I like things that are fast. I don't care how it does it. I've driven a couple Teslas, and they're impressive. Supposedly they are the safest cars made in crash tests, and they're not exactly small (the S and X are quite large actually), so the original poster's brother shows he has no idea what he's talking about right there.....I drive some sort of hybrid at work almost every week, usually a Volt or two. They're ok, too, but we didn't sign up to be a full electric dealer so I never have to deal with a Chevy Bolt and I'm happy about that. I really don't feel full electric is the long term answer, just a short term patch to make people feel better about themselves as they drive right now. In 10 years they'll be obsolete for one reason or another, and they'll need to be disposed of and recycled...as far as what the future will most likely be (And probably should be), look up hydrogen cell cars.
So if we did away with fossil fuel vehicles ie. diesel how do I move my horses in their trailer with a total weight of 13,000 lbs. plus the weight of a tow vehicle? I'd bet an 800 lb. roll of hay doesn't fit in the hatch of a Prius or Tesla 3 either. I can't see transporting livestock with electric vehicles as they can't be in trailers that long while you charge 6-8 hours to go another 200 miles. Plus I can buy a great running really nice 7.3 International in a Ford or 6.9 Cummins in a Dodge for under $10K and it will run for another 200K miles so why do I have to spend $40-50K for some electric vehicle? My brother heats with a natural gas fired boiler and cools with electric air conditioning the communist. Lastly I'm sorry guys but hybrids, electric and 99% of newer cars are boring and I just can't drive them even for a little while. But I believe you drive what you want... I'm a dinosaur who likes the smell burning high octane or alky, smoking tires, listening to the four barrel inhale while the Mickey Thompson headers scavenge and breathe when I shift as the exhaust sings its song! I also really like the blower whine and 3" exhaust of my 02 Mustang as the built 5 speed gears whine under my hand. I'm in trouble hungh? Mikey
Be patient If you want to haul your horses "green" it's out there and more and more companies are offering them https://electrek.co/2018/09/06/tesla-semi-new-order-electric-truck-walmart/
Same questions as our goverment are being afsked.. There's also the financiel side of it.. We have the highest tax in the world, and if the tax they get in from us buying and owening (annual fee/tax based on pollution rates) diesel and gasolin cars disapesear, things will fall apart.. They only found 250.000.000dkk to fund their project, but That's about 0.3% og what's needed... I can't see how they're gonna make it work..
I looked under the hood of my Nailhead powered Chevy pickup and (gasp) there is a big battery in there! I think that makes it an electric vehicle.
Ha, ha, ha... I was being sarcastic. Will cost $100K to buy a heavy duty electric vehicle with the capabilities to tow 20K lbs. Then stop for 4-8 hours and charge every 200-400 miles? You can't move livestock like that and leave them in a trailer that long. I can buy a reliable 1 ton diesel rig for under $10K and in fact paid $5K for a current one that has lasted four years with minimum investment (usual tires, brakes, shocks, alternator) to haul stuff all over the southeast and midwest and it is still running strong with 350K miles on it. It aint pretty but livestock like to show your truck works for a living. We all have different tastes and I always say drive what you like but hybrid/electric ain't gonna be one of em if I can help it. May have to go back to driving livestock across country like the cowboys did ha, ha, ha... Mikey
These ass hats buying loaded 1 ton trucks are already happily paying 70k. The 100k pickup is not far off regardless of the powerplant.
I was at Home Depot last night and saw a guy buying lumber-he had almost two dozen 2x4s and a few half sheets of plywood. Fortunately he had a brand new black F350 dually quad cab Powerstroke Platinum 4x4 to haul it with. It was a hella nice truck, and he has every right to but it, may even need it for something, but I thought he looked a little silly. It looked like a giant phallus. Patrick
There are applications where electric vehicles are not practical as of today's technology, just as there are applications where jet aircraft don't work as well as propeller airplanes. New technology will replace old technology where it is clearly the better choice. I suspect that there will be gasoline and Diesel powered vehicles in use for decades to come, but I'll also bet that we are going to see a heck of a lot more electrics in the coming years.
Prices for new Trucks and Large SUVs are getting astronomical. There was a new Suburban Denali parked in the mall. Sticker was a tad over $78,000.
Did I miss any comments on Hydrogen Vehicles ???? I've been waiting for 25 years for them to get off their A$$ and do something . No emissions , Only thing that comes out the tailpipe is Water. Almost as much power as Gasoline . But the problem ??? Big oil companies . The only thing wrong with implementing Hydrogen is the infrastructure to fuel . Because the oil companies have stations everywhere . Even the OIL RICH countries know the end is in sight so they have started to turn large areas of the deserts into Solar farms. They will keep a Monopoly on fuels . And we will still be dependent on them .
