There used to be a number of stations around me that had CNG but if there are any now, it would be just one or two. Lots of the buses here use it, some fleets, police sometimes...and they all have their own infrastructure...
Wife thinks next vehicle should be an EV.
- Thread starter AZjeff
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EV aren't a bad choice for a town car. That's if you have a safe place to park it as there's a big business in selling stolen charging cords. In Tucson recently some was cutting the cords. Life in the SW required a hybrid, or fossil, LP, E85 type of car if you're one to take long trips and venture into the wilderness. My issue is the 38% depreciation that EV's took in '23. Hybrids, Toyota really has this market. All the cars use essentially the save drive train. The "BIG" advantage is are are several companies that service CA, NV, AZ that sell rebuilt hybrid batteries for $1,900. with a "Lifetime" warranty and install replacements at your home. EV batteries are ridiculously expensive and heavy. I recently saw used EV's with an extended warranty at Bill Luke cars with 10-18K miles for $15K. Sounds like a better choice than new. I firmly believe that a better fuel is the answer along with computer driven traffic signals that keep traffic moving. It seems that the current admin. is fixated on EV's and is a little myopic about it.
Teslas drop another $2000
My next beater might be a Tesla if I can charge it off 100 amp service
There's a guy in boulder Colorado who operates a hybrid repair shop. He offers stuff like oil changes etc but also fixes bad cells. According to him the front cells on the Prius go bad earlier due to being closer to the motor and less cooling.
labor and real estate cost likely dictate what components you buy. Unless it can be DIY, most places with high labor cost would likely get new durable batteries instead of worn out EV batteries.
Home energy storage in 3rd world definitely doable.
It’s mostly done commercially. The benefit would be the cost of the batteries.
But it has been done for home storage too.
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My ev6 GT has done great in 100f and -10f. No heating or cooling issues, and I even run the HVAC in eco mode. The range is rated 208mi, but actual delivered in summer is 230-250, and in winter 160-180, presuming 100% SoC. If you keep it 20-80, which is best, lop 40% off of that. In short, it does very very well vs rated numbers. However, for you, maybe look at ev9 since its bigger, more like Pilot than an RDX which my ev6 is like. Or if rdx is big enough, ev6 gt line rwd, as you dont care about performance.
I had a rav4 Prime. Toyota isn't anything special. Reliability or otherwise, based on that one time experience. Hard pass on owning another toyota.
EV range is exploding. We now have 500+ miles and 10min recharge times if you want to count Chinese innovations. The thing with an EV is that its 90% efficient. Sure, you can argue that power plants arent 90%, but solar and nuclear exist. A different fuel has been tried. E85. It required minimal modifications to work. Gasoline or diesel just remain the best for a liquid fuel source, but that ties us to the poor performance of ICE engines. Yes you can argue EV battery replacement is expensive, and sure, it is, but so is an S58 crate motor, so theres that to consider.
I wonder how many people will go through engines in lets say 15-20 years or longer vs EV batteries? My bet is a lot more people than those who had to replace engines. I bet they go through expensive electric motors too.
I've been driving since 1975, and had many cars older than 15 years, some I bought over ten years old and kept them ten or more years. In fact I have two in my fleet now that fit the bill, one of which is from 1988. I never replaced an engine, or a transmission for that matter. I did a couple of clutch jobs, one for a slave cylinder, internal, the other for a bad TOB. I'm sure there are plenty of Bitogers with similar and/or some pretty impressive results from ICE vehicles. ICE has already proven itself for longevity, the jury will be out on the current EVs for a long time.
AZjeff
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You bring up an interesting question. What is the end efficiency of producing and burning gas and in an ICE vehicle vs the end efficiency of producing a kwh of electricity and using it in an EV? I see 4kwh as the amount of energy needed to produce a gallon of gas. There has to be an overall electric production efficiency number.
Found this but don't know how to interpret it. It doesn't take into consideration solar and wind generation.
I am of a similar opinion that the next car should be an EV. Our first hybrid was a 2010 third generation Prius that was handed down to one of our boys and is still going strong with over 200K miles. The second hybrid is a 2017 Prius V that came on the scene six months before my wife started working from home. After seven years that car has accumulated only 46K miles and thus is likely to be with us for many years to come. My daily driver is a 2017 Ford C-Max Energi PHEV with 66K miles and sufficient EV range to cover my work commute any time the temperature is above approximately 28 degrees F.
