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Electric Vehicles

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I ended up getting a KIA Niro hybrid. It gets about 48 miles to a gallon which more than doubles the MPG of my Jeep Patriot. My car payment is going up a bit but I cut my stops at the gas station by more than half. I wanted the Ford Maverick Hybrid but I gave up on Ford getting their act together.
 
cullennz said:
The main problem I have with EV's apart from heaps of extension cords all over the road for people who don't have a garage or driveway for old people to trip over, is even the cheapest Nissan Leaf costs about 6 thousand NZD to replace the batteries and they only last 7 years under warranty.
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You're misunderstanding the way the warranties work on EV batteries. The warranties say that the battery will still have some percentage of its original capacity by the end of the warranty period. It's not like the battery has to completely fail for the warranty to apply. So, the warranty will say something like the battey will have 70% of its original capacity. Even if the battery lost as much capacity as the warranty allows, the car would still be usable.
 
jadebox said:
You're misunderstanding the way the warranties work on EV batteries. The warranties say that the battery will still have some percentage of its original capacity by the end of the warranty period. It's not like the battery has to completely fail for the warranty to apply. So, the warranty will say something like the battey will have 70% of its original capacity. Even if the battery lost as much capacity as the warranty allows, the car would still be usable.
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Well obviously. But it still be on its last legs.

A petrol engine you can just strip down and rebuild your self.
 
It is actally an interesting quandary.

I think NZ is one of the top countries for buying used cars.

I would never buy a used ev. Because it would be a money pit.

TBH I would rather buy a second hand Holden V8 from the 80s than buy some second hand 6 year old Leaf.

At least I know I can probably work out how to fix the Holden myself, if it goes a bit tits up in the running department.
 
It is actually quite interesting, as don't get me wrong, I think EVs are a cool concept.

I just don't think atm currently realistic for your average person.

Most people can't afford brand new cars.
 
jimbob said:
And a complete change in scale:

https://www.compositesworld.com/new...-flight-with-ultralight-liquid-hydrogen-tanks



This is claiming a better range for a liquified H2 aeroplane with a fuel cell than for the equivalent conventional aircraft. Which is very surprising to me.

Even without their special tank, where they claim a 10-fold increase in the storage to weight ratio
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I was going to post that link in its own thread. I still might as the implications go beyond EV and even Eaeros. ;)
 
jadebox said:
The following video reminded that while EVs generally require less maintenance than ICE vehicles, they do tend to go through tires quicker:



There's a lot of discussion of tires wearing too quickly in the online EV groups I follow. I think some of it might be due to the odd size tires my car uses, but it's mostly because of the more aggressive acceleration the car offers. I don't intentionally accelerate quickly from stops, but still find myself leaving most cars well behind.
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The usual reason is under-inflation of the tyres.

My car is 800kg heavier than the diesel version and consequently I have to keep the tyres pumped up to 41 psi.
 
The Don said:
Brake life may not be an issue with regenerative braking. Mrs Don hasn't used the brake pedal on her car yet.
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Mine just had its annual service on Friday.

Still on the original brakes, still showing no detectable sign of wear on the pads.

The car was built in 2014 and I've been driving it since 2015.

:D

Regenerative braking is magical.
 
cullennz said:
The main problem I have with EV's apart from heaps of extension cords all over the road for people who don't have a garage or driveway for old people to trip over, is even the cheapest Nissan Leaf costs about 6 thousand NZD to replace the batteries and they only last 7 years under warranty.

With 6k I could buy 2 second hand petrol cars, that if they break I can normally fix myself, rather than having to pay some garage to hook it up to a diagnostic machine for hundreds of dollars.

It is hardly cost saving in the long run.
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On the other hand, Tesla claims their batteries will last 300,000-500,000 miles and they rate their cars the same, so you should never have to change the batteries. I looked it up for the reasons you claim and was surprised by this.

The cars also hold their value much better, Teslas anyways.

Your used petrol cars need gas, a few oil changes per year, and parts could fail at anytime like suspension, tranny, etc. You could blow a head gasket, piston rings fail, the timing chain...most of these expensive repairs will never be necessary with an electric.

I do not own an electric but would like to the more I learn about them and their future.

My neighbor used to start her old beat up truck in the morning and the fumes would come in my house. I'll take the extension cords.
 
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Also watch for mobile charging services. I looked into it as a business and it's already a thing. People that live in apartments, for instance, could benefit from it. Get charged while you're at work, etc.
 
mgidm86 said:
On the other hand, Tesla claims their batteries will last 300,000-500,000 miles and they rate their cars the same, so you should never have to change the batteries. I looked it up for the reasons you claim and was surprised by this.

The cars also hold their value much better, Teslas anyways.

Your used petrol cars need gas, a few oil changes per year, and parts could fail at anytime like suspension, tranny, etc. You could blow a head gasket, piston rings fail, the timing chain...most of these expensive repairs will never be necessary with an electric.

I do not own an electric but would like to the more I learn about them and their future.

My neighbor used to start her old beat up truck in the morning and the fumes would come in my house. I'll take the extension cords.
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TBH It was more just not having to try to dodge extension cords trying to walk to work at about 6 am in the dark more than anything else.

I could do it easily a few years ago, but when you get older, you tend to want less hassles :o
 
Can also see bunches of kids walking around at night unplugging them all for a laugh.

Again pretty immature, but when I was that age I would.

Just to see what happens
 
cullennz said:
Can also see bunches of kids walking around at night unplugging them all for a laugh.

Again pretty immature, but when I was that age I would.

Just to see what happens
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It already happens. Some EV owners will unplug other cars just to plug their own in!

There are locking adapters and chargers that limit this. And you cannot unplug a Tesla charger from a Tesla unless it's your car. OF course, with enough force you can severely damage the charging circuit on the car anyways..
 
Telsas, and probably others, will take video of anyone messing with the car.
 
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jadebox said:
Telsas, and probably others, will take video of anyone messing with the car.
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Bit of reality.

If I was 14-15 again I am pretty sure I could destroy the charging socket of any EV with one claw hammer and a decent sized chisel, without being recognised on some cheap car cam.
 
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