Battery based electric vehicles of today and tomorrow.

[Gale Hawkins]

Mazda MX-30 plug-in hybrid complete with rotary generator still on

Due to the shortage EV batteries thru 2035 I think Mazda may be making hybrid sense.

Last that I did a deep dive all the 2018 and 2019 Chevrolet Volt that has a range of 53 miles and then the engine starts and drives a car by the engine. That sucker has two electric motors plus the gas engine with a clutch pack controller each of the three plus a transmission for the gas engine.

I would really consider one of these Volts but gosh that is a complicated setup underneath the hood that would not be good long term long term most likely. That is a heck of a weight penalty for a EV.

And this approach that Mazda is taking just means where they get their factory built for their batteries they can then just absolutely delete the gas engine.

 

[txdon]

One more think you gotta buy though, not cheap, either. Is it even available? Or just vapor ware?

These are real affordable

Not too many people will be carrying a full gas can in their vehicle. The best is like you said - an emergency back up battery built in so a flip of a switch is all that is needed instead of a plug in suitcase that recharges the car's battery in x amount of time. I would be one to have range anxiety so I'd want a built in emergency battery and a suitcase battery (maybe a generator and a can of gasoline also).

 

[PuffyC]

Another thing that makes you wonder:
if it takes 1/2hr-1 hr for a charge for people who recharge during the day, how much productivity is lost in comparison to an ICE vehicle which can refuel in under 5 minutes?
Will all ambulance and police units have to buy several more EVs than ICEs to compensate for this downtime? Can they afford not only to be mandated to cease & desist driving all ICE vehicles at once, but to also buy 10 EV instead of 5 ICE?
I don’t think there should be any drop-off in response time in case there’s a car accident, a robbery, insurrection, etc. We need to make sure our first responders have vehicles to respond!
I am not in the camp that they can all “charge overnight”.

During a normal 10-hour shift the average police patrol vehicle only drives between 50 and 100 miles. Roughly 50% of a shift is spent idling which is what makes EVs so appealing. At the rate they're used you could go days without ever having to recharge. I've never seen data for ambulance and fire vehicles but I'd guess they drive even less and idle more. In fact having a close, fixed station makes EVs ideal in these scenarios and saves the taxpayers real money: Tesla Model 3 Savings Revealed by Ind. Municipality PD Officer.

Edit:
Along those same lines, here's a cool article on the electric Mack garbage truck being tested in NYC: Mack electric garbage trucks headed to NYC, could pick up remains of Nikola deal

 

[PuffyC]

Not too many people will be carrying a full gas can in their vehicle. The best is like you said - an emergency back up battery built in so a flip of a switch is all that is needed instead of a plug in suitcase that recharges the car's battery in x amount of time. I would be one to have range anxiety so I'd want a built in emergency battery and a suitcase battery (maybe a generator and a can of gasoline also).

You have to work really hard to get a Tesla stranded. I'm not sure about other EVs but it's all software so I'd guess they'd be similar. This article talks about some of the interesting ways it tries to keep you from being a bonehead and getting stuck somewhere: How Are Teslas Rescued If They Run Out Of Power On The Road?

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Not too many people will be carrying a full gas can in their vehicle. The best is like you said - an emergency back up battery built in so a flip of a switch is all that is needed instead of a plug in suitcase that recharges the car's battery in x amount of time. I would be one to have range anxiety so I'd want a built in emergency battery and a suitcase battery (maybe a generator and a can of gasoline also).

All EVs sold since 2008 with a lithium ion battery packs ship with a built-in battery backup pack.

 

[drssg]

I thought this was interesting. Some manufacturers have started using a soy-based product for insulating wires, instead of oil-based. The soy is more tasty to mice/rats.

Exclusive | Rodents chow down on Teslas, causing thousands in damage

Elon Musk may have a rat problem. Fans of the South African billionaire’s electric cars say rats, mice and rodents are chomping down on their Teslas. And despite having dropped tens of thousands of…

nypost.com

 

[grsthegreat]

Another thing that makes you wonder:
if it takes 1/2hr-1 hr for a charge for people who recharge during the day, how much productivity is lost in comparison to an ICE vehicle which can refuel in under 5 minutes?
Will all ambulance and police units have to buy several more EVs than ICEs to compensate for this downtime? Can they afford not only to be mandated to cease & desist driving all ICE vehicles at once, but to also buy 10 EV instead of 5 ICE?
I don’t think there should be any drop-off in response time in case there’s a car accident, a robbery, insurrection, etc. We need to make sure our first responders have vehicles to respond!
I am not in the camp that they can all “charge overnight”.

Way more than an hour to charge. The 1 hour charge is just to make it to next fueling station. The ford lightning wants 8 hour charge at 80 amps.

 

[lman]

Wow, That's going to bump your electric bill up if you charge it 160 hours a month! Wait until the electric rates start going up. They are a monopoly, you know.

 

[Solitary Man]

Maybe we should go back to the horse and buggy days, when the horse "ate" the sunshine. Doesn't get any better than that.

 

[California]

Another 2019 Chevy Bolt has burned, this one after receiving the "final" update.

So much for the final fix.

That makes eleven of them burned now. GM has replaced a couple of them in strong lemon-law states.

But no plan for a fix. The updates were limited in scope, simply software intended to limit charging, and to give the owner a warning of cell overheating. But owners report the software isn't warning of any problem until an alarm AFTER the car was on fire.

This is still the same GM that built my 'new era' Chevy Citation that was undriveable at 45k miles. Build it, sell it, forget it, fight any warranty claims.