We enjoy road trips and expect to be taking more of them once my wife retires in early 2025. The Prius V hybrid has a 400 mile highway gasoline range whereas the C-Max has over 500 miles of combined EV and ICE range. An EV would make a lot of sense for my wife so long as we still had a PHEV in the fleet for long trips. We also have solar panels and a level 2 charging station, so there is little or no incremental cost to charge an EV. My thoughts are that an EV or another PHEV will be in the stable by 2027 which is past my full retirement age.
Here is some food for thought for anyone who has never contemplated an EV or PHEV. Earlier this month we took the C-Max Energi on an 800 mile road trip to the Virginia wine country. We managed to charge it four times at no direct cost or inconvenience to us. There were two top up charges that added 25 miles of range and two overnight charges that added another 50 miles of range. Add in the full charge from home and we basically eliminated 100 miles of ICE use. Had we been driving something like a Tesla Model 3 we would have needed to find a level 3 DC charger halfway between Charlottesville and home. That would have cost something but it would have been far less costly than 700 miles of ICE use.
What I take from your post is, while these cars are different, you learn. I did.
You go from "I think" and "they should" to "I do".
Really is the hardest part to explain in the conversation. It's why no one's opinions change until they actually see how it works. It takes a conscious effort to want to understand it before realizing how easy it can be after doing it. With my wife wanting the car and myself happy to get her what she wanted, I basically learned about it by slowly experiencing it. I saw it as a mere amusement that would cover her short trips well. When I wanted to spend less on fuel I bought the GTI. If I still had the F150 when she got her Model 3 and took some time with it, I think I would have just jumped straight to an EV. I love my GTI, but I wasn't even considering an EV at the time. The thought didn't cross my mind at all, as in I wasn't being dismissive of it. I literally never thought of it.
I've gone through multiple transmissions and an engine once. You put 100K miles on most automatics and they're toast, or at best have some tq converter judder or some other annoyance in my experience.
Volvo did a whole white paper on the subject, cradle to grave of an EV vs ICE, same platform. From mining the cobalt, to disposing of the car. Seems that EV's take over at around 40-80K miles, regarding "carbon footprint", even in coal areas. Long story short, the EV is just cleaner, any way you slice it, unless you wreck it before 80K miles, but then no car is "clean" at that rate.
My Volvo gave up the ghost in November of 2022. At that point in time I was EV currious but not quite ready to take that leap of faith due to range anxiety. A PHEV seemed like a good compromise. Sixteen months and 14K miles later I can see that one of our cars should be an EV. This won't work for everyone to be sure, but it works for me.
In Dec 2018, we got the Model 3 Mid Range almost on a lark. I had had foot surgery and could not test drive the car. It was really for wifey. After we got the car, Sue and I were driving around the neighborhood, checking out various charging locations. Los Gatos library had free charging; downtown had a large Supercharger network in a back shopping center. Then we were driving in a Kaiser hospital clinic; there were a bunch of chargers. I had a flash of the obvious; this was doable. But I was still on the ICE fill up state of mind. When you are on the road, you charge to your destination; basically top off what you need to get home or wherever. Over time you lose that range anxiety, or at least it lessens. I have never Supercharged for more than 15 minutes. Basically check your cell messages and/or grab a coffee.
Then as you get more used to EV ownership, you realize starting out every day with a full charge is pretty dang great. And no stopping a expensive gas stations, driving out of your way to save on gas price. How often do you drive 150+ miles per day?
Now, I have solar panels and lotsa sunny days, so our use case is perfect for an EV. Certainly each use case is gonna be different. I love the driving; these cars are fun!
I want a Ludicrous. This car holds a lot of promise!
Tell her that once Arizona gets off coal and natural gas, you’re all over it.
They just need service. Which of course adds cost. I had a 2004 GTO with the auto and it was solid and worked perfectly at 110k miles. It had 3 fluid changes by then though. Automatic transmission service is the last thing on the average owner's mind though. It's what kills me about buying used with any amount of miles on it.
I still don't love automatics. My DSG twin clutch is some really cool tech, but if it's got to burn fuel I'd rather have a manual in most cases. I guess really the DSG is an automated manual, so it doesn't have the same torque converter automatic issues that tend to arise.
