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How Cheap Can Electric Vehicles Get?

rameznaam.com

191–197 of 197 posts

Re: How Cheap Can Electric Vehicles Get?

#191

Don't forget that EV ownership effectively requires land ownership. If you rent your parking space, good luck getting a charger installed. If you park on the street, good luck convincing the city to install more than a small handful of token EV spots. A house in the suburbs with a garage that I could do electrical work on would account for the vast majority of the cost if I wanted an EV.

That's a problem right now, but it's solvable. Cities that wanted to push EV adoption could easily pass a law requiring landlords to install chargers, and of course the city could install their own chargers for street parking.

Obviously this won't happen everywhere, so some cities will be much better places to have an EV than others.

Don't forget that as EVs become more popular, landlords who are EV-friendly will do better than those who aren't.

Re: How Cheap Can Electric Vehicles Get?

#192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Most trucks are pretty safe, but the Ford F-150 4WD has above average death rates, and is the most popular single model of pickup truck. I wonder if this is because lots of people buy this truck who don't really know how to drive a truck. No, it's probably because it's a truck with a body-on-frame chassis instead of a unibody chassis like any modern vehicle, and was designed for towing and load-hauling rather than c…

I don't believe any American car will roll over in normal driving. They will skid. Unless a tire catches on a curb or something. So in normal highway driving rollover is very unlikely.

Not true: trucks and SUVs absolutely will roll over. They even have warnings when there's high winds about it, because they can be blown over.

And just try doing a panic turn (to avoid something) in a tall SUV and see what happens.

You can't just ignore the laws of physics. Center-of-gravity is an important thing.

Re: How Cheap Can Electric Vehicles Get?

#193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe any American car will roll over in normal driving. They will skid. Unless a tire catches on a curb or something. So in normal highway driving rollover is very unlikely.

Not true: trucks and SUVs absolutely will roll over. They even have warnings when there's high winds about it, because they can be blown over. And just try doing a panic turn (to avoid something) in a tall SUV and see what happens. You can't just ignore the laws of physics. Center-of-gravity is an important thing.

I see from Consumer Reports that tipping does sometimes happen. And not just from 'tripping'.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/02/rollover-101/inde...

Re: How Cheap Can Electric Vehicles Get?

#194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You assume a constant price for gasoline, which is a bold assumption, given that the oil markets are currently gyrating wildly, and have been for some time - we're likely to see prices at the pump go up by orders of magnitude over a relatively short timescale, which will provide a big push towards EV adoption, and will drive people away from older vehicles which guzzle gas. No, it isn't going to be overnight, but lik…

>You assume a constant price for gasoline, which is a bold assumption, given that the oil markets are currently gyrating wildly, and have been for some time - we're likely to see prices at the pump go up by orders of magnitude over a relatively short timescale, which will provide a big push towards EV adoption, and will drive people away from older vehicles which guzzle gas. If anything the move towards electric car…

http://www.salon.com/2016/04/29/there_will_be_pandemonium_pa...

You were saying?

Re: How Cheap Can Electric Vehicles Get?

#195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Info mostly comes from banter with energy market traders who are getting ready for a mixture of feast and bloodbath. I used to work a futures desk, mostly on intermediates. I got a decent sense of the market in those few years, and watching it is an ongoing pastime. Re: the specifics around fracking start/stop - it's staff. You either retain salaried workers who are unproductive for stretches, or you work contractors…

I like how you got down voted for reporting your first hand knowledge. I used to deal with a guy in the oil business. Reselling valves pumps and misc plumbing. Nothing in that business is cheap. Just remembered, Shell? did a drilling project few years ago in northern Canada. Spent $2 billion to drill deep wells into what looked like a large reservoir of oil and it was dry. And that wasn't $2 billion in paper funny mo…

Nah, everything is clearly totally fine, and I, like the energy markets, are wrong. There has always been oil and demand for oil. There will always be oil and demand for oil. Oil without end.

Or not:

http://www.salon.com/2016/04/29/there_will_be_pandemonium_pa...

Re: How Cheap Can Electric Vehicles Get?

#196
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true enough. But rapid chargers can "fill" an electric vehicle in 30 minutes. A typical London taxi driver does around 200 miles per day. So, depending on usage patterns, that's a recharge over 30 minute lunch break - and maybe a short top-up every time they go to the loo. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/10...

Strange, Tesla only seems to say 170 miles over a 30-minute charge. https://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger

Yes. So you start the day with a full charge - plugged in at home. Then top up at lunch / dinner / loo break.

Re: How Cheap Can Electric Vehicles Get?

#197
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect rearview camera/sensors are far better protection against bulldozing than small cars. No car is small enough to show a toddler under your tires.

Off subject, but I'm surprised better rear view cameras/sensors are not being manufactured right now. I'm not talking about just a camera though. Could anyone imagine a a smart camera, with a display. The camera/computer would assist the driver in seeing better at night. Would calculate the odds of a police cruiser behind you. Would warn of potential danger, like an animal on the side of the road. Would warn you if y…

Most luxury auto manufacturers actually do include image analysis and threat detection in their infrared forward-facing cameras these days.
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