I probably won’t be getting many new electric cars to test drive and the reasons for that may be of interest, if you’re thinking of buying an electric car – or think it’s a fine idea that the car industry just promised Joe Biden to abandon the not-electric car, so as to make sure you’ll have to buy an electric car.
The last electric car I was sent to test drive arrived on a flatbed truck. It returned the same way. This being a function of the fact that I live roughly 220 highway miles away from the press pool for my region (southeast) which is located in the DC area. I am located not far from the North Carolina border, about 30 miles away from Roanoke, VA.
This distance is easily traversed by any not-electric car, even a car like the Dodge Charger Hellcat Redeye I recently test drove and reviewed. It doesn’t need to be trailered because even though it only gets 21 miles per gallon on the highway (pretty spectacular mileage for a 797 horsepower air-conditioned Nextel Cup stock car) it can still travel more than 300 miles before it runs out of range and – more relevant – the driver who delivers it can fill it up in a few minutes – at the gas station just down the road – before he drops it off at my place, leaving it ready for me to drive.
An electric car – even one that can make the 220 mile trip on a single charge and not many can – will be close to discharged when it arrives at my place. There are – as yet – no Joe Biden “Fast” charging stations within 30 miles of me and aren’t likely to be, either – given the logistics and the expense, even though Uncle Joe and the Republicans have committed to making us pay for as many of them as can be built.
But this will take time as well as money.
Electric “fast” chargers are not like gas stations, which can be built anywhere, economically and easily – because all you have to do is bury some tanks and then fill them up occasionally via tanker trucks, which easily and economically traverse the distance between the refinery/fuel depot and the station.
With “fast” chargers, you need wiring – lots of very heavy cabling – to physically connect the “fast” charger to the source of the electricity, which must be transmitted directly and continuously. Unless you have a way to generate the enormous current needed on site. Solar panels don’t cut it for that. Not unless you have a lot of them. As in fields of them. This is hard to fit on a lot the size of a typical gas station.
So absent Mr. Fusion . . .
And you cannot store electricity in underground tanks and then pump it into batteries.
So, the “fast” chargers promised by Joe and the Democrats (some of whom identify as Republicans) will have to be located close enough to the heavy cabling that delivers the power necessary to “fast” charge 400-800 volt electric car battery packs.
As in, plural.
As in urban.
As in, where the infrastructure – as Joe and the Republicans like to say – exists. It doesn’t, out in the sticks.
As for plural:
It is one thing to “fast” charge one electric car battery pack. It is another thing to “fast” charge several of them at once – as multiple not-electric cars are refueled, much faster, at gas stations. It is no great technological challenge to pump fuel into a half dozen vehicles at the same time. Pumping electricity into a half dozen EVs at once, is.
Also expensive. Far more so than the cost reflected by the $3 or so people pay to pump gas into their cars, which people will discover when they get the bill for all of this “fast” charging promised by Uncle Joe and enabled by the Republicans.
Heavy cabling will have to be laid from There to Here. This is going to take time. Years. Lots of make-work “jobs” will of course be “created” in this way, digging the ditches and laying the cables. But the point is, these cables are not going to be laid before the EVs are shoved down our throats. In the meanwhile, people will have to drive to wherever the “fast” charger is – and then wait their turn, if they don’t get there first.
Don’t forget that even if you are “first,” your wait will be at least 30-45 minutes, the time it takes to “fast” recharge an EV to 80 percent of its capacity (the remaining 20 must be instilled slowly, so as to reduce the risk of the battery catching fire from the heat generated by “fast” charging). If someone’s ahead of you, add their wait to yours.
In the case of a press car delivery, it means the driver must first stop somewhere else – somewhere urban – to “fast” charge the car before leaving it with me – or leave it to me to recharge it.
But I do not have a “fast” charger in my home.
No one does, yet – except perhaps people like Jeff Bezos and ElonMusk – who are rich enough to afford the commercial-grade wiring necessary. Excepting that, ordinary single family homes aren’t equipped to “fast” charge an EV. The best that some of them can do is charge them somewhat faster than the overnight it takes to recharge an EV via a standard 120V household outlet – by having an electrician wire up a “double” (240V) outlet, similar to the one you plug high-draw appliances such as clothes dryers and electric stoves into.
