The Electric Vehicle Thread

[Midpack]

I just want to know the actual dimensions of the cargo space, LxWxH not cuft. I haven't been able to find that so far, presumably someone will provide it eventually.

 

[aaronc879]

I would expect them to be the last places to shut down. Everything can be done without being near another person -- refilling the tanks, using the pumps. There is risk of spreading it customer to customer, but that is kind of obvious if you're going out to do errands anyway, and it's not as bad as a mass gathering.

Around here most people still go inside. Many pay for gas with cash and those that don't still go inside for lottery tickets, cigaretts, or alcohol. I guess they could limit it to pre-pay with CC only, no access to the store. Then the only worry would be the pump and keypad.

 

[JoeWras]

I just want to know the actual dimensions of the cargo space, LxWxH not cuft. I haven't been able to find that so far, presumably someone will provide it eventually.

But it's got plenty of cu. ft. of storage.

 

[TriumphTR3fan]

I haven't talked to my friends about this because I'm not sure I could without sounding smug. But I'll try it here.


I love that I charge my car at home and don't have to touch the greasy handle of the diesel pump. And don't have to punch my pin code on a dirty keyboard.

A big thumbs up [emoji106] about not wanting to sound smug. Nearly every day starts with a full charge. It’s a major convenience to charge at home & not have to deal with gas stations that are at times kind of sketchy. I’ve been to some where the clerk was behind bullet proof glass. With the Supercharger network we can just plug in & charge. The network communicates with the car, bills our CC that we have on file & sends us a statement. It’s as easy as plugging in a toaster.

 

[Sunset]

Gasoline is going to be cheap..... for a while. This oil price war was started by countries that want to force companies producing oil in the US out of business. They want our business at any cost to us. That cheap oil is likely to cost a lot more later on & it’s one of the reasons we thought about an electric vehicle for several years. Remember when oil was $140 a barrel? That was less than six years ago. Even with the lower prices though we are still paying much less for electric “fuel”. Yes we paid more for the vehicle but it’s more convenient & has more features than other cheaper ICE cars. So far it’s been a good experience.

It might work this way, gas is super cheap.
After a couple of years American companies go belly up as they cannot pump gas at $12 barrel like the Saudi's (lets ignore that Saudi's cannot live on that either).
Once USA is not pumping Saudi's raise oil to $100 barrel....
USA companies form overnight, restart pumping oil....
Saudi's know how to stop them and drop price to $10 barrel....
repeat and rinse

Gas stays cheap because whenever it gets more than cheap, USA companies start fracking it.

 

[TriumphTR3fan]

It might work this way, gas is super cheap.
After a couple of years American companies go belly up as they cannot pump gas at $12 barrel like the Saudi's (lets ignore that Saudi's cannot live on that either).
Once USA is not pumping Saudi's raise oil to $100 barrel....
USA companies form overnight, restart pumping oil....
Saudi's know how to stop them and drop price to $10 barrel....
repeat and rinse

Gas stays cheap because whenever it gets more than cheap, USA companies start fracking it.

Well gas goes up until one or more of the parties supplying it decides they can make more by increasing their market share. Then the price drops for a while until they get tired of fighting. OPEC is a cartel that fixes prices. They have had difficulty but they keep trying. Generally it’s as much as they can get away with.

 

[explanade]

I just want to know the actual dimensions of the cargo space, LxWxH not cuft. I haven't been able to find that so far, presumably someone will provide it eventually.

There's a question about total weight capacity.

May barely carry 5 adults.


In any event, production is shutting down in Fremont because of the viral pandemic.

 

[cbo111]

Gas is now $1.69/gal in Florida. I filled up and, quite literally, have no place to go.

 

[aja8888]

Gas is now $1.69/gal in Florida. I filled up and, quite literally, have no place to go.

This is better than the "old times" when you had lots of places to go, but no gasoline due to the '70's oil embargos.

 

[TriumphTR3fan]

Gas is now $1.69/gal in Florida. I filled up and, quite literally, have no place to go.

