Electric car thread

[riser4]

If I have to drive a vehicle, I still want electric. https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/18/busin...las/index.html

[gravitylover]

Fast is only sort of good

[riser4]

Fast is only sort of good

No shit.

[gravitylover]

Yeah man, Fact

I actually expect that I'll have a wreck with my first EV due to my throttle problem.

[Ted Striker]

That article missed the point. Today's drivers suck. For the most part they can't drive a stick, can't brake effectively without abs, can't even steer without gross corrections, have no idea that they're pretty much always tailgating and don't even see pedestrians (the reason for nanny auto-slam-on-brakes). Where I live, and alarming number drive at night with their lights off. An alarming number are under the influence, and even sober drivers are texting.

Switching between a traditional car and an ipad on wheels is too much for these troglodytes.

[plugboots]

^^^ Pretty much agree. The self-driving functions on cars are ridiculous. I want more interaction with my car, not less. That’s why I drive a stick. Anyway, until, (like the poster above said), we can just get in the car and nap, what’s the point?

[Beaver]

I can confirm. It's hard to go slow in an EV. For the first year I drove it like I was being chased. I still live the way it passes but now generally drive only 10-15% over the speed limit.

[fomofo]

Seach up aptera motors on youtube. Looks interesting

They popped up with a feature on local TV news this morning. Couldn't find a clip of that, but there's this...



https://aptera.us

Personally what I'd really like to see is a people's car, i.e., a small, very simple, relatively inexpensive e-car that kept the electronics to an absolute minimum - BMS, of course, and some basic onboard computer for diagnostics - otherwise no touchcreens, cameras, microphones, GPS, etc. Essentially a modern day Bug with an electric motor, something perfect for getting around town and maybe short day trips. I don't know what the numbers are, but I gotta believe there's a significant market for something like that.

[Cruiser]

Can't even sell a new car in the US without a screen that displays the backup camera. And if you've gotta have a screen for that anyway then why not enable it for everything else I guess...

[garyfromterrace]

Norway likes EV's.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/cana...-evs-1.7092003

[fomofo]

Can't even sell a new car in the US without a screen that displays the backup camera. And if you've gotta have a screen for that anyway then why not enable it for everything else I guess...

OK, have a display screen if one is required. I'm just not a fan of touchscreens in cars for controlling basic functions, prefer knobs and dials. Talked with a former Tesla owner at a holiday party last month who was complaining how he had to use a touchscreen, and go in a couple of levels, to control something on his windshield wipers! Isn't that kind of thing a bit ridiculous.

Just give me a very basic, light, cheap and dumb e-car and I'm in. I've already got a tracker with camera, mic and GPS in my pocket.

[Touring_Sedan]

Can't even sell a new car in the US without a screen that displays the backup camera. And if you've gotta have a screen for that anyway then why not enable it for everything else I guess...

It would be exponentially more expensive to create tooling for the 50 or so buttons needed for all the features, so yes, a touch screen that's infinitely programmable is much much cheaper.

[MarcusBrody]

I'm currently curious about the Hyundai Ioniq 6 as their cheap and I like the style in that it's actually slightly different from everything else. It seems somewhat impractical though in that it is an inch longer than my van, while having much less space. It's also somewhat annoying to me that if I want to get the smaller wheels with more sidewall on the tire (which actually has better range as well as being able to deal with pot holes), you have to get the absolute base model, which is a bit hard to find.

[Touring_Sedan]

I'm currently curious about the Hyundai Ioniq 6 as their cheap and I like the style in that it's actually slightly different from everything else. It seems somewhat impractical though in that it is an inch longer than my van, while having much less space. It's also somewhat annoying to me that if I want to get the smaller wheels with more sidewall on the tire (which actually has better range as well as being able to deal with pot holes), you have to get the absolute base model, which is a bit hard to find.

Sat in one at the auto show. Remember cars from the 80's that were massive on the outside but cramped on the inside. It's like that.... but worse. At 6'3" I couldn't fit in the back seat. The styling was pretty rad though.

Also sat in the Ioniq 5 and really liked it. I wonder how the Atari styling will age though.

Also sat in the EV9 and was impressed with the packaging and features. To spec out anything worth owning as a daily driver was up near $80K.

[plugboots]

No cheap small pickups, no cheap small EV, etc.
1 trip to Euroland and if yer into cars ya just get pissed off.

[Ørion]

OK, have a display screen if one is required. I'm just not a fan of touchscreens in cars for controlling basic functions, prefer knobs and dials. Talked with a former Tesla owner at a holiday party last month who was complaining how he had to use a touchscreen, and go in a couple of levels, to control something on his windshield wipers! Isn't that kind of thing a bit ridiculous.

Just give me a very basic, light, cheap and dumb e-car and I'm in. I've already got a tracker with camera, mic and GPS in my pocket.

Not saying Teslas aren't touchscreen heavy, but that dude should have read his manual. Every model has physical windshield wiper controls on either the steering wheel or on a stalk.

[MarcusBrody]

Sat in one at the auto show. Remember cars from the 80's that were massive on the outside but cramped on the inside. It's like that.... but worse. At 6'3" I couldn't fit in the back seat. The styling was pretty rad though.

