Experience with Electric Vehicles?

[d-dave]

15 hours ago, PanthersATL said:

this may not work for you, but some families tell their kids to meet them a block away from the school for pickup rather than having to wait specifically in the parent pick-up line  (or they park a block away and walk up to the school to meet the kid, whatever works)

 

Sadly no, my son's school doesn't have a close enough spot, plus the rest of the traffic around there (from carline and entitled parents) is quite dangerous.  The amount of folks in the Concord area who are driving distracted is terrifying...

[PanthersATL]

1 hour ago, d-dave said:

.  The amount of folks in the Concord area who are driving distracted is terrifying...

Its not handheld phones that can be distractions

A neighbors kid was driving to brunch on mother's day when she (says) looked briefly at her dash-mounted phone to confirm directions

That momentary glance caused her to swerve over the double-yellow line into a head-on collision with another SUV and its three passengers

Both vehicles totalled, everyone walked away. No info on other passengers, but she had a broken shoulder that's still getting rehabbed 

An electric vehicle wouldn't have prevented this. It was a not-that-old-ish vehicle she was driving, but not sure if lane-assist would have helped either, if it was active

[d-dave]

30 minutes ago, PanthersATL said:

Its not handheld phones that can be distractions

A neighbors kid was driving to brunch on mother's day when she (says) looked briefly at her dash-mounted phone to confirm directions

That momentary glance caused her to swerve over the double-yellow line into a head-on collision with another SUV and its three passengers

Both vehicles totalled, everyone walked away. No info on other passengers, but she had a broken shoulder that's still getting rehabbed 

An electric vehicle wouldn't have prevented this. It was a not-that-old-ish vehicle she was driving, but not sure if lane-assist would have helped either, if it was active

Nope, stupid people, distracted drives and bad people drive all manner of vehicles.  I mean, there are a ton of great sensors on cars out there right now.  I think it's great they can help people drive safer, so long as they are left on and not turned off.

Until we get to full autonomous driving like in the Will Smith classic, iRobot, people are going to be the most dangerous thing on the roads.

[PanthersATL]

1 hour ago, d-dave said:

Until we get to full autonomous driving like in the Will Smith classic, iRobot, people are going to be the most dangerous thing on the roads.

Fun times

Quote

Fun Fact: Teslas have killed over twice as many people as the exploding Ford Pinto did at a roughly similar level of sales. the Pinto sold ~3 million units & killed at least 27 people. Tesla is now creeping up on 5 million total vehicles & 95 deaths from battery fires or autopilot crashes

https://bsky.app/profile/trans.bsky.social/post/3kpzncxk2gk24 

news link in post: https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-deaths

Edited September 5 by PanthersATL

[Paa Langfart]

When you think about it there are just too many distractions built into automobiles these days.  All the computerized bluetooth satellite link backup screen seat adjusting wizardry that you can not even opt out of anymore and adds thousands and thousands of dollars to the base price of cars. I mean who has time or attention span to concentrate on driving anymore with all the bs other things to watch and try to keep track of?  Its  no wonder that teslas are killing more people than ford pintos did.  I drove my folks pinto station wagon for years when I was a kid - you had less than half a dozen gauges to monitor and that included the speedometer, odometer, fuel gauge, and battery /alternator monitor.  The radio was strictly AM and if you wanted to go hog wild,  you knew a guy who could install an 8 track tape player and pair of $20 speakers for you under the dash board.

Edited September 7 by Paa Langfart

[LinvilleGorge]

My favorite is watching every cop on the road driving while typing away on their dash mounted laptop.

[lumbeecheraw75]

Just seeing this thread, and after browsing, I figured I would drop in and add my 2 cents. I hope this answers some of the questions or misconceptions that I have noticed.

 

I have owned a 2021 Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus since Dec 2020, and love it. Absolute best car I have ever personally owned.  Current daily driver of 100 miles round trip to work and back.  Level 2 Charger at home in Garage.

 

The battery in my car was still designed to charge to ~80% for daily usage, only going above for trips etc preferably. The current batteries they recommend to charge to 100%.

 

1st year was in an apartment, 40 miles round trip at that point. Would highly depend on public level 2 charger at the library near me, and would also use 110v at work occasionally on weekends. Supercharger for travel. It wasn’t the most optimal, but I made it work. No maintenance in this year outside of tire rotations.

