Electric cars

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Would you own an electric car today?

  • Yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No

    Votes: 2 18.2%
  • I would consider it

    Votes: 6 54.5%
  • Don't own a car, don't plan to

    Votes: 2 18.2%
  • Other (discuss below)

    Votes: 1 9.1%
  • Own one now

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    11

Mendalla

Happy headbanging ape!!
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So, the first car company built entirely around EVs (Electric Vehicles) finally turned a profit. In fact, Tesla's third quarter was spectacular.

While I am often skeptical of Elon Musk, he does seem to be a dreamer whose dreams come true. And Tesla has spurred the auto industry as a whole to finally take EVs seriously. Most of his competitors are luxury vehicles (Jaguar, Audi, soon Mercedes), but there are some aimed at more ordinary car buyers (Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Bolt).

Charging remains a headache outside major centers and corridors, which means range continues to be a concern, but for an urban commuter vehicle, like my Civic, that is only driven within a limited area, that shouldn't be an issue.

So, yes, I will be considering going electric when I replace the Civic. To be fair, though, I kept my last one for 11 years and this one is only four years old, so it's not imminent.

So electric cars are finally here. Will you partake?
 
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I would if I were still on the road and had the $. I decided to give up my car when I retired. I live in a location where I can walk or bus pretty much anywhere and rent a car if I want to go further. No regrets so far.
I like that this lifestyle has almost no downside. Here, there are more than a few ECs and plenty of charging spots in town....not sure about the whole province.
Being the only Green riding east of the Rockies, I would hope that the infrastructure is adequate.
 
We chatted about this possibility last night. Our conclusion was - we'd go electric providing we never wanted to go anywhere. In that scenario hubby figured it would be cheaper and easier to use mobility scooters. If the latest effort to run a taxi business stays in operation we'd also use that as another option.
 
I like that people are even starting these conversations. There are options.
 
I would like to buy an electric car but I'm not sure about those batteries.....sure you may not need to replace them while you own the car but for resale i would think the next owner is going to have to put out a good chunk of money. Electric car batteries run on average $5000.
That's going to affect the resale value and I do count on that for my next purchase.
They are supposed to be working on lowering the price and extending the life of the batteries but it's not there yet for a second owner IMO.
 
We chatted about this possibility last night. Our conclusion was - we'd go electric providing we never wanted to go anywhere. In that scenario hubby figured it would be cheaper and easier to use mobility scooters. If the latest effort to run a taxi business stays in operation we'd also use that as another option.

Yeah, really, once we both retire (still a few years off), we could probably drop down to 1 car and rely more on transit, cabs, or join a car share program.

I would like to buy an electric car but I'm not sure about those batteries.....sure you may not need to replace them while you own the car but for resale i would think the next owner is going to have to put out a good chunk of money. Electric car batteries run on average $5000.
That's going to affect the resale value and I do count on that for my next purchase.
They are supposed to be working on lowering the price and extending the life of the batteries but it's not there yet for a second owner IMO.

Toyota just upped the warranty on their LIon battery packs to a decade and it is transferable. Admittedly, they only make hybrids (the various Prius models and, IIRC, hybrid versions of the Camry and Rav4) at this point but EV makers will probably follow suit if they haven't already.
 
Yeah, really, once we both retire (still a few years off), we could probably drop down to 1 car and rely more on transit, cabs, or join a car share program.



Toyota just upped the warranty on their LIon battery packs to a decade and it is transferable. Admittedly, they only make hybrids (the various Prius models and, IIRC, hybrid versions of the Camry and Rav4) at this point but EV makers will probably follow suit if they haven't already.
Still if you buy brand new, that's good, if you buy used, it's not. I'm not going to buy a used 6 year old electric car with 4 years of life left (of course it depends on mileage not age necessarily) and then scrap it at the end of the day.....usually you can sell a used car for $2500 if it's 10 years old, but not if you have to tell a purchaser that they will need a new battery for $5,000....
I know Tesla is aiming for batteries that last one million miles, right now they're 500,000 .....so the cheaper cars need to up their game....then it's all good.
By the way, most major motels now have ports for electric cars.
 
Toyota will recondition your battery for $750.

The warranty on most electric car batteries is for 10 years or 100,000 km, whichever comes first, after that you're on your own to replace it. I would think most people drive more than that in 10 years.

Does anyone know what it costs to recharge a car battery?
 
And more questions:
If we all switch to electric automobiles, do we have to build more nuclear power stations?
Are the auto makers responsible for disposing of the old batteries?
Are the costs per year to run an electric vehicle based on driving only 10,000 km/year?

