Electric for everyone - the impossible dream

[sk47]

Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar power inverters

Hello; Anyone shocked???

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[Joshinator99]

Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar power inverters

Hello; Anyone shocked???

Nope

 

[sk47]

Drivers Are Abandoning EVs. The Reasons Make Complete Sense.
Hello; A few new to me points made in this story. I was not aware of insurance costs creeping up on EV's. Since my ICE insurance went up slightly, I wonder if this is part of a general trend or are EV's going up more?
The EV reliability and costs more to maintain points are new to me. I suspected such but did not know.

 

[sk47]

More Scientists Now Doubt Climate Alarmism Claims
Hello; Some may note as to how folks (scientists included) seem a bit freer to publish findings which question tenants of the climate change agenda. Of course such is the way things like science ought to be. Differing opinions ought not to be suppressed.

 

[sk47]

California’s gas-car ban fight with the EPA just roared back

Hello; Not sure where to post the above link so decided on this old thread. Not exactly on topic but related. I imagine most of us breathed a sigh of relief when the EPA changed hands about a year & 1/2 half ago. Some of the more onerous existing & pending rules were reversed or in some way negated.
My hope since then is manufacturers will be able to tune transmissions & engines for durability rather than ultimate MPG's and low emissions. There is a school of thought such tuning is behind the problems with the ten-speed auto trans. Let the companies build less troublesome transmission the way they know how to do.
To some degree similar for the engines. maybe have sensible oil weight recommendations and more. But the point of the link is the anti ICE factions have not given up. for sure in Cal.

I got in a habit of listening to C-Span's Washington Journal for some years. While most of the crazy rants are about the political scene, there are some rants about global warming and related rants about ICE.

 

[WItoTX]

I had the 7.3 in my F250. Was a phenomenal motor. However, the 10 speed was so bad pulling 10k that I had to go back to a diesel. Letting the truck decide the gear in rolling hills, it would drop to 50 mph (cruise set at 70), before shifting into 5th.

If I controlled the throttle, it would either bog down like cruise did, or rev to the moon.

10 speeds is too many speeds. The germans stopped at 8, we should have too.

 

[sk47]

10 speeds is too many speeds. The germans stopped at 8, we should have too.

Hello; My take is the manufacturers went to more and more gears in transmissions in order to help maximize MPG's and possibly emissions. I think the idea is ICE engines have an RPM range which is the more efficient in terms of fuel efficiency. May also overlap in terms of emissions at an RPM range but I do not know if the two are at the same RPM range.

Think of the CVT transmissions which are touted to have an infinite range of gears. They try to run the ICE at an ideal rpm and use the continuously variable gearing of the transmission to adjust speed. My brother has an Altima with such a trans. One of the years with the problematic CVT's. He is lucky so far.

The notion of the CVT is alright in theory but, so far, limited in practice. Many of the early versions, such as the Nissan, had serious reliability issues. I do not know about more current versions in terms of reliability.

A point to consider is many do not like the way a CVT operates even if they were 100% reliable. Yet we are being unable to avoid them. Some companies offer only a CVT anymore- think Honda. You can get a manual in some special Honda models, but most have a CVT now.

Again, my take is this is due to ever more stringent standards imposed upon the car companies from agencies such as the EPA.
The ever more stringent standards for MPG & emissions have sent car companies down a path very much different that improving the vehicles. More we are in a second era during which new vehicles are being crippled by regulations. The first being the one started around 1972 when the first strong emissions equipment and tuning hamstrung the cars. Took until the 1980's for engine tech to overcome all that. Anyone recall turning off a late 70's car an having it sputter and chug for a while???

Last complaint. I came of age when you could order lots of combinations of engines & transmissions. Now an engine family must be certified by an expensive and onerous process. So, most all companies offer fewer engines and try to make those fewer engines work in way too many models.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

10 speeds is too many speeds. The germans stopped at 8, we should have too.

8 is too many.

I have 0-60 in 3 seconds and 167 top end with ONE gear for the price of a similarly equipped V8 Mustang. Weighs the same, same physical size. Even handles better than a non PP V8 Mustang and is at least as good as the PP1 I own for my skill level which I thought was overrated when the national 6th gen F Body organization drafted me as a beginner level track instructor. I still love my Mustang but mostly for nostalgia, vroom vroom sounds and right wrist exercise. Not as good for track days due to time to refuel and laps per tank but I don't do that any more. And if I come out of retirement, I still have the Mustang.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g29994375/future-electric-cars-trucks/

 

[Nightmonkey]

There are some interesting models (Slate, Scout, Rivian) that, unfortunately, will probably never make it to Europe—except as gray imports. 🥲

It’s strange that Mercedes is soon adopting the Audi style of the 2000s, with a grotesquely large single-frame grille.

