I know, but I did think I needed to clarify "homeless" in context.It was a joke.
What would be an acceptable charge time at a fast charger for you?
- Thread starter ZZman
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Are we a spoiled nation or what?? So, what does an electric middle of the road car cost these days?
Who "goes" to the gas station. You pull in on the way or from somewhere else. There everywhere, maybe its different where you are? I literally could not drive to a grocery store or restaurant without passing a gas station if I tried.
I get what you’re saying, but this just isn’t how they’re being used in most cases. I’ve only used public charging 5 times in over a year. It charges at home. I’m at a gas station at least once a week for my other car. Time involved stopped for fueling is exponentially higher with the gas car for me.
The EV is the family car, so it does the longer trips most of the time. We usually don’t go far because my off days are literally only 48 hours guaranteed off. I’m in 3 different states every week as it is.
Let’s not overestimate the intelligence of our fellow citizens. Most of those people didn’t understand how their car worked, or the effect of temperature on their car. They never read the manual to understand how to operate it in the cold, or why you needed to tell the car it was going to charge so that the battery could be preconditioned, or that when the range gets to 0, it actually is zero, unlike a gas gauge where it runs for a bit longer.
What was truly on show was their ignorance.
That's going to cause a lot more EV fires.
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What you're saying is true. But that in itself isn't going to keep it from happening. The same people with ICE vehicles motored on with minimal difficulty.
Sure, a few will have dead batteries from neglect, or that were just barely hanging on in the warmer weather. But it won't be the fiasco the EV's suffered. People see this who live in the colder climates, and say no way to EV's, rightfully or wrongfully so. Women in particular will run like hell from them.
You got that right, and an EV probably makes a bad situation for the stupid, even worse.
To be fair - some of them might not be stupid, but they may not give much thought to the vehicle and its operation. My entire professional career, as well as much of my hobby time, is given to operation of various vehicle types. I am very interested in, and aware, of how things work.
Not everyone shares those interests, or experience.
My youngest, for example - Summa cum laude graduate in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from a very well-respected school. Currently an MD/PhD student at another well-respected school. Works incredibly hard.
Breathtakingly intelligent.
Doesn’t know a lot about cars. She is learning quickly, and she calls me with questions about her car (The XC-90 that I went through last year).
If she had bought a Tesla, she might not have had full understanding of how it worked, or the unique planning required to use an EV in inclement weather. I sure didn’t prior to this thread.
It’s hard for us, the automotive enthusiasts, to understand, but there are folks who don’t care about cars, and don’t give them much thought. Those folks might well be focused on things that are much more important to them - like Biochemistry and Biophysics, for example. The car is simply a means to an end, not an end in itself.
Further, they might not have a Dad to call when they’re venturing out or have a question.
And finally?
Yeah, outside of this group, there are a lot of stupid people…think of people you know with average intelligence.
Then realize that half, yes, half, the population is even dumber…
People that try to save money on fuel often make intentional stops at specific locations -like Costco. Or maybe the one station in town.
If you're lucky that place is on the way to or from somewhere else and you always have 5-7 min available - maybe you dont care about that.
I fuel all my vehicles and cans on the weekend so that everything is ready and full for the following week. I dont live in the city so just about everything but gas and milk (1 mile from house) is a 15 min drive up a mountain so everything gets crappy mileage.
This way no one is stuck with the empty car when they may not have time to deal with fueling.
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Actually, 0 is not zero. There might actually be a reserve. Can’t be guaranteed though. Some might have calibration issues and there are reports of some EVs refusing to run at 5%. I would never let it go down that far, just like I avoid letting a gas car get that low.
This Tesla owner wanted to try it out and targeted getting down to 0% displayed and managed to drive about 3/4 mile to a charging station.
You bring up some good points. Our careers differ greatly though. I learned early on in my business life that I had to a$$ume everyone I dealt with was stupid. I didn't start out that way, but unfortunately it was proven time and time again. So I had to spend a lot of time explaining things, or risk a nightmare of an outcome. Granted there were exceptions, and I would joke with them and apologize explaining my logic, they agreed. Lets say many people left a lot to the imagination. Imagine tasking someone going to college on a scholarship with a simple clean up a room task and fold drop cloths required a half an hour seminar on how to vacuum a carpet. Mind boggling I tell you, I could easily write a book about this, with some wild examples. There are people willing to open their minds, like your youngest, I enjoyed working with them and teaching them. They were the exception, not the norm. Consider yourself blessed!!
I fill my car once a month at the very end of the month. It varies from 1/2 to just under 1/4 tank left. Pretty much everything we want/need/use is within a 3 mile radius. If I had an EV I'd program it to charge to 80% and shut off. I'd charge daily at home to start the following day at 80% capacity. If I were on a trip I'd stop with 15-20% remaining and maybe go up to 90% since it wouldn't remain in an overcharged state for long. I've never understood people who need to gamble on those last few miles before the engine starves and dies. Mental illness does present in all sorts of ways though.
Solid State battery's will be a game changer. If we can just wait a couple of more years....
I try to time these fillups so that I fill up at Costco when I am in the area with my vehicle, even if it not empty, just to avoid the separate trips. I have filled it up a couple of times when it's been over half full.
Costco is over 12 miles from my house for either of the nearest locations so you'd destroy the value propsition getting there in a vehicle that gets around 15.5 mpg. Costco is cheaper, but not enough cheaper normally that using a extra gallon of gas vs going to the grocery store 3 miles away makes sense. If I'm pretty empty it takes 24 gallons and based on current prices around $2.50 a gallon that's an extra 10 cents a gallon for the fuel consumption of getting to Costco. Sometimes the cost delta does make sense to drive to Costco, I have observed it be as high as 20 cents occasionally, but most of the time it doesn't, as I always observe the grocery store price after filling up at Costco.
My main objection to the grocery store gas is that it is not top tier, in addition to normally being a bit more expensive than Costco gas.
With any competently designed battery management system, a lithium-ion battery will have some sort of reserve even if it specially won't use it for its main purpose. I've heard claims that most lithium-ion battery systems could be extended to about double the capacity (increasing the voltage range) if users would be OK with considerably fewer overall use cycles.
My portable devices will shut down at a certain point, but the battery is still providing power where it will display an empty battery symbol if I press the power button. I've heard of EVs refusing to move at a certain point, but the battery management system is still providing low-voltage power to the onboard systems.
AZjeff
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I do. My preferred gas station is out of the way because I want to use Top Tier gas. We don't all live in built up areas or want to buy cheap convenience store gas.
Perhaps the prices in your area are more reasonable than around here. Costco has lines most of the time; I get there 15 minutes before the warehouse opens.
