Electric car thread

[Mazderati]

Mazda / Toyota in Huntsville. It's a map of where are unions weakest and labor cheapest.

[wolfelot]

I’m electric-curious, but set with our current cars for now.

[dunfree]

Mazda / Toyota in Huntsville. It's a map of where are unions weakest and labor cheapest.

also the region of the country that hasn’t branched from car travel.

[bodywhomper]

Trying to wrap my brain around the when/how of an e car purchase. I’ve never owned a new car. We generally treat our cars as tools and not jewels. Live on a dirt (currently mud) and gravel road in the woods. Our cars live outside and all get scraped, scratched, and dented because of life, which was never an issue when city living. Our cars currently don’t get a lot of annual mileage. There are only indie mechanics and used car dealerships near me. The closest car dealers and dealership service garages are a 45 minute drive. Not a dentist. I imagine many on this forum have similar shit going on. What’s the plan?

And by “cars,” currently have a small wagon, minivan, and a 99 land cruiser. The cruiser hauls the utility trailer (chose suv instead of a pick-up about 7 yrs back)

[BmillsSkier]

also the region of the country that hasn’t branched from car travel.

Also, the region of the country with dedicated rail lines leading straight from the assembly line to the Ports of Charleston, Savannah and Brunswick loaded with miles and miles of car carriers. Don't reinvent the logistics chain if you don't have to.

[adrenalated]

Trying to wrap my brain around the when/how of an e car purchase. I’ve never owned a new car. We generally treat our cars as tools and not jewels. Live on a dirt (currently mud) and gravel road in the woods. Our cars live outside and all get scraped, scratched, and dented because of life, which was never an issue when city living. Our cars currently don’t get a lot of annual mileage. There are only indie mechanics and used car dealerships near me. The closest car dealers and dealership service garages are a 45 minute drive. Not a dentist. I imagine many on this forum have similar shit going on. What’s the plan?

And by “cars,” currently have a small wagon, minivan, and a 99 land cruiser. The cruiser hauls the utility trailer (chose suv instead of a pick-up about 7 yrs back)

What's your question? None of the details you listed disqualifies you from purchasing an EV over an ICE.

[chicken feathers]

In a similar boat. Dirt roads and no garage. Both vehicles are paid off and kept up on preventative maintenance. Both are reliable...knock on wood. We have a soft spot for our 4x4, but at the end of the day our vehicles are tools too and they get beat up. Commute to work for now is any where from 0 mi when wfh to 60 miles on occasion. We like the idea of having an EV and it would even make sense for us to start with one EV for a valley car e.g. work, play and errands. But again we have no car payments and other things that we need to spend $ on around the house before an EV purchase.

Also sometimes wonder if I will be stuck with 1 or 2 worthless gas vehicles at some point? Maybe thats what bodywhomper was getting at?

If money was no object then I'd go in on one EV now for starters and get rid of our Subaru.

[MontuckyFried]

What's your question? None of the details you listed disqualifies you from purchasing an EV over an ICE.

The servicing aspect of it may. Depending on what make/model you have, it can be a royal pain in the dick to deal with repairs. VERY few shops can work on them. If we're talking Tesla, you may not have a local service shop at all, and when you do, it's often booked out for months at outrageous prices (when out of warranty). For non-Teslas, many things are still pretty much dealer only. As with anything, YMMV. Do your research, because some aren't so bad but some are terrible. Been trying to crack the code on this for a while before buying a broken project EV, but I'm still a bit gun shy about diving in for these reasons. EV's make Apple's walled garden ecosystem look like child's play.

[adrenalated]

I'm not sure what the relevance of talking about dirt roads and garages is. Nobody ever told me when I bought my EV that I couldn't drive it on dirt roads and had to park it in a garage? I've never actually parked a car in my garage.

Anyway, when you're figuring cost, factor in that an EV has essentially no maintenance other than tires. Insurance, obviously going to be more expensive on a new vehicle than a used one. New vs new, I haven't found the EV to be any different. Fuel costs will depend on your use and gasoline and electricity costs in your area. For me, the EV was about 50% the fuel cost of a similar ICE car. On cost alone, does that justify the car payment vs driving a ICE vehicle into the dirt? Probably not. If you need to buy a car anyway? Gonna have to do the calculation for yourself but for my situation I figured out I could spend $10k more on an EV and still come out ahead after a couple years.

Gas vehicles won't become useless within our lifetimes. But you won't be able to buy them new.

