Electric Vehicles

[bobsguns]

5 hours ago, monkeylizard said:

I'm a little behind on my reading but I just finished an article from a couple of months ago in MotorTrend where they took a couple of Rivian R1Ts coast to coast on the Trans America Trail. If they can take them all the way across the country off-road and still find enough charging spots, I think an EV will suffice for most other trips. Sure it will take a little more planning of charging stops than driving 'til the fuel light comes on and stopping at the next exit, but within a few more years even that extra planning will be a thing of the past. It kind of already is with apps like Tesla's trip planner.

I haven't read the story so I can't comment on the specifics of their trip. But there is no telling how much planning HAD to go into this trip in order to meet their charging needs. 

I also ponder when one of these breaks (which all vehicles do from time to time), how easily Jim Bob's Garage is going to be able to fix it? I have no worries about my Nissan Frontier getting parts or repairs, OTOH.

Battery replacement cost is sky high these days as well, costing $5-6K from what I've read. Nor are the old batteries able to be recycled, they simply store them. Doesn't sound like a viable plan from my perspective.

[papa61]

Mt company just acquired GREEN BEAN BATTERY. Check them out. Battery recycling is already going on and on the spot service is available. Yep, they are still expensive. But the new hemp waste batteries look promising. 

Also, I stated earlier that I believe in fuel diversity. I read headline this past week that stated ethanol is worse for the environment than gasoline with higher carbon emissions. I didn't read it so can't comment. I am still drawn to plug in hybrid over all electric, more versatile.

[bobsguns]

23 minutes ago, papa61 said:

I read headline this past week that stated ethanol is worse for the environment than gasoline with higher carbon emissions. I didn't read it so can't comment. 

I know ethanol is hell on small engines & doesn't do vehicle engines any good either. I refuse to use it & pay extra for alcohol-free gas.

Thanks to the farmer lobby in the mid-west, the ethanol requirement will almost certainly never go away, IMO. The tree huggers pile on that too, so there's extra weight to fight off.

[papa61]

8 hours ago, bobsguns said:

I know ethanol is hell on small engines & doesn't do vehicle engines any good either. I refuse to use it & pay extra for alcohol-free gas.

Thanks to the farmer lobby in the mid-west, the ethanol requirement will almost certainly never go away, IMO. The tree huggers pile on that too, so there's extra weight to fight off.

Ethanol is terrible on small engines for sure. It breaks down with age, it eats rubber, it clogs jets. I don't mind it for modern cars though. They have the proper seals and if you drive at least once a week it won't hurt them. It is good for making high horsepower, especially with boost, as it cools the incoming charge making it denser and allowing higher compression and more spark advance. That said, I hate that it's so difficult to find pure gasoline because I happen to prefer older cars,   I think there is only one station in Murfreesboro that still sells non ethanol gas.

[Jeb48]

Haven't done the experiment for 10+ years so I don't know how efficent ethanol is in the latest engines but back when I did my comparison the fuel economy went down almost exactly the same percentage as the amount of alcohol in the blend, so you used more. Then you figure the amount of diesel needed to plant, pick and haul the corn. Then it has to be distilled. Yep makes lots of sense.

Even Al Gore says corn was only suppose to be a stop gap till they found something easier to grow and distill.

[bobsguns]

18 minutes ago, Jeb48 said:

Haven't done the experiment for 10+ years so I don't know how efficent ethanol is in the latest engines but back when I did my comparison the fuel economy went down almost exactly the same percentage as the amount of alcohol in the blend, so you used more.

This is what I've read as well. Ethanol is less efficient than pure gas, lower octane, however you want to put it. In short, it sucks. Yet the farmer's lobby keeps pressure on Congress to keep that crap going despite all evidence to the contrary.

Al Gore can go eat a bag of dxxks for all I care. I despise that lying, two faced SOB. 

[-boatman-]

3 hours ago, papa61 said:

  I think there is only one station in Murfreesboro that still sells non ethanol gas.

Co op has it,

[TennesseeCamper]

Really good time to be driving that hybrid, electric or French fry oil bio fuel car!