This form of charging takes just a couple of hours.
Which means – for me – that when an electric press car is dropped off, I cannot just get in the thing and drive it. I must wait for it. And since I don’t have a 240V EV umbilical in my garage – because I’m not willing to spend the $800-$1,500 it takes to get it wired up – I will be waiting until the day after the car is dropped off to drive it.
I usually get a press car for a week. Lop one day off of that, for the first recharge. And then lop another day off for the last recharge, the one I’ll need to do so that the pick-up driver can drive the car back to the press pool without having to spend a few hours hanging out in my garage, waiting.
It’s common courtesy to leave at least enough gas in the tank of a not-electric press car to enable the driver who picks it up to make it to a gas station. But in order for the driver to make it back to the press pool the same day, the electric press car would need to be fully recharged. Which – at my place as well as yours – will take several hours, at least.
So scratch another day of driving off the schedule, leaving five out of the former seven. And each of those days in between that I drive will also require more charging, so as to enable me to drive the next day. Every day, the ritual of plugging in – and waiting.
If it sounds like fun to you, you are even weirder than I.
. . . .
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Yes, the grid can’t handle everyone changing to electric vehicles. Hell, it can’t handle three cold days or everyone buying an extra refrigerator. AND, we know. We know it, and we love it, because we bought in early and are invested in Solar+Battery – which is what EVERYONE in the entire country will HAVE to buy! Bua ha ha ha ha ha (wrings hands)
The nodes and wires and generation (nukes etc) will not scale up to handle the EV’s – YOU WILL buy solar + battery. (that, or go everywhere by horse)
If this uttr lunacy isn’t arrrstd and RIGHT NOW it will b th dissolution of th USofA and (hopfully) the hanging of all Democrat members of the congress – personally I’d go for burning at th stak by slow fir (th slowr th btttr). Sorry my laptop has crappd out and skips seeral characges, must get new one. Gotta got down to my reloading bench and assemble a few thousand more rounds of hi-power rifle and six-gun ammo for the impending revolution. All jesting aside, do believe we could be staring at the impending dissolution of th US of A. It happened in th old USSR, and th Russkis had no privately ownd firarms, while we have tens of millions of thm. W indeed liv in intrsting tims, andn ancint and prcscint curs.
I think EVs are a scam, and will always be. They might work for people in big cities. But so do ride-and-leave-’em electric scooters. It’s a niche market, and will never work in rural areas or even most suburbs — at least with current techology. Even Californians are switching back to gas-powered cars.
The question I have is: Whatever happened to hydrogen? That was the big plan 15 or 20 years ago to address the phony global warming scare/scam. Granted, it’s got some of the same limitations as electric: takes lots of energy to create hydrogen, not at all efficient if you’re honest about the end-to-end process, etc. But it has some distinct advantages over EV: quick refueling, longer range, less sensitivity (I assume) to temperature, etc. And no emissions from the tailpipe — or at least that’s what I’ve read. I even heard that BMW had converted one of their IC engines to run on hydrogen.
So was the problem that there’s not enough pork in hydrogen (not as much ditch digging and refilling)? Or was the shift to hydrogen not shocking enough (pun intended) for the Great Reset initiative’s goals?
Probably not enough ability to resteict travel like ev’s will allow. Difficult to travel more than 100 miles from your home if you have no idea how long it will take to recharge your rolling appliance to get back home.
All EV’s will come with an internal combustion gas turbine generator in the trunk to limp home on gasoline at 25mph.
Think you’re onto the real reason, Antilles. Just saw the story below on MarketWatch. The climate radicals are now trying to put hydrogen in the same class as fossil fuels, because CO2 and methane are emitted when creating it. Of course, this is totally dishonest, since they don’t classify electricity in the same way, and we all know how electricity is generated. I think it’s a matter of how much they can control us and limit our individual freedoms, and with EVs, they’ll have a tighter grip on our balls.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/calling-hydrogen-a-zero-emissions-fuel-is-wrong-new-study-says-energy-industry-cries-foul-11628804943?mod=home-page
Oh no! CO2 is emitted from hydrogen vehicles!? We can’t have that! Imagine all the money, resources, and time we would need to invent something to suck up CO2 and convert it in oxygen…
21 mpg for an 800 HP car? Fantastic. I consider E/Vs to be on a par with the modern stone-age medical establishment. The bottom lines are money, profit, control, agenda, indoctrination, arrogance, and stupidity.