 

Years 2+, I am now driving 100 miles round trip to work. Level 2 charger in my garage.  I get home from work at ~25% charge, and charge back to my daily 80% in ~3.5hrs. On 110v, you can expect that will be over 24hrs. So for daily driver usage you will want a level 2 charger. For piddling around town, 110v will probably be fine. I had a part fail that was covered under warranty, and tire replacement/rotations for maintenance.

 

 

Tires: I have 99k+ miles on my car currently. I will put my 2nd set of tires on it at ~110k.

 

When I have had people ask me how I like my car, I always show them these 2 pages from the Tesla app.

The numbers there are based on what I pay for kWh ($0.11) vs est cost of gas in NC at $3.93 per gallon. People who are concerned about the higher cost vs ICE probably don’t figure in the gas savings, or time/cost getting oil changes etc.  My car payment isn’t that much higher than any other car I’ve owned (shrug).

 

I know this is personal, and I don’t like the guy either, but I would not let Musk keep me from owning the brand. Thats like Henry Ford keeping you from owning Ford for, well….   Tesla currently have the best charging infrastructure for travel. Longest trip I have made is to Williamsburg VA from Triangle region. No issues getting there, no range anxiety etc. Sure stops can take longer for charging etc, but they are mostly setup at restaurants, gas stations etc for breaks, but ideally you’re not charging back to full at a stop. The best way to travel is to charge enough for you to get to the next stop. It’s faster at the batteries get juice faster when they are lower.  I have never seen another brand using Tesla superchargers tho I have heard it’s coming. But I have seen assholes pull their boats horizontally in charging stations

 

If you are curious about how an EV would play into travel, check out https://abetterrouteplanner.com . Put in any EV you want, it will show you the path, time and time per charge etc. Great tool.

 

 

Edited September 8 by lumbeecheraw75

[lumbeecheraw75]

couple more things re: extreme hots and colds and the EV use tax.

In the winter months, I can confirm that the range isn't as far, but it has never given me range anxiety except the first time I made a trip to Myrtle Beach and wasn't accounting for it. I just had to detour and use a Supercharger for 5 min and the rest of the trip was no issue. Summer months have never been an issue at all. 

NC has a $140.25 EV Registration fee every year, which amounts to the gas/use tax for ICE.

 

 

 

 

[d-dave]

Thank you @lumbeecheraw75!  It's great to get some first hand knowledge instead of a bunch of us arm chair critics

As far as owning a Tesla, I do like the tech, hate Musk, but the killer for me is the lack of manual controls.  Having to use the screen for drive mode, no stalks for turn signals (I use them, a rarity in NC I know), etc.

Glad to hear yours is still going strong at nearly 100k miles!  I do love the idea of one for sure, but for me, it's not a financial option.  I've got just under $12k left on my accord, and it's stills a beast on gas mileage, relatively engaging to drive (6MT).

Hopefully we will continue to see more charging stations out there, and more investment in EVs.   

[lumbeecheraw75]

the 2021 model 3 still has the stalks. Im sure it would be annoying to go with however the new ones work. it's be a sticky topic. Probably an idea that will be revisited by them at some point

[CamWhoaaCam]

Nobody has brought up the risk of electric cars burning your house down.

 

[d-dave]

11 hours ago, CamWhoaaCam said:

Nobody has brought up the risk of electric cars burning your house down.

 

Because the chances are low of the actual vehicle, less than that of a regular car.

Most fires are occurring when guys like me, enough knowledge to be dangerous, attempt to set up a 240v/80Amp circuit in their garage.  But unlike those guys, I know when to call a pro, lol.  You'll hear more about it because EVs are new, and everyone wants to make a point.  

Counter to that, in my nearly 15 years of driving 485 outer to and from work, I've only seen regular cars (ICE) burning or burned out on the highway.  I've never seen an EV burning on the side of the road...  Of the house fires where I've lived, the number of EVs to cause it is zero.  The ones I have seen (in the NE Charlotte/Concord area): car fire (was in poor repair), bad electrical (in the house), pouring hot ashes into a trash can over night, and a multitude of other things.

So the myth of EVs causing house fires is more related to FUD or bad electrical work.   

[d-dave]

Here's a cool story about the Rivian truck that survived being washed out in Asheville, and then used it's battery to help feed people.  Pretty cool story.

https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-vs-rivian-r1t-owner-hurricane-helene-survived-convert-2024-10

[jasonluckydog]

I just bought my grandson an electric car.

 

24 Volts baby!!

 

Zoom!!

 

Of course the neighbor decided it was competition time...