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Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

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Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#91

Post by ZeroGravitas »

yywwbbn wrote: post #67
News-Dog wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit to fix typos (sorry), and add google search; search >'Shopping Centers/Malls installed solar PV's' @DDG https://html.duckduckgo.com/html/?q='Shopping Centers/Malls ... > search >'Shopping Centers/Malls installed EV charger' @DDG https://html.duckduckgo.com/html/?q='Shopping Centers/Malls ... > search >'Shopping Centers/Malls installed solar PV and EV charger' @google https://www.google.com/search?q='Shopping Cen…

Yoy can do that and you might have enough panels to charge a few cars at once if you cover the entire roof with them. But even in ideal condition you’d need more than 300m2 of solar panels to charge a single car at 50kW and this would increase significantly if they don’t operate at 100% capacity. So unless your goal is primarily virtue signaling you might as well just use the energy generated for lights and cooling s…

If the idea is to get people to come and buy things in your shop while their car charges then 50kw is far too fast a charge.

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#92

Post by ZeroGravitas »

shagie wrote: post #74
nulbyte wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is: You're not standing around waiting for my car to charge. Your parked to do something else. Depending on where there is, there may well be enough density. Here, we have 129 stations, and half of them are free. It goes up to over 300 if you include the rest of the metro. We're not that large a city, either.

Imagine the road trip with an EV. We're driving from Chicago to Memphis (about 600 miles or two full charges of a Tesla). First question is "is there sufficient charging in the 200 - 300 mile distance? If you run out of charge, its a bit more difficult than "call AAA to bring you a gallon of gas" ( https://tiremeetsroad.com/2022/05/28/aaa-members-will-tow-tr... ). I'm sure that tow trucks will get to the point where…

Wall Stree Journal? no thanks. If you refuse to accept climate change then your opinions on EVs can't be trusted.

Doesn't Tesla have all this built in, and automatically tell you which charger to stop at based on optimal charge time (20% - 80%) and current usage of the chargers?

There's third party apps that do it for other EVs but I thought Tesla had this all tied up in a neat package?

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#93

Post by nickv »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #25
jchonphoenix wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does this work? Brake pads don't seem like they should be different on an EV. It's really just the engine components that should have less wear and tear and those only come into play at the 30k and 60k mark

> How does this work? Maintenance in the first 100-150k (I really want to say ~200 but that will depend largely on the treatment the vehicle gets in the first 100) is basically nothing other than short term wear items (pads and tires) and preventative maintenance (transmission fluid at 50k, air filter at 20k, stuff like that). As EVs get long in the tooth they will exhibit all the same "stuff between the vehicle and…

Except there are less parts overall in an EV. Way way way way less parts. And way way way way less fluids for said parts.

Less parts means less things to maintenance. Less fluids means less things to refill.

In terms of "wearing out" the big questions really centers on the battery itself. We're seeing pretty low battery degradation on Teslas that have been on the road for 5+ years [1]. The data indicates that at 100k miles they lose about 5% power, which is pretty good. This is data about Teslas specifically though (they're the only car company that has enough long term data at scale to do this analysis on) and every car company has a different battery composition.

But aside from the battery (which is a BIG aside), there is a lot less parts (especially moving parts) that have to be watched/maintained/etc.

[1] https://electrek.co/2020/06/06/tesla-battery-degradation-rep...

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#94

Post by dinom »

bdcravens wrote: post #85

I'm not buying an EV to save money. Right now the economics are a bit skewed, but I'd buy an EV even if gas was $1/gallon. Emissions are the reason why I want to buy an EV. Ditto for going solar, etc.

This sounds like burning the candle at both ends and I can't help but think the attitude is counter-productive.

That is, if a gasoline powered engine is actually less expensive, why not drive the gas engine and invest or donate the savings towards alternative energy initiatives? That way EVs (and alternative energy in general) can flourish and become unequivocally better.

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#95

Post by remir »

MobileVet wrote: post #22

I have been waffling over the purchase of an EV for the better part of 2 years. Despite being cheap AF, the cost of ownership isn’t really at the top of my list of concerns. Mostly that is because the cars I like are far more expensive up front and make the math rough. That said, if you live in the US, the Chevy Bolt actually makes the math pretty fantastic. If they don’t raise the price at the end of the year, it wi…

The Bolt is indeed a good deal. Only negative (IMO) is the charging speed compared to other new EVs.

