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I'm all for electric vehicles, but there are a few things that have bothered me about its mass adoption. Right now, electrics comprise a tiny part of the automobile market share. Yet Tesla is already running into supply issues, particularly with lithium as there are only 3 companies in the world that do industrial-scale lithium mining, that too in a handful of mines around the world. Secondly, I suppose we're current…
I'm all for electric vehicles, but there are a few things that have bothered me about its mass adoption. Right now, electrics comprise a tiny part of the automobile market share. Yet Tesla is already running into supply issues, particularly with lithium as there are only 3 companies in the world that do industrial-scale lithium mining, that too in a handful of mines around the world. Secondly, I suppose we're current…
obviously Tesla is the front runner for spearheading the insudtry by virtually every metric & subsector (except maybe price). Look, I love Tesla and have been bullish on the company for a pretty long time, so I am biased, but why can't other car companies have quality cars and aesthetics. * Fisker Karma: The car looked super sleek, was super sexy and from an engineering standpoint it was a heap of shit. * Chevy Volt:…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like any 1.0 product. The technology evolves so rapidly it loses 90% of its value in a few years. It reminds me my first digital camera, 2000$ and 3 years later you could get better for 500$.
I own a 2014 Nissan Leaf. Except for the battery and motor, almost every technology in the car is what you'd find in a regular vehicle. Any obsolescence can be dealt with by a battery upgrade (motors are a century old technology, I doubt that'll improve much in 5-10 years).
edit: yes, it was a joke. However, not for nothing, this is still a bizarre comment indicating that only the highy technical nuances in the car are nuances and that it should be trivial to swap them out. The battery is tied to the drive train each having a highly specialized and proprietary function. The power train uses a "centuries old technology" a synchronous electric motor.
I am just jokingly pointing out that all cars use technology for motors grounded in history. Leaving aside considerable differences in size, weight, calibration, horespower or interconnection as well as subtle differences converting the imperial system into metric, sure, I guess you could argue motors are a commodity.
As for the battery, the leaf's is great. Slated to hold 70-80% of its charge for around a decade. However, again, this was a limited production run-rate and can't really be decoupled from the drive-train without a significant degree of knoweldge and tooling making it highly unlikely someone would do this for any other reason than to learn a massive amount and have a really cool project. The battery is a 24kWh supercell constructed out of 192 subsells with a cooling stack and whatever battery chemistry they are using[0]. So yeah, I was having a playful joke here.
I don't think anyone was arguing that EVs are overtly complicated due to the new radio & blue tooth technology they have to interface with the stereosystem...it's all about the powertrain/motor & energy source interface. jeez...
[0] Googled it, fairly standard: lithium ion manganese oxide batteries, like the kind grandma used to bake.
I'm all for electric vehicles, but there are a few things that have bothered me about its mass adoption. Right now, electrics comprise a tiny part of the automobile market share. Yet Tesla is already running into supply issues, particularly with lithium as there are only 3 companies in the world that do industrial-scale lithium mining, that too in a handful of mines around the world. Secondly, I suppose we're current…
obviously Tesla is the front runner for spearheading the insudtry by virtually every metric & subsector (except maybe price). Look, I love Tesla and have been bullish on the company for a pretty long time, so I am biased, but why can't other car companies have quality cars and aesthetics. * Fisker Karma: The car looked super sleek, was super sexy and from an engineering standpoint it was a heap of shit. * Chevy Volt:…
I've been shopping for a used car in the Bay Area, and it looks like used electrics are even easier to buy (and harder to sell) than former rentals. That's not a good signal.
Incidentally, I bought a former rental and it's great! No problems at all. People always say "But what if some idiot has thrashed it?" Well, probably some idiot did, but at least they only did it for a couple of days... much better than buying a car which was solely driven by some idiot.
I did the math and for comparison on a $3 million Enzo Ferrari a hood (couldn't find a quarter panel) unpainted and used is about $10,000. http://www.ferrparts.com/en/usd/diagrams/front-hood-and-open...
I like electric but I can't own a car that will cost so much to repair. A $15,000 bill not including labor on a $70,000 vehicle 20% of the total vehicle cost is not worth it.
I'm all for electric vehicles, but there are a few things that have bothered me about its mass adoption. Right now, electrics comprise a tiny part of the automobile market share. Yet Tesla is already running into supply issues, particularly with lithium as there are only 3 companies in the world that do industrial-scale lithium mining, that too in a handful of mines around the world. Secondly, I suppose we're current…
I wonder how slate got the idea that they're not "expensive". Maybe the prices have been manipulated independently of supply.
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/03/26/ev-battery-costs-already...
GM says li-ion pack costs for its Bolt are ~$145/kWh, predicting $100/kWh by 2021: http://www.hybridcars.com/gm-ev-battery-cells-down-to-145kwh...
Tesla confirms its costs are below $190/kWh: https://forums.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/battery-cost-bel...
Batteries are following the same price curve of solar panels, and are about to get stupid cheap.
EDIT: If Tesla is able to drive down battery costs to below $100/kWh, I assure you, EVs won't be the biggest success story; you'll be able to turn every wind and solar generator into dispatchable generation cheaper than coal, nuclear, and natural gas. We'll be off fossil fuels in ~10-15 years.
obviously Tesla is the front runner for spearheading the insudtry by virtually every metric & subsector (except maybe price). Look, I love Tesla and have been bullish on the company for a pretty long time, so I am biased, but why can't other car companies have quality cars and aesthetics. * Fisker Karma: The car looked super sleek, was super sexy and from an engineering standpoint it was a heap of shit. * Chevy Volt:…