Battery based electric vehicles of today and tomorrow.

[California]

Best thing I can say about Teslas is from my experience lane-splitting a motorcycle in CA bay area traffic. From what I can tell, a substantial number of people that owned Teslas (at least a few years ago) "moved up" the car ladder a lot to get the Tesla (as in, they didn't just move from a $70k BMW to a $70k Tesla or even from the next-lower tier but lots of people jumped up a lot to get into them) and as a result, they really don't want anything near their baby... as a result, they gave a lot of room to the lane-splitter, more than pretty much any other car. It was almost a rule.

That concern for their 'baby' is likely but I think also Tesla's proximity sensors alert the driver sooner compared to most driver's awareness, they aren't thinking 'motorcycle coming'.

 

[ning]

That concern for their 'baby' is likely but I think also Tesla's proximity sensors alert the driver sooner compared to most driver's awareness, they aren't thinking 'motorcycle coming'.

Probably but the proximity sensors in very heavy traffic are already going off non-stop without the motorcycle coming up the middle.

 

[/pine]

I wanted to use an electric vehicle the last time I visited Africa but there was none available...so I Madagascar

 

[California]

Q to anyone with a Tesla: Does the dash display show a moving icon representing a motorcycle coming up in the blind spot? That might explain Teslas moving aside sooner than the average car.

I'm seldom in dense slow urban traffic so a motorcycle splitting lanes is unexpected and close, before I notice him. Generally, too late to move over if he's far faster than the traffic.

I saw a CHP motorcycle cop nearly eat it when someone changed lanes as he passed at pursuit speed on the motorist's right. One of the couple of times I've seen a motorcycle go straight forward with the front tire turned hard right, and hopping.

A week later I read of an officer injured in a MC crash in the same stretch, the downhill grade into Cordelia. I'll bet it was the same guy.

 

[PuffyC]

Y

The last new car I bought in 2008 cost me $12,500 plus $1000 tax etc. It averaged over 34 mpg for 12 years and I put over 230,000 miles on it. Total maintenance was probably around $2000 not including tires. I just bought a used Mazda 3 stick and I'm getting about 38 mpg. I paid $15K + tax/title. I expect to get over 200,000 miles out of it. It has a range of over 450 miles per tank. Is there any electric vehicle that can compare monetarily to either of these vehicles available now? I prefer cars over SUV's for commuting.

Kevin

You could get a 4 year old Nissan Leaf for about what you paid for your Mazda. Factory warranty is 8 years or 100,000 miles but who knows how much life you’d get out of it beyond that. You might need to replace the battery in a few years but between not paying for gas and no maintenance it would probably still come out ahead depending on how long you kept it.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Y

You could get a 4 year old Nissan Leaf for about what you paid for your Mazda. Factory warranty is 8 years or 100,000 miles but who knows how much life you’d get out of it beyond that. You might need to replace the battery in a few years but between not paying for gas and no maintenance it would probably still come out ahead depending on how long you kept it.

Would you drive a say 10 year old Nissan Leaf 80 miles in zero degree Fahrenheit snowy weather 5 days a week? I'm not sure I'd trust it as much as my ICE vehicles. I've had to sit at idle with the heater running on the interstate waiting for wrecks to be cleared several times in the last 20 years. I'm sure I'll own an electric someday but not for a few years, maybe when I'm retired and don't have to commute so far.

 

[Hay Dude]

And it's outside the scope of traditional thinking to realize that all that torque starts from zero rpm. Instead of just being a point on a graph showing that peak torque is attained at mid-rpm.

Seems to me that some sort of traction control will be needed on any stronger EV.

Yes, it'll be a game changer for "off clutch pedal torque"
Course I dont think there will be a clutch and gear shifter??? Hmmmm, well, maybe?

The thing they will have to continue to battle is vehicle range. They can brag about torque numbers, but you wont make that torque long before the batteries die. Then its a significant waiting period to recharge. Add a massive load and reduce it even further.

A modern efficient diesel can make more torque than that for hundreds of thousands of miles and refill its fuel nearly anywhere in 3 minutes.
Thats a big hurdle to overcome for trucks pulling weight over long distances.

 

[PuffyC]

Would you drive a say 10 year old Nissan Leaf 80 miles in zero degree Fahrenheit snowy weather 5 days a week?

Ha! I would not. Where I’m from that kind of weather means you don’t drive

 

[California]

Company Argues Its Two-Speed EV Gearbox Is Better Than A Single-Speed

Going from no articulating parts to this potential fail point in an EV would be hard sale to me. Very early Tesla Roadster had two speed transmission of some design.

It surprised me to ride urban light rail (overhead electric powered) and feel it shift low to high gear after it was moving along, maybe 20 mph. While Tesla has a far greater motor rpm range and does it in a single gear. Maybe that was just a shift from parallel to series current but its noticeable.

 

[Grumpycat]

I saw my first Tesla yesterday. A fellow over from Seattle was visiting here in Cheney. It was the sport model. They are much nicer looking, up close, then on their TV commercials. I am very impressed.

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