Electric Cars Anyone?

[roger wiegand]

I'm about six months in with a Tesla Model Y. With the recent price reductions and federal rebates the price of a 3 is getting very reasonable. I've driven about 10,000 miles so far including one ~2000 mile trip and several 600 mile ones. Charging while traveling has been a complete non-issue. I need to stop every couple of hours anyway and by the time I've attended to my needs the car is usually done recharging. Typically while traveling you'd recharge for ~20% to 80%, this takes 20 minutes in a Tesla. Typically three stops between Boston and Cleveland (600 miles), to end up with a 40-50% charge when I arrive (no charger at my sister's place). Perhaps much longer in other vehicles, I don't know. At home I charge every few days and never even think about it.

With MA electric rates there isn't much cost saving vs a 40-50 mpg hybrid. In most parts of the country you'd save quite a bit. The car is really quick and quite comfortable on long trips. I bought it as kind of an experiment, I'm never going back to gas. We take it on long trips in preference to the hybrid RAV4 we bought about the same time now because it is nicer to drive and no more hassle.

I also appreciate that it has the highest "made in USA" content of any car you can buy.

[Paul F Franklin]

Just as the towing and roadside assistance industries adapted to front wheel drive and vehicles that require a flat bed tow, they will adapt to EV's and have power packs or generators (if they don't already) so they can service the occasional out of juice situation. When any disruption comes to technology, it's common to point out all the places where the new whatever doesn't stack up against the well established and mature alternative and say: not for me. Others look at how fast the new technology is advancing and the potential it has and say: I want in now! And that's fine. There will always be early adopters, later adopters, and never adopters.

[Jack Frederick]

There was a good comparison article in the Wa Post over the weekend on EV’s. It detailed the available tax credits by model. As a part of the re-wire of the garage to a shop I added a car charger so my daughter (Audi S4 vE-torn) can re-charge here. I am told there are rebates available from the utility for installing a charger but have to detail that.

[Bill Dufour]

MY utility district you can get rebates for a car charger but you must show you own a electric car registered to that address.
BilL D

[Rick Potter]

Very timely thread for me as we have been trying to buy a Bolt EUV for three months. Because of the rebate uncertainty, dealers cannot even get them around here, and trying to get a red one is impossible, unless you will pay a few thou above list at which time they appear like magic. I gave up on a Maverick hybrid months ago and you still can't find one at list.

Tesla recently started a price war on EV's recently. My 25 y/o grand daughter got a Tesla Model 3 last week, after the price went down, ordered the car and picked it up within a week. My daughter, her mom, ordered a Model Y three days ago, because of the price drop, and picked it up yesterday and she found out the price was reduced another two grand that morning. Tesla had already changed the price to the lower amount without her asking.

With the price reductions (probably clearing out inventory before an updated Model 3 comes out) a Tesla Model 3 costs less than the AVERAGE new car (about $42K) BEFORE the rebate.

If you live somewhere rural and cold, an EV is not a good idea. In suburban SoCal they are practical and common as houseflies. I saw three Teslas at a busy intersection recently while waiting for the light. The Model 3 is the most sold CAR in CA. I live in SoCal, have owned two plug in hybrids for 10 years, and have solar at home. I charge at home 99% of the time and get gas about every three months, as over 80% of the total mileage on both cars is on electric.

So, Bolt EUV not available. Toyota RAV4 plug in over a year to order. Tesla more affordable and available. Hmmm.

[Kev Williams]

Well, after this morning's colossal SpaceX failure, and news stories with titles like "Why Telsa's keep catching on fire", I have come to the conclusion that none of my money will ever go into Elon Musk's pockets... If I ever get an electric vehicle- which is doubtful, it will NOT be a Tesla...

[roger wiegand]

Well, after this morning's colossal SpaceX failure, and news stories with titles like "Why Telsa's keep catching on fire", I have come to the conclusion that none of my money will ever go into Elon Musk's pockets... If I ever get an electric vehicle- which is doubtful, it will NOT be a Tesla...

We can agree that Elon is a twit, but if your buying choices are are to be dictated by the idiocies and excesses of company CEOs I doubt you'd have any choices left if you knew all the details.

