Electric Cars: Chev Bolt seems to be the first practical one.

[California]

Curious, are you putting that tractor in the little trailer

Yep. 2000 lb rated trailer, and also Subaru's rated towing capacity. Just under 2000 lb gross trailer weight including the wheel weights I bought also.

But I handled it like a 'permit' load - hours when no traffic, nearly all on empty freeway where nothing could pull out unexpectedly, falling back 1000 ft if I saw another car. It was uneventful.

Photo - stop at rest area after first half hour to check tires and hubs for heat because it was over 105 degrees by then. No problems found.

A couple of years later I finally found the same model Yanmar with power steering and loader, and bought it to replace the first one. This one was local. I came home a few miles, slowly, on back country roads where slow farm loads are expected. This time I took the sides off the trailer to get under 2000 lbs gross and be legal.

Both tows were uneventful. My tractors won't leave the place until they are eventually sold, I don't have a need to transport that much weight again.

 

[vvanders]

Exactly, EV is a hobby car, not frontline transportation. It bothers me when the EV owners want us to modify the grid for their hobby battery car, and want to and activity work to stop ICE cars, through politics and policy. It you EV people would just enjoy you battery car hobby and quit demanding everyone else follow your interest we'd all just be fine. When the battery is less then 100lbs, is smaller then a current gas fuel tank 20 gal, lasts 150k miles or ten years, recharges in under 7 minutes, and can power a 300hp truck/SUV towing uphill with A/C on and a range well over 300 miles you'll have something.

Would you kindly point to where EV users are mandating grid changes? All you need to charge an EV is a dryer outlet, heck the house we bought came with a welding outlet and we just used that, no modifications.

The majority of vehicles sold today wouldn't meet your standards so I don't know how you can hold EVs to the same mark.

 

[California]

I don't think HS saw that recent video from Norway where a Tesla pulled a 5,000 lb boat up a mountain pass. The owner said he was within Tesla's rated towing capacity and the cooling system didn't work as hard as it does on his high speed autobahn trips. The future has arrived, its real, this tow wasn't unsupported hype.

 

[vvanders]

Yeah, I imagine you lose a fair bit of range when towing(probably more from wind than weight) but they certainly aren't short on torque.

 

[/pine]

Let's leave it at that and let this thread stay on-topic, related to EV's.

That Friendly Politics thread would be a better place to continue your topic.

I'll agree to the former...but refrain from the latter...I was not the one that originally broke the topic...
The entire AGW debate is a moot point...Don't feel too bad...P.T. Barnum took money away from a lot of folks that thought they were reasonably intelligent...turns out they were not as intelligent as they thought...(like anyone that continues to argue a moot point)...

 

[houstonscott]

I don't think HS saw that recent video from Norway where a Tesla pulled a 5,000 lb boat up a mountain pass. The owner said he was within Tesla's rated towing capacity and the cooling system didn't work as hard as it does on his high speed autobahn trips. The future has arrived, its real, this tow wasn't unsupported hype.

I've seen your tractor behind that little super screw, tells me you know nothing about towing. Good luck with that, truly hope you don't get hurt, won't take much of that to destroy that car, it's not designed for that all....

 

[California]

Actually that same Subaru has a formal tow rating around 3,500 lbs in Australia, probably because of lower towing speed limits there. It weighs more than it looks like, within a couple hundred lbs of the Trooper it replaced. But those instances pictured above were the only times it has pulled more than a half ton. More typical use: Taking harvest ladders down into the back of the orchard.

Here's a 40 years ago photo of my third 4x4. The Subaru is the most recent 4x4 I bought for the specific purpose of getting into my mining claim in the Sierras, over roads like this photo that often have to be cleared to get in there the first trip each year. First trip 2005 with photo where I was 'momentarily inconvenienced' .

 

[vvanders]

I've seen your tractor behind that little super screw, tells me you know nothing about towing. Good luck with that, truly hope you don't get hurt, won't take much of that to destroy that car, it's not designed for that all....

Nice, insulting the poster and completely ignoring the actual contents of what you quoted. It's almost as if you don't want to have an honest discussion.

 

[drssg]

Agree, an EV is more suitable as a second car. ...

And as you point out, that doesn't necessarily mean two cars for one person. My wife and I each have a car, and one of them could easily be electric. On the rare occasions that one of us travels more than 200 miles in a day, that person would use the ICE vehicle. I suspect that is a fairly common demographic.

IMO, the limiting factor for EV sales is still price. The Bolt is getting close, but I think it's still outside of mainstream pricing for the car you get. It looks like a little economy vehicle, but it's priced like a higher end Subaru.

 

[sd455dan]

unless you think that 4000-6000 years is short production.

he is talking about a Natural gas wells production over several years time -most natural gas wells have a very high flow for the first few years of production but drop off fairly quickly after that.