Also sat in the Ioniq 5 and really liked it. I wonder how the Atari styling will age though.

Also sat in the EV9 and was impressed with the packaging and features. To spec out anything worth owning as a daily driver was up near $80K.

That's really good to know, thanks! It would be replacing a very small car and just be an around town commuter, so interior size isn't a huge issue. I'm your height, but my son is currently much smaller so I can jam him in the back... But it's really annoying that the exterior is so big when the interior is small.

No cheap small pickups, no cheap small EV, etc.
1 trip to Euroland and if yer into cars ya just get pissed off.

I actually have had a base Maverick (which I consider a small, cheap pickup) on order since Sept 2023, so 16 months now? It's supposedly finally being built soon. I think it's a great value for what it is, but I'm not sure that a small truck makes sense for me. I can toss bikes over the tailgate, but the bed is too short for skis. It's a really handy little do it all vehicle with great gas mileage for what it is, but given that I already have a van, I might rather just have a little electric hatchback.

[skaredshtles]

No cheap small pickups, no cheap small EV, etc.
1 trip to Euroland and if yer into cars ya just get pissed off.

And the fault of most of it?

[Touring_Sedan]

That's really good to know, thanks! It would be replacing a very small car and just be an around town commuter, so interior size isn't a huge issue. I'm your height, but my son is currently much smaller so I can jam him in the back... But it's really annoying that the exterior is so big when the interior is small.



I actually have had a base Maverick (which I consider a small, cheap pickup) on order since Sept 2023, so 16 months now? It's supposedly finally being built soon. I think it's a great value for what it is, but I'm not sure that a small truck makes sense for me. I can toss bikes over the tailgate, but the bed is too short for skis. It's a really handy little do it all vehicle with great gas mileage for what it is, but given that I already have a van, I might rather just have a little electric hatchback.

Just be glad you didn't get the Santa Cruz. A friend is on her second transmission and it's been at the dealership since November.

[alpinevibes]

They popped up with a feature on local TV news this morning. Couldn't find a clip of that, but there's this...



https://aptera.us

Damn, throwback. I didn't realize they'd restarted. I remember reading about the Aptera in Wired in the late 2000s, like this: https://www.wired.com/2009/04/we-drive-the-ap/

Kind of amazing they're still kicking, but sounds like they have 40,000 reservations waiting.

[3pin]

We've had a Chevy Bolt for a few years, and over the summer replaced our 17 year old Volvo wagon with an extended range Ford Lightning. It's been awesome to use over the last 6 months, everything from short trips to long driving days and some weekend camping and skiing in the PNW - unbelievably quiet, drives smoothly, fast as hell, comfortable, holds a ton with the frunk space. It has fresh Blizzaks for winter, and with the battery weight/even platform it feels more confident in the snow than any family truck I drove growing up. It's been a bit of a learning curve on range and efficiency in different conditions, especially in more rural corners, so far we've been able to do everything we normally would - other than maybe a -15 below ski tour at Stevens, but I bailed on that due to temps anyway. My wife stocked a travel bin with a couple small appliances to plug in for hot food/cocoa for parking lot lunches, and the kids are stoked on having hot chocolate more or less on demand. We're doing a family ski roadtrip next month through Red Mtn and Whitewater, which will be a good winter test for everything.

At any rate, I woke up this morning to a 5am power outage in Seattle, and got to test out a new use case for the truck as a battery backup for the house. The whole home integration system Ford pitched is quite spendy and seems pretty buggy from what I've heard, but three 100' extension cords from the truck into different parts of the house got me phone, internet and my entire home office running off the truck - enough for uninterrupted workday necessities. Power was out for about 7 hours, and I had the truck running in the garage providing power for about 5 hours - silently, no exhaust, no carbon monoxide. It used 2% over 5 hours, so barely a dent in the battery capacity to weather a power outage. On a bigger outage I'd obviously I’d need to switch over some power for the fridge, but it was more than enough today.

[jackstraw]

^that's pretty sweet!

[gravitylover]

How does the cap affect range? Is the aero benefit greater than the weight penalty?

[WMD]

Nice 3pin! I drove our lightning over 2 passes (each way - 4 total round trip) in below zero weather during the cold snap here a couple weeks ago and it was awesome. I think the warmest we saw while driving was -8F and the truck did great. I preferred it to an ICE. We've also got Blizzaks on ours and it has been super solid all winter.

[::: :::]

At any rate, I woke up this morning to a 5am power outage in Seattle, and got to test out a new use case for the truck as a battery backup for the house. The whole home integration system Ford pitched is quite spendy and seems pretty buggy from what I've heard, but three 100' extension cords from the truck into different parts of the house got me phone, internet and my entire home office running off the truck - enough for uninterrupted workday necessities. Power was out for about 7 hours, and I ran had the truck running in the garage providing power for about 5 hours - silently, no exhaust, no carbon monoxide. It used 2% over 5 hours, so barely a dent in the battery capacity to weather a power outage. On a bigger outage I'd obviously I’d need to switch over some power for the fridge, but it was more than enough today.

I had a mech eng (hvac) leading a continuing education session on the coming wave of electrification in homes, and his current recommendation for battery system value was getting a Lightning instead of a Tesla Power Wall

that was pretty interesting statement, and a little surprising