Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The cost of charging an EV....

People who buy them will either like them or not. Wont take long to sort it out. They are not for me at this stage of technology.
I live in suburbia. I see more of them in driveways on my street than last year. Some households have both ev and gassers.

Yesterday we drove to Boise to get some lumber. 2.5 hours over, 1 hour shopping, 2.5 hours home, 10 min at a gas station. If we'd had an EV, you could add at least a couple more hours to the trip for midway recharges both ways.

I've driven the Tesla Model S with Ludicrous mode (0-60 in 2.9 seconds) and the Porsche Taycan (0-60 in 2.6 seconds). Both are blindingly quick and way too much fun to drive. I am not rushing out to buy either, but from a sheer performance view, they cannot be beat.

Unfortunately, most of the idiots who own them are the one's driving exactly at the speed limit in the left lane.


Long Live ICE!

Yes, you would have stopped on the way there, and again on the way back for a charge. Maybe 40 minutes per charge, those superchargers are much faster than the home charger. Much slower than an 89 Octane pump.

Or you could have left your EV at home and driven your ICE-powered truck over there.

Quite possibly they don't read it each month. They'll estimate how much they think you use based on previous months' usage. Then once in a while they'll read it and bill you for the difference between their guess and your actual use. It can be higher or lower.

But how long does that performance last?
I’ve heard, that the EV’s can’t sustain maximum performance long. Whether it’s due to massive battery drain or some other issue, I don’t know.

Don't spook the poors.

I think by now we have established that people that live 2.5 hrs from a lumber yard aren't candidates for todays EVs. I’m not either as I drive long distances many times a year and only want one vehicle. I’m sure we will hear from those people who bought them in the up coming years as to how they hold up. There are enough out there now being driven by different types of people that there will be a ton of feedback.

According to the Porsche guys, total mileage drops from the 200ish mile range to something like 140 miles per charge if you're seriously stomping on the go fast peddle.

It takes 12 hours on a Level 2 charger to go from 8% to 100% charge but you can cut that to 20 minutes for an 80% charge at a DC fast charging station. So you can't have too much fun without a lengthy wait for more fun.

The technology has a long way to go before I am a buyer, but I don't mind driving the wheels off them.

In my opinion EV's are a terrible waste on the environment and our resources. Sure they can go fast but at great expense. They are a needless drain on our overworked power grid. They have limited mobility. (mileage) They are needlessly heavy and wear out tires and break down our roads. I'm sure people think they're cool because they are quiet and fast but it's a needless waste. Their batteries are an environmental catastrophe. They burn with such enthusiasm they are almost impossible to put out and they will destroy the spot they were sitting on when they caught fire. Whether they will remain viable is anybody's guess. As far as our leftist GND crowd is concerned they will be supported with government tax dollars however much it takes to make them viable. They are a government mandated nightmare. Technology has come a long way but I'm not so sure it has done much good. our autos are far more efficient than they were in the 60's. They are more comfortable and also exponentially more expensive. All this technology is expensive and much of it is useless.

New gas grocery getters are so fuel efficient there is no reason to get an EV.

Kinda funny that they mandated FF vehicles into making EVs obsolete.

People make these same claims about every sports car, and every large SUV and truck that isn't used exclusively for towing or hauling.

EVs are mostly for rich folks suffering from White Guilt or Climate Shame. Just read that Ford lost $123,000 on each and every one they sold last quarter. Musk is laying off 10% of his workforce. The CEO of the former Volvo EV company is whining to the press about the chicken-schitt consumers that won’t buy his boondoggle.

Seems to be a trend…. hence the attempted mandates here. I’m thinking if the mandates stick my 2006 Buick and ‘04 Ranger will be worth a fortune, until the gas runs out.

The Chinese are building an EV factory in Mexico to build EVs. Despite my marital connection, I’m hoping and betting they lose their asses with it.

The Mrs bought a Tesla Model 3 last year, a nice easy to drive car, comfortable and VERY fast if you're into that. I drive it on the weekends from time to time. We have a 220 charger at the house, the car is programed to charge between midnight and 6AM, to be ready to drive at 100% at 6 AM. We charge about every third day, her commute is about 30 plus miles round trip plus multiple trips to Costco. She hasn't visited a gas station in almost a year, she doe not miss that!

With the time the car charges, we have not noticed any increase in our electric bill, however, it's not entirely consistent it's low in the winter and runs a bit higher with our scalding summers.

Having enjoyed the car for almost a year, I say it's a nice car, suits here well, we have my truck if we need to go a longer trip but we can also rent through our state (University/State of FL) jobs for under $30 per day, unlimited miles, so we often rent when taking road trips to save the wear and tear on my truck.

Given the choice, EV vs Hybrid, I'm in the hybrid camp. The EVs may have their place, say heavily congested urban areas but a good hybrid would be my choice for most driving environments. The problem I see with this $40k car is in 6-8 years, when the battery is toast, the car will be worthless, the battery will cost more than the car is worth. On the other hand, I put 150k miles on my F150, it was ten years old when I sold it for $18,500, and it's still going strong, in excellent condition.

If I ever buy a new car again, it will probably be a hybrid. Crossing my fingers that it won’t be necessary. I only drive about 5k a year and my old clunkers are very low mileage.

Recently did some research on the hazards of lithium ion batteries due to a proposed solar farm nearby. Those puppies can go rogue at any time, literally, and are a certified bitch to extinguish when they catch fire. I don’t want any big ones near my house; the small ones in electronics are bad enough.

Our daughter's ex has a plug-in hybrid Rav4. That's worked out very well for him. He lives in downtown Portland. He wired in a good plug in his garage. He plugs it in at night since their power rates drop a lot after 10pm. He can get 40 miles on a charge before the engine kicks in. He's about 10 miles from his work so he'll go a week at a time without the engine starting. A couple years ago, they took it on a cross country trip of several thousand miles which of course meant running on gas a good part of the trip. Between the gas and the electric, they averaged about 50 mpg and they don't drive slow. She drives like a maniac. That's pretty good mileage.

Nighttime charging wouldn't help any here because their rate tiers are based on total KWH for the month, not time of day.

We need to come up with some money-making entertainment franchise to build immediately adjacent to the charging stations.

We did our 3 hr one way drive to Boise and back the other day (just short of 400 miles total) and spent about 6 minutes at a Maverick gas station. Somehow, we managed to miss Rock Chuck.

Alternatively, I have an 02 Honda Accord. It gets 33 mpg reliably, and 350 miles per tank full.

It cost me all of $3500. It is reliable as hell. I can buy a lot of gas with the interest on the money saved over the cost of a new hybrid. Nor did I need federal assistance to buy the rig.

We need to come up with some money-making entertainment franchise to build immediately adjacent to the charging stations.

Sell 6.5 CM ammo?