Maybe, just maybe folks need to take a step back from EVs for a bit…
Buying an electric car is all the rage among vast segments of our affluent population. They are self-described ecologically aware people; they are saving the planet from dreaded carbon-based fossil fuels. They are putting the money where their commitments are! You likely have a friend, co-worker, neighbor, or relative who is gung ho about their recent purchase.
Of late, however, we’ve learned of electric cars underperforming in cold weather, with tires wearing out in record time and others literally starting on fire, which is difficult to contain. In a recent most revealing article, the Wall Street Journal reports that government data regarding Tesla’s performance efficiency has been severely doctored by… wait for it… the Biden Administration. Concurrently, Hertz is selling off its entire line of EVs.
Full article, HERE.
Gotta love Ramirez toons, he is definitely worth 1000 words!!!
In a side conversation, one friend who is also retired said he ‘might’ think about one, since he seldom drives more that 20 miles a day, but he wouldn’t try to use it for the 220 mile trip to see his son. He has solar on his house and ‘thought’ he had enough panels to keep it charged during the day. But he also said there was no way he’d charge it off PG&E due to the cost.
We don’t have many in our area, I can only think of 2 Teslas that I know of in our little town, and up until a few months ago, there were only THREE public chargers that were on the other side of Itchy Paw at a new truckstop!
The dealer where I get my SUV serviced has had ONE EV on the lot for probably five months, with no takers that I’m aware of… And the costs of batteries, or installation of a home charging system (hi voltage) apparently runs in excess of $10,000!!!
Also, it appears all the majors are backing off on EV production, and Ford is selling them at a loss of over $7000 per unit!!!
I know I’ll never buy one. What about y’all?
A couple of years ago my local electric coop distributed a survey and one of the questions was in regards to my level of interest in EV’s. I replied that of all the useless things I might be able to purchase, an EV was at the top of the list. I use lots of battery-powered tools, but as far as personal transportation, an EV has no place in my inventory.
I’ve wondered if the EV was part of the plan to keep people within 15 minutes of the city by making travel impossible (chargers on I-10?). EV trucks would also provide a convenient excuse to limit availability of goods our “betters” think “aren’t good for us”. Of course, our “betters” would still use fossil fuel vehicles, just like they fly private jets to the “Climate Conference” to save us from “Climate Change”.
YES!
+2
And if you’re out of favor, your car mysteriously bursts into flames while you are trapped in it because the doors wouldn’t unlock.
Nawww, that couldn’t happen.
The odds would be similar of somebody murdering you in a secure facility with guards on post and cameras pointed everywhere.
IF I have to, it will be way in the future when the infrastructure of electrical AND battery technology that is measures in decades has been accomplished.
I’ve kept my current daily driver (2000 GMC Extended Cab pick-up for 21 years and hope to continue its life as long as possible. Outdated – probably but I get where I have to get in time and to me, that is all that matters.
Same here. 2001 Silverado that I bought new. Needed a new battery awhile back. Changed it out myself. NAPA brand, got 7 years out of it.
Security. Old rigs like mine get stolen too, not for their value, but for parts. Pro-tip–to prevent theft, pop the lid on the electrical center and pull the starter relay.
We have an old F-350. Our method of it not getting stolen is to leave our 180 lb. male Ovcharka in the truck. He is a quiet professional, and if anyone tries to steal it we don’t have to buy dog food for a few days.
Or, like I did, a 2000 Chevy C3500. I wired a grounding switch to that same relay and placed the switch in a nearly inaccessible place and just switch it off, no starty. I like my 24 year old truck and with 235,000 miles is just gettin’ broke in. I keep it because it is paid off, insurance is dirt cheap, parts are numerous and I piss off car/truck manufactures and finance companies that don’t get my money
Related to the discussion on EVs, to make EVs even more useless, California Bill Wants To Mandate Electronic ‘Speed Limiters’ in Cars.
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/01/29/0356203/california-bill-wants-to-mandate-electronic-speed-limiters-in-cars
Of course, how long before that becomes *all vehicles*, and how much further before they start lowering the speed?
Or distance….
“…with tires wearing out in record time…”
My local tire guy was telling me he thinks they wear the tires out so fast because of the weight of vehicle.
Once again, our government has rammed down our throats another poorly researched, poorly planned “feel good” product, policy or theory.
At the same time entangling us with yet another foreign war (wars??)
There’s only one charging station that I know of in the county and that’s at the local Chevy dealer 12 miles away. Big nope even if I thought they were practical.
I wouldn’t mind an electric vehicle for my “ local driver”. A golf cart with enclosed sides to keep out wind and rain would satisfy me. In my little town everything is within 4 miles, except my gun club, thats 6 miles away.
While living in South Dakota and in Idaho, in town people do drive those and the ATV style of golf carts. You have to license them and there are some minimal lighting and such, but far cheaper to license and insure and to drive those 4 miles or even 10 or so.
