Electric Cars -- anyone own one?

[Surgeonwithagun]

EV's do not save anything in the long run.
Solar doesn't save anything in the long run.
Wind doesn't save anything in the long run.
Until the rest of the world worries about CO2 emissions nothing changes.
US government control of CO2 emissions is really a regressive tax.
So, we are spinning out tires. (pun intended)

PLEASE REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER

EVs are OK if you can find a used one at a reasonable price (I found a Leaf) and don't have a long commute. They are not equivalent to a gas car in range. You can't tow with one usually.

They can be good in limited circumstances.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Why hasn't this thread been deleted.
My post bout can a Tesla fly has bout the same relevance as this thread imo

LK, I actually have learned a lot about the EV’s in this thread. Coming in not knowing one thing about them, I have found this thread to be very educational.

 

[therifler]

if e cars are like battery powered hand tools the harder the job with a hand tool the quicker the battery drains . so if i go to a shoot 135 miles away and my range is 300 miles . i leave the house with two guns but when i leave the shoot i now have 8 guns . will my e car get me home on the charge that i left the house with ? guys life is too short not to have a little fun in life . this is just one post among many that are gun related . 14 pages shows it certainly has interest .

 

[muleman69]

if e cars are like battery powered hand tools the harder the job with a hand tool the quicker the battery drains . so if i go to a shoot 135 miles away and my range is 300 miles . i leave the house with two guns but when i leave the shoot i now have 8 guns . will my e car get me home on the charge that i left the house with ? guys life is too short not to have a little fun in life . this is just one post among many that are gun related . 14 pages shows it certainly has intere

This has been informative and fun to say the least and I thank you All. On another note if I were not interested in a topic I would just pass to one I 'm interested in like most folks. I'm with you 263 fun filled and informative replies works for me....

 

[ronsatspokane]

if e cars are like battery powered hand tools the harder the job with a hand tool the quicker the battery drains . so if i go to a shoot 135 miles away and my range is 300 miles . i leave the house with two guns but when i leave the shoot i now have 8 guns . will my e car get me home on the charge that i left the house with ? guys life is too short not to have a little fun in life . this is just one post among many that are gun related . 14 pages shows it certainly has interest .

This is where electric would not work for me. It's not about the load being carried, it's about the load on the battery given the throttle position. I treat driving as a sport and I'm a graduate of the "drive it like you stole it" school. A car with a 300 mile reported range would probably only last me about 25 miles with the accelerator burried in the floor boards.

 

[CarlGeorge]

One really big impact (per ronsatspokane's point) is speed. 80 mph seems to be the point where range degredation really accelerates compared to lower highway speeds. With EV's the city/highway efficiency ratio is flipped: You get better mileage in the city and it's highway driving that impacts the range. (Part of the increased efficiency in the city comes from the fact that some of the energy that gets dissipated to brake isn't dissipated as heat - but rather put back into the battery because the drivetrain acts as a generator when the accelerator is released.)

 

[dellet]

One really big impact (per ronsatspokane's point) is speed. 80 mph seems to be the point where, if you travel faster than that for an extended period of time, you'll start to notice range degrading faster than when you're in the 70-80 mpg range. With EV's the city/highway efficiency ratio is flipped: You get better mileage in the city and it's highway driving that impacts the range. (Part of the increased efficiency in the city comes from the fact that some of the energy that gets dissipated to brake isn't dissipated as heat - but rather put back into the battery because the drive train acts as a generator when the accelerator is released.)

What about short term storage and parasitic battery drain?

Many of the new cars, with all the memory for the modules have greatly reduced their recommended storage time before they say you need to plug the battery into a charger. I have seen owners manuals stating as little as 10 days.

Gas car, you leave it at the airport for 2 weeks, battery goes dead, you get a jump and down the road you go.

What types of limitations do you have with an electric?

Same scenario, drive 75 miles to the airport, or what ever, a place where you can’t plug it in, how long can you leave it before you get in trouble?

 

[CarlGeorge]

What about short term storage and parasitic battery drain?

Many of the new cars, with all the memory for the modules have greatly reduced their recommended storage time before they say you need to plug the battery into a charger. I have seen owners manuals stating as little as 10 days.

Gas car, you leave it at the airport for 2 weeks, battery goes dead, you get a jump and down the road you go.

What types of limitations do you have with an electric?

Same scenario, drive 75 miles to the airport, or what ever, a place where you can’t plug it in, how long can you leave it before you get in trouble?

We'll lose maybe 1% overnight. Have never left it unplugged for an extended period of time (e.g. airport parking) so can't comment on that. But if I extrapolate: The airport we travel to is 60 mi away. That would be roughly 23-25% to get there. Say it's a 2 week trip - so lose 14% while it's just sitting there. 25% + 14% = 39% used by the time I fly back....leaving 61% battery - more than enough to get home. Obviously that's just one use case and there are likely tons of other scenarios where people couldn't make it work for how they travel and how far they have to go to get to an airport.

I know at least one of the parking lots at Denver airport offers car charging while you're gone.

 

[Kdwilson]

EV',s are practicle for a few, not using it Dailey, have level 2 charger on hand, Don't drive 300miles a week, and having charging stations readily aviable Then you might find them attractive.