🫣 I recently ordered my first own BEV, an electric Ford Explorer (based on VW MEB) that isn’t available in the US: https://www.ford.co.uk/cars/electric-explorer

 

[sk47]

My neighbor keeps unplugging my EV from the shared charger before it finishes. Can he actually touch my car?
Hello; The above is likely a form of clickbait but does bring up a question or few. i see similar such clickbait articles. This one is about two EV owners using the same charger. Owner B unpluggs owner A's car before it is fully charged.
I see such stories about a neighbor plugging his EV into someones exterior outlet so actually stealing electricity. Another story about how a neighbor has a chatging cable strewn across a shared driveway.

Driver B in the first example is a tush hog sort and is simply forcing the issue. No respect for driver A.
If i lived close enough for someone to steal electricity from my outdoor plug I can think of several ways to stop that. From very aggressive to simply adding an indoor switch to turn off the outlet. Maybe just throw a breaker.
A cable on a shared driveway is more difficult. Got to figure the cable owner understands it will be driven across.

I get these are minor things compared to the real issues facing the notion of an all EV fleet of vehicles.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Didn't read. But Teslas, and I don't see why every EV would NOT be the same, a charger can NOT be removed if the vehicle is locked. Hell there are even devices for people hyper frightened of car jackers that let them explosively blow the charger off so they can bolt without exiting the car and disconnecting. LoL If the other end is something plugged into an outlet, obviously it may be unplugged. Tesla wall chargers (which can be installed anywhere not just on walls) and at least some 3rd party can be programmed to be impossible to steal electricity from. You can limit charging to specific vehicles or types of vehicles, limit when can be charged, etc.. If not related to the link, carry on.

 

[Strokerswild]

This summer I've been thinning out my too-large herd of motorcycles, and heard firsthand the folly that an EV can be. A guy was coming from northern MN for one of my Harleys, with a trailer behind his wife's Mercedes EQS. He left home on less than a full charge, and at about the halfway point he stopped for some juice. Charger options were few. He had some sort of adapter for a Tesla charger, but the Tesla chargers he encountered didn't play well with the adapter. He ended up running the vehicle more or less dead and finally had to drop his trailer and have the EQS towed into the Twin Cities to be charged. He ended up staying the night somewhere, picking up the EQS, picking up his trailer, and resuming the trip the next morning.

That's the kind of luck I thought only I had. I would have thought hard about burning the thing on the side of the road.

 

[sk47]

Didn't read. But Teslas, and I don't see why every EV would NOT be the same, a charger can NOT be removed if the vehicle is locked. Hell there are even devices for people hyper frightened of car jackers that let them explosively blow the charger off so they can bolt without exiting the car and disconnecting. LoL If the other end is something plugged into an outlet, obviously it may be unplugged. Tesla wall chargers (which can be installed anywhere not just on walls) and at least some 3rd party can be programmed to be impossible to steal electricity from. You can limit charging to specific vehicles or types of vehicles, limit when can be charged, etc.. If not related to the link, carry on.

Hello; The linked story mentioned as to how some cars "lock" a charger plug in place so it cannot be simply removed. I do not know the details of such a feature in the linked story. The story could be a made-up clickbait for all I can testify about.
The example rings true from my past experiences when living in apartment buildings. Shared parking spaces & a shared laundry room being the two things i recall most clearly. My first wife & I lived in a married student apartment complex. Limited parking close by with rows over parkng places. The worst was the day my wife came back from the laundry room after discovering had put loaded baby diapers into the washing machine. (pre-pamper days) We went to a distant laundromat after that.
I assume you have the luxury of a home charger which is the way I would want to go. I like the idea such a thing can be programed to limit/stop unauthorized use. If I find myself reduced to having an EV the charger will be outside at a distance away from my home to avoid the fire hazard.

Yes, I would unplug if I found someone stealing my juice. I would have words with the neighbor as well.

Again, these are minor issues compared to the huge ones facing the concept of universal EV adoption. Yet for a large number of folks such things who do not have a private home & property such will be part of the daily grind.

 

[Mike Pfeifer]

Some cars have a button where you plug the charger in to the vehicle to allow the release of the charger while the vehicle is locked and unattended.

There’s always going to be some a-hole that will plug his car in to the shared charger and leave it there while he goes on some 2 week vacation or something.

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