There is this comment out there that says: “Easy to charge while you sleep”
BUT there is slight problem.
Let say the end user electric grid for an urban neighbourhood is 100 homes.
If currently 2% of the households charge an EV, the local grid can handle it.
If now going to 100%, the electric grid for the end users is not set up. The whole electric grid would have to be revamped from the initial source to final end users.
More generation plants, more transmissions lines, more distribution replacement/upgrades.
All to “reduce” emissions from the tailpipe and only to shift it to the smokestack.
Add to that, the energy lost from the generation plant to final end user is 25% and greater.
The only “green” is $$$$$$$$$$$ and the printing press for $$$$ is running 24/7 so we will have A LOT to burn.
Hi Robert,
Yup; also left dangling is the crippling of spontaneity. What if I feel the urge to go for ice cream at 8 o’clock? Oh. That’s right. I can’t. Because the EV isn’t ready.
All of this is a regression; a diminution of mobility – as well as an increase in cost. It is so obvious – and yet, so many people cannot see it.
I think we are going to see a resurgence of people riding bicycles or at least one attaced to their EV.
Johnny can’t drive to the movies tonight to meet us, he’s charging his EV right now. We can pick him up, but he lives 25 miles out of the way. That’s 50 miles just to pick up his sorry butt and take him back afterwards, plus the movie theater is 10 miles away from my house. I have 130 miles left on my battery, so I can make it happen and have 10 miles to spare, but the hospital is 12 miles away and you just never know. Plus, I had plans to meet up with Susie after, and her EV is charging after driving it around all day.
Sorry Johnny.
And, in a few words, he has stated exactly WHY The New World Order (IE Freemasons, Illuminiti) want about 60-70% of all people in the entire world – Dead, and all of them Dead in the next 5 years. See, no problem! Lots of excess for those remaining. Oh, wait, only the Leaders of the world (IE Freemasons, Illuminiti) will have need of personal transport – everyone else will just walk but it won’t be far because we will be the World Leaders servants and HAVE NO HOUSE of our own). No problems, when you consider the Big Picture! Right!
Is there a better way (absent Covid, of course) to destroy the economy and force everyone into easily controlled, close-quarters than to outlaw IC engines? Heck, even that would not require an edict, but simply make gasoline unavailable to vast areas of the country. No gas, no driving. In a similar manner, it would not be necessary to outlaw and confiscate guns. The easiest solution to this “problem” would be to simply make ammunition unavailable by restricting primer manufacture. One and done!
How long would the people who live in those areas put up with the situation? Hard to say. If it came down to a choice of starving to death where you live or moving to a densely packed, urban environment where there was “opportunity”, the vast majority would probably make the move. Path of least resistance, and all that.
Throw the Jab and “vaccine” passports into the mix and you have a perfect scenario for the controllers to exploit.
LOL at the McConnell pic.
I’m still awaiting the increased footage of people in EVs getting cooked to death because a minor accident caused an inextinguishable, or at least not rapidly extinguishable, fire.
I’m not sure that most people have thought that thru. I’d be afraid to drive one for that reason alone given the non-cognizant driving behaviour of so many drivers today.
Americans seem to be good at not thinking things thru.
Hi 37,
Lack of thinking is, indeed, the problem. Too much following. And not just with regard to EVs. That is merely one permutation of the underlying affliction.
The other pain of owning an EV will come when people have the cost of home based fast chargers added on to their electric bills instead of getting a free ride on all the “free” charging stations. KWs of energy cost real money as anyone using electric heat knows.
Joe Biden has always been full of great ideas for the auto industry.
I remember clearly (even though I’m now officially “old”) a Young Joe Biden giving an idiot lesson to the auto makers as he presented his idea to mandate a design change to all cars beginning around 1980, you know, during the beginning of the end of oil. He suggested that there be a regulation requiring all cars to be fitted with a mechanism that would allow a car to free wheel when the driver took his foot off the gas, thus allowing the car to coast, especially downhill, at speed while the engine idled.
