EV owners of today and tomorrow

[RiverHill]

We took the plunge into EV ownership at the end of December. The DPF filter clogged on our 2014 VW Jetta TDI and it’s an unnecessarily expensive fix even to do it yourself. We decided to move into something a bit newer and after running numbers, a Tesla just made sense.

Everyone I know who owns one has had minimal problems, they’re super cheap to fuel (from home), it gave me an excuse to upgrade the electrical service to my garage, and it’s silly quick. So far it handles all our regular trips (weekly round trips of 106 and 170 miles) without needing to stop to charge, and the awd system makes it arguably better in the snow and ice than our suburban (obviously limited my ground clearance).

They’re certainly not for everyone, but I sure hope it holds up.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

We took the plunge into EV ownership at the end of December. The DPF filter clogged on our 2014 VW Jetta TDI and it’s an unnecessarily expensive fix even to do it yourself. We decided to move into something a bit newer and after running numbers, a Tesla just made sense.

Everyone I know who owns one has had minimal problems, they’re super cheap to fuel (from home), it gave me an excuse to upgrade the electrical service to my garage, and it’s silly quick. So far it handles all our regular trips (weekly round trips of 106 and 170 miles) without needing to stop to charge, and the awd system makes it arguably better in the snow and ice than our suburban (obviously limited my ground clearance).

They’re certainly not for everyone, but I sure hope it holds up.

That's one beautiful car. There is a reason it continues to be the best selling EV model for yet another year.

It's sounds like we are going to wind up with basically two EV suppliers choices in North America. While Tesla will continue to engineer and sell Teslas and then companies like the Ocean, Ford, VW, etc will be selling EVS made with drive parts from Magna if Magna gets its wishes.

That makes business sense because Tesla is the only EV maker that knows how to design, build and sell high performing EVS in acceptable price ranges.

 

[Grumpycat]

We don't live in a Free Market Economy:

India's proposed subsidies and tariff reductions will benefit Apple

India's Ministry of Electronics and IT has proposed giving component makers billions in aid in an effort to boost local manufacturing of devices like the iPhone.

appleinsider.com

No one makes a large investment anymore without government's blessing and lavish funding. Pretending only EV makers get such funding is like pretending the Earth is flat.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

This could be a huge solution for some posting here chopping at the bits to own an EV, but do not have the intestinal fortitude to stand against the peer pressure they're feeling.

 

[WinterDeere]

 

[Grumpycat]

This could be a huge solution for some posting here chopping at the bits to own an EV, but do not have the intestinal fortitude to stand against the peer pressure they're feeling.

Once Upon A Time GM was supposed to be shipping an "EV Crate Engine". An electric motor and motor control that either bolted to a GM transmission or replaced engine and transmission. Just add a battery, BCM, and charge port, also available from GM. Ideal for converting classic GM vehicles to electric.

But I'm guessing nothing came of it after showing several kits around to builders.

Today the hot tip is to use Tesla drive units and associated electronics in one's conversion.

 

[WinterDeere]

I was going to jump up and say that I don't understand the point of electric conversions, as here in the northeast, the drivetrain of any vehicle always outlasts the body. But I guess for those in the south, or especially the southwest, that might not be the case. Maybe your cars last long enough to eventually require a new engine?

Living in the land of road salt, we just don't often have good reason to need to replace an engine, within the typical lifespan of our vehicles. Other than hotrodders swapping engines for more horsepower, or the rare idiot who blows an engine from not changing fluids, engine swaps are not very common up here. They happen, but I suspect not with any frequency enough to support a company like GM offering it as a standard product.

There are occasional in-warranty dealer-executed swaps due to manufacturing defects, but of course those get the OEM engine, not an electric conversion.

 

[LouNY]

Typical governmental and bureaucratic idiots screwing up any kind of industry or manufacturing.

 

[WinterDeere]

Responding to my own post, but it's interesting how quickly nearly every independent business owner starts to sound like the same grumpy old man. When I was very young, working my first jobs at similarly-small manufacturing companies, I thought the older owners were just cranks. But as I've gotten older and maybe wiser, now I understand their frustrations.

This guy is what... 30? He's probably been in business 5 years? Already sounding like the 85+ year old owner of my last company, who was always battling with the township over facility expansions, etc. And I get it.

 

[LouNY]

I was going to jump up and say that I don't understand the point of electric conversions, as here in the northeast, the drivetrain of any vehicle always outlasts the body. But I guess for those in the south, or especially the southwest, that might not be the case. Maybe your cars last long enough to eventually require a new engine?

Living in the land of road salt, we just don't often have good reason to need to replace an engine, within the typical lifespan of our vehicles. Other than hotrodders swapping engines for more horsepower, or the rare idiot who blows an engine from not changing fluids, engine swaps are not very common up here. They happen, but I suspect not with any frequency enough to support a company like GM offering it as a standard product.

There are occasional in-warranty dealer-executed swaps due to manufacturing defects, but of course those get the OEM engine, not an electric conversion.

Edison Motors is working on kits for pickups. But for several reasons they have to be installed in older vehicles. A newer engine can not be installed in a vehicle without all of that vehicles emission devices being functional plus the emission requirements for the year of the engine. So it ends up being pre 96 vehicles from southern or western states with good frames and then rebuilding/reconditioning all the internals of the vehicle.
If I was younger I would have put a deposit down on a kit, but seeing as how it would be a couple of years before a kit and vehicle would be ready. Not going to happen. You see I'm an individual who thinks the series hybrid makes a lot of sense, regardless of the thoughts of other individuals.