Old batteries can be re-purposed to provide storage for a domestic solar system. In fact many of the modern EVs can be used to provide domestic power - a household overnight uses only a fraction of the storage in an EV. Quite useful things these electric cars.
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Review your electric car
- Thread starter Mac'nCheese
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Tesla has a massive Supercharger network across the US that can connect you from LA to NY if you wanted to. I got my Model 3 on a Thursday and went from Dallas to Orlando the next day and the trip was fantastic. The 3 gets 320 miles on a full charge and the car will navigate you through the most energy efficient route and add Supercharger stops along the way.
The stops to charge are usually less than 30 minutes and it is a nice break to get out and stretch as needed and with Autopilot the driver fatigue and stress of a road trip is no longer there as it used to be for me.
I never once had a moment when I had "range anxiety" because the car's software manages the battery and your route so well. The closest I got was under 30 miles when I arrived but I wasn't even sweating that because it actually charges faster the more empty the battery is for Supercharging.
I had a 240v installed at my house and I got 30 miles per hour charge. Was relatively cheap to install ($400) and i only charge to 60-65% capacity everyday as my commute is only 25 miles round trip and its healthy for the battery to keep it in the happy zone.
I am looking forward to what the Model Y will look and feel like as it is being built on the model 3 platform and will place a deposit but I am longing for the Tesla pickup.
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I have Superchargers surrounding me locally and havent used one yet. I do all of my charging at home and Supercharging should only be utilized for road trips or if you are in an apartment/townhome setting with no garage and capability to charge. Supercharging everyday or even frequently during the week is not the best wear for the battery and should be utilized mostly for long range trips.
Yes, you can easily recharge overnight. Depending on your daily commute you can determine if you want to charge to 50% or over that for how many miles you will need. I set my charge to begin at 1am as the electricity rates are half of a penny or so and its very cheap on the electric bill to do so.
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Yes, 8 years is the warranty on the battery. There is a ride share program in LV that has 100s of thousands of miles on their Tesla as they go back and forth between LV and LA I believe it is.
The degradation isnt as much as you think it would be for that long and that many miles.
With the battery technology improving we should begin to see longer range models at a cheaper rate in the next 5-10 years as well.
Just looked up the Model Y. Looks like it will be real winner. My wife likes smaller SUVs, just enough room for the family but not huge like a minivan. Add electric power, and a good price, and this will make the list.
I am concerned it may be a tad small for our family's need but I also am not a fan of the form factor of the X so this will be interesting to see where they go with the Y.
We currently utilize the 3 for our weekend family car (family of 4) and it works very well as we are past the stroller days and have plenty of space for our needs. Not to mention the fun to drive, coolness factor of it.
Its all wheel drive right? How does it handle in the rain or snow?I am concerned it may be a tad small for our family's need but I also am not a fan of the form factor of the X so this will be interesting to see where they go with the Y.
We currently utilize the 3 for our weekend family car (family of 4) and it works very well as we are past the stroller days and have plenty of space for our needs. Not to mention the fun to drive, coolness factor of it.
I am in Texas, no need for the AWD. But yes they do have an AWD variant and it has been getting pretty ecstatic reviews for its competency in the slush and snow.
Rain has been fine as we have had a lot lately and the vehicle has such a low center of gravity with the battery spread across the floor of the vehicle and heft that it handles beautifully.
Do you have solar power at home? The Tesla solar tiles looks cool.
there are some safety and complexity issues with fuel cells but they remain a fall back if new tech batteries prove not good enough.
'There might be significant real world constraints for availability on the rare earth metals required for mass production of batteries. How available are lithium, cobalt?
Will corporations buying up lithium futures some how limit development of new battery technology.
or
is there a significant break through in the works that will totally flip the battery driven EV into being the obvious choice. I mean; look at how residential and commercial lighting has changed in the last 10 years, everything has switched to LED. Could even the concept of a battery become out dated?
