I’m driving a 2018 BMW 430 which is coming to the end of the lease in September. I’m leaning towards something fully electric, PHEV doesn’t make sense to me. My commute (ex-Covid) is about 35 km return and most PHEV only do about 1/2 of that especially in winter with the heat running full. I’m in a house with a driveway, so charging isn’t an issue.
I’m going to take a close look at the Polestar 2 which is similar to my current ride, but a full electric.
I’m guessing if the next car is not electric, the one after that will be.
I for one would like more info on how to build my own.
I have not replied to the survey as no answers even come close to “gathering parts to build my own”. It is probably a few years off as I need to learn more on the subject & my current rigs work well for me. However, EV just makes lots of sense to me.
I read cleantechnica.com and electrek.co. I’ve never seen anything on those sites about building them, just news about developments in the EV world. Also news about solar and wind energy.
Because (almost*) the only people buying them have access to home charging, which is far from universal. Since leaving my parents’ place, I’ve never lived anywhere I could charge at home.
I did look up the numbers on home charging availability once but I can’t find my source or the thread I posted in. There are some significant charging infrastructure barriers, especially for people living in denser areas.
*I did work with a guy who rented a garage spot where he could charge.
Granted. I know a person who can’t charge her new Leaf at home, but lives within a short walk from a public level 2 charger. She drops the car off for a few hours in the evening, walks her dog, etc, then goes and gets it. But I agree, most people would want to be able to charge at home and avoid the hassle. The alternative would be a good charger at work, where most people spend 8 to 10 hours five days per week in non-pandemic times.
I did work in one office that had this. Although apparently the price they charged was more than you’d pay for gasoline in an ICE car. Obviously YMMV – the office was a rented floor in a tall building, and a third party owned the garage.
But yes availability at work might ease the charging anxiety somewhat. I’d still be leery, given how much I’ve changed jobs.
For the folks without home charging, obviously there are a lot of different scenarios, ranging from street parking to a shared lot to assigned spots. I imagine the solutions vary. This probably isn’t the place to dig into it though.
Well, if I had more money that brains, I’d pay somebody to convert one of the Fiat Spiders to electric. That would be fun, I bet! Or one of the BMW e10s, but that would be tantamount to saclarige.
I think this is really cool: a complete EV conversion kit with a proven drivetrain. 200 hp isn’t going to win many drag races, but it’s still pretty solid, especially with the instance response of electric motors.
I’ve not looked all that closely at what’s available in the hybrid/ev market because I have not seen anything even remotely close to what I would need for my daily needs. What’s my best EV option with seating for four plus the protected cargo space of a Ford Transit Connect? Maybe the Tesla Cybertruck but that’s paying for a lot of hype and performance that doesn’t interest me. I’m far more interested in pragmatic simplicity for nimble, urban light hauling.
An electric Ford Transit seems like a reasonable bet, though still a ways off:
I’m guessing that most in this thread are talking about personal vehicles, not commercial vehicles, though.
Also, not sure what you mean by “paying for a lot of hype” regarding the Cybertruck. If you can get past the styling, it should be one of the best values in that space. A ton of range for the price, and a fully enclosed bed. Tesla already has some of the lowest cell prices in the industry, and what they announced in their recent Battery Day should mean they can drive prices even lower yet. The folded metal body should be cheaper to produce than the usual stampings.
For people with more ordinary cargo needs, the Model Y is popular. It’s pretty much a standard small SUV size.
I’m certainly not in the market for a pickup truck but many who use them seriously like to be able to mount stuff to the sidewalls of the pickup truck bed. I think that’s why there are mounting holes in the sidewalls of many pickup trucks. I’m not sure how practical the sloping sides of Tesla’s pickup truck will be.
The Cybertruck can still support a bed rack for ladders, etc. And the bed walls have cubbies for extra storage. It does impinge on grabbing stuff over the bed walls, though in my experience trucks are so tall these days (especially with lift kits) that I doubt many people are grabbing bags of concrete or whatever over the sides.
At any rate, it’s not for everyone–I was just wondering about the “paying for the hype” thing. If it fits your needs, and comes out at the stated price, it’ll have great bang for the buck. You’re paying less because it’s weird-looking; it’s cheaper to manufacture that way.
The Tesla brand is something of a darling among the “green” car buying populace. I doubt heavily that it will come out at the stated price if for no other reason than high demand and low production. Many people who want them do so at least partly because of the badge on the front. They’re willing to pay a premium because of it. I’m not. Maybe, after the cyber truck has been out for a few years and there’s is good data from multiple sources concerning it’s real-world operating costs, I’ll take a second look at it.
Even if somehow it does arrive at the stated price and with reliably and independently verified range and lifetime cost-per-mile estimates, it just doesn’t meet my needs well. With the bed cover in place, there’s not nearly enough bed height to suit my carry needs. I have no need for that high riding, off-road suspension when I basically never leave the pavement. I don’t tow anything so that’s irrelevant.
Not sure why you’re skeptical; the Model 3 was promised at $35k and you can buy one today for that price (online, the cheapest model is $37,990, but if you call a sales rep you can special order the $35k model, and it’s better than the one they promised when it was announced). They may prioritize the expensive models first–they’ve done that before, certainly. So it might take longer to get the entry price model, but so far they’ve shown no evidence of jacking up the price based on demand.
They’re building a huge factory in Austin to produce the Cybertruck as we speak. I don’t think production of the vehicle will be a problem, though manufacturing of the cells may be. Tesla is going to be cell limited for the foreseeable future, even with their planned factories–they have too many products that need immense volumes of them. The Semi and their grid storage batteries will be big users, but even the Cybertruck will need a lot more cells per vehicle than the current average.
If the vechicle doesn’t meet your needs, that’s all fair. I was just disputing the hype comment. The Cybertruck looks to be the best value of all the announced upcoming EV pickups. But they don’t appear to have a Tesla van on the horizon.
This is all just my best guess. I left my crystal ball in my other scrotum and I claim nothing about what MUST happen. As for what will happen, I’ll find when when that sun rises. If you’re right then I’m sure many people will be happy with their purchase.
As far as literally “paying for the hype”, that’s definitely not there. Tesla does not advertise and, not too long ago, dissolved their PR department. Any hype, and there’s a metric ton of it as well as lots of anti-hype, is generated by outsiders. None of that influences the price of the vehicles.
In fact, Tesla actually reduces the price of their cars from time to time. Several times this year for some models. If you have an order in the pipeline when they announce, you’ll get that reduction. And they recently started to import Model 3s from China to Europe which produced a price drop there. The Eurpoean import tax is lower for Chinese cars than US cars and that was passed on to customers.
I just saw my first TV ad for the GMC electric pickup truck, the Hummer EV that willshould be available this time hext year.
It seems to me they did an excellent job with the styling. IMO It’s not weird like the Tesla, but it is definitely distinctive / futuristic. It’s not a clone of the Dodge Ram “tough look”, nor the Toyota tough-but-lithe look.
Assuming it works and is well priced I think they’ll sell a lot of them. Not my mission, but it sure is somebody’s.
What’s weird to me is that the electric car business might upend the car industry, sort of how the IBM PC clone market ended IBM’s domination of the computer industry. Or the rise of digital photography resulted in the end of Kodak’s domination of photography. The traditional car companies have a lot of money and expertise tied up in traditional IC engine production. But Tesla may be the first of many new entrants in the auto business, followed by Fisker Auto, Lucid Motors, Lordstown Motors, Rivian, etc. Some will fail, of course, with Fisker already out of business. But the car industry in ten or twenty years may have different names than were available ten or twenty years ago.