Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Electric Cars Will Be Here Sooner Than You Think

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 162 posts

Re: Why Electric Cars Will Be Here Sooner Than You Think

#151

Post by Gibbon1 »

LoSboccacc wrote: post #70
Gibbon1 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My boss has a Prius. Had to replace the front brake pads at 120,000 miles. Rear ones supposedly good for a while longer.

Meh. I've a 3.2L alfa gt having 120k km. Front pads got changed at 100k because they were getting old and hard, not because consumption. Rear pads are still stock. Got one spark plug and belt change at 90k km, anticipated because I did extra maintenance after a track days season. Maintenance is baskcally changing oil every two year. That's to say veihcle that are cheap to maintain are easily found if that's a priorit…

100,000 km is 62000 miles. My bosses Prius had 120,000 miles, so 193,000 km.

You want crying my old E150 cargo van eats a set of pads every 15-20,000 miles.

Re: Why Electric Cars Will Be Here Sooner Than You Think

#152

Post by deelowe »

andykellr wrote: post #44

Unless Tesla goes out of business and nobody manages to produce a similar electric car, I will never buy a gas car again. Electric cars are quick, fun, quiet, clean, safe, and convenient. It would feel like a big step backwards for me to buy a gas car again. They're not for everyone right now and I think it will take a long time to reach significant penetration, but more people will try it and many will never go back…

The maintenance sold me. As in, there is none. It's freaking awesome.

Re: Why Electric Cars Will Be Here Sooner Than You Think

#153

Post by deelowe »

Grishnakh wrote: post #146
foxylad wrote: post #45

I just bought a 2014 Nissan Leaf. It's excellent and I'd recommend one (with a couple of caveats, see below). A few (hopefully) interesting comments: There's no premium for being "cool" or "green" any more. It cost 26,000 NZD for a 2014 Japanese import, which is about the same as an ICE (internal combustion engine) two-year-year-old mid-level vehicle costs (yes, NZ car prices are mad). And I'm guessing the trend will…

You're overstating how much maintenance a modern gas car needs, and understating how much long-term maintenance and repairs an EV will need. A modern car with automatic transmission needs the fluid changed maybe 100k miles, and oil change intervals have gone up too; 7500 miles is more normal, and many cars with computers telling when to change the oil (based on actual driving conditions) are giving intervals of 10k.…

Leaf tires tend to last a little longer than ICE tires b/c they are over-inflated, low rolling resistance tires. Handling suffers of course and an educated ICE driver could get similar results pretty easily.

Re: Why Electric Cars Will Be Here Sooner Than You Think

#154

Post by will_hughes »

ProAm wrote: post #79
will_hughes wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are common arguments. But really it comes down to your last comment "Electric is interesting, but nothing more as a result for me personally" Okay, fine. There's solutions for all the other stuff.

But those solutions cost money too, many people A) dont have access to a garage and/or B) a garage with 220 AC in it. That changes charging time significantly, and installing 220 is expensive. There are solutions but it all adds to the price of an electric car.

Is it really a surprise that it's going to cost time/money? We're on the leading edge of EV adoption.

It used to be that you couldn't get high speed broadband in most places - now it's more widely available and even advertised in listings.

5-10 years and we'll start to see new houses/apartments advertised as having an 'EV ready parking spot'.

Re: Why Electric Cars Will Be Here Sooner Than You Think

#155

Post by luca_ing »

outworlder wrote: post #101
expression wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luckily you don't need to maintain electric cars at all.

You do. But keep in mind they have way less parts, moving or otherwise. Spark plugs, cables, the entire engine cooling system, fuel pumps, all of that is missing. It boils down to: battery (big unknown, but seem to be holding up surprisingly well), engine (incredibly simple!), no transmission or a very simple one (Nissan Leaf has a single gear), inverter, charger, brakes, and the standard 12V battery you find in all…

> You do. But keep in mind they have way less parts, moving or otherwise. Spark plugs, cables, the entire engine cooling system, fuel pumps, all of that is missing.

My hybrid actually has two independent liquid cooling circuits: one for the ICE, one for the electronics.

But other than that nit, I agree with your argument.