Enjoy it while you can. I certainly like paying less for gas for my ICE cars. If the author of this article is right shale oil production is in for a long difficult fight. The source? Oilprice.com:

https://news.google.com/articles/CB...VNoYWxlLmFtcC5odG1s?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
Investors have had problems with return on investment in recent years. The goal of the oil cartel is to put the US domestic oil producers out of business. One thing about electric vehicles, the electricity they use is locally produced. As long as we don’t use foreign oil to produce electricity we keep the money for the energy in this country. My focus of course is the US, but electric vehicles benefit any country that is an importer of oil.

 

[Sunset]

And in order for the Cartel to keep the US domestic oil producers out of business, OPEC will have to keep the price this low. Something I can enjoy for decades

 

[jmp470]

I bought an Audi e-Tron last month. I love it, and I’m very thankful I did. We only use our gas powered car when we must.

The EV is so much nicer to drive! Smoother, quieter, etc... When I get in the ICE car, I think of the early 1900’s horses.... It’s just a matter of time before they are gone.

Cheap oil is good, but many companies will go under and people will continue to turn away from it.

It’s fun to watch, lots of stock float, and debt in the sector, without buyers...

 

[GTFan]

It’s just a matter of time before they are gone.

Problem is people have been saying this for years and nothing's changed all that much, Tesla model 3's notwithstanding. Electrics are still less than 2% of US sales, increasing slowly year over year.

Battery tech has to make that next gen leap at a cost comparable to ICE, then I'll believe it.

 

[jmp470]

Problem is people have been saying this for years and nothing's changed all that much, Tesla model 3's notwithstanding. Electrics are still less than 2% of US sales, increasing slowly year over year.

Battery tech has to make that next gen leap at a cost comparable to ICE, then I'll believe it.

What about on the global scale? How is EV doing? The USA is super slow at adopting to a new way of life.... We continue to prop up dying market sectors...

 

[aja8888]

The EV is so much nicer to drive! Smoother, quieter, etc... When I get in the ICE car, I think of the early 1900’s horses.... It’s just a matter of time before they are gone.
.

Everything is gone in "a matter of time", including us.

Until an electric car is priced for the masses, ICE cars will prevail. In the U.S. we have 250,000,000+ of them on the road and they are being replaced frequently by another ICE (or hybrid) car.

 

[Sunset]

What about on the global scale? How is EV doing? The USA is super slow at adopting to a new way of life.... We continue to prop up dying market sectors...

Yep, electric cars are simply filling the streets in Africa and India... gas stations are obsolete there

World demand for oil will continue on for at least another 100 years, heck you can still buy kerosene (used in oil lamps) , I stopped using them for light about 45 years ago (but still have my old lamps in case the propane supply stops).

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Yep, electric cars are simply filling the streets in Africa and India... gas stations are obsolete there

World demand for oil will continue on for at least another 100 years, heck you can still buy kerosene (used in oil lamps) , I stopped using them for light about 45 years ago (but still have my old lamps in case the propane supply stops).

<nitpick>
Yes, but one important difference is that oil and kerosene lamps are simple enough that they can operate just fine after 100-200 years of storage (in favorable conditions). An older ICE vehicle that isn't driven for even a few weeks may have trouble starting, and after months may need significant maintenance before it can run smoothly.

I agree that there will be a fairly long tail of ICE vehicles phasing out, but they cannot be kept as emergency spares or backups the way oil or kerosene lamps can.
</nitpick>

 

[Sunset]

<nitpick>
Yes, but one important difference is that oil and kerosene lamps are simple enough that they can operate just fine after 100-200 years of storage (in favorable conditions). An older ICE vehicle that isn't driven for even a few weeks may have trouble starting, and after months may need significant maintenance before it can run smoothly.

I agree that there will be a fairly long tail of ICE vehicles phasing out, but they cannot be kept as emergency spares or backups the way oil or kerosene lamps can.
</nitpick>

Understand, I'm all for electric vehicles.