I was a barely a gearhead back then, so I gave the idea a full 30 seconds of careful thought…and decided the Young Joe was stupid with a smile (he always had a smirky smile when he was delivering his kill shot), and had probably never heard of a clutch or of engine braking or of automatic transmissions.
Imagine the world today if Young Joe had gotten his way. I imagine there’d be a lot more brake shops and a lot more rear end collisions. But…but…but he would have saved gas or something.
I just push in the clutch.
Hell, if it’s enough of a hill, leave it in gear. Any decent modern car with even a notion of fuel efficiency in its design will either cut fuel to the engine entirely (DFCO- deceleration fuel cut off) or significantly enlean it (DFE- deceleration fuel enleanment) and just let the wheels and transmission keep it spinning and lubricated while in gear.
Do it all the time in my Mirage. Once you’re off the gas, its ECU shuts off fuel from pretty much any RPM if in-gear down to maybe 1200-1300rpm and causes the instant fuel economy estimate to go crazy, whereas clutch-in or neutral needs *some* fuel to keep it at idle while you coast. (Not sure if it does it in 1st or 2nd- not much cause to try for it down in the low gears.)
Never mind that on a hot day, when everyone is running their a/c full blast, no electric company ANYWHERE on the planet has any excess power left with the high demand. They just don’t, it’s at the very limits. Most people have no idea that most electric companies on that hot day, if something breaks a lot of people will not have power.
Between not really adding any real new capacity in decades (in fact retiring lots of capacity), an aging and creaking infrastructure, most electric companies are probably LESS able then 30 years ago to add electric cars to their systems.
Some electric companies like my local one, plan on getting out of the generating business altogether. They plan on buying it on the open market………
Yes really!
The 240 takes longer than a couple hours. I have a chevy volt with a relatively small battery (and 30 mile range). It takes all night on 110v household power and 3 hours on 240v. For a pure ev the 240v takes all night.
It’s pretty clear that EVs are part of the nefarious plan to limit driving in the future. It’s a clusterf*ck that they’re wanting, with the result that it’ll be harder to get around. They want people in the cities where they can be watched and made to slave away. No more ambling around in the countryside for you. Sorry we just don’t have the electrical infrastructure to provide that privilege of pleasure driving. You are limited to your range. Don’t get too far out in the countryside or you won’t make it back. And the towing/charging fees back to the city are astronomical!
I recently had some electrical work done in my house to accommodate a new appliance. I chatted with the electrician for a while. He told me that he had several calls from people who had purchased Teslas and wanted fast(er) chargers in their houses. He explained how it was extremely expensive and sometimes not even possible to do. The people would explain to him how they had already spent tens of thousands on their new electric car and they NEEDED this. And he had to tell them that they had been misled by the media and by the government. There was nothing he could do. I wonder how many people are going to have a rude awakening when they are forced to buy EVs that they cannot reasonably charge in their houses?
Here in CA, we had a heat wave recently. While mandating electric cars, we’ve also been turning off power plants because they hurt Gaia, so we don’t have enough power today where the electric car penetration is only about 5%. They asked people not to charge cars to prevent rolling blackouts.
It’s insane! We need to more than double our grid generation, and something like triple transmission capacity to support those cars, but we’re reducing both. I still live and work here, so I’ve got an off-grid capable house at this point. It’s illegal to do, but screw ’em.
If you live in CA, the only hope is to vote to recall Newsom and vote for Larry Elder.
And don’t forget the Chicago way: Vote early and vote often. Print out those ballots and send them ALL in. As many as you can.
There was a time when I would have hesitated to advocate this but desperate times call for desperate measures.
There is a point of no return when the tyrants get dug in and then there is nothing you can do. So use that sucker punch to knock out the Devil. Time is running short.
That might have worked in the past except for this:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/08/10/stunning-video-explanation-dr-douglas-frank-shows-how-the-2010-census-was-used-to-create-the-algorithm-that-fabricated-the-2020-electronic-vote-outcome/
Please do not put your faith in “Weapons of Mass Destruction” advocate Larry Elder. We can save ourselves; no politician can save us. I pay so little attention to Newsom. If more people–especially business owners–do the same, we won’t even have to worry about recalling the Gavinator. There aren’t many politicians–especially in California–who aren’t being paid by the Big Pharma lobby.