Without actually stating “I’ll never buy one,” here is a link to a static page on my blog that is my “Go/No-GO” list of what it will take for me to willingly buy one. After reading it you will see why I will never buy one. Just like interstellar space travel being fantasy right now, it is not possible at any time soon to satisfy my list of NEEDS. I added a new bullet point thanks to this post and a comment about tires. I believe I will be long dead before EV’s will ever be able to replace I.C.E. vehicles.
https://75mpop.blogspot.com/p/no-electric-vehicle-for-me.html
Don’t even get me started on tractor trailers.
Nope, just nope. My car gets used for both around town and long distance trips. Not buying a separate vehicle for around town. Distances are too great between charging stations outside of cities. Also being Idaho, it gets real cold in the winter.
After admitting my electric mountain bike kept me riding a bicycle for another couple of years (bad back). I won’t be buying an electric car that uses existing tech. Just not worth, not enough range, too long to charge, doesn’t work well when its cold,not enough infrastructure to support it, the list goes on.
Big problem with EYs is that people want to get in and drive it like it was gas powered. There would be a place for EVs as a short range commuter if they could be built to different standards. The current government regulations make building a light weight minimal ‘errand car’ prohibitive. Create a new standard that allows them to be built lighter but keeps them off the highways. A street car only if you will. Doing away with the stupid 5 mph bumpers would save weight. If it only needs to go say 50 miles a day the battery would be much smaller.
Sorta like a fancy golf cart, eh?
Sounds like you really want a Japanese Kei truck or van. Tiny, light weight, 660cc engine. REALLY cheap compared to a Tesla or other similar stuff. Only a few states let them be used on the street, and they currently have to be 25 y.o. New ones here would be a game changer, I think.
If I could get one cheaply enough, cheaper than say a ‘tesla wall’ or other battery backup system for my solar power, I’d consider getting one to use (primarily) as my battery backup on the house. I’d attack it to the solar power system. It -might- get used for trips into town but that would be about as far as I’d want to take it.
But it would have to be pretty cheap…
Then again, I hear used cars are starting to finally drop in price and I still need to replace my Flex that got totaled (and not with a battery car).
“Embrace the power of ‘and'”
Our plug-in hybrid has suited us well for 2+ years. We seldom drive more than 25mi/day, and overnight charging from a 110v outlet gives us that 25 @ 48¢/gallon-equivalent. When we need to go farther than that, there’s 500 miles in the gas tank.
YMMV 😉
The federal government has no constitutional authority (remember that?) to dictate what is sold.
Forcing us not be able to purchase a certain mode of transportation would be as ridiculous as limiting our choice of kitchen ranges, toilet capacity, magazine capacity or firearms.
By the way, why do rich people get to buy personal jets that could be used to harm fellow citizens? They don’t NEED one.
I get into an argument regularly with some idiot from Sweden about said EVs.
I live in Florida. Only one vehicle. So, for some reason, occasionally there is a need to jump into said vehicle and try to play ‘guess where the hurricane is landing’ and EVs don’t have the range or stamina to play ‘run away from swirly storm’ very well.
My nice little Promaster City has the range to go from one tip of Florida to the other (in either direction) and from where I am I can range into Alabama, Mississippi or Georgia if I so wish (no, I don’t.)
Said idiot recently told us all about his wonderful two day trip to get something from a town 5 hours away in his EV van. Planning on where the chargers are, planning on an overnight at a hotel, planning on dealing with ice and snow, planning on stopping and warming up (because this was in winter and he couldn’t use the heater of the van because it would kill the mileage even more and probably make it into a 3 day trip) and yet he says that he ‘saves’ money all the time (probably because he’s so range restricted he goes nowhere.)
My response is I don’t go anywhere further than the lab for bloodwork, and my van can sit unattended for a couple weeks without me having to do anything to it at all. Can his vehicle do that?
The answer, of course, is “No.”
EVs suck. They sucked back in the 1900s, they sucked in the 1970’s when they started to become popular, they suck now.
There are applications where specific electric vehicles work well. My wife’s wheelchair. Golf carts. Parts carts in factories and warehouses (though propane powered vehicles are better in those two applications.)
Otherwise, EVs are a vanity purchase.
All- WOW! Thanks for the comments and some interesting perspectives on why not to buy! And things I didn’t even think about, too!
I wouldn’t own a golf cart. They are limited in range, the batteries are an expense guaranteed within a few years, temperature extremes cause charging problems, and charging one requires a special location with time the cart can’t be used. With that in mind, why would anyone want to spend tens of thousands more for what is essentially a golf cart?
When an EV
Costs the same as an IC to buy.
Has the same range as my diesel with a full tank.
Can be recharged as quickly and conveniently.
Can be parked, unused, for months, and start immediately still with a full “tank”.
Has a battery that either lasts the life of the vehicle – 30 years and counting.
Is as rugged.
Weighs the same and has no more weight penalty.
Isn’t likely to randomly catch fire.
Yeah, then I’ll consider it.