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#96

Post by kkfx »

sokoloff wrote: post #83
kkfx wrote: post #57

Mh, beside the issue of a spreadsheet itself [1] and the fact it's shared to the world [2] the real computation must be another: since crystal balls are out of service but luck is blind and bad luck sees very well... The right computation, witch happen to be pure logic NOT reducible to math, a thing soo many people forget is IMVHO "how likely is a diesel/gasoline shortage in the subsequent 1-8 years future?", "can I…

Spreadsheets are one of the most popular and widespread computing platforms out there. Excel is almost surely the single largest no-code/low-code install and monthly-active-users base. I don’t see spreadsheets as a failure nor evidence of poor state of computing or technical knowledge. If anything, I think they’re useful, practical, extensively used , and evidence that computing is working for people.

Many things are very widespread and are absolutely crap... Indeed MOST widespread and heavy used things happen to be crap.

Their failure is the fact that instead of simply they complicate life. And their users fails even to comprehend that since they do not know any other option. Oh, BTW the "no code/low code" is the biggest failure: users programming of classic system is the technical success, something simple enough that all users use without issue and still technically sound and effective. Dummy low-code/no-code modern environment who have already touched incredible horrific peaks like RENAMING a gene because excel convert it in a date prove only one thing: masochism is common and popular...

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#97

Post by kkfx »

shagie wrote: post #88
sokoloff wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spreadsheets are one of the most popular and widespread computing platforms out there. Excel is almost surely the single largest no-code/low-code install and monthly-active-users base. I don’t see spreadsheets as a failure nor evidence of poor state of computing or technical knowledge. If anything, I think they’re useful, practical, extensively used , and evidence that computing is working for people.

> Excel is almost surely the single largest no-code/low-code install and monthly-active-users base. I'd argue even further that Excel is the most common flavor of LISP installed. =IF(A1 = 1, A2 * 3, MAX(A3, A4)) is remarkably similar to: (if (= A1 1) (* 3 A2) (max A3 A4)) The difference is mostly infix vs prefix and the naming of variables. Not only is Excel the single largest low code install, but its also a gateway…

If you want AutoCAD offer a real lisp, AutoLISP, some users use it regularly without even knowing that's a real and powerful programming language. That's anyway do not make autocad, nor in general that kind of CAD something better then an archaic crap since the '60s. Parametric CAD are the modern and technically sound solution since the early '70s, even if in some sector they never get traction due to technicians ignorance and reactionarism.

That's a good proof of inability to evolve of sooooo many people...

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#98

Post by 62951413 »

adhesive_wombat wrote: post #38

The "best" figures for a petrol car is 39mpg, which seems a bit low. My (diesel) car will do over 50, and it's over 10 years old and isn't famously economical.

It's not unusual for my 2-year old Elantra on my 48-mile commute to San Jose down 680 to reach 50 MPG. 47 for going back. I do drive earlier/later in the day to avoid the rush hour.

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#99

Post by mikestew »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #44
serpix wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eliminated almost entirely, they should revert to drums on EVs as discs get rust on them.

This has started, ID.3 and 4 has them on rear wheels I think. https://www.thedrive.com/news/36683/why-the-new-volkswagen-i... They're also looking at making light weight aluminum brake pads that don't rust from less use.

"The brand also says that drum brakes offer superior performance and reactivity after long periods of disuse"

Sounds like marketing to excuse putting drums on the rear of a $50K vehicle. As soon as I back out of the driveway in our Leaf, because there's no regenerative braking in reverse at 5mph, it knocks the light layer of rust off the discs and we're good to go. I mean, we've been driving this car for eleven years, and not once from a cold start have we gone to hit the brakes outside the regen envelope (say, when we've charged to %100, and nowhere to put that regen energy) and said, "OMG! OMG! Poor brake performance!"

What VW really said in that link was, "doesn't need rear discs: regen braking".

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#100

Post by davidd8 »

croon wrote: post #15

I opened up the google sheet early, and seeing as it's open to public editing, the numbers have already been edited by people, because of course it will. Just FYI. Edit an hour later: Well, let's just say more than numbers were altered on that sheet.

I underestimated the delightful power of HN public editing, but rest assured the calculation cells are protected in the sheet :)
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