. Plus many rental places don't want you towing with their vehicles. Since my truck is my business renting one all the time doesn't seam feasible.

This is the problem of forcing people to adopt something that doesn't suit their needs. I don't buy cars because they're flashy, or they have useless to driving features, they're a tool, no different than any tool in my workshop. They have to fulfill the purpose they were bought for. Wheather that's hauling the family for towing the trailer. I don't believe there's an EV out there that seats 8, like my dearly departed suburban, so there's no point in my buying an EV, as non suit my actual needs.

I saw one guy praising his self driving tesla because it was able to do the most mundane things, seemed rather silly. Last week I took one of my kids out to teach him how to drive in the snow. Went to a parking lot and showed him how to get into a slide, then how to control it. He did that in a 6200# truck with rear wheel drive and tires that need replaced. Relying upon cars to drive you around are going to cause people to lose those skills and make them even worse drivers than they already are when they have to drive themselves. Some safety features in cars are actually making us less safe.

 

[Taylor57]

Just rent an ICE for your occasional road trips.

EVs foreverrrrrr!!!!!!

We rented an ICE this summer for our Bay Area road trip and had no range anxiety! Better to rack miles on the rental anyway.

 

[BigNerd]

So my wife has that same range anxiety thing... but I got tired of driving ICE for my main vehicle when it was used mostly for local (she was driving my Tesla). So got her a PHEV because of this fear... of which we've still never road tripped after 6 months because all the vacations she wants to go on are plane distance. We've even gone back and forth to LA (we are in OC) and guess which car we took? The EV.

So now I'm looking to get rid of the PHEV but she says we should get an ICE instead of an EV... because her work is local anyways and thus we would use less gas. Not only does that not make sense (EVs are better for local driving) but most of the incentives are on EVs.

 

[WattsUpDude]

We rented an ICE this summer for our Bay Area road trip and had no range anxiety! Better to rack miles on the rental anyway.

We’re doing the reverse (Bay Area to Indio/Palm Springs) and will likely trade our Bolt for my sister’s Model Y. We’ve done a handful of shorter trips in the Bolt that require 1 or 2 DCFC charges each way and we were totally fine with it. Each stop was around 45 minutes of charging but we have to offload the kids and eat anyway. The slower DCFC of the Bolt is totally okay with us since we aren’t doing any cannonball run driving with it.

 

[kevinmccune]

I don't think you believe that's an actual solution. A couple months ago my wife needed to rent a car for a business trip. She couldn't get one, all gone. In my situation of needing to tow 3800#, I went to Uhaul to get a tow dolly to take my GMC Jimmy to the shop. They wouldn't let me rent it because their compuer said that my full size Sierra couldn't pull 5000#, not much point in trusting any place like that cause they'd probably tell me their trucks for rent can't pull that much. Plus many rental places don't want you towing with their vehicles. Since my truck is my business renting one all the time doesn't seam feasible.

This is the problem of forcing people to adopt something that doesn't suit their needs. I don't buy cars because they're flashy, or they have useless to driving features, they're a tool, no different than any tool in my workshop. They have to fulfill the purpose they were bought for. Wheather that's hauling the family for towing the trailer. I don't believe there's an EV out there that seats 8, like my dearly departed suburban, so there's no point in my buying an EV, as non suit my actual needs.
before long,sandy
I saw one guy praising his self driving tesla because it was able to do the most mundane things, seemed rather silly. Last week I took one of my kids out to teach him how to drive in the snow. Went to a parking lot and showed him how to get into a slide, then how to control it. He did that in a 6200# truck with rear wheel drive and tires that need replaced. Relying upon cars to drive you around are going to cause people to lose those skills and make them even worse drivers than they already are when they have to drive themselves. Some safety features in cars are actually making us less safe.

right on! there will be a pretty reasonably priced ev called a "canoo" on the market before long that will seat eight,sandy munroe liked it.

 

[Rome]

I certainly cannot afford a new electric vehicle with cost living in Hawaii and my age. I will continue to drive my Toyota it burns a quart of oil every 3000 miles but it's hardly driven now, Hawaii does not conform to strict EPA rules like California on emissions control.
My 85 year old Dad drives it he likes the simplicity of it.
My sisters and I bought a VW Tiguan 2 year old with low mileage for him, not even 3 months he was so annoyed with the car's talking GPS and refused to drive it. Picture is me and him trying to open the fuel filler on the VW.
Electric vehicles and scooters are becoming increasingly popular here.
The City of Honolulu built a multi billion dollar Electric Railway but most people chose to drive ridership is very low on the train.