I once had an electric lawn mower, loved that every year I could just flick the switch and it ran. Where my gas engines were always a delicate thing to care for each year, and hope they ran the next spring.

I want an electric auto, and when they get better in range and price, I'll buy one.
I do think we will still see ICE autos around for many more decades. Other countries like India will be slower to change, due to poor infrastructure.

When we set up a remote programming office in India in a major city we installed racks of car batteries for battery backup as the electricity would shut off nearly every day multiple times. We were in a good section of the city.

 

[harley]

<nitpick>
Yes, but one important difference is that oil and kerosene lamps are simple enough that they can operate just fine after 100-200 years of storage (in favorable conditions). An older ICE vehicle that isn't driven for even a few weeks may have trouble starting, and after months may need significant maintenance before it can run smoothly.

I agree that there will be a fairly long tail of ICE vehicles phasing out, but they cannot be kept as emergency spares or backups the way oil or kerosene lamps can.
</nitpick>

<nitpicking your nitpick>I leave a car in FL for 6 or more months/year. In a garage, yes, and on a trickle charger. Other than having to replace a battery this year (FL heat is tough on batteries no matter what) I haven't had to do any maintenance on the car, other than standard oil changes and such. This is a 2002 VW Beetle, and we've been doing this for 7 years.</>

 

[aja8888]

<nitpicking your nitpick>I leave a car in FL for 6 or more months/year. In a garage, yes, and on a trickle charger. Other than having to replace a battery this year (FL heat is tough on batteries no matter what) I haven't had to do any maintenance on the car, other than standard oil changes and such. This is a 2002 VW Beetle, and we've been doing this for 7 years.</>

My experience last Fall with a 2005 Mustang that sat in my relative's garage for 4 YEARS without starting:

I put a new battery in it, put air in the flat tires, put the key in the ignition and with one crank, it started. I warmed it up and drove it home (40 miles away). Even the gasoline was not spoiled to the point it wouldn't run.

I washed it, changed the oil, got new tires and it's now my extra car.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Well, I sit corrected! I thought that after 6 months to a year of not running, the spark plug points would begin to corrode, and the oil would turn sludgy. Although a trickle charger is not exactly the "stash it in the garage" kind of abuse that a lamp can take, apparently cars can last longer than I thought.

I'm currently trying to drive our cars once a week for at least 30 minutes while teleworking full-time and self-isolating. I could probably easily push that to every two to three weeks, I suppose.

 

[harley]

I'm currently trying to drive our cars once a week for at least 30 minutes while teleworking full-time and self-isolating. I could probably easily push that to every two to three weeks, I suppose.

Easily. We have two cars in FL, the one we keep here and the minivan we drive back and forth. While we're here we mostly drive the VW, and quite often don't even start the van for a month at a time. I think you're going off old mechanics tales from back in the 50's and 60's.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Easily. We have two cars in FL, the one we keep here and the minivan we drive back and forth. While we're here we mostly drive the VW, and quite often don't even start the van for a month at a time. I think you're going off old mechanics tales from back in the 50's and 60's.

I've also had bad experiences with cars whose batteries that were probably near the end of their life, and after not being run for weeks they needed to be jumped. Luckily, these are at home, and I have an external charger/jumper now.

 

[Chuckanut]

Easily. I think you're going off old mechanics tales from back in the 50's and 60's.

IIRC, old mechanics and dad's advice where two of the biggest thorns in the side of Click and Clack.

 

[explanade]

I bought an Audi e-Tron last month. I love it, and I’m very thankful I did. We only use our gas powered car when we must.

The EV is so much nicer to drive! Smoother, quieter, etc... When I get in the ICE car, I think of the early 1900’s horses.... It’s just a matter of time before they are gone.

Cheap oil is good, but many companies will go under and people will continue to turn away from it.

It’s fun to watch, lots of stock float, and debt in the sector, without buyers...

How's the range?

I think Audi is using that model as a transition while waiting for there "next generation" EV platform, which is suppose to be much more competitive on range.

Pricey car which I heard wasn't selling too well.