bidens incredible transition to electric cars

sebastiantombs

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I've had AAA for well over 20 years. Have used it twice. Once with a blown radiator on I95 and once with a blown tranny. They could save a ton of money if they'd just stop mailing all those pre-filled in life insurance policies. Plus that would save me a lot of money on electricity to shred them into confetti. Just how many return mailing labels does someone need?
 

Gargoile

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I've had AAA for well over 20 years. Have used it twice. Once with a blown radiator on I95 and once with a blown tranny. They could save a ton of money if they'd just stop mailing all those pre-filled in life insurance policies. Plus that would save me a lot of money on electricity to shred them into confetti. Just how many return mailing labels does someone need?
If everyone sent back the pre-paid empty envelope they might not send out so many.... or just change it as for you to pay for the postage.
 

Arjun

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I had high hopes for Hydrogen Fuel Cell

Looks like Radioactive / Nuclear-powered cars will do. Putin, where are you? :rofl:

My feeling is that EVs will not become truly feasible and useable using the current battery technology. I had hopes for hydrogen generators, but they're not power efficient, IE they need more power to refract water to get hydrogen and oxygen than the hydrogen and oxygen can produce. Maybe a small, tiny, nuc will be the ultimate short term answer but even there, there's the problem of safe, environmentally friendly, disposal. Lithium based batteries are dirty through every phase of their life, mining, production and disposal, which makes them environmentally unfriendly and most EV "boosters" either don't know that or choose to ignore it. The same is true of solar cells and wind mills/turbines. Both of those are difficult to dispose of in an environmentally friendly manner and solar cells, in particular, require dirty mining techniques to get the selenium, for one thing, that they need.

One of the other problems that could be addressed to make the current EVs more feasible would be to standardize battery packs and charging stations. Maybe even make the battery pack a quick swap style like a battery drill or saw. It would take some specialized handling equipment, like a lift truck, but it is doable. The way things are now, each car has a proprietary battery pack and each car brand has a proprietary charger, right down to the type of plug used plus different charging protocols. That makes charging a challenge when it doesn't need to be.

Yeah, I'd love to see EVs, but only if they're practical in every situation, not just the city driving, running around town or short commuting. The Ford Lightning test towing a trailer shows another, serious, weakness. In the mean time I'll stick with my gas powered F150.
 

garycrist

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I always believed in the "Nuclear Neighborhood". Say a few kilotons per group. I have my car
of the future. I will also be able to use it's wastes to increase "MY NEIGHBORHOOD".
We don't need no stinkin' evs here.;)

 

qflyer

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View attachment 133824
Car is a 2014.
Has 60K miles on it.
Used they paid 11K.
Owner (17 year old) had car for 6 months before it wouldn't start.
Taken to dealership...batteries are dead. 14K to replace.
They no longer make those batteries for that car.

Here's some facts: the Ford Focus Electric was nothing but a compliance car from Ford. It was built to help meet fleet mileage requirements set by the government. Without government mandates, the car wouldn't even exist (and that would probably be a good thing).

The car's battery isn't dead. It's just fine. What happens on the FFEs, is they have a coolant leak in the lower battery compartment, and the computer shuts everything down and isolates the cells to protect the battery from being damaged. Ford refuses to make the simple repair for this issue which is to drain the battery compartment, replace the cracked cooling plates, and refill the coolant system. It's a $500 job, but Ford will not touch it. Plenty of owners are simply draining the battery compartment and disconnecting the coolant lines and continuing to drive the car with absolutely no problems. Going that route, it's about a $50 fix. Again, she doesn't need a $14,000 new battery. She needs $50 in parts and a few hours to fix her car. Don't count on Fox News to tell you that.

If you watch the video at that link, you'll hear Rove (holy shit this guy is a moron and used to advise the POTUS?!?) say that an EV costs 45 cents PER MILE to drive, and an ICE costs 47 cents per mile. He says those figures come from the DOE, yet I can't find that source. My EV costs 2.5-4.5 cents per mile depending on speed, temperature, terrain, etc.

He says a home charger costs $2,000. In reality, they cost about $500. He's assuming you'll have to hire an electrician to install it and possibly upgrade your home electrical supply to handle the added load. And what does the Fox News host say to all of this? "Wow! Great information! You're the best, Karl! EV's are stupid" or something like that.
 

garycrist

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Please remember this. The refiners here in the US can sell "heating oil" (read diesel) to Europe for a lot more $$$ than here in the US.
Hence, Diesel powered autos are purposely held high so that we are forced to use gasoline in our vehicles. WE ALL have
been SCREWED in the name of profit for the stock holders. Who, might one ask are the share holders? The same ones making
those laws and rules.