Could Apple Inc buy out Tesla?
places like Colorado have an incredible amount of sunny days per year. Would not take much to charge the EV with residential solar cells
'There might be significant real world constraints for availability on the rare earth metals required for mass production of batteries. How available are lithium, cobalt?
Will corporations buying up lithium futures some how limit development of new battery technology.
or
is there a significant break through in the works that will totally flip the battery driven EV into being the obvious choice. I mean; look at how residential and commercial lighting has changed in the last 10 years, everything has switched to LED. Could even the concept of a battery become out dated?
Could Apple Inc buy out Tesla?
places like Colorado have an incredible amount of sunny days per year. Would not take much to charge the EV with residential solar cells
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Maybe the roof of cars will have cells built in and can charge all day long. And at night, you could run a high powered light off of the battery to shine on cells to recharge them. Wait...
i think it was this web site https://cleantechnica.com/ that has a chart for rating many EV's for price weight, #passengers, miles per charge.
Looks like someone is already taking the solar panels on the roof idea seriously.
https://www.arcimoto.com/vehicle/
https://www.arcimoto.com/vehicle/
My girlfriend’s father has a Model S- either a 90D or 100D, I always forget. He likes the car a lot in theory, but has some gripes about it. Reliability has been dismal- coming from owning Lexus vehicles that require virtually no repairs outside maintanence, the Tesla is a bit frustrating. He will also tell you the interior quality does not match up with the price tag, but I suppose that’s not the reason he bought the car.
My GF’s parents have an apartment/condo in Manhattan and a house on Nantucket (Cape Cod). To me the entire idea of driving the Tesla between these two points is a bit crazy. You can’t really make the drive without a recharge. In NYC they had to rent a spot in parking garage with an appropriate charger. So rather than parking in their building’s parking garage, they have to park several blocks away... I suppose until their garage decides to put in charging. On Nantucket they have a charger at their house, but if the Island loses power, which isn’t unheard of, they might run into trouble. Also if the car breaks, its difficult and expensive to get it off the island to get repaired. It’s also extremely expensive to bring the car on the Ferry ($150 each way or so), so if they opt to park it on the mainland, they can’t charge while they’re on the Island.
Like a lot of Tesla owners their Model S is just one car in their fleet. Her parents also have a new Lexus RX450h hybrid, Lexus GX470, and a Land Rover Defender. In practice it seems like they use their ICE vehicles to trek between their two homes.
My GF’s father’s Tesla reportedly does very well in the snow (with snow tires). I would think the daul motor design acts much like having a locking center differential. In that sense you’re not unnecessarily losing power to slipping axels. A lot of AWD ICE cars advertise up to 50/50 split power between axels, but that’s in ideal conditions and usually requires some level of slippage (sometimes a lot) for the system to engage.
I can see Apple wanting to get into car automation and OS so to speak (what you do in your car when your car is driving itself). Venturing off into actually building vehicles seems beyond Apple’s ambitions. If Apple did want to build electric vehicles, I think it would make more sense to buy an established automaker that actually knows how to build cars. That’s Tesla’s number one problem right now.
Besides their supercharging network and brand, I don’t see Tesla as possessing anything unique. Batteries and electric motors are not proprietary. There is a lot of competition in autonomous driving. The supercharger network has a leg up, but pretty much every other major automaker has teamed up with a universal charging standard that can also be licensed out to other charging station companies. In short, within a few years there could be legitimate competition against the supercharger network.
My GF’s parents have an apartment/condo in Manhattan and a house on Nantucket (Cape Cod). To me the entire idea of driving the Tesla between these two points is a bit crazy. You can’t really make the drive without a recharge. In NYC they had to rent a spot in parking garage with an appropriate charger. So rather than parking in their building’s parking garage, they have to park several blocks away... I suppose until their garage decides to put in charging. On Nantucket they have a charger at their house, but if the Island loses power, which isn’t unheard of, they might run into trouble. Also if the car breaks, its difficult and expensive to get it off the island to get repaired. It’s also extremely expensive to bring the car on the Ferry ($150 each way or so), so if they opt to park it on the mainland, they can’t charge while they’re on the Island.
