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Electricity is the lingua franca of energy: we know how to store it, convert other energy to it, use it, etc.

All of the "renewable" sources tend to create electricity. So being in line with that is good.

Cons
• up-front cost
• batteries need to be more stable, cost-effective, less weight
• as mentioned, charging just not there
• some EVs have had fires related to battery issues
• the performance doesn't seem to be there for trucks, etc.

BUT
Pros
• huge change in resources & weight
+ no engine
+ no exploding fuel (gas tank/diesel tank; fuel vapors; fuel pressure; fuel pump; fuel lines)
+ no engine air for combustion (no engine air filter and housing)
+ no ignition of the air/fuel mixture (no distributor, no timing belt/chain, no spark plugs & cables)
+ no dealing with combustion exhaust gases (no emission system, no muffler to get rid of the sound of the engine explosions, no hot gases, no catalytic converter, no breaks in the exhaust leaking into the passenger compartment, no state emissions testing, no environmental hazard)
+ no camshaft
+ no wearing of the engine (no blowby, wearing of pistons, throwing rods, overheating of the head)
+ no cooling the engine block (no radiator, coolant fluid, etc.)
+ no engine lubrication (no oil, oil filter, oil pan, no changing it)
+ no need to worry about the engine block freezing

Those are huge.
Ilovebrushinghair · 22-25, MNew
@SomeMichGuy wow that was some detail you went into 🤣🤣🤣

Kiesel · 56-60, M
Well, I personally drive a luxurious truck. Have for years. Love it
Can make a 650 mile trip with no stops..

I have a good friend that has a Prius and Nissan Leaf, I’ve driven both and they’re pretty slick. For in and around town commuting, I’m a proponent of EV’s..

I see both sides of the coin though
The infrastructure that supports charging stations isn't very plentiful and is unreliable. My brother-in-law's Kia is always in the shop. Don't even ask how much he's been able to use it in the last 6 months! And I've been hearing disappointment over the longevity of the batteries.
I hope my next car will be electric, but if I totalled my CX-30 tomorrow, I'd be replacing it with another combustion
Ilovebrushinghair · 22-25, MNew
Don't want to be a kill joy Jess, EVs still cost you money. Electric cars still need to be charged up and that still costs money. Ok it maybe cheeper but the car is more expensive to buy. But a few more years time it will beore cost affective to run a EV.
It comes down to choice..
Inner city driving an electric car is prolly good.
Outback/rural Australia with charging stations few and far between not so good.

Everyone should be doing everything they can to lower their living costs.
Solar panels on the roof make sense..

What dont make sense is a country thinking it can run a base load power and compete in industry on renewable energy.
YoMomma ·
I have a hybrid car.. i like it. i really don't know what the price difference is in driving efficiency in fuel vs electric.. as it all fluctuates anyway but there is probably a blog or chart or youtube video about it somewhere
squared · 31-35, M
it’s been 3 years since i had my tesla and charging is still a pain in the ass. the supercharging stations always cost $20-30 per session, maybe more if it’s during a busy time. it takes about 20 minutes to charge up and sometime there’s a wait time if there’s it’s busy. after one year, i installed a home charging station and it really makes a difference. but that whole other 1k investment. it’s also not ideal for roadtrips because you have to plan out your stops based on the charging stations.
1490wayb · 56-60, M
someone near you is bound to own one...offer a compliment and im sure they would be happy to share their good\bad experiences
goliathtree · 56-60, M
so....electricity is free? Upgrades to your homes electric service in order to accommodate chargers are free? Rolling blackouts because we do not have enough baseload generation to support the charging requirements of huge quantities of EVs and wind and solar is an absolute myth are free?

I'll be making smoke until I die.
goliathtree · 56-60, M
@ArishMell It is more likely that the only way to serve the load required for a a fast charger (a standard outlet will take for ever) is to either have it's own service or to upgrade the entire home's service. A stand alone service is likely significantly less expensive than new wiring and panel to support the needs of the charger.
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@goliathtree That was the point my friend was making, really. It will vary from country to country but I think the total power to most homes in Britain is some 20kW but the normal domestic use via the lighting and socket ring-mains is far lower. Even an electric oven is only about 7kW.

The supplier does not need make a new supply to the building, simply install extra equipment within it.

What could be the greater problem would be entire streets of homes installing high-power chargers.

