Electric vehicles

Lund · Nov 30, 2018

So the wife is shopping for a new vehicle and want's to replace her BMW with an electric car.
This is all new for me and will be a bit of a learning curve and i think after she does some research the plan is to go to Vancouver and see these in real life to test drive.

My self i'ed own an electric truck if i could get one in an F350/3500 payload and pulling power with a 500km range but i don't think they are there yet, so till then i will keep burning my diesel.

Any opinions on these, would you have one?

arff · Nov 30, 2018

Hadster has a Chev volt.
Hybrid. He really likes it.

Nice to ride in. Very quiet.

FernieHawk · Nov 30, 2018

arff said:
Hadster has a Chev volt.
Hybrid. He really likes it.

Nice to ride in. Very quiet.

He should put a Can on that thing. LOL.

Bnorth · Nov 30, 2018

My mother-in-law wants one too. I think she, like Karebear would be a good candidate. A decently long commute one way (assuming you're still on the westside) then a long break during the work day to charge and a long drive home. The commute is long enough to actually save some decent money on fuel and is well within the range of an electric vehicle with good charging time available at both ends.

One of my biggest concerns would be battery lifespan. Ie is the thing pooched at 120k km rendering the vehicle virtually worthless?

lilduke · Nov 30, 2018

A Tesla roadster might be fun.

tex78 · Nov 30, 2018

The volts are good cars for sure

How good on snowy Westside road well dunno

Mike tell Karen to look at a terrain like we got, ours since new has averaged 7.7 l per 100 km and is awd

1.5 turbo 4 cylinder and 9 speed

Her car must be atrocious on gas, I'm in the same boat with my jeep, it's 12.5 l per 100 km, but the gas savings would pay close to half the payment

They make real fancy ones with heated steering wheel, a. C and heated seats ect...

Billy Boy · Nov 30, 2018

How do the electric vehicles do in -20 to -35 temps?

ducati · Nov 30, 2018

I have ridden in a Tesla Model X and it was definitely impressive but I don’t know that it was $130k impressive and there really is no longevity proven on these batteries.

If I was going the electric direction I would likely head the hybrid direction like a Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine with a really efficient but powerful ICE and a powerful and functional electric system integrated with it.

Personally I think that an even more electric oriented hybrid system may be the future of trucks. Have a smaller Diesel engine to generate power and electric drives on each corner for big torque and advanced 4WD.

Cdnfireman · Nov 30, 2018

Are you looking for pure electric or a hybrid? The facts and figures on the pure electrics are slanted towards the optimistic side of battery life. Better suited for urban use for sure and warmer weather operation. Extremely cold weather and stop and go in the city will kill the batteries much quicker than advertised due to heater, fan and headlight usage. And some sources (including Tesla) are now saying that battery life is reduced if the battery is discharged below 40% on a regular basis. Personally I think a pure electric is a bad choice for our climate.
I know a couple of people that have hybrids and they seem like a better choice as the gasoline engine will provide the heat in cold weather and will compensate for a dead battery if needed.
I think the battery life is still a crap shoot and replacement cost is largely unknown since the market is so small the aftermarket may never be interested, and I’d be worried about resale on an older electric car with a weak battery.
IMHO, these vehicles are in their infancy as a technology and are a feel good alternative for guilt ridden people trying to be trendy and reducing their “carbon footprint “. But that’s a whole other discussion!

X-it · Nov 30, 2018

Not only is the battery killed prematurely going bellow 40% but also going above 70%. 8 hrs of charging on 110 recovers 1% of your battery and will get you about 2-3 k of driving without using a heater.

Lund · Nov 30, 2018

KB drive’s 100km a day round trip, ya she still at the pharmacy.
Her car is basically a commuter and not the cheapest to run, so if we can safe a couple hundred a month on fuel that would be nice. We are both approaching retirement age.
ya, we are on the westside of OK lake.

X-it · Nov 30, 2018

You would need to put in a 220 charging station at your house then, make sure they install 6 gauge or better. The numbers I gave were for the Tesla.

adamg · Nov 30, 2018

Lund said:
So the wife is shopping for a new vehicle and want's to replace her BMW with an electric car.
This is all new for me and will be a bit of a learning curve and i think after she does some research the plan is to go to Vancouver and see these in real life to test drive.