I agree, Trish –
Ultimately, the answer to all of this is simply to opt out. By refusal, evasion and mockery. On an individual and cooperative level. Don’t wear a Face Diaper, or patronize businesses that insist on them. Don’t let them close your business; defend your right to keep it open. Take your kids out of government schools. Absolutely refuse the Jab.
If 20 percent of us do the above, it will give courage to the 50 percent who are too afraid to act on their own but would follow a proper example. And then we have the kinetic energy to shed the 30 percent who are the cause of all this awfulness.
like all govt programs, it will be over budget, won’t work & eventually be canceled.
since around the time we are supposed to go EV, 1/2 the money borrowed in the budget will go to pay the debt, this boondoggle will become untenable.
I’m thinking of Solyndra.
I had my current house built “way back” in 2014. And the geniuses that built it put the electric panel downstairs and on the opposite side of the house from the garage. I briefly entertained the idea of installing a 240v in the garage for an electric brewery setup. That is, until I heard what needs to happen and how much that is likely to cost.
To run the wire to the garage, it would have to first be routed up to the ceiling, then across the house, avoiding the staircase (in the middle of the house) and then “up” through the walls into the garage. Them number of walls and ceilings alone… just to have them torn apart and put back together (regardless of why)… would amount to many THOUSANDS of dollars.
There simply won’t be any “fast charging” at my house probably in ever. Forever.
Unless and until I get a full-house backup generator, there’s not a chance in hell that I’m going to have anyone touch that panel and the surrounding walls. Even then, extension into the garage… super unlikely.
Of course, as an alternative, I can run my portable 4500W generator on GAZZULINE (or propane) to charge some stupid EV. If I’m ever forced to have one. I’m hoping not but these evil freaking people are making that the most difficult option apparently.
I literally have to hope and pray that this shit just blows up in the face. That doesn’t seem unlikely TBH.
Sounds like copper futures (/HG) could be a money-making opportunity in the near future. IIRC, copper prices were already elevated due to whatever the hell going on lately.
It’s not even the wiring so much the problem it is the AMPS, LOTS and LOTS of Amps, To get 800V with that amount of capacity you are probably needing 4160VAC into your facility , 460VAC I doubt will be enough.
480V s bad enough, most non industrial electricians have never seen 480 and 4160 requires special skills.
This whole thing is a big scam designed to limit our mobility.
In the 70’s I used to hear the chattering idiots whine about hwo to end “Americas love affair with the automobile”. Well they finally figured it out.
There is no chance that the reality of EVs has escaped the bureaucracy and the plutocrats. Cheap, convenient and (especially) autonomous transportation for the masses is done, over, finis.
I don’t care what kind of sales pitch is presented, and neither does the engineering. If the nation were to go all EV, and driving habits reduced to half what they are now, it would still involve basically rebuilding the entire electric grid from scratch, with a LOT more capacity. Probably the entirety of the “infrastructure” bill wouldn’t cover it. Just so you know that EVs have not a thing to do with addressing the “climate change” fantasy.
I beleive this is all a plot to get us out of our rural and suburban homes and into mega communial housing apartments in big cities. We will all be generously provided with 250 sq ft of living space by our benevolent overloards. The goal here is not to help mother gia, but to restrict our travels to only places uncle and his elites deem appropriate for us peasants. We will not need those ev’s in our new communal living spaces. We will go only where and when uncle wants us to using uncle’s mass transportation system. None of this will effect the elites, they will be free to travel as always and never have to worry about having to rub elbows with the worker bee class.
I agree with your analysis, Antilles –
And I will “go Amish” and homestead farm before I submit to being relocated – and the will have to forcibly relocate me.
If ever we needed to be reminded that the rules don’t apply to the “sophisticated” people, we got a good hard reminder this past weekend. At Obama’s birthday party, private planes ferried the sophisticated elites into Martha’s Vineyard (no climate change worries there) so that they could enjoy a maskless party. Meanwhile, you can’t say goodbye to your dying grandparent or attend his funeral, your children will wear muzzles in school all day, and you will ride public transportation when you are allowed to travel – as long as you get an injection and wear a mask.
