Battery based electric vehicles of today and tomorrow.

[3930dave]

We bought a used 2015 Nissan Leaf 10 months ago, have put about 3,000 miles on it -- all local miles. Usable range is 60 miles or so. One route I take has a lot of hills that drain the battery quickly. We love the car. We have a 240V Level 2 charger that plugs into my welder outlet in the barn (so, now my tractor has to sit outside <sniff sniff>). There are no other local chargers, but that's not really a problem since all trips are local. It's interesting to sit in the car with no drive belts, no filters to change, no gears to shift... just switch it on and go.

Buying EV leads to Tractor Abuse !!!! This EV nonsense is getting waayyy out of control !



Many of us could see using a 2nd or 3rd vehicle like you describe. Speaking for myself (likely not alone though....), I can't say I will be short of equipment to fix/maintain/service anytime soon.... so the electronic-appliance aspect of EV ownership is an easy sell.....

Rgds, D.

 

[Agvg]

Yes, people value other things than low price, and quality are often different from what US customers think, it's often more the brand's history, design and the feeling of the car that are important, my girlfriend went from generic Toyota's to Citroen after I tricked her in to one and now se is addicted to the Citroen feeling, it's a more emotional connection even for quite small and relative cheap cars, a mark like Lexus has never made much impact, it has no history, no feeling, no identity, you can often see and feel if a car is Swedish, German, French or Italian.

 

[3930dave]

Yes, people value other things than low price, and quality are often different from what US customers think, it's often more the brand's history, design and the feeling of the car that are important, my girlfriend went from generic Toyota's to Citroen after I tricked her in to one and now se is addicted to the Citroen feeling, it's a more emotional connection even for quite small and relative cheap cars, a mark like Lexus has never made much impact, it has no history, no feeling, no identity, you can often see and feel if a car is Swedish, German, French or Italian.

Citroen..... interesting.....

One person your post had me thinking about was Jay Leno. He's the person that is widely known that has the: A) Interest, B) Intellect, C) Ambition, D) Space, E) Money etc it takes to objectively evaluate and own whatever he wants on 4 wheels (or 2, 3.....).

His comments on driving some of the classic French cars he owns resonate well with what you just posted.....

Speaking of JLG... recent ev, if it hasn't been up on here.....

Rgds, D.

 

[Agvg]

Citroen..... interesting.....

One person your post had me thinking about was Jay Leno. He's the person that is widely known that has the: A) Interest, B) Intellect, C) Ambition, D) Space, E) Money etc it takes to objectively evaluate and own whatever he wants on 4 wheels (or 2, 3.....).

His comments on driving some of the classic French cars he owns resonate well with what you just posted.....

Speaking of JLG... recent ev, if it hasn't been up on here.....

Rgds, D.

This was the first she had, nothing particularly exiting but it did have Citroens hydraulic suspension, and that is an experience quit unik, you can see the bad road, you can hear the bad road but not much more than that, it's a flying carpet sensation. Unfortunately it has been sacrificed because all the pumps, valvs etc added weight and used enginepower so it wasn't emission friendly.

This is the Citroen I do like, C6

 

[Larry Caldwell]

You can reserve one of these for $50,000, or pony up the full $250k for a founder's edition. Reading about it made me nostalgic for the old slingshot dragsters.

Roadster | Tesla

An all-electric vehicle, the Tesla Roadster is the quickest car in the world, with record-setting acceleration, range and performance. Reserve yours today.

www.tesla.com

 

[Larry Caldwell]

And the Chinese are planning one just a bit faster.

Farnova Othello Is A 1,835 HP Limited Production Electric Hypercar From China | Carscoops

The Othello is powered by two electric motors, sprints to 62 mph in just 1.8 seconds, and will be built in just 200 examples

www.carscoops.com

 

[Gale Hawkins]

We bought a used 2015 Nissan Leaf 10 months ago, have put about 3,000 miles on it -- all local miles. Usable range is 60 miles or so. One route I take has a lot of hills that drain the battery quickly. We love the car. We have a 240V Level 2 charger that plugs into my welder outlet in the barn (so, now my tractor has to sit outside <sniff sniff>). There are no other local chargers, but that's not really a problem since all trips are local. It's interesting to sit in the car with no drive belts, no filters to change, no gears to shift... just switch it on and go.

Two years ago we got our 2016 Nissan Leaf SL The 107 mile range was down to 60 miles with the 30 kWh battery and it was quite functional work car since that is 30 miles. When Nissan replaced it with a new 40 kWh battery the range became 150 miles.

It got totalled last November and it is ready to go except installing the passenger airbag, seatbelts and the reset air bag control module. We picked up a mint 2015 but brain dead Leaf on 21 Dec 2020 in Brandywine MD. 10 days later I got a sinus infection from hell. It turned in Long Covid that I am still recovering from but am much better focusing wise. Blood clots are a pain but the necessary Xarelto messed with my head. My son in August went back to college to get an Engineering degree and finding it's much more demanding than his 2 year Diesel Mechanic degree.

He said we can try to finish it after midterms but if it's Christmas that is ok. I got the leaf to help the kids who just turned 24 to understand more about EVs. My daughter was taking my wife to work when a guy ran a red light totalling our Leaf and enlarged our learning experience. They are still dealing with airbag and seatbelt damage but had no blood lost thankfully. 30 foot from a dead start they T-boned a speeding Toyota Sienna van and the van came to rest on its roof. We actually drove our Leaf upon our 22 foot tilt trailer. After we got the nose parts all stripped we drove it 15 miles at speeds up to 70 MPH to check for other damage. Hell was going to freeze over before I was going let that per Nissan new $13,000 battery get away.

The Leafs are impressive but Nissans financial mess and lack of continued EV focus is sad. They could have bought a Tesla Roadster in 2009 to learn how to do batteries.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

https://www.motorious.com/articles/features-3/ss-thistlegorm-classic-car-tomb/

A classic car tale.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

This may be nothing but I'm starting to hear more and more rumbles in this direction so I'm going to keep my eyes open on how big an impact China may be in the EV space long-term short-term.

 

[Jstpssng]

Didn't read/view that link (those engs are likely moving into China for the duration), but top-gun engineers lured into China is an old story.... I remember years ago reading about an gentleman's agreement amongst the guys flying into China on weekends, on the same flight - they pretended not to recognize each other, then or after..... They were setting up competing semiconductor fabs (factories) on their off-time - something their regular employer would have had a big problem with....

Dismantle our ICE factories and pump even more money into China, before anybody but Tesla is ready - Sounds like a great Plan !

How does that Definition of Insanity go again...... ?

Rgds, D.;

I tried to say something similar earlier today but had to come back and delete it. This thread is too good to get shut down because I don't know the meaning of the word tact.