Edit: on Montucky's point, there's very little on an EV that you're likely to need service on. MUCH less than on any ICE. Personally this would not be a factor in my decision making.

[grskier]

Sounds like 711 is making a big push to put DCFC charging stations at their stores. 250 stores by end of 2022. Seems like a no-brainer business move. They are going to sell a shit load of weenie roller dogs and nachos…

I’ve been waiting to see one of the major gas station chains to make the same move but it doesn’t seem like any of them are being as aggressive…


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This.
I actually tried to talk an investment buddy into buying gas stations and making that the 'brand' of them...

[nickwm21]

Trying to wrap my brain around the when/how of an e car purchase. I’ve never owned a new car. We generally treat our cars as tools and not jewels. Live on a dirt (currently mud) and gravel road in the woods. Our cars live outside and all get scraped, scratched, and dented because of life, which was never an issue when city living. Our cars currently don’t get a lot of annual mileage. There are only indie mechanics and used car dealerships near me. The closest car dealers and dealership service garages are a 45 minute drive. Not a dentist. I imagine many on this forum have similar shit going on. What’s the plan?

And by “cars,” currently have a small wagon, minivan, and a 99 land cruiser. The cruiser hauls the utility trailer (chose suv instead of a pick-up about 7 yrs back)

The plan is to not worry. If you have an electrician at the house for other work, see if they can add the 240v circuit for charging. When you need to replace the wagon or MV, try to get into a used EV that works for the majority of your around town travel. If you’re not putting in a bunch of miles I wouldn’t prematurely ditch and ICE car for an EV, but I would attempt to go EV on next purchase...

The servicing aspect of it may. Depending on what make/model you have, it can be a royal pain in the dick to deal with repairs. VERY few shops can work on them. If we're talking Tesla, you may not have a local service shop at all, and when you do, it's often booked out for months at outrageous prices (when out of warranty). For non-Teslas, many things are still pretty much dealer only. As with anything, YMMV. Do your research, because some aren't so bad but some are terrible. Been trying to crack the code on this for a while before buying a broken project EV, but I'm still a bit gun shy about diving in for these reasons. EV's make Apple's walled garden ecosystem look like child's play.

This will change. There is too much money to be made on the service side. It would be a super smart business play for some young driven mechanic to get an ASE EV cert and open a small shop in any suburban town…


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[MontuckyFried]

Edit: on Montucky's point, there's very little on an EV that you're likely to need service on. MUCH less than on any ICE. Personally this would not be a factor in my decision making.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. That's overall true for them while they're young (and under warranty), but in my quest for a project, I've encountered plenty of them that have all sorts of major issues. Broken motors (rare, but it happens), bad battery packs, computer/software issues that brick your car, etc. Not to mention they still share plenty of the basic components with ICE cars anyway, HVAC stuff, suspension, brakes, etc. All this stuff usually has to be serviced at some point anyway.

From what I've seen, one of the most painful things is if your aged Tesla needs a full battery replacement. It can basically mechanically "total" the car when the dealer wants like $20-30K for the job. One of the reasons I REALLY want to learn how to wrench on them. I think there's huge potential out there for future service work. Applied for an service tech internship Tesla's offering in Austin, so finger's crossed. Hope I land it.

[chicken feathers]

I'm not sure what the relevance of talking about dirt roads and garages is. Nobody ever told me when I bought my EV that I couldn't drive it on dirt roads and had to park it in a garage? I've never actually parked a car in my garage.

Fair enough...There are mornings in the winter when there's 15" of unplowed that you gotta drive through to get to work. Also days/weeks in the spring when our roads go to shit during the thaw. I guess thats what spoke to me about the post. It's nice to not have to worry at all about getting stuck. To me EV''s like the Bolt, Leaf etc. are a no go for that reason, just as most low clearance non AWD ICE sedans/wagons/crossovers etc are. 20 miles away in the city (land of G.O.T.O.S.) all the streets are paved and maintained and the afore-mentioned EV's are commonplace. I'm interested in the electric trucks & suvs that are on and coming to the market. Also can't say I know of anyone in my town who has an EV yet, but that'll change sooner than later as more options come to the market.
Unless it's an emergency purchase in the short term, we've decided that when we replace a vehicle next it will be with an EV. Already have freed up a 240 circuit for a level II charger down the road.

[Todd Zander]

I’m electric-curious, but set with our current cars for now.

