Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Charging the Tesla

Not a moot point for anyone considering an EV who ISN'T retired.

I'm not pro nor anti EV, I don't have an agenda at all regarding vehicles. I drive ~70K Mi/yr and have for over 20yrs, so I go through them fairly quickly and I buy what meets my needs for comfort, longevity, MPG, etc. I'm not really "brand loyal", I'm "service loyal" in that I buy from dealerships who've taken good care of me and my vehicle service needs in the past.

I like the idea of 100% Tq from a stand-still. I LOVE the idea of true AWD with a motor at each corner. I've put untold hrs on bow-mount electric trolling-motors on several boats and other than a wire-brush to the battery connections once and a while, they're basically maintenance-free an electric motor that spends it's entire working life under water with zero maintenance, I hope someday there's an EV to meet my needs and budget.

I talked w/a buddy the other day who owns a small-town plumbing business. They rarely get more than ~30Mi from the shop. He's going to buy an electric van as soon as Ford opens up 2023 ordering and builds one for him. 50-100Mi/day and back into the shop every night to charge, makes sense for him, or he's willing to find out anyway. I'm really looking forward to his evaluation after he puts one into service.

Sounds like a legitimate, solid, and wise investment.

So, what I take from this is; if a man isn't a candy ass and leaves the ac off, he could save 14 bucks and travel further. Maybe retro-fit that thing with an ac system which is gas powered. GD

But yet somehow the Keystone pipeline was going to be too damaging to the environment??LOL

I know several guys that own Teslas. They all like ‘em. But these are pretty high income folks that own other toys (Porsche GT4, ie). They use them as commuter cars and have their own charging stations. The Tesla S I drove will pin you to the seat, but it doesn’t handle well. The 918 GT4 is an absolute hoot to drive, very fast and sticks to the road like it’s on rails.

Here's a link to a very interesting article on the true environmental costs in order to use "clean energy" electric vehicles. I can't verify any of the information in the article; however, the author seems to be a credible source.
https://www.cfact.org/2022/06/07/is-it-ethical-to-purchase-a-lithium-battery-powered-ev/?s=03

I just did some research on this a few weeks ago at work.

In cold weather, you lose about 41% of your range when you run the heaters full blast. You also lose about 20% of your range at 75mph. So driving 500 miles in a day in subzero temperatures probably isn't even possible.

The hydrogen fuel cell vehicles look more promising for folks that live in cold areas, especially when you have to drive long distances. Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai all make them but there are no commercial hydrogen refueling stations in the US outside of California and Hawaii.

With a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, you can get about 350 miles out of a 5 minute refuel. The standard right now is a tank that holds 4kg of hydrogen at 10,000psi. You can make hydrogen gas anyplace that has water and electricity but the government doesn't seem interested in incentivizing a hydrogen infrastructure.

My take away on the plausibility of much widespread everyday use of electric vehicles is we are multiple decades away from having anywhere near the power grid coverage to continue supplying reliable, uninterrupted service to existing needs PLUS 24/7/365 recharging of millions of electric vehicles, too.

Is this the part where if you drive too much they unplug you?...wtf is the point behind not paying with cash or credit card?

In the last 15 years, I've made approximately 150 one thousand mile round-trip runs on interstate highways in the mid and deep South for business and family reasons. I have NEVER seen an electric vehicle on the interstate during those 150,000 miles of driving. They simply are not the proper tool for the job of moderate to long distance automobile travel.

RS

lol. sitting a few hours in a traffic jam in 100 degree weather and you're still 80 miles from a charging station. does one carry a few blister packs of AA's in the glove compartment for emergencies?

drive a Toyota or Honda hybrid. not rocket science

Hmmm, reliability and long[er] range.
Notice Toyota isn't hawking full EV on the boob-tube all the time.
They know what they have and it works.

Looks not to be ready for prime time to me. Seems like a lot of issues to overcome.

I run up and down I-65 between Louisville and Nashville, and I see a Tesla every now and then, but that's a pretty short drive in an ICE. I am now seeing a few Teslas on the road, but none of the Chevy Volts at all. The wife just got a RAV4 Hybrid, which I think is the smarter way to go at this point. It gets 39MPG on the road, and about 41 around town, using mostly it's electric motor. I was pretty skeptical of the hybrids at first, but my sister's family had three Prius' and they liked them a lot. They more or less sealed the deal when the wife was ready for a new ride. I am considering one, myself.

does it snow 6 months out of the year where you live?

That's probably pretty close to the Progressive wet dream - nobody owns a vehicle, you just rent one on a trip-by-trip basis. Yes, even trips to the grocery store. Get on your cell phone, hail a ride, and an autonomous vehicle pulls up to your doorstep.

Good luck with the autonomous part too.

Giving away blm, insufficient grid, low range. If you think that line at Costco is slow wait until everyone is waiting for a charging station.
There is about a quarter or half section of former wheat land east of me fullof panels. Oh well, we can get wheat from Ukraine