Re: Why Electric Cars Will Be Here Sooner Than You Think

#156

Post by foobarian »

overcast wrote: post #90
foobarian wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My household income is way more than that and I still found it painful to buy a $20k car. I find it hard to understand why people buy cars at such high relative prices.

People, like myself, don't want to buy into someone's problems. Sure you pay a bit less, but you also have a bit less car. 35,000 miles into a car, how long before you need to buy just another used car? I buy new, and then run it into the ground after the warranty runs out. Typically by then, normal defects have been covered. Change your own oil, filters, tires. Keep up with things like alignments, wash/wax, and keep…

Agree about used vs. new, but I am comparing a $20k new car vs. a $35k new car. Maybe I should be factoring in the type of car here (sedan vs. truck) but otherwise, the only thing the new $35k car has over my $20k new car seem to be frivolous luxuries. Now that I think about it the type of car must be accounting for a lot of the difference.

Re: Why Electric Cars Will Be Here Sooner Than You Think

#157

Post by ProAm »

will_hughes wrote: post #154
ProAm wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But those solutions cost money too, many people A) dont have access to a garage and/or B) a garage with 220 AC in it. That changes charging time significantly, and installing 220 is expensive. There are solutions but it all adds to the price of an electric car.

Is it really a surprise that it's going to cost time/money? We're on the leading edge of EV adoption. It used to be that you couldn't get high speed broadband in most places - now it's more widely available and even advertised in listings. 5-10 years and we'll start to see new houses/apartments advertised as having an 'EV ready parking spot'.

Most people own cars for ~11 years, so people are on average 1 additional car away from owning an EV vehicle. It's coming but were not as ready as people would like to think just yet.

Re: Why Electric Cars Will Be Here Sooner Than You Think

#158

Post by Grishnakh »

slededit wrote: post #149
Grishnakh wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

False comparison. Your gas car also has specialized electronics, namely the ECU, the ABS system, the SRS system, which are all needed for the car to be operational. Good luck finding an aftermarket ECU for your car. There's no more "only-for-this-car" equipment in an EV than in any other car; the main difference is that with so many models of gas cars made by each maker, they reuse a lot of parts between models, so t…

There are lots of aftermarket ECUs [1]. Usually only performance tuners buy them, but there's no reason you couldn't get one for other reasons. That said a junkyard ECU is going to be a much easier fix. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=aftermarket+ECU&ie=utf-8&oe=...

Your aftermarket ECU won't pass emissions tests in most places that have them, so this really doesn't exist for practical purposes. Aftermarket ECUs are for race cars.

As for the junkyard ECU, why do you think that won't be also true for EVs?

Re: Why Electric Cars Will Be Here Sooner Than You Think

#159

Post by kylec »

petra wrote: post #143
evandijk70 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it makes a lot more sense to own an electric car in Europe, where gasoline prices are around 1,50 euro per liter, or $6,50/gallon, while electricity prices are around $0.20/kWh. Still, recharging an electric car is still a lot more inconvenient than refueling a normal car.

But the tax difference is just temporary - if EV's become popular - charging will be taxed too.

I think it would be impossible to tax charging (how would you know if someone is charging off the grid via solar?), but you could probably institute some sort of per-mile charge when renewing the car registration.

Re: Why Electric Cars Will Be Here Sooner Than You Think

#160

Post by brokenmachine »

Grishnakh wrote: post #158
slededit wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are lots of aftermarket ECUs [1]. Usually only performance tuners buy them, but there's no reason you couldn't get one for other reasons. That said a junkyard ECU is going to be a much easier fix. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=aftermarket+ECU&ie=utf-8&oe=...

Your aftermarket ECU won't pass emissions tests in most places that have them, so this really doesn't exist for practical purposes. Aftermarket ECUs are for race cars. As for the junkyard ECU, why do you think that won't be also true for EVs?

You can usually choose different maps with aftermarket ECUs, there's no reason you couldn't load one that passes emissions tests.

I've flashed my own car's stock ECU with a tuned map, but it's easy to load the original one back on.

Anyway, this is a stupid argument, I hardly think that emissions tests will be a reason you can't put an aftermarket ECU into an electric car!

Post reply on HN