Anyone have an electric car?

20-25% more efficient

They claim "up to" 97.3% efficiency. "Up to" is a weasel word that typically means they barely scrape by that number at a single point of their load and RPM range under ideal lab conditions. I ran engineering at a startup in the past - we used a lot of "up to"'s when pitching our stuff to prospective customers. They sort of expect that kind of thing - if your sales people aren't lying, you won't be taken seriously, and you need to find better salespeople. The business folks from the other side simply divide all your claims by a factor of at least 2 anyway.

Tesla's latest permanent magnet motors (used in Model 3 and Model Y) are 94-96% efficient over a wide range of loads and RPMs.

So that's a "marketing" claim against a low baseline. Not surprising, that's how marketing claims are constructed. Just recognize marketing speak for what it is.

If you believed Tesla's marketing, for example, you'd think they sell autonomous cars, which they don't, and likely won't, until they give up on their purely optical approach, and use LIDARs like everyone else, or until significant breakthroughs are made in object detection and instance segmentation (two notoriously difficult deep learning tasks). Musk is known for bending reality to his will at times, but the science to do what they are trying to do is simply not there. Not at Tesla, not anywhere else. If it was available, I'd know.
 
You may be right but these other figures look - at least to me - very promising:
Weight: 25 kg (no housing)
Peak Power: > 400-kW (15 sec)
Peak Torque: >510 Nm
Compared tot the BMW i3 motor:
Weight: 46 kg (no housing)
Peak Power: 125-kW
Peak Torque: 250 Nm
The improved range and power density seem to be a lot better.
 
But the most important thing to consider is that you'll be able to drive into the woods and plug in your Axe FX + FRFR setup to your car's outlet and rock out with nature as your audience (and no engine running making background noise!).

Or you know, a parking lot gig. Lol.

At 50-100 kWh, these large car batteries should be able to power even a full band and decent PA system for a long concert and have plenty left over to get you home. You might need a few Teslas to power a stadium gig though. 🤣

These guys did a study: gridless.com/powering-a-concert-using-only-batteries/
 
The charger should really be bidirectional IMO, and the car should be able to power the house temporarily. In WA fairly extended power outages happen multiple times every year. And without power, forced air furnace is pretty useless, so there’s no heat either.
 
We need real life scalextric.
Well you guys do in america. England isn’t that big. We can get from one side to another in about 5 hours or something.
surely someone would just build a model that had a secondary battery in the boot for extra long distance...you would think.

Time for Fractal Wheel-FX
 
I don't buy it yet but I want to buy it in the future. I love cars, I love internal combustion engines, I don't want them to go away, but the hardcore anti-EV people are just silly. EVs are awesome too. They're just different, and that's fine. EVs are great for short trips, city driving, and occasionally for having fun. ICE vehicles make sweet noises, are fun to drive (and work on), and are pretty much unlimited in the range given how easy it is to find fuel and fill up the tank. But yes, they are worse for the environment. They just are. We have to accept reality.
 
I'm thinking the same thing.
Part of my retirement plan was getting something like this:
1970-Chevrolet-El-Camino-SS-Coupe-396-Fathom-Blue-001-720x340.jpeg



Now I'm not so sure anymore.
I might end up getting something like this:

cybetruck-atv-optie.jpg


:)
 
I think ICEs are doomed within my lifetime, much sooner than that in Europe. Today’s engines also aren’t at all fun to work on. In fact I’m pretty sure that if I tried to “work on” my BMW 535’s engine, id have to tow the car to the shop at some point and let them fix it. And I’m an engineer (EE/CS, but still, not completely clueless). The darn thing doesn’t even have an oil probe. It’s a wonderful engine, one of the best ever made, but it wasn’t made for ease of maintenance. In contrast, when we asked the Tesla delivery guy about scheduled maintenance, he said there isn’t any.
 
In contrast, when we asked the Tesla delivery guy about scheduled maintenance, he said there isn’t any.
Everything mechanical wears out and requires up keep. They still have tires that need rotating and replacement. Wiper blades that need to be checked. Bearings that need lubrication. Sure, you don't have to change the oil, but there's a maintenance schedule for them. It's just different from what you had with an ICE car.
 
Everything mechanical wears out and requires up keep. They still have tires that need rotating and replacement. Wiper blades that need to be checked. Bearings that need lubrication. Sure, you don't have to change the oil, but there's a maintenance schedule for them. It's just different from what you had with an ICE car.

The Chevy Bolt does not come with the usual maintenance schedule booklet (my wife has one).

I agree of course with tires and wipers.

That's why car dealers don't want to sell electric cars. Their maintenance and repair revenue will be significantly reduced.
 
That's why car dealers don't want to sell electric cars. Their maintenance and repair revenue will be significantly reduced.
Other things we don't need anymore:

Horse and buggy maintenance.
Rotary dial phones
Beepers
Hand scythes for reaping wheat
And so on...


Mechanics have already been rolled back to a large extent due to the largely increased reliability of cars in general.

25% of cars in the U.S. are at least sixteen years old as vehicle age hits record high

That's just the way ish goes, man.
 
90% of Land Rovers are still on the road... The rest have finally made it to their destination.

Seriously though British cars are notoriously unreliable. My friend had a Triumph TR-7. I've never knew a car could break down that often. If it was a moving part it broke. Everything from radiator fans to the steering box to the rear end. Ridiculous. Oh, and electrical problems, yikes.

Yeah socialism/ unionisation really took their toll on productivity in the UK. No excuse to be made really. Our motor industry was a shambles in the 20th century hence all the good bits being sold off to (predominantly) the germans and us outsourcing manufacturing of the rest to other parts of the world.


That said, the oldest running automobile is French, so logic, good sense and rationalisation can't always be used to determine the truth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Marquise
 
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Should have more battery capacity at that price. Tesla Model Y, for example, has 75kwh, standard, and only slightly lower horsepower.
 
Electrics still need maintenance. Sure you won't be changing engine and transmission fluids and filters, but the braking system (pads, rotors, fluid,etc. - though regenerative braking can extend the life some), tires, wipers, steering system, drivetrain joints, suspension, AC system, etc. will still see plenty of wear and tear just like any other car or truck. Everything mechanical wears out and breaks eventually. Anyone that owns a phone, tablet, or laptop also knows that lithium batteries don't last forever either. Their capacity will drop over time and will eventually need replacing too. Looks like Tesla warranties their batteries for 8 years. That's not too bad and it will continue to get better as battery tech improves.
 
Not “some”. You hardly use those brake pads or rotors at all in an electric. It just applies more regen as you press the brake pedal.
 
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