They'll probably end up prying my Electra's steering wheel from my cold dead hands, however and whenever that happens. I don't see myself in an electric, the few that are around here seem to disappear in September and then come out again in May, - just like my old Buick. The biggest reason for that I'm told is that they are impossible to heat in winter, and the battery life is severely shortened in below zero weather, - couple that with a heater and your 300 mile range becomes 20. Hybrids do marginally better, but the last time i was in a Hybrid cab I was counting the times the gasoline engine went on all while the driver was extolling the virtues of it. It didn't seem like it would be any more efficient, in fact, I'll bet it's emissions were actually worse because as we know, a gasoline engine is the dirtiest when starting up or shutting down. I'm not going to comment on the concept of Climate change except for the fact that it has been changing for the last 4 billion years, and why should it stop now. I'm not a scientist, but the science I have been reading is largely based on supposition and computer modelling; yeah, and so is my pension. My financial guy tells me things based on prognostication, computer models and informed expert opinion and somehow I'm still short. He drives a new Tesla and I drive a 50 year old Buick; - something not quite right here. The bottom line here is that with any human endeavor in history, ethics, politics, and religion are the last things that are of any concern and are only foisted on a compliant and willing populace in order to make them bend a certain desired way. The true driver is money, so follow the money and you will discover the truth. And the truth in the case of electric cars is that soon they're going to be just as expensive to run as a gas pot due to the increase in infrastructure that will be needed to support them. Due to the fact that battery technology isn't there yet, batteries are going to be the next toxic problem, they're expensive to make and dispose of. We're not gaining anything here. Hydrogen is out because it is just too dangerous to handle. (Remember the Hindenburg? That was static electricity that brought that thing down) The manufacturers can't make a cell that won't blow up when a fly lands on it. Not to mention refueling would need a hazmat team on standby. So; I'm just going to wait and see...if they can't get the technology or things don't change we'll all be riding horses again by 2030.
If I may correct you, the winter drop is more like 25% roughly. So 300 mile range becomes 225. You were off by an order of magnitude.
Ok, thanks for clearing that up. The guy who claimed that owned a Tesla for a few months, that was his experience. Could have been other factors at play there. So the winter drop is the same even at -40? I haven't seen one electric car on the streets here after it goes below freezing; - I do know that my regular car battery drops by 25-33% and then never really gets back up there even with the alternator throwing it in. The voltage comes back, but the amperage stays lower because the heat just isn't there. Electric motors tend to draw a lot more juice in the winter and for some reason aren't as efficient, we see this in the refinery I work at, there are more failures in winter. (Goes with everything, not just electrical) So what's the lowest temperature you've run your Volt at? How did it work? Did it heat up enough to be comfortable or keep the glass clear? How long did the charge last? A neighbor had one up the street for 6 months until November, then after that I never saw it again. The next time I saw him he was driving a new Honda, and not a hybrid. To heat up a space at between 10 and -40 F takes a huge amount of power; most electric heating coil driven heaters I know of won't cut it. To turn electricity into heat energy requires a huge amount of it or a short circuit. Most regular gasoline driven cars barely cut it at -40, the engines never really get warm, or they freeze up and then boil over and crack when heat is applied. Transmission oil turns to butter, as do gearboxes and rear ends. I've seen idiots shotgun their cars at that temperature; they don't warm them up and just hit it, things break. How does an electric survive that? That engine doesn't develop any heat, it would run cold from start to finish, any lubricants would never get warm. How do hybrid traction engines hold up in snow and cold? There has to be a reason why there aren't as many of these sorts of cars here; it all isn't just price and availability. Even diesels are in trouble at that temperature, and it used to be that if you drove an 18 wheeler you had to leave it running throughout the cold spell otherwise your fuel would gel and you'd never get enough fuel in there to heat things up enough to start. (glowplugs would burn up and out, batteries wouldn't have enough juice to turn over a big heavy oil engine) Nowadays they have "winter oil", which doesn't gel until -55. Sure, it's extreme, but we still have to live it and go to work. Are electric cars designed with that in mind? Inquiring minds want to know; you've got a Volt...
Electric cars are designed for the temperature extremes. I say that because I used to work in the auto industry. They DO consider all possibilities. But I wont lie to you, the cold reduces the range. 1 cold temps reduce the charge. It's a chemistry thing. 2 when it's cold you crank the heat which hurts the range.