Like a lot of Tesla owners their Model S is just one car in their fleet. Her parents also have a new Lexus RX450h hybrid, Lexus GX470, and a Land Rover Defender. In practice it seems like they use their ICE vehicles to trek between their two homes.
Although technology (traction and stability control) have helped RWD vehicles a lot, RWD is just not ideal for snow. It’s really just a matter of physics. If you live in a snowy climate spending the small amount extra for AWD is definitely worth it and probably will almost pay for itself in terms of resale. Here in the northeast (for the most part) SUVs and RWD cars available with AWD have dismal resale if not equipped.
My GF’s father’s Tesla reportedly does very well in the snow (with snow tires). I would think the daul motor design acts much like having a locking center differential. In that sense you’re not unnecessarily losing power to slipping axels. A lot of AWD ICE cars advertise up to 50/50 split power between axels, but that’s in ideal conditions and usually requires some level of slippage (sometimes a lot) for the system to engage.
The primary issue with H fuel cells is that producing H gas is a very inefficient process. The easiest way to create hydrogen is to run an electrical current though water. Unfortunately, a lot of that energy is lost to heat. This would pretty much only work if run of a nuclear-powered system. If you’re going to harness solar or wind power (or really any power), it’s far more efficient to convert it into battery storage than hydrogen. It is also very energy intensive to transport and store hydrogen.
I don’t see this happening. I feel like Tesla is a bit of a cluster right now and Apple probably doesn’t want to deal with that, especially when they have no experience in automotive manufacturing. Buying Tesla, sorting out their issues, aligning Tesla’s goals and methods with Apple’s would probably set Tesla back years. I don’t think Tim Cook would want to deal with Elon Musk (too many cooks in the kitchen, no pun intended) and without Musk, Tesla isn’t the same company.
I can see Apple wanting to get into car automation and OS so to speak (what you do in your car when your car is driving itself). Venturing off into actually building vehicles seems beyond Apple’s ambitions. If Apple did want to build electric vehicles, I think it would make more sense to buy an established automaker that actually knows how to build cars. That’s Tesla’s number one problem right now.
Besides their supercharging network and brand, I don’t see Tesla as possessing anything unique. Batteries and electric motors are not proprietary. There is a lot of competition in autonomous driving. The supercharger network has a leg up, but pretty much every other major automaker has teamed up with a universal charging standard that can also be licensed out to other charging station companies. In short, within a few years there could be legitimate competition against the supercharger network.
Great post, thanks for the info. As far as a supercharger network goes, We may not even need one someday soon. So many hotels, restaurants, shopping malls are going to install chargers in their parking lots, you won't have to worry about finding a place. Rest stops should have them. Charge a buck per car for a fast charge while the family is getting a snack and using the restrooms...win/win.
At the other end of the EV luxury scale from Teslas... I just got a Fiat 500e, which is perfect for my needs. I work at home and I don't drive a lot, or very far (at least by Los Angeles standards) so the ~90-mile range isn't an issue. The lease costs about the same as my average gasoline bill driving my Volvo C30. Most of the down payment came back as a tax credit. I have solar panels at home so I make most of my own electricity. I also designated a credit card just for public charging stations and Uber/Lyft rides (for when I'm going to dinner and I plan on drinking wine, or if I need to transport more people than will fit comfortably in the tiny Fiat) so I can track total transportation costs easily. We'll see how it goes over time, but so far I love it. I'm especially taken with the smooth acceleration.
