Electric Vehicles

[Lplus]

My suspicion is that the only mass market fix for the charging problem, if we really wanted to get rid of combustion engines, is autonomous self drive cars as a service. It's the plan of loads of people in the auto industry. Lots of the economics and practical challenges will become easier if that can be achieved. Until then, I don't see it.

You don't need autonomous cars for that. The answer is taxis. Even make em electric.

The whole autonomous stuff is driven by two things
1) we think we can do it so we must push it as hard as we can even though the whole idea is still at stage 2 out of 5 and
2) get rid of the human who cost so much.

 

[Dr. Keith]

Why?

Are we still stuck on Top Gear style mythology?

Yes.

A couple of years old now but ...

2019 Jaguar I-Pace Is the Most Important SUV of the Year


Latest models are up to 300 miles and charge from 10% to 90% in 20 minutes on the right charger.

As for the XJS. I had a V12 for years and never had a problem with it.

My wife’s Fiat has been nearly flawless for over 6 years. Fiat jokes are still funny. To me, at least.

 

[Fast Eddie B]

As for the XJS. I had a V12 for years and never had a problem with it.

So, you’re the guy!

Seriously, my ex had a thing for Jaguars. We owned both a 1985 XJ6 and a 2000 XJR, both bought lightly used. And both had lots of problems. Order of magnitude more problematic than any other car brand we’ve owned. Would certainly not consider another.

 

[shuttlt]

You don't need autonomous cars for that. The answer is taxis. Even make em electric.

The whole autonomous stuff is driven by two things
1) we think we can do it so we must push it as hard as we can even though the whole idea is still at stage 2 out of 5 and
2) get rid of the human who cost so much.

Sure, but you have to pay a human to sit in a taxi, so the vision is that all that money is pure profit that is waiting to be hoovered up. The economics are such that most people would not willingly choose to give up owning a car for getting taxis. So you either need to radically change something about the economics, or the experience of taxis so that people do..... or you need to have government force people to make the change.

 

[shuttlt]

I know many seem to feel that way but I think it's upside-down thinking. Autonomous self drive cars will work least well in rural areas, and are least needed in urban areas, where better mass transportation could solve many of the problems.

How long does it take to get one, if they're not roving around empty waiting for a call, and where do they go after you arrive at your destination? I think fewer cars would be a better solution than different cars.

I see it as investment hype. I'm not sure how important it is whether the thing being hyped is really viable.

 

[ZirconBlue]

Why?

Are we still stuck on Top Gear style mythology?

A couple of years old now but ...

2019 Jaguar I-Pace Is the Most Important SUV of the Year


Latest models are up to 300 miles and charge from 10% to 90% in 20 minutes on the right charger.

As for the XJS. I had a V12 for years and never had a problem with it.

Or their actual history?

Predicted Reliability 2/5

We expect the 2022 I-Pace to be less reliable than other new cars. This prediction is based on Jaguar's brand history.

 

[Filippo Lippi]

We are now all electric.

The new car hasn't arrived yet, but the diesel has gone.

The diceyness of Saturday's trip to Southend is still to be determined

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

 

[Filippo Lippi]

It's here, it should be fully charged, we don't know how to work most of the features yet, but we're making a "25% further than the maximum range" road trip to test it out

 

[malbui]

It's here, it should be fully charged, we don't know how to work most of the features yet, but we're making a "25% further than the maximum range" road trip to test it out

A fine plan, Sir, in which absolutely nothing could go wrong.

 

[Filippo Lippi]

"At least we'll know"

 

[ZeeGerman]

Yesterday, my wife and I drove to a Fiat dealer in a more rural area about 100km away to test drive a brand new 500e. Took my wife about 10 minutes behind the wheel to say "me want"
Signed the contract right away and we'll pick it up next week. Lots of fun to drive, good range out of the 40kwh battery (about 300km city) and nice features.

We are then as electrically driven as possible given our needs. We have the hybrid SUV for long distance and pulling the camper but which goes electrical on local trips with about 65 km of e-range (haven't put gas in it since six weeks and it's still half full). The 500 will be driven by my wife to zip around town and for her medium range photo trips.

The biggest hurdle to get here was the lack of a home charger, since our garage is detached from the house in a 17 unit garage lot which had no electricity whatsoever. Until a month ago. We actually managed to get all 17 owners to join forces and get all garages hooked up to support up to 22kw charging. Some only wanted basic electricity for now, but we also put up 10 chargers with the ability for load management with ethernet cables in all garages. We put in a lot of diy work into the digging and drilling and we had a great electrician to do all the hookups. The city played along quite nicely as well and from start to finish the project took about 10 months. Great to live in a good neighborhood, I guess the next garage lot summer party will be epic.

 

[jimbob]

It's here, it should be fully charged, we don't know how to work most of the features yet, but we're making a "25% further than the maximum range" road trip to test it out

Have you been advising the Russian army on logistics? If so, I salute you, sir.

