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Electric Cars -- anyone own one?

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City of Erie has an EV garbage truck in testing. Gives a whole new
meaning to "garbage truck" !!

Jackie !! Have you seen an electric work boat yet ?? Don Jon Ship
Building here in Erie was supposed to start on a work boat/tug.

And our Wabtech (The old GE Loco plant) has an all battery loco on the
rails now. Execs from all over the world were here for the unveiling.
 
Reuters.

Why do you ask?
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I fond the source on Reuters, it says:

"CEO Scherr said Hertz limited the torque and speed on the EVs and offered them to more experienced users to ensure easier rides after certain renters had front-end collisions."

I was skeptical bc I had earlier read in the NYtimes that Musk didn't want to do that, because it would neuter his "brand" and he wants to be known for fun fast cars. The car does have a "Chill" acceleration mode you can select.

Plus I don't understand the above statement. Why offer neutered EVs to "experienced users"? Aren't they the ones who know how to drive them? How does it ensure "easier rides"? Who are these "certain renters?" THe whole statement is a clusterfudge.

However, as a Tesla owner and Hertz renter of Tesla and Polestar too, I do agree that Hertz woefully mismanaged their EV fleet and rollout. They did NOTHING to educate renters who were often CLUELESS about EVs and then complained that they ran out of juice and garnered bad publicity for Hertz and Tesla both. You CANNOT get an EV and just ignorantly drive it about like you would a ICE vehicle. You have to plan around charging. So you need educated or you need to sign a disclaimer saying you know what you're doing.

But beyond that, every time I rented one, the battery was near dead and I had to go out and immediately charge it. That was because they didn't have hardly any charging infrastructure in their airport garages and their employees were CLUELESS that they had to plug those cars into the few level 2 chargers that they did have straight away after vehicle return.

Finally, Hertz employees were completely unprepared to deal with the frequent "vehicle swap games" that the rental agencies always play. "SO you rented a Tesla MY long range dual motor? Don't have it, so here's a M3 standard range RWD." Ah, no, bucko, it's the middle of winter in Virginia, and I need all of the range and traction I can get. Worse, Hertz, in its infinite dipshittery, didn't even name the vehicles by their regular designations, replacing them instead with their internal nomenclature such as "E17" which is a price tier. So, they could not even tell you if the vehicle they were goign to give you (or the replacement) was long or standard range etc. I had to go out to the lot and inspect the vehicles myself to see what range they had on them.

Then they're renting these Polestars, and the one I rented in Columbus Ohio had the screen in Czech where it was made and I couldnt' for the life of me figure out the many controls or change it to English. And that vehicle is NOT supercharger compatible, so any renter has to either keep it in town and return it depleted (assuming it was charged from the get-go), or go somewhere and spend hours and hours at a level 2 charger, or try to find a compatible level 3, which Hertz provided no guidance on.

So, yea, Hertz took it in the shorts because Elon and Tesla crushed the resale value of their fleet by repeated price cuts, and they didn't know that Teslas go through tires fast and require expensive repairs when crashed or dinged. Which means that some highly paid executive at Hertz made a billion dollar decision based on woefully incomplete information. This is hardly the fault of the EVs, it's the fault of a dipstick who committed to 100,000 of them without knowing diddly about operating a fleet of them.
 
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There's a lot of hating here, which I'm struggling to understand.

Why hate on somebody like me who has a Tesla and few or none of the aforementioned problems, and has a 10kw solar installation that charges the car and is happy as a clam?

Why is my car a piece of child labor fire hazard dead on roadside junk? Why all the hate?

And if the fears of cold dead EVs are founded, show me pics of all the Teslas disabled on the roadside. They're just not there, because if you manage your Tesla right, it works mostly as advertised.

Some of these claims are as preposterous as me making fun of a dead diesel because the lady driving it never changed the oil and it seized up, or left on the dome light and killed her battery. THat' user error, it's not a fundamental fatal defect in the vehicle.

And the source of electricity that you're using to charge the vehicle depends on where you are, and if it's Iowa, it's 68% wind.

So come on guys, no need for all the hate. It's a car FFS, and nobody has forced any of you to buy one.
 
There's a lot of hating here, which I'm struggling to understand.

Why hate on somebody like me who has a Tesla and few or none of the aforementioned problems, and has a 10kw solar installation that charges the car and is happy as a clam?

Why is my car a piece of child labor fire hazard dead on roadside junk? Why all the hate?

