To me, EVs are falling further out of reach to majority of Americans. First Tesla abandoned its promise to mass-produce its $35K M3 and now with its seemingly endless weekly price hikes, it’s turned me off from wanting to own one. Also, I usually own my cars for a long time which doesn’t really fit with EVs high cost of battery life cycle.
For me, it’s ICE for foreseeable future until my hand is forced. For reference, both my girls have their drivers license and have no desire to owning a car. They would rather rely on public transportation.
I was thinking the same thing. One post in particular was totally tone-deaf to the thread.
You know the irony is hybrids like the Prius and Camry hybrid were really good but became political and turned off so many people because of that whole Hollywood virtue signalling owner stigma.
Sad, stupid situation. But I made fun of mates for driving them because of that association too.
If you are letting the jerks in Hollywood shape your behavior you really need to rethink things. Most everything coming out of Hollywood for the last 25 years has been nothing but a sewer pipe.
I was never really interested in them to begin with but I’m more speaking of the dudes “rolling coal” in their diesel Rams hollering “GOT ‘IM GOT THAT PRIUS”. We have them here too.
There’s dudes with anti Prius stickers on there cars and stuff too, like it weighs on their mind so heavily that someone drives a small economy car that they need to plaster it on their own vehicle.
Tesla vehicles are nice, I enjoyed the S P100D I had for a short time. The only issues are, it's horrible in the cold — your 300 miles are more like 150. The 0-60 is fantastic, but the novelty wears off when you realize you're always speeding. Can get expensive very quick. Your insurance is roughly $600-700 higher annually, despite being in my 30s with a clean record. A good friend is an ex-Tesla employee that now works for Rivian. One of the reasons he left: the cars are cheaply assembled, have a myriad of relatively expensive issues, and their service/parts leaves much to be desired.
I always saw EV as an A to B car. A great commuter car with advanced industry technology. I can't match your 0-60 in my S2000, but I'll enjoy trying 😉
Well actually I brought up Tesla a while back in the thread. I don’t own one but have been for a ride in a plaid it completely blew my mind. I’ve been big on Tesla since it stock was around 70 pre-split. But like Tesla and several German models the price tag keeps many out of that realm. I’m sure Tesla can at some point produce an electric car fit for the masses but I don’t think at this point they need to or it makes sense for them. So it’s nothing against Tesla, I’m a semi musk fanboy. I am also seeing them much more in my area lately. But at that price tag it’s kinda strange the secretary of transportation would say the answer is just for everyone to but an electric car. I realize there are cheaper options but we aren’t at the point where it’s an easy choice for everyone.
Can I ask you since you are obviously a Tesla owner. Now that you have one would you ever go back to an ICE vehicle? I pose that question to most Tesla owners and it seems 90% of the time it’s a definite no.
I’m very happy for you that an electric car fits your lifestyle. I wish it did for mine.
My view of the future is that there will be less ICE cars and more electric cars coming online each year. However, until everyone has access to quick, on demand charging on a nationwide basis (which means every gas station), there will always be some market for ICE cars in the US, especially in rural areas.
I’m still quite concerned about all the particularly nasty heavy metal pollutants that will be released when it is time to start recycling these batteries.
Nothing is perfect. Never will be.
gatorcpa
Do you know if the weather is still such a drastic impact on battery performance? I’m in the northeast and up until a year or so ago it was rare to see a Tesla now they are all over. The owners I talked to (just a handful) say the weather has much less impact and the build quality is much improved although one person I talked refused delivery on his first one due to misaligned doors and another issue I forget. Apparently they were very noisy in cold weather as well but from what I’m hearing that is much improved. I like the minimalist look of the interior (they improved the cup holders and have some pretty cool storage set ups. I am in awe by the darn things but price and having to drive out of state weekly to assist some sick relatives doesn’t really make it practical at this point. I did just read the Shanghai factory got the green light to open in three days and Tesla reports 4/20 I believe the fact the increased production by 200k cars last year is a good sign of I wish he had stuck with the 35k model but it’s amazing what he had done with the company considering they were a week away from bankruptcy not that long ago.
Living in the motherland of the EV vehicles I see them everywhere. I have friends and neighbors that have Teslas and I have also sold them at my dealership. Neat cars in the styling department and I like the exterior door handles and if I could find a way to get an Chevy LS V8 in one I would be a buyer. Currently it is like a fancy electric golf cart, fun to fly around the golf course but you wouldn't want to try to drive it too far. Range anxiety is real. Of course there are people that never leave their "safe bubble" and don't have to worry about range. I personally like to jump in my car with my wife and cruise from the San Francisco bay area down the coast for the weekend. Not going to happen in a Tesla without some serious planning and a lot of time.
I live in a state that Pacific Gas & Electric has to cut the power on hot and windy days to try to reduce fires. My cabin is in the Sierra Foothills and loses power for days at a time in the summer. We also have rolling power blackouts when demand is to high on very hot summer days due to the lack of power supply. The fact that this state thinks they can power a state full of electric cars is pretty funny. Not going to happen.
As far as Tesla performance goes I will tell it like I tell my neighbor. He loves to brag about his 0-60 times. I tell him to pick any of my cars and I will race him to Los Angeles. That usually shuts him up, for a little while anyway.
All very true.
We had a similar conversation when we got the first Leaf, and that was MUCH less range.
We said most of our driving was under 50 miles each day (way under). Yeah, but what about long trips? We figured we could rent a car for a trip. "But you're wasting money?" Well, we aren't paying for depreciation, maintenance, insurance for a few times we want to take a long trip when we drive 90% short trips.
Also, we could have more than one car. Not everyone wants to do this or can do this, true. But there are many homes with more than one car. Take pickups for example. If i need a pickup, I rent it. It's cheaper than depreciation, maintenance etc for owning a pickup to use for loading crap once every three months.
Not trying to say this is for everybody but it probably makes sense for more people than the ones who are driving EVs now. And Teslas are not the only EVs. There are more choices coming too.
Some fans of electric cars here sound like they also own Rolex i.e. they own one and it is the best at everything. Nothing is further from the truth and I own an electric car. I do not own a Rolex thank god.
You can get quick on demand charging in your garage for $2,000. I know what you mean though, superchargers for road trips. It's coming.
You’re not getting it! Until there are laws passed requiring chargers in parking garages (who’s going to pay for them is anyone’s guess), keeping these limited range vehicles running is going to be a challenge.
This was the main reason the electric car failed 100 years ago. That and the political power of the oil companies. Don’t expect them to give up without a fight either.
gatorcpa
Nope. You charge in your garage over night and that covers all travel within ~300 miles. If you go further than 300 miles, you need superchargers at major highway exits. You can add ~100 miles of range in about 20 minutes of charging. Rural areas off major highways are a bigger challenge. I could see chargers at hotel parking garages for overnight road trips, but they needn't be super chargers and are therefore not expensive. When do you park in parking garages? Shopping trips, sporting events etc..... those are usually within your 300 mile daily charge radius. No laws needed
