Electric Vehicles discussion (was NJ bans Tesla dealerships)

Actually, it was Masterforce, the house brand from Menards.

Ego are excellent.

 

If I didn't already have a gas mower I would get the Ego mower. My yard is so small it takes like two gallons of gas for the whole summer to mow.

 

Yeah, when I a gas mower in Chicago, I would just walk it to the gas station across the street from my house and fill it up for about $1.00. It would last most of the season.

 

An electric snowblower sounds great, but I doubt it would work well enough were I am. I've gotta blow a large driveway, and it seems like we now only get a handful of huge storms anymore.

 

I read the last few posts and it seems a lot of you don't get out much. I fill up my tank at Costco [2 mi away]. 20 gal takes 3 or 4 min. How much juice does one get in 3 or 4 min. EV's are the coming thing but they are not all guns and roses. The low ground clearance on Tesla ain't getting you anywhere in a foot of snow.
Besides...real men drive coalers.

 

My next motorcycle is going to be electric. Just not having to change the oil and do other maintenance is enough of a sale for me.

 

Ouch! I just glanced at a few and the sticker prices were $25k +/-!

As for maintenance...it's similar to an airplane...before getting on/off/on do a walk around and check "everything"!

 

I should have said that. I have three driveways on my property, but only clear the front driveway, which is very short, about 50 feet or so.

The back driveways are very long, but I don't drive back there in winter.

You are correct. The batteries do not last long enough for a large driveway. I have two 80v batteries and I use one each time. If I tried to do all three drives, I would have to stop to recharge the them.

 

You were looking at the wrong motorcycles. You can get one for 13K & I believe they can be cheaper. If you look at your car manual just like with your motorcycle manual it probably says you should do a walkaround before driving/riding it but nobody does so.
I believe a walkaround is required if you are driving a commercial vehicle.

 

I drove a Hybrid Corolla on the mountains recently, and while I won't say it sucked, it lacked the spunk of a bigger ICE engine on the steeper climbs. OTOH, gas mileage was amazing, like 1 gallon used in about 200 kms.

In theory, you make gas more expensive (taxes and remove subsidies in the US) and subsidize chargers and home solar panels. Your options are pennies per Kw vs $8/gallon. But you are correct, that's a difficult plan to implement, particularly in the present day US.

 

You are obviously not 'merican.

We need big ass pick up trucks because once a year we have to help an old college friend move.

And we need big ass SUVs to drive the kids to school.

You Europeans would not understand.

 

Suburu is coming with an EV.

 

I love my Volt, but there are sacrifices, when out of electricity, my car sounds like a lawnmower struggling to make speed.

Maybe because I become used to the quiet ride, that regular car engine noises sound weird to me.

 

The Volt is old tech. There is a reason they have been discontinued.

Newer PHEVs and hybrids can easily have better straight line performance than comparable ICE vehicles.

Edit: for example, every current generation Toyota hybrid performs better than its ICE counterpart AND has better mileage, especially in traffic.

 

Gas prices.

Most people with PHEVs will plug in to save money.

They do need a garage, because an EV with out a garage is still a pain in the ass (or work charger)

Yeah that is a not really, most destination chargers are going to be level 2, so you better be in that store for a couple hours to get much of a charge.

I didn't have a garage when I first got my Volt, figuring out how to change it was a pain in the ass if I could not get to the charger at work.

Not all charging stations are fast charging.

Maybe if you go to the gym every day for an hour you can get enough juice for your daily driver needs, or to the store every other day.

It definitely takes more planing than having gas stations every where and for gasoline you don't really have to think too much about how long will a station take to pump gas into my car compared to this other one.

 

I know. And given their track record, I'll wait a couple of years after they come out before springing for one.

 

I absolutely love mine. I'm not gonna say it makes mowing fun, but it's a lot more pleasant.
21" Cordless Lawn Mower by EGO POWER+ (egopowerplus.com)

 

Would you say the same to Toyota? Its essentially the same EV with a different body kit dressing it up.

 

There are a ton of Teslas here in SoCal. Around 20 states have implemented a road use tax for EV's and probably won't be very long before the rest join in. It doesn't appear to be a whole lot but never doubt that the tax collector's work in mysterious ways.

 

A very pedestrian EV, from what I understand. Which could be a good thing? The more EVs on the market the better. They can’t all be technological marvels.

 

There have been polls done since this latest price hike in gas prices and they show pretty conclusively that gas prices have minimal impact on people wanting to get an EV… Obviously not apples to oranges, but it does indicate gas price is not a significant factor in changing people’s behavior.

This is not true. It may have been true 5+ years ago, but the chargers being built now are all fast chargers. Now that governments are starting to subsidize construction of chargers, that is only going to increase in rate..

Level 2 only make sense at places where cars are going to be parked for hours, ie, home, work, tourist destinations, etc.) Heck, last time I went to a Sounders game I got a spot with a level 2 and added 70 miles to my car while watching the Sounders..

So what you’re saying is that the US’s charging network sucks right now. While that is true, it is changing relatively quickly and is something that will happen quicker as more people get EVs..

 

I've been driving Subarus for 20years, and had a bunch of subaru die hard friends in HS that would work on and restore theirs for fun. (Toyota became majority stake holder in 2005.)

I know they are owned by Toyota, but for whatever reason, the first version of every new release is buggy, and they tend to get it right on release #2 or 3.

That's probably standard for most of the industry.