 

[tomjasz]

I'm in the not ready for prime time crowd. I think small, 25-45MPH eMobility vehicles for my sort of situation are more valuable. Rather than fire up the cage for 2-6 mile errands. I found any day or night where the temps are above 10F or -12C I'm able to be comfortable. But longer stops means battery heat is a must for a longer return trip. 1 hour of 10F and the battery quickly cools off. Oddly my ancient 22P 20Ah monster pack actually did better in the cold. I'm thnking hose were 2200Mah compared to current 35E over 3200Mah. 21700 50E 5000Mah are definitely colder blooded. Once they've reached 40F the performance SUCKS. SAG MONSTER SAG!

 

[PatriciaK]

Interested in the '24 Kona, if I can ever find a dealer close enough with one on the lot that I can test drive...

 

[Readytoride]

I had a Kona rental a few weeks back. It's a nice little car. It has dashboard buttons and a knobs here and there, although most of the controls are digital. Ride was smooth, quiet, and competent and the range was OK (I think it was about 220 mpc (miles per charge).

 

[gromike]

I don't own an ecar at the moment, but when and if Volkswagen sells a battery-powered microbus in the US I'll buy one.

 

[BlackHand]

right on! there will be a pretty reasonably priced ev called a "canoo" on the market before long that will seat eight,sandy munroe liked it.

Canoo is kind of intriguing, but no confidence that they will actually be able to deliver vehicles to the public and stick around long enough to work through teething problems that are inevitable.

Stock is down over 98% since IPO and closed at $.18/share today. I guess that's still $.18 better than the GM stock certificate I have stashed somewhere that became worthless in 2009.

 

[BlackHand]

I don't own an ecar at the moment, but when and if Volkswagen sells a battery-powered microbus in the US I'll buy one.

I've been holding out for the IDBuzz, but sounds like it will be priced too high and will have the still glitchy VW software when it finally comes to the US in Q4.

VW will get tesla charge connector in 2025 and hopefully by then supply and demand will have settled down. I expect ridiculous dealer markups on the first wave of Buzz's this fall since plenty of folks have been waiting 5 years for it.

 

[Chargeride]

My neighbour has one as a company car, its dark metallic grey and actually looks so ordinary I didn't even notice what it was for weeks.
I was always seeing it from the back, had a good nose when he parked it in the street, whatever spec it is, seems nothing like my mind dreamed it would, I guess I was expecting bright colours and surfboards

 

[gromike]

Yeah, I just hope everyone keeps talking down ev's and maybe I could afford one. Sounds like I'd need to stand in-line for a Buzz. Regardless, I'll keep my oil burner.

 

[Chargeride]

It's probably because I walk past the wife's pink classic beetle everyday, and she's got one of those VW camper van on the beach paintings in the hall.

I was very stoked for them, it just seemed weird seeing such a toned down model, the owner totally isn't the type to go camping or park up near the beach, the wife is a total campervan nut and I eventually pointed it out to here and she hadn't noticed it

 

[PatriciaK]

I had a Kona rental a few weeks back. It's a nice little car. It has dashboard buttons and a knobs here and there, although most of the controls are digital. Ride was smooth, quiet, and competent and the range was OK (I think it was about 220 mpc (miles per charge).

That's a thought... What company did you rent from?

 

[gromike]

I drove a Westfalia camper van for 200k miles, and that was with the original clutch and no engine work. It was an '87. It lasted two marriages and two kids. I parked it because no VW bus goes 200k miles on the original clutch, let alone with cylinder heads that were prone to rotting out.
So, I have some love for the VW microbus.

 

[Chargeride]

UK autotrader has called EV depreciation unsustainable.
Running at 23% per year.
The biggest problem is perception, not actual issues.
You have those Tesla's failing to charge in the extreme cold, but then I click on my favourite YouTubers and they're starting fires under their trucks to get them running.
And the real giant elephant in the room is that public charging in the UK is more expensive than petrol and they arent even taxing it yet, which accounts for 50% of petrol/ gas price.

 

[AvalancheRun]

UK autotrader has called EV depreciation unsustainable.
Running at 23% per year.
The biggest problem is perception, not actual issues.
You have those Tesla's failing to charge in the extreme cold, but then I click on my favourite YouTubers and they're starting fires under their trucks to get them running.
And the real giant elephant in the room is that public charging in the UK is more expensive than petrol and they arent even taxing it yet, which accounts for 50% of petrol/ gas price.

I haven't followed the recent news. We did many EV road trips in cold weather since 2019, ski trips to Colorado, etc. Never had an issue due to cold whatsoever, nor have I really heard much about it until this year. What exactly went wrong?