 

[malbui]

We are now all electric.

The new car hasn't arrived yet, but the diesel has gone.

The diceyness of Saturday's trip to Southend is still to be determined

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

Trips to Southend are always dicey. The last time I did it we won 3-2 at Roots Hall thanks to some hilarious non-defending by the home side and I got both wing mirrors smashed.

 

[jadebox]

I had to make a 150-mile round trip three times in our gas-powered SUV the past week. I spent more money on gas in that week than I had spent during the previous two years!

Actually, with the higher price for gas, working from home the past two years, and usually driving my EV, I spent more on gas the past week than I spent in the past two years on gas for both vehicles plus electricity for our EV.

I am looking forward to getting an electric SUV or truck that can tow our trailer on longer trips. In addition to reducing fuel costs, an electric motor will offer instant torque and smooth acceleration which should be nice when towing.

But, our longer trips are infrequent and the fully electric trucks are still expensive. So, I can't justify it yet. If Ford updates the Maverick to offer four-wheel drive with the hybrid power train (especially if it is also upgraded to a plug-in hybrid), I will jump on it. It looks like the truck is designed to allow a second battery pack so it may be practical for them to add the plug-in capability. I am not sure how hard it would be for four-wheel drive to be offered on the hybrid version. But, a four-wheel drive, plug-in hybrid Maverick with all the bells and whistles (that I really don't need but want anyway) might go for around $50K which, while still a bit expensive for me, would be hard not to pass up.

With the EV competition heating up, I may have other options to consider in the next few years.

 

[ZeeGerman]

My plugin SUV has permanent four wheel drive in both electric and ICE mode. The eMachine is integrated in the 8 speed automatic transmission. I can tow up to 2.5 tons with it.

 

[jimbob]

It's here, it should be fully charged, we don't know how to work most of the features yet, but we're making a "25% further than the maximum range" road trip to test it out

Do let us know how it went

 

[Filippo Lippi]

Car great. Charging infrastructure a mess.

Did a bit of slip-streaming on the way down and think I was getting over 4Kw/mile, which is good in the cold (only one snow storm). All the car bits intuitive, speeding up and slowing down on the cruise control much smoother than on the Leaf, which jerks every time you press it to slow down. Acceleration impressive.

There was no opportunity to stay anywhere with overnight charging in Southend (it's a ****-hole), so we knew we'd be charging on the way back. Stopped at a BP Pulse service station that promised 175 kw. App was very fiddly, as was the interface, when we did get charging the car only drew 33 Kw, so I only added 30 miles on top of what we required to get home. That was a mistake.

The range calculator got slightly confused, maybe because I was driving differently and it's still calibrating, but the range in the battery and the miles to go were getting very close. This was when we discovered that most services on the A1 don't have charging stations, and the ones do exist are broken (£18 loaded up on to apps that won't be used any time soon).

Finally pulled into the last services before Grantham. It has no toilets, but the charger works (handle is broken, so be careful) and I was able to pull 44kw from a 50Kw charger, which is more like it. Back a little later than we'd hoped. Next time we'll plan for an overnight charge and more reliable chargers (Osprey and Shell are good). Must also find out what charge my car can actually take, I think it's about 80 KW

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

Do the units in the prior post need some correction or are they all EV jargon?

 

[jimbob]

Do the units in the prior post need some correction or are they all EV jargon?

I think only the first and last (see highlight). The rest, I think are talking about charging speed, aka power.

Car great. Charging infrastructure a mess.

Did a bit of slip-streaming on the way down and think I was getting over 4Kwh/mile, which is good in the cold (only one snow storm). All the car bits intuitive, speeding up and slowing down on the cruise control much smoother than on the Leaf, which jerks every time you press it to slow down. Acceleration impressive.

There was no opportunity to stay anywhere with overnight charging in Southend (it's a ****-hole), so we knew we'd be charging on the way back. Stopped at a BP Pulse service station that promised 175 kw. App was very fiddly, as was the interface, when we did get charging the car only drew 33 Kw, so I only added 30 miles on top of what we required to get home. That was a mistake.

The range calculator got slightly confused, maybe because I was driving differently and it's still calibrating, but the range in the battery and the miles to go were getting very close. This was when we discovered that most services on the A1 don't have charging stations, and the ones do exist are broken (£18 loaded up on to apps that won't be used any time soon).

Finally pulled into the last services before Grantham. It has no toilets, but the charger works (handle is broken, so be careful) and I was able to pull 44kw from a 50Kw charger, which is more like it. Back a little later than we'd hoped. Next time we'll plan for an overnight charge and more reliable chargers (Osprey and Shell are good). Must also find out what charge my car can actually take, I think it's about 80 KWh

Is that right @Filippo Lippi?

 

[jadebox]

I think only the first and last (see highlight). The rest, I think are talking about charging speed, aka power.

.....

Is that right @Filippo Lippi?

The first units should be miles per kWh. I was averaging about 4 m/kWh in my i3 the last time I checked.