This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Ah yes, I do remember preferring the electrical horse back then.
If I could trade my current car for a feature similar EV for no more than a coupld of grand out of pocket, I would.
What I'd like is a EV that has no additional shite attached other than what I want.
Just give me a chassis with a standardised battery pack, that has AC. Then let ME choose what after-market 3rd party options to put in such as:
Heated seats, Radio/CD/BT/carplay or android auto using standard car DIN box sizes, reversing sensors, cruise control, cab lighting, etc.
Unless the (public) charging infrastructure gets expanded massively, EVs won't become a valid alternative to most people. Not everyone owns a house where you can just slap your own wallbox onto it.
Ehh, I feel like a lot of people in here are arguing just for the sake of it, and because the guy who said this is from a car company.
Yes, of course electric cars are better than cars burning fossil fuels. EVs being too expensive, too few buttons and too many touch screens has nothing to do with that. The same goes for the also obvious fact, that we should focus more on public transport because it is much more efficient in moving people around than cars.
I'm waiting for a used EV. I've never bought a new vehicle and have no desire to.
Donald Trump.
World's most contemptible belligerent asshole, and also, unintentionally, world's most effective EV salesman.
Does anyone think... gas prices... are going to meaningfully go ... down, in the future?
If so, well I know a guy who can offer you a timeshare on a bridge he sublets from a travelling used car salesman.
... the best bridge.
Remember when VW had hundreds of slaves in Brazil until like a year after I was born? That was pretty wild.
For those of you who are not as intimately familiar with potoooooooo's birthdate as I am: they had slaves until 1986
I like electric cars, they're not for me I personally hate modern cars looks, computerisation, screens, and lack of any discernible personality, but the more people who own EVs, the longer I will be able to keep running my ICE car.
I do realise I'm a luddite, but I see vehicles as more than just a tool for travelling from one point to another- which EVs are great for- and more of a symphony of engineering to create something that has a distinct personality, every engine drives slightly differently and I think that is much more engaging than what is possible with EVs. (I do think the fake gear changes in cars like the Ioniq 5n are a bit silly as they're not necessary)
~~I don't know actual numbers but my physics teacher said that he'd worked out that his car which had almost 400,000 miles on it had just about created the same amount of CO2 emissions in its use as it had in its creation but regardless of whether he was correct~~ I think there's something to be said for not constantly replacing cars and keeping existing ones running as long as possible, there's a lot of materials that go into producing a car that are at best environmentally expensive to recycle.
everyone has known evs are just better for some time now. the real obstacle to switching isn't the charging network or cost. it's oil and gas lobbying and oil and gas subsidies.
stop all oil subsidies today. stop the big oil lobbyists. then let's see how fast the switch happens
I'm not entirely against EVs but they're simply not ready for me yet. I think an actual usuable 300 mile range would be enough for me which we're probably approaching quite soon. The biggest problem though is the cost and complete lack of nice estate car EVs. £10k is usually my budget for a new car and I very rarely pay that.
Top gear surprisingly had good insight here. They compared ice engines to a mechanical watch. Sure it’s beautiful and technically tells the time and you can respect the engineering but with ev it’s more like respecting the construction for why it is rather than the future of transportation
Can i work on it? It's it as serviceable as my Subaru? Are the parts as cheap? Cost of ownership seems to be a topic no one talks about.
People talk about that topic all the time.
The drive train generally doesn't need service. You don't have to change oil, you don't have to change transmission fluid, your transmission probably won't grind itself into metallic dust because the transmission is a single speed and it's certainly not a CVT. You don't have a timing belt to change, or a serpentine belt to change, or an air filter to change. You don't have to sweat an emissions problem, you don't have to worry about error codes about running too rich or too lean. You don't have to worry about your headgasket leaking. You don't have a bay of stuff heated to around water's boiling point for extended durations accelerating wear on various hoses. You aren't going to have a belt tensioner go south, the DC/DC converter is less likely to lose it than an alternator. You won't need to replace spark plugs, you aren't going to have a turbo that screws you over.
Instead of all of that, you have a pretty bullet proof drive train except that the battery will chemically wear, but even that seems to be not as bad as believed with battery management systems babying the batteries. The car almost certainly weighs too much, which will manifest in handling and tire wear.
And of course, there's gas v. electric. If (and sadly only if) you charge at home, an EV in my area is roughly like having a hybrid and $1.00/gallon gas. If you charge publicly... yeah that's priced really high.
So at one point, there will likely be a huge single expense for the battery. However, that is instead of frequent oil and air filter changes, occasional belt replacement, and a host of likely repairs that a gas car generally incurs over that sime time. One very big expense at once instead of tons of little expenses and a few big expenses.
If the initial cost of the vehicle were competitive, hands down the EV is going to be the right choice if you can charge at home. Trickier question in an apartment or renter's scenario.
It's not really a matter of realizing what's better. It's about what is cheaper.
They are, in every area except infrastructure, range, and (in the US) affordable variety.
We now have 2 cars that use electricity to a varying degree (hybrid/phev) and it’s awesome. The fuel savings is immediate and obvious.
