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The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

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Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#51

Post by rhino369 »

benten10 wrote: post #22

Here's a question I've always wanted to ask someone about electric cars: Why don't the companies make cars with detachable batteries, and basically do a battery 'swap' in the charging stations, so that the charging time becomes very little, if people want to?

The batteries are huge and expensive. You and the company would have to be comfortable swapping 5-10k dollar parts. You'd probably have to do that on a leasing model.

And you'd need something bigger than a gas station and way bigger than a charging station. And they would need to be everywhere to have value. Nobody wants to drive miles out of their way to swap.

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#52

Post by hcho »

m-i-l wrote: post #43

The potential for depreciation was a powerful deterrent for me. Assuming 20% depreciation a year, then a £65K Tesla would be "costing" over £1000 a month just in depreciation alone. However, the Tesla Model S has apparently so far had lower depreciation than any other car in the UK[0], according to CAP Black Book ("the industry benchmark for used car values"[1]). Presumably this is in large part due to its relative s…

I don't think lead time is relevant here. Built to spec lead times are generally much longer for upmarket ICE cars.

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#53

Post by tigeba »

lectrick wrote: post #2

1) The Tesla just surpassed the Leaf as the most popular electric car (yes, even with the price difference). 2) Electric car perks are everywhere and rarely mentioned. Free charging, way better parking, fielding questions from curious onlookers, more cargo space, no noise, no warmup, no oil changes, etc.) 3) In the winter months in areas of the world with real seasons (read: not San Francisco area), cabin heating wil…

My experience is that the decrease during cold weather is more a function of the lowered performance of the battery than the result of the cabin heating. The battery draw at freeway speed is maybe 30kw. The baseline draw from the accessories in the vehicle ( radio, console ) and no heating/cooling/defroster is around 0.5kw. With the heat cranked up all the way and all the various heaters turned up to high the additional draw above baseline is 2-2.5kw.

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#54

Post by rhino369 »

forgetsusername wrote: post #12
glossyscr wrote: post #4

As the long as the charging is not way faster I do not see mass adoption. If you're using cars just in the city then charging is no issue but for long distance travel it is one. Only way is to own at least two cars but this can't be the solution.

> If you're using cars just in the city then charging is no issue but for long distance travel it is one. Yeah, I'm also curious how this pans out. Generally, people traveling long distances on the Tesla SC network route say, "No big deal, I stop for 20 minutes to stretch, charge, and away I go." But what does that scenario look like when there are millions of EVs on the road? Imagine it took 20 minutes to fill up wi…

Presumably the number of quick charge locations will grow if electric cars become normal. They won't be free (even tesla is walking back that free forever promise).

States could let companies lease spots at rest stops.

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#55

Post by ape4 »

vlehto wrote: post #8

Good electric car battery standard would solve almost all of the problems of electric cars. 1. The battery is where most development happens and where it's most needed. So you don't have to worry about your car getting too old too fast. Just get fresh battery. 2. Range: just swap the battery if you run out of juice. They could be rented like gas bottles are at service station. 3. Battery charge lifespan. 4. Potential…

Might be a bit early for an industry wide battery standard. Can you upgrade the battery with one from the same manufacturer after a few years now?

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#57

Post by jseliger »

Shivetya wrote: post #7
lectrick wrote: post #2

1) The Tesla just surpassed the Leaf as the most popular electric car (yes, even with the price difference). 2) Electric car perks are everywhere and rarely mentioned. Free charging, way better parking, fielding questions from curious onlookers, more cargo space, no noise, no warmup, no oil changes, etc.) 3) In the winter months in areas of the world with real seasons (read: not San Francisco area), cabin heating wil…

1) the rich have more disposable income and there are quite a few techies with money to burn. The Leaf isn't that capable of a car. I will be watching GM to see if they can push the Bolt out in real numbers instead of compliance only. 2/3) and severe range drop in winter, driving with minimal heat because of the range loss, and more. Unless you are driving a Tesla which has that huge range buffer its not fun if you a…

I will be watching GM to see if they can push the Bolt out in real numbers instead of compliance only.

GM says it isn't a compliance car: http://www.hybridcars.com/not-a-compliance-car-gm-says-2017-....

Which to me makes sense: It's obvious that the world is going to move to electric cars. The question is only one of timing.

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#58

Post by SixSigma »

RegW wrote: post #50

Assuming that the article is correct and that adoption is being hampered by concerns about secondhand values, rebates and diminishing relative performance, then leasing would seem to offer the best option. You can always then turn in you existing model for a better one after a couple of years. However, this doesn't seem that green. You might not be pushing clouds of particulates into the air around your home, but the…

But when you lease, at the end the vehicles are refurbed and sold on. And if they aren't then they will be almost totally recycled nowadays.

Re: The Electric Car may be entering its “cell phone” period

#60

Post by fulafel »

vlehto wrote: post #8

Good electric car battery standard would solve almost all of the problems of electric cars. 1. The battery is where most development happens and where it's most needed. So you don't have to worry about your car getting too old too fast. Just get fresh battery. 2. Range: just swap the battery if you run out of juice. They could be rented like gas bottles are at service station. 3. Battery charge lifespan. 4. Potential…

> 1. The battery is where most development happens and where it's most needed. So you don't have to worry about your car getting too old too fast. Just get fresh battery.

Isn't the situation more like, current battery technology (lithium) has only seen small incremental improvements for a while and apart from cost reductions there isn't anything major on short-medium timescale coming up.

You can still put in a new battery around the 10-15 year mark of course even with current cars, with hopefully a fraction of today's cost.

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