And if the fears of cold dead EVs are founded, show me pics of all the Teslas disabled on the roadside. They're just not there, because if you manage your Tesla right, it works mostly as advertised.

Some of these claims are as preposterous as me making fun of a dead diesel because the lady driving it never changed the oil and it seized up, or left on the dome light and killed her battery. THat' user error, it's not a fundamental fatal defect in the vehicle.

And the source of electricity that you're using to charge the vehicle depends on where you are, and if it's Iowa, it's 68% wind.

So come on guys, no need for all the hate. It's a car FFS, and nobody has forced any of you to buy one.
I don't personally hate them or their owners and doubt most people do either. I think what most people hate is being forced by the government to do something that may or may not suit their wants or needs and may or may not meet the governments stated goals.
 
Should have watched the national news last night. Think it was from Chicago. Had plenty of video of dead Teslas waiting at supercharger stations. Usually from running the heater while waiting for a charging station when you only had a few miles left on your charge.
Only dislike them because there are those trying to force me to buy something I don't want and why should I waste my life waiting on a battery to charge when I can fuel up in less than 10 min. and be on my way. If I am going to waste part of my life on something, I want it to be something I decide to do, not something shoved down my throat.
 
City of Erie has an EV garbage truck in testing. Gives a whole new
meaning to "garbage truck" !!

Jackie !! Have you seen an electric work boat yet ?? Don Jon Ship
Building here in Erie was supposed to start on a work boat/tug.

And our Wabtech (The old GE Loco plant) has an all battery loco on the
rails now. Execs from all over the world were here for the unveiling.
Yes, San Jac Marine has finished the first “true Hybrid” Push Boat for Kirby Corporation, who is one of our largest customers.

The boat is a hybrid that has two 750 HP diesel/generatos that charge the batteries. The batteries power the entire vessel. The Diesels only kick in to charge the batteries when they go below 40 percent.

The vessel, named Green Diamond, is a joint project between Kirby Corporation and Shell Oil. The vessel will do barge shifting work at the huge Shell Refinery in Deer Park. Shell has even put in a charging station where the vessel will be docked when not in use.

here is the vessel, one of the drive motors before installation, and one of the engine/generator packs in the engine room.

My Shop performed all og the Machine Shop Work.

At the christening of Green Diamond, there were around 250 people at the ceremony. That included, people from Shell, the Coast Guard, the ABS, Kirby Corp, and many representative of companies in the Marine Industry.

Kirby commisioned me to write an “Ode” to Green Diamond. I wrote the lyrics and music, and performed it at the ceremony, to the delight of all.

Green Diamond, Green Diamond, look at her go.
Green Diamond, Green Diamond, pushing Her Tow.
Green Diamond, Green Diamond, She’s running so clean
Green Diamond, green Diamond, She’s a real Green Machine.

Green Diamond, Green Diamond, it’s abundantly clear.
Green Diamond, Green Diamond, the future is here.
Green Diamond, Green Diamond, She’s showing the way
Green Diamond Green Diamond It’s a brand new Day.

Green Diamond, Green Diamond, Look at her go……




IMG_2411.jpegIMG_1708.jpegIMG_2289.jpegIMG_1710.jpeg
 
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Jackie, what's the ROI for the Green hybrid push boat vs an ICE boat of same class?
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For this single vessel, the return on investment will not be very positive. At least, not in the short run.
First, this is classed as a 1400 HP vessel. The going cost for a regular Diesel powered vessel this size is around $4.5 million. There are rumors that Green Diamond will be at least twice this. It is difficult to pin down an initial investment because of a multitude of teething problems and re works.

The concept of this vessel is low emissions. The theory is that a Diesel Engine has an ideal power curve where efficiency is at its peak. When the engines do kick in to charge the batteries, they will run at a determined ideal RPM for maximum efficiency, saving o fuel cost and achieving a lower emissions output.

This vessel is as much of an experiment and showpiece as anything. It is a very complex drive train. Push Boats live a hard life. Green Diamond will be relegated to doing basic shifting work at Shell, rather than being subjected to the rigors of Canal or River Service.

Time will tell if the concept is viable in such a brutal inviroment.
 
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Yes, San Jac Marine has finished the first “true Hybrid” Push Boat for Kirby Corporation, who is one of our largest customers.

The boat is a hybrid that has two 750 HP diesel/generatos that charge the batteries. The batteries power the entire vessel. The Diesels only kick in to charge the batteries when they go below 40 percent.