An all electric car, has a worse cost to everything as compared to current vehicles. Remember the percent of each car that has to be recycled?
I am all in for a hybrid system, like F1 and Indy car. Energy recovery from the suspension via electro-magnetic recovery. Energy aka.
electric recovery from the brake system. A small 3 cyl. 1L "oil burner" @ 90 psi gauge will yield 130+ HP but yet can still get 45+MPG.
start coupling that with a smaller battery and I then can see it.
 

redpoint5

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If you watch the video at that link, you'll hear Rove (holy shit this guy is a moron and used to advise the POTUS?!?) say that an EV costs 45 cents PER MILE to drive, and an ICE costs 47 cents per mile. He says those figures come from the DOE, yet I can't find that source. My EV costs 2.5-4.5 cents per mile depending on speed, temperature, terrain, etc.
I created a vehicle total cost of ownership calculator to compare any 2 vehicles because a tool even remotely resembling that doesn't exist on the internet.

It allows the user to input their actual or estimated parameters so it's more accurate for their specific case. Anyone making blanket statements about the cost of EVs is merely creating clickbait to generate revenue, not attempting to inform.

On an EV forum, someone made the claim that the RAV4 and Chevy EUV are similar vehicles, with the EUV costing less over 8 years than the RAV4. I ran the numbers for my given situation and found the EUV would indeed be a few thousand less over 8 years than the RAV4 assuming 12,000 miles per year. At 6,000 miles per year, they were equally expensive to operate, and below 6,000 miles per year, the RAV4 becomes the affordable option. My point is that how a vehicle is used and how long it's owned, or if it's financed, etc factors into the total cost of ownership and changes which vehicles are most economical.

Here's my spreadsheet for anyone interested in estimating their total cost of ownership

Google Doc Link
 

Smilingreen

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Yeah, that blows. One of two things is going to happen. The general public is going to become lemmings and quickly abandon their petro cars OR, the general public is going to squat down. and refuse to buy EVs and starve the manufacturers out. I vote for plan "B".
 

redpoint5

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One of two things is going to happen. The general public is going to become lemmings and quickly abandon their petro cars OR, the general public is going to squat down. and refuse to buy EVs and starve the manufacturers out. I vote for plan "B".
I think C is more likely, a slow but steady increase in EV sales. When batteries finally suck a lot less, there will be a more rapid increase in sales. Plenty of people don't have a convenient way to charge them though, so the market for ICE vehicles will remain for a long time. Neither are going away because they serve different use cases based on their strengths and weaknesses.
 

garycrist

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63 427 Galaxie and ALL of the cops knew it too, 70 Maverick 6 (I wanted the V8) I stripped the sway-bars out of a wrecked GT350. +Koni adj shocks,
wheels and tires off some Boss Mustangs. 2000, 2003 Expeditions 5.4L was best. 2008 Edge sport suspension w/ KYBs (great ride and handling.

Fun FORDS 1992 Mustang GT, Cobra brake upgrade (it now STOPS) big fat tires, Eibach sway bar kit and lowering springs, Koni Adjustable shocks
welded in sub-frame connectors and a plate of steel to tie the mid-section together, (the car is stiff but boy does it handle!) and a box stock 1997 V8 Explorer 4x4.
Yes I love my Blue Ovals but I am glad they invented GM products. Otherwise my hungry kids would have eaten beans rather than steaks!
 

Smilingreen

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It hasn't been long ago the big 3 decided to pretty much do away with economical passenger Cars and build only trucks and SUVs. Let the big 3 starve for a couple of years and watch them bring those vehicles right back. Customer demand is what should drive product creation, not some senile resident's bucket list in the white house.
 

Smilingreen

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Scientific fact: An EV will never get better milage than the day it was new. It's power source will continue to shrink in capacity the older it gets and the more it is used. On the otherhand, a brand new internal combustion gas car will not get it's best mileage until the engine is well broke in, which will be somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 miles, make and models will vary, depending on how tight the tolerances are on the engine when it is new.. So, that video does not take that into account in it's numbers.......which means it is skewed in favor of the EV. He doesn't take into account how many tons of coal it takes and how many tons of CO2 are emitted to fully charge a EV's battery. He also doesn't take into account how many tons of fossil fuels does it take to mine the material for the batteries, how many barrels of crude oil does it take to produce the plastic that is in all of the battery banks, nor does it take into account how much toxic waste is generated in making of all the different electrical components that will go into making the EV. He also acts like a petro powered car can't be recycled at the end of it's life. All of his arguments for the EV are no more than cutting one end of the blanket off and then sewing it on the other end, but with snazzy, bright colored thread and rose colored glasses that wows the simpletons.
 
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redpoint5

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All that "figurin" is usually pointless. The more something costs, the more resources it generally consumes. EVs have a high initial cost and a low running cost. At some point of usage, they become both cheaper and cleaner. When a person reaches that point depends on many factors.

EVs usually are more efficient in the long run. The question is if it serves your needs well in the process, because efficiency isn't the only criteria.
 
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