Yes, chargers could become as prevalent as parking meters. A lot of the chargers you see in parking lots would only charge a Tesla at 4-8 miles per hour. The problem right now to some extent is a lack of standardization of technology. Right now, Tesla Superchargers only charge Tesla vehicles. BMW, VW, Daimler, Ford, and I believe FCA have all teamed up to have a universal charging standard. It wouldn’t surprise me if multiple auto manufactures (and their subsidiaries) can roll out their own charging network very quickly. As I mentioned it also should be available to third parties to build charging stations.
One thing that confuses me about the Model 3 concept- targeted towards urban dwelling 30-40 year olds is the charging situation. It’s not easy to get charging installed if you live in an apartment. Maybe your work has a charger. In that case your obvious choice is supercharging, but you’re not supposed to supercharge regularly. Just a thought.
Anyone see the new Mercedes EV release?
http://www.thedrive.com/tech/23339/on-site-in-stockholm-for-the-all-new-mercedes-benz-eqc-400-reveal
I must say it looks pretty good. It’s a concept design so I’d expect the final product to be toned down a bit. It looks a lot like the current GLC with an interior inspired by the current E, S, and G-class. The grill is a bit reminiscent of Nissan though. Going with the SUV form was smart given the current demand for SUVs. People expect Tesla to carry on without real competition into the status of a mainstream automaker, but I suspect in the next couple years Tesla will face some serious competition. If they don’t get their act together, they will have problems. Mercedes plans on production for 2019 and by 2022 15-25% of their sales will be electric vehicles.
this is a good business plan for a start up!
-as EV's age offer with new better faster batteries
-sell aftermarket snap in batteries
-offer a home solar kit to recharge your spare pack while you drive your second set
It may not be the easiest thing in every circumstance, but if renters are willing to pay for the installation and ongoing electricity costs, a reasonable landlord should let them go ahead with it. It only adds value to their property and makes renting there more attractive as EVs become more popular.
solar cell performance decays with time and the technology is new. Say for example a rental water heater; a landlord wants a new unit that will make money. Consider reliability maintenance, cost to remove replace and safety.
Sure, but it doesn't have to be solar.
Apparently in California, renters now have the legal right to install charging stations at their own expense (which includes installation, electricity, and maintenance) https://www.greencarreports.com/new...an-now-install-electric-car-charging-stations
Our electric rates are high (15 cents per KWH) with no off peak rate, so the economics aren’t compelling. No garage makes it a PITA to charge every night and the expense of an outdoor charging post install plus the service upgrade... I’m exhausted.
Hybrid is the best compromise. So easy.
Hybrid is the best compromise. So easy.
He's not alone - Tesla has poor reliability in the UK too.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...d-Rover-models-named-Britains-unreliable.html
It’s no secret that Tesla has rather reliability overall. So much for less moving parts behind more reliability. If you’ve ever seen one in person, the quality isn’t great considering the cost and the build quality, especially on many of the model 3, seems to be rather poor.
In theory electric cars should be more reliable. That doesn’t seem to be the case- new brand, new tehcnologies, sophisticated tech all adds into that. Some of it I think could have been prevented using tried and true manufacturing techniques and not over complicating things unnecessarily (ie Model X gull wing doors). It will be interesting see what the competitions offers in terms of reliability.
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i did not know that; but would seem probable since the Tesla Inc itself is a total of a train wreck. Led by a total idiot wanta be game show host CEO
-Reading the above article it provided very little data to back up their opinion.
looking at a recent review of major EV's the Tesla had a big jump for mileage range per charge. again wonder the credibility of these numbers
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My dad hasn't had many issues with his Tesla (Model S) and I'll be honest, from the few times I've gotten to drive it, it's tough to imagine me not wanting an electric car. Not saying it has to be a Tesla, but I'm very interested in having an electric car, especially since most of the driving I do here in the Bay Area is in crowded urban areas and this is where one could really benefit from one. There is also no shortage of places to charge an electric vehicle here. That said, when my family goes on road trips, it's not the Tesla we take. Electric cars still have a ways to go to becoming the all-purpose car for the average American, but I'm ready to get in on it