Edited March 5, 2022 by TennesseeCamper

[RED333]

Back into this thread

 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/florida-family-electric-car-problem-replacement-battery-costs-more-vehicle

The Florida family found out a replacement for the electric car's battery would cost thousands

Avery Siwinski is a 17-year-old who's parents spent $11,000 on a used Ford Focus Electric car, which is a 2014 model and had about 60,000 miles when it was bought, according to KVUE.

The teenager had the car for six months before it began giving her issues and the dashboard was flashing symbols.

"It was fine at first," Siwinski said. "I loved it so much. It was small and quiet and cute. And all the sudden it stopped working."

The Ford dealership had advised us that we could replace the battery," said her grandfather, Ray Siwinski. "It would only cost $14,000."

However, the family found out that there weren't any batteries of that type available anymore because the Ford model is discontinued.

So an eight year old car needs a new battery and the battery is no longer made, that make me want a plug in car even more.

[DL126]

On 1/18/2022 at 8:43 AM, DL126 said:

1/14/21 = Still no production date on my order for the Maverick.
Meanwhile, during that first bit of snow we had, I drove my wife's Edge with AWD.
I've owned many 4WD trucks in my life, still have one, but never one that would do what that AWD Edge did.

Visited dealer, changed my order to the non hybrid version with the FX4 AWD package.
I suppose now I'm another 6 months out. 
If that happens, maybe I'll order a 2023 model and cancel the current order altogether.

Got the truck this past Friday.
13 months from initial order.

[BHunted]

4 minutes ago, DL126 said:

Got the truck this past Friday.
13 months from initial order.

Pictures or it didn't happen...

[Erik88]

I'm not in any hurry to buy an electric vehicle but some of the comments and hate expressed for them seems excessive. Do some of you work for oil and gas companies? Otherwise I can't see why the hatred is so extreme. Change is inevitable. 

[eRay]

3 hours ago, DL126 said:

Got the truck this past Friday.
13 months from initial order.

I ordered my EcoBoost Maverick last August and got it in December. Great little truck. Glad I did not get a hybrid. They seem to be having a few problems. 

[E4 No More]

31 minutes ago, Erik88 said:

I'm not in any hurry to buy an electric vehicle but some of the comments and hate expressed for them seems excessive. Do some of you work for oil and gas companies? Otherwise I can't see why the hatred is so extreme. Change is inevitable. 

Not that I hate them but their obvious lying about its advantages only to find that there are no advantages. Just heard on WTN 99.7 them telling of an instance where parent's bought a used E-vehicle for $14,000. A couple of months later it needed it's batteries replace. They wanted $14,000 for the batteries. That would piss me off.

[btq96r]

24 minutes ago, E4 No More said:

Not that I hate them but their obvious lying about its advantages only to find that there are no advantages. Just heard on WTN 99.7 them telling of an instance where parent's bought a used E-vehicle for $14,000. A couple of months later it needed it's batteries replace. They wanted $14,000 for the batteries. That would piss me off.

Market economics will correct this eventually as EVs become more widespread.  It's hard to see why battery failure in an EV isn't under some kind of warranty.  Maybe it was declined, or just isn't standard in purchasing contracts yet.  But if this becomes widespread enough in fact or story, it'll have to happen or people will gravitate towards brands that it's not a factor from.

To be sure, there is going to be some planned obsolescence with these things.  I think it'll come more from firmware upgrades and the computer parts of the car having a lifecycle than the mechanics.  The proprietary nature of all that is where the maker will keep a firm grip on things.  But I also have to assume that battery replacements as a comparison to a new car purchase are part of the financial model of the production lines.

[gregintenn]

1 hour ago, Erik88 said:

I'm not in any hurry to buy an electric vehicle but some of the comments and hate expressed for them seems excessive. Do some of you work for oil and gas companies? Otherwise I can't see why the hatred is so extreme. Change is inevitable. 

When market forces drive the change to electric vehicles, it will be good. Government forcing this will turn out badly.

[Erik88]

41 minutes ago, E4 No More said:

Not that I hate them but their obvious lying about its advantages only to find that there are no advantages. Just heard on WTN 99.7 them telling of an instance where parent's bought a used E-vehicle for $14,000. A couple of months later it needed it's batteries replace. They wanted $14,000 for the batteries. That would piss me off.

I saw a guy on the Tundra forum pay $30,000 for a used Tundra and then needed an engine replacement not long after for $10,000. 

A friend had a used Lexus he paid around $8,000 for and his engine blew while on a road trip. 