My self i'ed own an electric truck if i could get one in an F350/3500 payload and pulling power with a 500km range but i don't think they are there yet, so till then i will keep burning my diesel.

Any opinions on these, would you have one?

The Bolt had a lot of positive reviews when it came out a few years ago.

Lund · Nov 30, 2018

At the moment we are just tossing the idea.
I do have 200amp service at home, I had it done this way to run my shop.
We are going to Victoria for Xmas and was going to drive there, my daughter’s both live there. But now thinking of flying and renting an electric car for the 4 days we will be there. We’re going to ski mtn Washington while we’re there so that would be a good test on longevity of these cars for driving. I think it’s about a 2 1/2-3hr drive

BEL · Nov 30, 2018

Bnorth said:
My mother-in-law wants one too. I think she, like Karebear would be a good candidate. A decently long commute one way (assuming you're still on the westside) then a long break during the work day to charge and a long drive home. The commute is long enough to actually save some decent money on fuel and is well within the range of an electric vehicle with good charging time available at both ends.

One of my biggest concerns would be battery lifespan. Ie is the thing pooched at 120k km rendering the vehicle virtually worthless?

Good question. I know it's not quite the same thing, but our community dished out $100k+ about 3 years ago for an electric ice resurfacer for the local arena. Always stored in a heated shop and professionally maintained. They started having issues with it last spring, which has continued into the fall. Of course they won't warranty the batteries, which is what they suspect may be the problem, and new batteries are $27,000 USD.

Lund · Nov 30, 2018

All great questions before getting into one, all thing’s I need to look at and find out about.
I suspect that the electric car industry is going to accelerate quicker then we think and technology will change quickly similar to most things in electronics. What you buy today will be out of date tomorrow.
warranty will be a big decision maker.

Summitric · Nov 30, 2018

So, keep in mind, don't keep it too long... We just did a 2008 electric nissan car and it needed a new battery pack.... A reconditioned ass'y was $7500 and a new ass'y was $9500 and a used one was $3800 plus freight from down east ... Plus labour to replace it....

Lund · Nov 30, 2018

10 years service is not bad at all imo considering an 08 is OLD tech, i’m sure they have come a long ways since.
plus AC motors have virtually very few wearing parts so your unlikely ever going to touch the motors.

52weekbreak · Nov 30, 2018

Maybe not a direct comparison but was chatting with a taxi driver who had a POS Prius. I don't like them but was curious how well it worked under ridiculously steady use. Apparently he had to change the battery pack at 500K. I think lifespan of the battery pack is less a concern than actual range in cold weather and of course time to recharge. Even a Tesla 3 using only half the available range in winter would suit my commute just fine with plenty left over. I have no idea when they will be available without sitting in the line up. Also hoping that as production numbers come up, price will come down as it costs less to build an electric car than an IC one. No transmissions, fewer moving parts etc.

Bnorth said:
My mother-in-law wants one too. I think she, like Karebear would be a good candidate. A decently long commute one way (assuming you're still on the westside) then a long break during the work day to charge and a long drive home. The commute is long enough to actually save some decent money on fuel and is well within the range of an electric vehicle with good charging time available at both ends.

One of my biggest concerns would be battery lifespan. Ie is the thing pooched at 120k km rendering the vehicle virtually worthless?

ABMax24 · Nov 30, 2018

The Tesla cars have 8 year unlimited mileage warranty, they obviously have a little bit of confidence on the longevity if they are willing to offer that kind of warranty.

We just bought a new vehicle and wanted to consider electric, but the problem is for range the Tesla's seem to be the best and you are either stuck waiting forever to order a model 3 or pay out the nose for a different Tesla model. So we bought a small diesel. There are of course other options out there but they are all the size of a shoebox with wheels and an electric motor.

What it seems like to me is Tesla is the only company willing to go all out on electric cars, other traditional manufacturers are hanging on too tightly to the Internal Combustion Engine to actually make a valid effort in producing a decent electric car.

Electric vehicles

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