BTW, electric car fires are pretty rare; this data from NHTSA 2021 data: "Hybrid vehicle fires ranked first with 3474.5 fires per 100,000 vehicle sales (16,051 fires). Next came ICE cars with 1520.9 fires per 100,000 sales (199,533 fires). BEVs were at the very bottom of this calamity heap with only 25.1 fires per 100,000 vehicle sales (52 fires)."

[Tom M King]

I'm hoping the 23 year old diesel dually lasts until they come out with an EV dually. I could get by with a 100 mile range. Still running a gas burner for Pam because we live a long way away from almost anything.

The SpaceX test this morning was not considered a failure. There is a lot going on there that will take a bunch of testing to get everything not only right, but reliable. It's not unusual in the space game to blow stuff up in the process. That beast had to have a bunch of vibrating that has never been seen before, and the only way to really test it is to light the fire. At least the launch pad is still intact.

[Warren Lake]

same as Tom on how he views that heard radio guy saying negative no one was hurt or killed stuff was learned. I dont care about the space thing I find this world complicated enough. I have no draw to new electric as ive never bought new in my life. Cars I own now are all worth more than I paid for them though never the thought at the time buying them. I can get by with less and could not care less how im seen in traffic. You will pay more tax on your car than I pay for my car. I will have better machines in my shop than you. Have friends with multiply high end stuff some over 10 cars for sure. All good and fine, I love it that they can call up buy a GT-40 or have mulitple years of collector cars.

Same time I annoy my car builder friends as I look at classic car conversions. More every day. The truck runs great at 50 years old but id never say id not consider a conversion. Im just open to see it evolve fast as it goes and they have done likely almost every brand of car at this point or most.

I hear lots of neg on him, last at a car show company showing me top cordless polisher right now and said has a 45 minute run time their low number had to do that time . He said they have a special battery tech, I said from a Tesla? he smiled, lady behind me ripped my head off while her husband turned red and shrunk by some number of inches.

[Jim Becker]

Very timely thread for me as we have been trying to buy a Bolt EUV for three months. Because of the rebate uncertainty, dealers cannot even get them around here, and trying to get a red one is impossible, unless you will pay a few thou above list at which time they appear like magic. ....
So, Bolt EUV not available.

Rick, a friend of mine just ordered a Bolt and was quoted three months delivery. This was after several attempts and dealers telling him that ordering was closed. That apparently changed and in went the order. Geography might matter, but who knows?

[Larry Frank]

Elon Musk is A twit ??? No.....he owns Twitter and exposed a lot of nonsense that was going on.

He has lead this country to be the leader in space with reusable rocket ships. He is an industrial giant with great innovations. We need many more like him. And of course he is rich. If I was younger, I would want to work for him

[Larry Frank]

My question is how much electricity will California need due to their laws about every cars. I found information that indicates it will take 20-50% more kwh. Where will this power come from and where is the infrastructure to handle it?

I am disappointed that there seems to be no plans for how to accomplish this change. Building new power plants takes many years and renewable energy will not be sufficient to do it. If we really want to make this change, we need realistic plans to get there.

[Bill Dufour]

I just heard Ford is recalling their electric pickup because of battery fires. The GMC electric truck only comes as the fully loaded four door model at $105,000
Bill D.

https://www.teslarati.com/ford-f-150...rged.%E2%80%9D

[Edward Weber]

I respectfully suggest we leave Elon Musk and California out of the discussion and focus on the OP's question.

[Lee DeRaud]

The SpaceX test this morning was not considered a failure. There is a lot going on there that will take a bunch of testing to get everything not only right, but reliable. It's not unusual in the space game to blow stuff up in the process. That beast had to have a bunch of vibrating that has never been seen before, and the only way to really test it is to light the fire. At least the launch pad is still intact.

For some arbitrary value of "intact".

The report I read this morning told of a documentary film crew that left a remote camera vehicle about 1/4-mile from the pad. Returned afterward to find bowling-ball-sized chunks of concrete littering the area. I really want to see that footage.