Anytime you have to fork out thousands of dollars on a vehicle it sucks. People who hate EV's are using that story(which was mentioned above your comment) to validate their existing opinions. 

 

 

[RED333]

Until the battery technology becomes so good that they never wear out or they have some type of lifetime warranty regardless of ownership, then I would consider an electric vehicle.

Even better soon as I see an electric airplane fly across country I’ll be first in line to buy an electric vehicle. And I’m not talking about some experimental ultralight hybrid battery thing, I’m talking about a jet airliner carrying 100+ passengers.

on top of all that the infrastructure cannot handle the electric vehicles that .gov is wanting everybody to have. With getting away from coal and natural gas we better start building nuclear plants.

Edited July 19, 2022 by RED333
Because I can

[gregintenn]

57 minutes ago, Erik88 said:

I saw a guy on the Tundra forum pay $30,000 for a used Tundra and then needed an engine replacement not long after for $10,000. 

A friend had a used Lexus he paid around $8,000 for and his engine blew while on a road trip. 

Anytime you have to fork out thousands of dollars on a vehicle it sucks. People who hate EV's are using that story(which was mentioned above your comment) to validate their existing opinions. 

 

 

With our electrical grid already strained, how do you propose we charge all these electric cars once everyone has at least one?

[Omega]

I don't hate them per se, but I will not purchase one until it's an electric golf cart or wheel chair that I would need to get around in.  There just isn't enough of an upside to them, you never break even on one, you never get on the +side of being green considering the carbon footprint of charging them, and the metals needed to make those expensive batteries.

[BHunted]

I have a '21 Ford F150 Platinum Powerboost Hybrid. Unless I'm messing around in Sport mode, I get city/hiway 25+ mpg. Not uncommon getting close to 30mpg. Around town it varies but most of the time, I'm in electric. It has a V6 with balls and Turbo. The battery is covered for 100,000 miles or 8 Yrs. I'm very happy with the truck.

The story of that family is unfortunate and that they got screwed over. They should sue the dealer. Not sure if the warranty was over or not able to be transferred, but oh well. Got to do your homework.

Putting weight against the hybrid is ridiculous. I will not/ever go full electric. But happy so far that I can get over 700 miles on a tank of regular gas while maintaining a decent mpg with an F150...
 

 

 

[gregintenn]

To be clear, I am not at all against electric vehicles. I AM against government mandated electric vehicles. Let the public decide what it wants. So far, a big hogging v8 engine works for me. That may well change in the future.

[Erik88]

30 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

With our electrical grid already strained, how do you propose we charge all these electric cars once everyone has at least one?

I'm not advocating for them. I like my gas guzzling truck. I'm just saying that the comments against them from some people are a bit over the top. 

People mocked the Prius when it first came out and it's been a huge success. There are early models out there still using the original battery according to the Toyota mechanic I know. 

[E4 No More]

3 hours ago, Erik88 said:

I saw a guy on the Tundra forum pay $30,000 for a used Tundra and then needed an engine replacement not long after for $10,000. 

A friend had a used Lexus he paid around $8,000 for and his engine blew while on a road trip. 

Anytime you have to fork out thousands of dollars on a vehicle it sucks. People who hate EV's are using that story(which was mentioned above your comment) to validate their existing opinions. 

 

 

The premise of the EV was to save money. That is a total lie. That was just one example, so let's look at more.

Another problem is paying $5,000 to $7,000 for a plug to be installed at your home. Cap that with the fact that their short range means you have to workout the logistics behind more than a couple hours of drive time. If the vehicle doesn't have sufficient travel distance then you have to stay somewhere for 10 hours while your vehicle recharges. So I couldn't take a day trip to Kansas City because the vehicle doesn't have sufficient range. I'd have to stay at a hotel that actually has available charging stations. Even if they had 600 mile range to get me to KC, I'd still have to install a charging station at my mother-in-law's house at another $5,000 to $7,000.

[E4 No More]

2 hours ago, gregintenn said:

To be clear, I am not at all against electric vehicles. I AM against government mandated electric vehicles. Let the public decide what it wants. So far, a big hogging v8 engine works for me. That may well change in the future.

I love burning dinosaurs. If you don't then they died in vain, and I can't stand doing that to them.