The fact that BHO BOUGHT a $15 MILLION, ocean front mansion a few feet above sea level tells you that he doesn’t believe in climate change or the rise in sea levels! Why spend that kind of dough when the property will be under water in a few years?
Any intelligent, thinking person knows that this climate change nonsense is just that – nonsense.
I am not saying that the climate isn’t changing – or even that humans aren’t part of it – but the idea that the USA can halt it is absolutely ridiculous. Our entire country could disappear tomorrow and climate change would continue unabated.
First, climate always changes. Second, it is China and India that are the main contributors.
I suppose I am lucky enough to have been born in the 1970s. I got myself all up in a panic over climate change way back in the the 1980s when I was convinced that the rainforest in South America would be no more and then the climate would be ruined worldwide. Somehow, here we are, almost 50 years later and the rainforest is actually doing just fine.
So I got the “gift” of seeing the grifters who sold me that lie. And I bought it because I was young.
So when I see Greta Thunberg today, I know how she feels. And I know what she will almost surely think in 30 years. She will feel betrayed.
Climate changes. All the time. We need to adapt. And we are really really good at doing that. What we aren’t so good at is controlling the weather. But we can adapt and adjust.
Morning, Krista!
I second all you’ve written and would only add:
Climate Change Mania has something in common with Rona Mania. Both are based on a kernel of truth, wildly exaggerated and hyped. Yes, as you say, the “climate” does “change.” It always has and always will. Whether humans exist or not. And – yes – it is probably true that some small degree of “change” has been effected by industrial activity. Just as it is true there are people getting sick and dying from a respiratory virus. But the “change” is not catastrophic – just as 99.8 percent of the healthy population isn’t going to die from the Rona. The catastrophism purveyed in both cases has purely political motives at the apex of the pyramid, with fear and lies used to dominate the rest of the pyramid.
Eric, how dare you confront the narrative with logic, reasoning, and sensibility!
I know, dood!
It’s my affliction, I suppose… and I don’t want to be cured of it!
Greta is a retard being used by her parents and the Greenies.
Mish Shedlock posted some details of the infrastructure bill yesterday:
* $66 billion investment in rail maintenance, modernization and expansion, most of which will go to Amtrak.
* $65 billion for expanded access to broadband, including by providing low-income households a $30 monthly voucher to pay for internet service.
* $73 billion to update and expand the power grid.
So 12% more fedbux for the whole damn power grid upgrades than they’re giving Amtrak (actually will go to propping up the pension fund I’m sure) and AT&T/Verizon/Comcast (who don’t really need it, just that Wall St wants their dividends+growth and will drive the stock into the ground if they don’t get it).
* $7.5 billion will go to implementing a network of electric vehicle chargers
So is that in addition to the $73 billion? Compared to the investment in just gasoline pumps and other infrastructure (that was built with little to no government cheddar), sounds like a drop in the bucket. Oh sure they won’t need to purchase new land or build new junk food stores, but they will need to do a whole lot of digging up right of way and parking lot macadam.
Will we ever wake up from this dystopian nightmare?
Outlook not so good?
Eric,
Tesla says that they’re going to open up their Superchargers to non-Tesla EVs. I’m sure that there’s a Tesla Supercharger near you.
Hi Mark,
Near me? In Roanoke. That’s 30 miles away – a 60 mile round trip. Plus the wait. No thanks. The whole thing is idiotic; walk around the block to cross the street. I have a gas station 5 minutes away from me; I can fill my car in less than 5 minutes – and I’m good to go for a week. Contrast that with driving 60 miles, wasting two hours (the trip there and back plus the wait while there) and then being able to drive for a day or two before I have to do it all again.
It’s insane to even consider this. For what? So that I can drive a car without an engine? I can also get rid of my refrigerator and have a guy deliver great blocks of ice everyday and put that in my . . . ice box.
It’s regression. And why? For the putative sake of bullshit alarmism about “climate change.”
