Electric Vehicles?

[Trell]

You don't like hanging with the locals?

Depends on the locals, I guess, but the long “refueling” for batteries does require some planning and can be a great inconvenience.

 

[highfigh]

Depends on the locals, I guess, but the long “refueling” for batteries does require some planning and can be a great inconvenience.

I can't imagine driving into cold weather and needing to recharge sooner than planned and dealing with the delays.

 

[highfigh]

Maybe Sodium batteries will be better.

Scientists develop stable sodium battery technology

Replacing lithium and cobalt in lithium-ion batteries would result in a more environmentally and socially conscious technology, scientists say. Toward that end…

beta.nsf.gov

 

[Mikado463]

Maybe Sodium batteries will be better.

Scientists develop stable sodium battery technology

Replacing lithium and cobalt in lithium-ion batteries would result in a more environmentally and socially conscious technology, scientists say. Toward that end…

beta.nsf.gov

I suspect that's the technology that will evolve the fastest. Ten years from the landscape will look very different....

 

[Trell]

I suspect that's the technology that will evolve the fastest. Ten years from the landscape will look very different....

Hopefully, but not without a major breakthrough.

Below is a quote from the linked article and note the weasel word “potential” as well as no mention of number charge cycles before EOL. Batteries are consumables.

>>>have developed a sodium-based battery material that is stable, can recharge as fast as a traditional lithium-ion battery, and has the potential for a higher energy output than current lithium-ion battery technologies.<<<

 

[cpp]

You don't like hanging with the locals?

All depends on the locals.
Some of these little charging stations are at country convenience stores with hardly any lights. But we both are armed in the event someone wants to get nuts.

 

[Verdinut]

How about having gas stations also starting to supply some electric charging stations on their site? If one has adequate land space, a good food restaurant would also attract customers while waiting for the batteries charging time. Will we see that?

 

[Mikado463]

How about having gas stations also starting to supply some electric charging stations on their site? If one has adequate land space, a good food restaurant would also attract customers while waiting for the batteries charging time. Will we see that?

it's already happening......

 

[mtrycrafts]

I am hoping and am curious why it hasn't happened yet is the exchangeable batterie packs. Standardized sizes and just swap it out.

 

[Mikado463]

another viewpoint ...........

 

[highfigh]

How about having gas stations also starting to supply some electric charging stations on their site? If one has adequate land space, a good food restaurant would also attract customers while waiting for the batteries charging time. Will we see that?

What would you recommend for stations in remote places, that receive little support from the utility in terms of repairs or upgrades to their distant infrastructure? Obviously, gas stations aren't as remote as they were when Route 66 was still the main road across the country, but some places are pretty far from 'civilization'- if someone leaves the highway and thinks a gas station is just over the hill, they may not make it back to the highway if they don't have enough charge and any stations that may be there won't have EV charging.

 

[highfigh]

I have heard some bad things about Tesla build quality, but if these people survived a plunge like this, the design must have some serious thought behind it- the complaints I hear were generally about the body panel fit and some involved reliability.

Tesla Plunges 250 Feet Over Notorious Stretch of Highway 1 in Calif., 4 in Critical Condition

Two adults and two children are in critical condition after a Tesla dove over a cliff known as Devil's Slide in California, fire officials said

www.yahoo.com

 

[Eppie]

Ahh, the memories! With two winters of practice, I became very good at driving on ice & snow. And I laughed at people in Maryland who foolishly thought having an SUV with 4-wheel drive was all they needed to drive in snow.

See that all of the time in Canada. 4 wheel drive is great when starting from a stop, but it doesn't stop the car any faster! We have an all wheel drive Ford Freestyle which has been great in the ice and snow. Then purchased a 4WD Jeep Grand Cherokee. Despite the Jeep claim to fame, it's a heavier vehicle and more difficult to drive in the snow. Especially nasty in the corners as it is rather tail happy and the rear steps out quite easily. The extra weight requires more stopping distance as well. I definitely recommend snow tires, though. Got them for our last three vehicles and they make a big difference. They are mandatory in Quebec now but not in Ontario.

 

[panteragstk]

Thought this was interesting.