 

[sw282]

This thread is an lnteresting read. lronic that Musk would name his car ''TESLA''. After the guy who almost single handed gave the world ''A C'' current. Elon's cars are ''DC''. The brainchild of Thomas Edison.
EVs are by no means new. Duke Power has a 1913 DETROIT ELECTRIC. lts a really neat car too. l think its 10HP. Top speed is around 40mph. Range is around 60 miles on six Sears DieHards. The motor is huge and hooked directly to the driveshaft. No steering wheel either. lts steered by a tether. Unique seating with seats facing each other like Stage Coaches of old. The car looks the same both front or rear. l was told it cost around $3000 new in 1913. lf you wanted Nickel batteries for extra range it would cost you an extra $1000! Electrics were expensive over a century ago. l read somewhere the cost of a new house was around $2000 in that era

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

I saw on a news feed somewhere the BIG guy recons you guys will save $80 a month when you drive electric vs fuel. Bargain

 

[DawidB]

I got a Tesla 3 months ago. I live in CO. Have already driven it to CA and FL. It's my wife and my only car.

As a daily driver:. Crazy economical. If I charged from 0% to 100% it would cost $5.25. This would get me 250 miles or so highway I think. It costs even less, though, since we have solar.

On trips the Superchargers are roughly the same cost as gas - when using gas prices before the runup. With today's prices it's a savings. The extensiveness of the Supercharger network makes road trips very easy. Waiting for charging initially sounds bad....but they happen when you gotta pee and eat anyway.

It is INSANELY fun to drive. Far better than any gas car I've ever owned. Extremely fast and extremely smooth. Handles great. Very quiet.

If someone is looking for a financial justification for going electric you won't find it buying a Tesla.....just like you won't justify financially purchasing a Porsche or BMW or ......

Very well said! It’s a point often ignored, people are happy to splash 100k on ice vehicle, but complain abt the 60k for a Tesla. To each his own, if I have to buy ny next vehicle, Tesla all the way.

 

[ebb]

I have a friend that owns an auto scraping yard and a recycling center. He gets a lot of trade info that most have no idea exists. He has an app that if you plug in the maker and model and amount of milage to the point you sell or trade in, it will tell you how much environmental impact it has. He was getting grief from the people that own the restaurant he eats lunch at, about the new suburban he bought. The app shows the restaurant owners Prius has more environmental impact than the Suburban if you go all the way till they are both recycled to scrap that can be used again. The key with E cars is recycling the batteries. According to my friend there are only 2 places in the US that can do this and it is a very complicated process.

 

[dellet]

Time to connect this thread to firearms.

One of the earliest electric vehicles was marketed by the Pope manufacturing company, parent company of Columbia bicycles, owned by Albert Pope. Pope manufacturing also made air guns and employed Alberts nephew Harry.

Another product of Pope manufacturing tied to the bicycle production was steel tubing for the frames, as well as gun barrels. Launching the gunsmithing career of Harry Pope.

Before leaving the family bicycle business, Harry oversaw one the tubing factories which had been converted to start the manufacturing of the Pope line of vehicles, both Motorcycles and Horseless carriages.

Albert Pope felt the future of vehicles was electric, but the company’s built both combustion and battery powered vehicles, including electric motorcycles.

To lead the engineering of these vehicles, the son of Hiram Stevens Maxim, (inventor of light bulbs, curing irons and machineguns) Hiram Percy Maxim was lured away from the American Projectile company.

Hiram Percy Maxim stayed with the company until leaving to pursue a career selling Silencers. Ultimately forced out of business by the National Firearms Arms act of 1934.

The ties of electric vehicles, precision shooting, custom gunsmithing, machine guns, silencers and politics intertwines for about 150 years now,

 

[jpx2rk]

I saw on a news feed somewhere the BIG guy recons you guys will save $80 a month when you drive electric vs fuel. Bargain

About the price of a brick of primers. Coincidence ?????

 

[NorCalMikie]

A car with a 300 mile reported range would probably only last me about 25 miles with the accelerator burried in the floor boards.

But that would be a FUN FILLED 25 miles. EV torque is amazing!!

 

[NorCalMikie]

On my latest trip to the city, at mid point on the way back home, went by an EV charging station. 5 or 6 stations and maybe 4 cars hooked up. Most I've see hooked up all at one time. Maybe high gas prices having something to do with it???

 

[SGK]

This is where electric would not work for me. It's not about the load being carried, it's about the load on the battery given the throttle position. I treat driving as a sport and I'm a graduate of the "drive it like you stole it" school. A car with a 300 mile reported range would probably only last me about 25 miles with the accelerator burried in the floor boards.

I love my supercharged V8 rocket SUV. It sounds f*ckin fabulous when the exhaust valves open up. But acceleration in a 'proper' EV is stunning. Can you stomp it all day long without a charge? Dunno. But 15 minute full recharging is becoming more available. (Every gas station in the country worth its salt will have high-speed charging within the next decade.) I will be tempted within the next few years I'm sure. Sub 2.5s 0-60 is a LOT of fun.

 

[hoz53]

I love my supercharged V8 rocket SUV. It sounds f*ckin fabulous when the exhaust valves open up. But acceleration in a 'proper' EV is stunning. Can you stomp it all day long without a charge? Dunno. But 15 minute full recharging is becoming more available. (Every gas station in the country worth its salt will have high-speed charging within the next decade.) I will be tempted within the next few years I'm sure. Sub 2.5s 0-60 is a LOT of fun.

i see the new Ferrari 296 GTB hybrid (475,000) can go a max 15 miles on electric - of coarse top speed is 205 mph

 

[NorCalMikie]

Anybody know the life expectancy of the "battery" on a Prius? Replaced a "starter" battery after about 2 years.
But then, there's the folks that aren't "that smart".
Real smart lady, runs her Prius out of gas THEN runs the battery dead.