I’m just saying that you could at least review any EVs that might be sent to you.
While I like EVs; while I could live with them easily; I’m worried about it going up in my attached/integral garage! A couple’s house went up because their Tesla caught fire in the garage. For the WaPo, a left leaning MSM organ, to run this story, you KNOW that EV fires are getting so bad that they can no longer be ignored! Read about it here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/04/tesla-fire/
I’m hoping that The Holy Jab will get similar bad press. I’m hoping that the deaths and injuries will be so bad and so numerous that they can no longer be ignored. I feel badly for the people killed or injured, but that’s the only way to derail the drive to make us take The Jab…
Hi Mark,
I’ll punch out of car reviewing when all there is to review are EVs. There is nothing to say. They are all the same, like a Makita vs. DeWalt drill. I have zero interest in them – and it would show.
Not to mention – again – I haven’t got the time to waste. Two hours-plus out of my day to accomplish what I can accomplish in ten minutes now?
You wouldn’t want to review a Tesla Model S Plaid?! From what I’ve read, it’ll even eat that 800 hp Hellcat’s lunch! 0-60 in under 2 seconds is impressive. With that heavy battery pack down low, the thing handles better than it has any right to for a car that size.
I don’t think you have anything to worry about. By the time the vehicle fleet is all electric, you’ll be retired anyway. Toyota says that most of its cars will still have tailpipes in 2030, so I think you’ll be fine.
Hi Mark,
Nope. EVs interest me as much as sex with a doll interests me. I cannot think of a more soul-less, anodyne experience!
Toyota understands the problems with building out the grid and have shared that position openly.
I have a lifted 4Runner that I modify as a means to an end. A EV is useless for off-roading. If I break down in a remote area I can fix and drive out or other remedies. I can not imagine a off-road EV tow vehicle, but who knows.
..just no.
Indeed, Manse –
And the thing about off-roading is . .. you have to drive to get there. Often, far. If you live in say DC and want to go off-road, you will probably need to drive 50 miles away from there. That means you need at least 100 miles of range to get there and back before you even factor in how much electricity you will burn off-roading. Where is the “fast” charger off-road, out in the boonies?
It all makes my teeth ache.
Spot on. It’s madness.
The issue with that is that Teslas use a different plug than anyone else on the market and adapters are expensive ($80+). There are 3 different ev plugs in common use, counting Tesla’s proprietary one.
‘since I don’t have a 240V EV umbilical in my garage’ — EP
That’s going to change, my Luddite comrade:
Updated U.S. building codes are about to change drastically as soon as early 2021. All homes will be required to be “EV ready”, with the ability to charge electric vehicles built into building blueprints.
New ICC codes state that “New construction shall facilitate future installation and use of Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) in accordance with the National Electrical Code (NFPA 70).” These new codes are applicable to private homes, multi-family residences, condos, and apartment buildings.
Three different EVSE-ready building codes are currently in use:
1) EV Capable. This means there is electric panel capacity, a dedicated branch circuit, and continuous raceway from the panel to the intended location of the EVSE.
2) EVSE-Ready Outlet. This code means the raceway with conduit ends in a 240 volt outlet, ready to plug a Level 2 charger into.
3) EVSE Installed. The rarest. Most buildings are not yet required to already have a Level 2 charger installed in them.
https://blinkcharging.com/new-building-code-standards-will-require-wiring-for-evse/?locale=en
Wonderbar! And homebuyers and tenants get to pay for it all. Thanks, Joe!
My solar inverter will have an interface to communicate with an EV through the charging cable. It isn’t something I asked for, but the higher grade SolarEdge inverters (that can use a battery backup) include it. I imagine they’ll all have it soon enough.
Americans are already reaching the limits of being able to buy new homes with soaring input costs. Add on a few more requirements and mix in our already soaring inflation and new homes will be something that only the “sophisticated” elites can possibly consider.
Don’t forget BlackRock buying up WHOLE NEIGHBORHOODS and paying 30%-50% ABOVE asking price, either! That’s pricing a lot of people out of the market by itself; forget about the input costs.
Financed by 0% money while us seniors make squat on our savings.
What does the building code have to say about underpasses?
I gather that your basic log cabin probably does not pass muster.