I’ve driven more than 1,000 miles in Teslas — and I’ll never buy one

Teslas may be popular, but they're one of the last electric cars I'd buy

www.tomsguide.com

 

[cpp]

How about having gas stations also starting to supply some electric charging stations on their site? If one has adequate land space, a good food restaurant would also attract customers while waiting for the batteries charging time. Will we see that?

Well if they manage them like they do their air stations ( which usually don't work half the time) but most of the WAWA's around use have decent Tesla Charge stations.

 

[j_garcia]

Here, Tesla cut a deal with local Target locations and most of them have a large bank of their chargers. Most chargers seem to be going in like this, where they're being added to an existing place frequented by people, not as a stand alone charging place.

Tesla bought a chunk of land on I5 between the Bay Area and LA, that is a common stop point already on that trip (Harris Ranch, we always stop there, great food). They already have a bank of chargers, but they are adding their own "charge stop" with their own store/waiting area. It is likely one of the first around here and not sure when exactly it will open.

 

[highfigh]

See that all of the time in Canada. 4 wheel drive is great when starting from a stop, but it doesn't stop the car any faster! We have an all wheel drive Ford Freestyle which has been great in the ice and snow. Then purchased a 4WD Jeep Grand Cherokee. Despite the Jeep claim to fame, it's a heavier vehicle and more difficult to drive in the snow. Especially nasty in the corners as it is rather tail happy and the rear steps out quite easily. The extra weight requires more stopping distance as well. I definitely recommend snow tires, though. Got them for our last three vehicles and they make a big difference. They are mandatory in Quebec now but not in Ontario.

Also, wide tires are about the last thing someone needs on snow- a long contact patch is far better than a wide one.

I have lived in the Milwaukee are my whole life and learned a long time ago that on the first snowfall, I need to find out how the vehicle will react during braking. I haven't had to stop on snow since the previous Winter, so my reactions won't be right and the tires have more wear, so I go to a local shopping mall and drive like an idiot, but only in vacant areas.

Have you seen anyone driving with snow socks on their tires?

 

[Swerd]

See that all of the time in Canada. 4 wheel drive is great when starting from a stop, but it doesn't stop the car any faster!

Exactly!

In Alaska, I had a VW Squareback not unlike this one in the photo. It had a flat 4-cylinder air-cooled engine over the rear wheels. See the air vents on the side, above & behind the rear wheels. Like all rear engined VWs, it had rear wheel drive. I put all weather tires on all 4 wheels. At that time, those tires were a compromise between standard & snow tires. The tires were tall & narrow, the engine was somewhat under powered, and had 4-speed manual transmission. Just right for driving in snow. As long as I stayed on roads where the snow wasn't deeper than the axles, I could drive anywhere. The only exception was when there had been an ice fog, where everything, including the roads, was coated with a thin layer of ice. No one drove in that!

If I remember correctly, that car was a 1968 or 69 model. I bought it used in 1973 for $800.

 

[Eppie]

Driving out east we saw a number of charging stations along the highway but typically at the large multi-bay gas stations, not the small independent stations. The EV owners I know use an app which shows known charging station locations and they plan their routes accordingly. Like mentioned above, stations are being added to retail parking lots as well, like our local MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op).

Had an interesting chat with an EV owner on the way back from out east. He complained that every company required you to use their own card to access their charging station. You couldn't use a credit card like at a gas pump, so he needed multiple cards. Also, they bill by the amount of time, not the electricity used! That baffled me, as electricity is normally charged by the kilowatt hour. He said that Tesla owners paid less for hydro because their cars charge faster. A slow charging vehicle will cost you more for the same amount of electricity. How do the stations in the U.S. work?

 

[Eppie]

Also, wide tires are about the last thing someone needs on snow- a long contact patch is far better than a wide one.

I have lived in the Milwaukee are my whole life and learned a long time ago that on the first snowfall, I need to find out how the vehicle will react during braking. I haven't had to stop on snow since the previous Winter, so my reactions won't be right and the tires have more wear, so I go to a local shopping mall and drive like an idiot, but only in vacant areas.

Have you seen anyone driving with snow socks on their tires?

No, never seen snow socks. I didn't even know about them until now. If conditions are really bad people use chains, but that's rare in Southern Ontario and more common up north. I can see socks working on snow and ice but the roads get salted and I wonder how they would wear on asphalt?