I see what you did there

[bodywhomper]

Thanks for the responses. Chair 6 is asking the same questions as me, but more better.

I mention the quality of roads because shit gets beat up where I live. I can’t imagine owning a new vehicle here. It seems that the tech is changing fairly quickly. Currently, how old can you go and not lose out on critical advancements in the tech, like battery life, and how does one track that?

When you all are buying e-cars, how long are you planning to hold onto it? 15 years is my average.

Also, my vehicles are awd or 4wd.

Good points about maintenance. I’d forgotten that for a hot minute or two.

[muted reborn]

Use the gas car/truck/suv on 15" pow days and the EV when snow isn't an issue. it's not a single-car solution for most people.

I'll have my EV for 13 years when I pass it on to my daughter (she will be 16 then) and reduced range then won't bother me. It'll bother her I guess, but there should be charging stations everywhere in 10 years.

[altacoup]

Goddamnit, I had money saved up for a deposit on one of these, but they had to go back to the fucking Avalanche for design cues…FAIL

Attachment 399830

However, the mid-gate configuration would be rad with a camper shell.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/43756/...useful-midgate

Complete and total fail by GM. The F150 is getting so much hype because it looks like a normal F150.


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[bodywhomper]

Use the gas car/truck/suv on 15" pow days and the EV when snow isn't an issue. it's not a single-car solution for most people.

I'll have my EV for 13 years when I pass it on to my daughter (she will be 16 then) and reduced range then won't bother me. It'll bother her I guess, but there should be charging stations everywhere in 10 years.

Thanks. For about a month, the awd (with snows) is needed/very helpful to get out of the canyon that we live in. After a snowfall and most hard freezes, the steep road out of our neighborhood will have several cars and trucks on the side of the road that ran out of gas via spinning their wheels trying to ascend the hill. Nobody wants to use tire chains. It’s often a shit show.

Next q’s: power outages. We just went through a 7 day outage (26th-2nd) due to a winter storm. Some of my friends are still w/o power (15 days later!). I see no indication that we won’t continue to experience winter storms of that severity every 10-ish years. We typically experience multiple short outages in the winter from storms and the utility wildfire wx shut-offs in the summer and fall, which last up to 5 days. These outages have been widespread and have affected ev charging infrastructure in the area (eg, a 50 miles radius). I don’t see this as a problem with proper preparation and attention to detail. Am I missing something? I am assuming that the overall charging infrastructure will improve in the near future.

[nickwm21]

Maybe a marketing fail, but it doesn’t make since from an engineering perspective for EVs to have the classic car or truck shape. You don’t need to put an ICE between the windshield and the bumper…. You can get better aerodynamics and use of material by thinking outside the hood…


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[bodywhomper]

Maybe a marketing fail, but it doesn’t make since from an engineering perspective for EVs to have the classic car or truck shape. You don’t need to put an ICE between the windshield and the bumper…. You can get better aerodynamics and use of material by thinking outside the hood…


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Is there a safety component, too, from the engine compartment area for head on collision?

[Tamburello Rouge]

Not sure if this is the right place but this thread on the Rivian forum is a gem:

https://www.rivianownersforum.com/th...te-range.2197/

Dude thinks he can use one Rivian to tow another one set to "Regen" mode to get infinite (or at least highly extended) range.

No amount of rational, scientific reasoning has been able to sway this true believer. SMH.

[neufox47]

Not sure if this is the right place but this thread on the Rivian forum is a gem:

https://www.rivianownersforum.com/th...te-range.2197/

Dude thinks he can use one Rivian to tow another one set to "Regen" mode to get infinite (or at least highly extended) range.

No amount of rational, scientific reasoning has been able to sway this true believer. SMH.

What if you put them on a treadmill?

[frorider]

Although my BEV chemistry knowledge is only mildly proficient, I have been following solid state development closely since all signs point to it being the real breakthrough that will eventually mainstream BEV. Recent ‘expert’ consensus has been 2030 at the earliest for significant production, yet Toyota, a conservative company, has announced 2025 for solid state battery hybrids. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a3...atteries-2025/

The article explains why hybrid is an interesting choice for the initial product.

[Meadow Skipper]

How Tesla pumps them out.
https://insideevs.com/news/558871/te...sues-prevails/

[LHutz Esq]

Really considering the Rav4 Prime.

I think we wouldn't use the ice much - but it is nice to have when you live in a place that measures the distances between towns in hours.

Anyone spent much time living with one?