The reason I could not charge a car at home, is no off-road parking. I think there are around eighty houses in the street but only about four or five have off-street parking, and coming home to find parking space outside your own house is always a gamble!
goliathtree · 56-60, M
@ArishMell Electric service is what I do for a living.
Iwillwait · M
Up front costs of an EV are steep. You're basically paying for Your fuel at the time of purchase.
Iwillwait · M
@ArishMell very low in comparison to most cat brands. This will disrupt the Auto industry here.
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@Iwillwait It has to do that to see off the competition from China, which tariffs apart is busy trying to flood everyone else's markets with "cheap" electric cars.
Iwillwait · M
@ArishMell Yep, North America really does not have Chinese Vehicles, however Mexico and Canada do.
swirlie · 31-35
EV sales in Canada have recently tanked, mainly because nobody in Canada wants to be seen driving a Tesla. Apart from that, the EV charging infrastructure hasn't materialized like they said it would in the beginning, which means you'd have to be very conscious of where every charging station was in your vicinity.

But that doesn't make a lot of difference either it seems. Across the northern part of the northern USA for example, many EV charging stations will appear on an onboard Google map display if you're looking for a charging station, but when you arrive at one, you'll soon discover that most EV charging stations across the northern USA have been decommissioned due to lack of use.

There have been many reports of EV cars being towed back home on the back of a tow truck and plugged in at the person's garage and the stories get more ridiculous the further you look into it.

EV's have a very limited, very specific use at this stage of their evolution which means if you have an EV that is dedicated to running back and forth to work each day and you can slow-charge it at home for 8 hours, then it would work for you. But if you used that same car to travel to parts unknown, you may be in for an expensive surprise somewhere along the way!
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@swirlie Thank you for that - very interesting information.

I knew EVs are not happy in cold conditions but had not previously seen the figures.

I doubt any vehicles of any type really meet their manufacturers' test claims but battery-powered ones seem worse in that respect.

I have not heard of anyone claiming serious range problems due to the air temperature in Britain, at least not in the Southerly half, as our climate is generally milder than that in Canada. Instead I have encountered anecdotes about owners not daring to use the heating in cold weather because that is an extra drain on the battery. The opposite of the American motorists in their hot Summers!

I know small, battery-powered boats for inland waters have been around for some years now but it will be interesting to see how electric propulsion, (battery or fuel-cells?) develops for large sea-going ships.
swirlie · 31-35
@ArishMell
One of the many challenges for large sea-going ships is the salt-laden air which corrodes everything that isn't made of wood!

Battery power for a ship works well in theory, but in practice, we are dealing with electrical corrosion at each connection which cannot be sealed from the salt air.

Additionally, the battery itself must be sealed in it's own compartment that is both waterproof and air-proof, which means the battery cannot remain cool through traditional means of air-cooling. As soon as a non-traditional way of battery cooling is introduced, it must be accounted for in the current-draw from the battery which of course reduces the range of the vessel as it uses battery power to cool the battery itself.

Another problem with battery powered sea-going ships is the dead-weight of the battery which never decreases as the power is used from the battery, unlike traditional diesel fuel engines which consume the fuel from within the tank, making the vessel lighter with each gallon of petrol that is consumed.

It takes 20% of the total liquid fuel load of a diesel ship JUST to produced enough energy to carry the weight of the fuel on an ocean crossing. This means that 20% of the fuel that's carried will be burnt just to move the weight of the fuel alone across the ocean. The weight of the ship and it's cargo requires the rest of the fuel to move it across the ocean.

That said, as the ship uses up it's fuel load and becomes lighter and therefore requires less energy to move it near the end of it's ocean journey, the most amount of fuel is used at the beginning of the journey when the vessel is obviously the heaviest.

With this being taken into consideration, the vessel becomes cheaper and cheaper to operate as the fuel is burnt off. But with a battery powered vessel of course, none of this happens! The vessel weighs the same at the end of the journey as it weighed at the beginning, which means a lot of battery storage power is required from start to finish of a voyage just to move the dead-weight of the battery across the ocean!
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@swirlie I see the problem there. What of fuel-cells instead?
ArishMell · 70-79, M
Nothing comes for free! You still have the capital and running costs, and the latter includes the electricity.
FloorGenAdm · 51-55, M
I like the tried and true I don't like figuring out new sh!t.
pdockal · 56-60, M
You do know you have to pay for electricity/ charging

 
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