In other words, it needs battery technology that has not yet been invented, and likely never will due to the limits that physics and chemistry place on electron-storage.
I’m still driving a 1992 Toyota that has over 600k klicks on it.
I’m even less likely to be adopting electrical versions of agricultural machinery that have to operate 20 hrs per day during harvest, if required. Same goes for freight. Those rigs are limited in the weight that they can legally put on the road, every tone of battery is a ton of freight that they can’t carry, which makes them less efficient and less profitable.
There’s a cartoon somewhere with an operator answering an emergency call with “We cannot respond to your emergency, as our electric fire truck is on the charger.!
Madison, WI recently got an electric fire truck. Its utility is being evaluated. Good thing it doesn’t get cold here in January. A week of sub-zero temps is … invigorating.
Another random thot–If you carry an extra five gallon can of gas, you can re-fuel just about anyone, anywhere.
This! Show me how I can carry ~100 miles of EV range in one hand…
As much as we hear about Lithium batteries catching fire some clown in North Carolina pulled the 12V battery from his Tesla to charge indoors and managed to burn his house down. The lead-acid battery had a short-circuit and exploded. No mention if the genius damaged the battery while removing it.
There are lithium battery chemistries like lithium iron phosphate that are immune from the explosion problems but they are larger and heavier than the polymer cells so they aren’t used for cars.
Lithium iron phosphate batteries are used in some Teslas made in China. While much less prone to spontaneous fires and explosions they are not totally immune to such.
If you want the local car as a second car the only EV I’d even consider is this https://aptera.us/
Cute as a bug and you park it outside so the solar cells recharge it so it won’t burn down your house. Suitable for use in sunny climes where temperatures don’t get down to freezing.
For a small portion of society EV technology makes sense. For the vast majority it does not. And without an ENORMOUS improvement in battery technology that reality is not going to change. But the actual goal behind the incessant push to force EV tech on us is simple. The goal is the end of the current petroleum based transportation system. The COMPLETE end to it. Once there is no infrastructure to support gas and diesel then they end the support for EV tech. Results….the end of ALL privately owned transportation which is the actual goal of the left. They want ALL of us totally dependant on public transit which of course THEY control. The only gas/diesel tech that will be allowed is what the elites decide they need to maintain their lifestyle.
All- No arguments here, and I’d think about it if they met ‘those’ qualifications Dave!
My take? It’s a stupid corrupt fad, not so very unlike Taylor Swift.
We are off grid in Copper Basin, Alaska so no way aside from being retired and low on funds. As far as I know there is a public charging station in Glennallen about 40 miles away and a friend who has a lodge at Lake Louise about 50 miles in the other direction has had vehicles stranded at his location and had to be towed to the charge location! That is not considering that today is the first day above zero in a week and starting Wednesday we may get temps as low as -40 by the weekend ! So hell no!
Back in the 00’s, IBM (I think) stated that they had a new battery design, made of carbon nano-tubes, that they expected to have on the market in about 7-8 years. They claimed a battery for a phone would charge in seconds, and car batteries in a couple minutes. Said they had to figure out how to build them. Since then, …crickets…
I’m TAD to Guam and my boss has a Tesla, which sits in his driveway as a hood ornament, During the typhoon in the first part of 2023, hi battery died.
And no one will touch it to send back to Civilization, To get a Tesla tech out here will cost $20,000 (No Shit).
Just for the tech.
Not counting parts ($40,000 (?) for the battery)
And there’s only <10 Teslas on island which means no dealership.
He ended up getting a jeep.
I think I'll stick to my 2006 Rubicon.
I always thought that Tesla was started as a testing lab for EVs by Musk so he could have reliable vehicles on Mars.
My neighbor had one. She could smell something burning, turned the corner onto our street, pulled over, and her 3 year old car was on fire. By the time the fire department got there to put it out, it was a total loss. What a mess.
I bought a used Chevy Volt about six years ago. The Volt is a “Gasoline/electric.” It’ll run for about 40 miles on battery. Then a small engine/generator will start to provide power to the electric drive motor. The car then operates as a hybrid.
I bought the car as a commuter. I needed a “new” commuter, and the deal on the Volt presented itself. It was a winning hand, given that gas went to over $6.00/gallon in California, and is still siting at around $4.00/gallon. The Volt gets around 35MPG when running on gas. My job is 37 miles from home. Right now, a round trip on gas is over $8.00. I can charge the car at home for about $1.50. I have a charger available at work as well which costs about the same to charge the car. I can round trip for about $3.00. Where you’re going to LOSE money is when you go to SELL the car. EV’s depreciate like snowballs in hell. This isn’t a big issue for me, as I bought the car used at a very low price, with the hope that it will get me to retirement. After that, I don’t care. Just remember that “planned obsolescence” is bake into the cake with an EV. When the battery’s done, so is the car. I have a ’97 Jeep Wrangler sitting in my driveway. It still runs fine. You will NEVER see a 27-year-old Tesla on the road!