The vessel, named Green Diamond, is a joint project between Kirby Corporation and Shell Oil. The vessel will do barge shifting work at the huge Shell Refinery in Deer Park. Shell has even put in a charging station where the vessel will be docked when not in use.

here is the vessel, one of the drive motors before installation, and one of the engine/generator packs in the engine room.

My Shop performed all og the Machine Shop Work.

At the christening of Green Diamond, there were around 250 people at the ceremony. That included, people from Shell, the Coast Guard, the ABS, Kirby Corp, and many representative of companies in the Marine Industry.

Kirby commisioned me to write an “Ode” to Green Diamond. I wrote the lyrics and music, and performed it at the ceremony, to the delight of all.

Green Diamond, Green Diamond, look at her go.
Green Diamond, Green Diamond, pushing Her Tow.
Green Diamond, Green Diamond, She’s running so clean
Green Diamond, green Diamond, She’s a real Green Machine.

Green Diamond, Green Diamond, it’s abundantly clear.
Green Diamond, Green Diamond, the future is here.
Green Diamond, Green Diamond, She’s showing the way
Green Diamond Green Diamond It’s a brand new Day.

Green Diamond, Green Diamond, Look at her go……




View attachment 1513789View attachment 1513793View attachment 1513794View attachment 1513802

Didn't Pemex complete the buy out of the Shell Refinery in DP recently??
 
Realistically, for the average person, unless you are a dedicated electric vehicle nerd, you really need to have it as a second vehicle with another vehicle for when you want to go on long trips or haul anything, because the range is just not there even with modern large battery packs. Especially in the cold, especially at speeds over 70 mph, especially if you have even just a bike rack on the back.
I think you answered your own question in post #1845, quite well in your previous post #1785. But we can expand on that a bit.

First the average person really can’t afford a second car that is basically a toy. If the average person is actually a family, and has a couple of kids, a bike rack and or top mounted storage unit will be the norm.

If those kids are involved in sports or other activities, the car will spend a lot of time on the road, in the absolute worst conditions for EV range. Lots of charging away from home. If home happens to be an apartment, almost all charging will be away from home.

If you live in the western states and use the interstates, that there are many miles of posted speed being 70 MPH and above. You might check out the speeds on interstate 15 from Canada to Mexico as well as the distances between towns and charging stations. 150 mile round trip family weekend trip just might be an adventure in an EV.

I clipped the part in your earlier post about the cost effectiveness of your Nissan leash. Pointing out that the only maintenance needed in 50,000 miles were tire rotations. Any combustion engines vehicle that needed more than tire rotations and oil changes for the first 50k, should be returned as a lemon. Never mind the fact that many new car purchases include all scheduled maintenance for the first 100,000 miles included.

The only reason the Nissan Leaf was a good investment, was that someone paid for half the purchase price for you. With 50,000 miles it sold for half what you paid for it, 7 years later. This would be considered a low mileage, premium used car.
My mom’s 98 4Runner with the same 50,000 miles would probably fetch 90-110% percent of the original selling price.

If you look at a map of election results by county and pay attention to the red and blue, you will find that where EV’s make sense is the blue areas, not so much the red. High density population areas with short commutes. Might give a hint of why the red areas don’t want them.

The problem with EV ‘s is not so much the product, as the push for sales. They are not yet a good choice for “the average person”. Yet the average person who they are marketed to, is flat out being lied to about the practical aspects of owning one. Reading your posts, it’s clear you haven’t given other people’s needs and lifestyles much thought.

Two last points, they are an environmental disaster, more correctly the battery production is. They are not green by any stretch of the imagination. Research what it takes to make a battery. Many of my posts in this thread touch on that and give references.

To you last point, “no one is forcing you to buy one”. This is a complete and utter lie. That is exactly the current plan. Not there yet, but without people educating themselves, like this thread has done for many, granted with some hysteria, an EV will be the only thing you will be allowed to by. Forced purchase by default.

This is why it gets emotional.
 
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I figured they would have hid the diesel exhaust pipes better.
Actually, those are not the exhaust for the Diesel Engines. They are the vents for the isolated battery rooms, which have their own climate control.

The Diesel Exhaust goes through a rather sophisticated scrubber system and then is exhausted into flush mount vents.

These engines meet tier 4 regulations,

 
Jackie, thanks for the straightforward response, a rare commodity in the realm of "green" tech. And it's roughly what I expected. Likely the press releases will take a less upwind tack.
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