I'm all for switching but I wish they'd explain better why we should do it in laymens terms.
 
And more questions:
If we all switch to electric automobiles, do we have to build more nuclear power stations?

Perhaps, but not necessarily. A bank near me that went solar put in charging stations linked to their solar cells. And nuclear is carbon neutral, with waste that is much easier to manage than gases that get dumped into the atmosphere and blow all over. And thorium and sodium reactors and such that are much safer and easier to handle are coming. Fact is, if we want to achieve the ambitious targets being set for carbon reduction, we probably need to use nuclear in some constituencies anyhow. Not everyone in the green movement is happy about that, but it's reality.

Are the auto makers responsible for disposing of the old batteries?

Should be, but that's a regulatory issue so will probably vary from constituency to constituency. At the very least, it will fall to the dealerships.

Are the costs per year to run an electric vehicle based on driving only 10,000 km/year?

I'll have a boo to see what standard people are using. Hopefully EPA or someone has set one (or eventually does) rather than just letting industry do it.
 
Does anyone know what it costs to recharge a car battery?

Never charged one. It'll depend on the size of the pack, much like the cost to fill a car depends on the size of a gas tank. There are fee-based charging stations over at Masonville Mall. If I'm over there, I can look to see if they say what they charge per kilowatt or whatever the appropriate unit is. If you're charging at home, then you can just used the local hydro rate. If you're on time of use, use the offpeak since you'll probably charge at night.
 
Thorium and sodium reactors are old hack ... those stuck don't see eM ... they'd sooner do what they did before to conserve ...
 
Perhaps, but not necessarily. A bank near me that went solar put in charging stations linked to their solar cells. And nuclear is carbon neutral, with waste that is much easier to manage than gases that get dumped into the atmosphere and blow all over. And thorium and sodium reactors and such that are much safer and easier to handle are coming. Fact is, if we want to achieve the ambitious targets being set for carbon reduction, we probably need to use nuclear in some constituencies anyhow. Not everyone in the green movement is happy about that, but it's reality.



Should be, but that's a regulatory issue so will probably vary from constituency to constituency. At the very least, it will fall to the dealerships.



I'll have a boo to see what standard people are using. Hopefully EPA or someone has set one (or eventually does) rather than just letting industry do it.
It's refreshing to me to actually hear from someone who doesn't run screaming from the idea of nuclear energy. It has a place in a transitional economy I think. Remember when fusion reactors were going to be up and running by now? That's what I read in the '70's anyway.
 
It's refreshing to me to actually hear from someone who doesn't run screaming from the idea of nuclear energy. It has a place in a transitional economy I think. Remember when fusion reactors were going to be up and running by now? That's what I read in the '70's anyway.

And the 80s. And the 90s. And...

The fact is there only one working fusion reactor out there and it is the big shiny one that, alas, is not visible here today (weather sucks). So if you want fusion power any time soon, buy a Tesla Power Wall or other solar-based system.
 
Given my driving habits currently electric is very doable.

We might need to rely on the truck to get us from Logy Bay to St. Anthony. Since we typically try to complete the 1058 km trip in a day I don't know that the number of charges needed and the time it would take to make those charges would be possible in the time we generally allot ourselves to make the trip.
 
I have been seriously looking at a hybrid. Most days I drive 36k or less (the total k on this hybrid staying with electric) but sometimes I drive to Alberta. I would have to detour thru Kamloops at the moment to make that trip with a pure electric car.
The Outlander can charge 3 ways. Standard plug, charging station or supercharging station-cost would depend on what you plug into.

The drawback is certainly the initial cost.
 
I think Elon is getting too full of himself. The Tesla Cybertruck looks like it escaped from a a science fiction movie. I can't really see it drawing the traditional truck crowd, especially with startup Rivian putting out a more conventional electric truck as early as next year and Ford targetting 2021 for an electric version of the F-series, the best-selling vehicle in North America (there will be a hybrid in 2020). My suspicion is that Ford will win as truck fans stick with tried and true rather than embracing the weird. After all, the first iteration of Honda's Ridgeline small truck was relatively radical.in its look and by the current redesign has become almost identical to other small pickups like the Ford Ranger. Pickup drivers (at least the ones I have known) aren't looking for weird or cool or futuristic. They just want a comfortable cab, enough bed for whatever they are hauling, and a decent towing capacity and conventional designs provide all of those.

 
Tradition is a thing in great grasp ... unlike freed psyches that are futures tic! Aura well yon ... we don't do well with things from out there!

Strangers will slip away like Greece and its myths ...
 
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