pertaining to electric cars - power

Sounds like it wouldn't be too much fun trying to drive cross country in one of those cars.

Unless they get moving with that program which has electric cars that let you swap in a recharged battery pack at a "battery station" in just a couple of minutes.

Back in the'50s college buddies and I used to drive from Boston to San Francisco (or back) in about three days by stopping only for gas and quicky food with the "passenger" snoozing in the back seat.

Jeff

As it has been said, electric cars are not for everyone. They're only for about 95% of everyone. Myself, I often go months without driving more than 40 miles in a day.

That just means you have to have two cars with the attendant insurance and depreciation etc. etc. etc. :-) ...lew...

That is where the hybrid car comes in. The gas engine charges the battery that drives the motor.

So if out of range the engine starts and charges until it is done. I'd take the extension cord with me.

Ca. passed a law that said companies over xxx people had to provide 'n' number of chargers at work - free of charge. Charge at work!

Mart> Mart>

Martin

"Nissan states it differently - 220/240 at 40 amps"

That is 8.8 kW. When I lived in Minnesota I had gas heat, gas dryer, gas stove, gas water heater. I had 60 Amp service to the house. I don't think my 2 nearest neighbors and I ever used 8.8 kW total.

Putting a 8.8kW car battery chargers between those 3 houses is going to more than double the power load during charge time and will impact the grid? I doubt NSP had 25 % spare capacity, but being generous that lets you put 1 electric car in every 12 houses. Is that "many" or not? There are about 1 million households in Minneapolis and St Paul metro area, 1/12 would be about 80,000 vehicles

CarlBoyd

If insurance, registration and depreciation are only $1000 per year they equal 250 gallons of gas, about 6000 miles a year at 25 MPG. I rounded the numbers for rough estimates, they'd likely cost several times as much. To me EVs are practical only as a small SUV that could be a suburban homeowner's only vehicle, but not as an additional vehicle to save much money unless you have a long commute. However the Escape Hybrid gives only slightly better better mileage than my non- hybrid CR-V.

By suburban homeowner I mean someone who needs to transport people, furniture, machinery etc., not just themselves. I save gas by running all my errands in one trip, meaning I come home with the back full of bags and some lumber or steel on the roof rack.

I've worked on EV development and would like them to succeed, but to me they fill nearly the same niche as a much cheaper motorcycle.

jsw

It depends so much on one's circumstances. We have two cars and a Leaf would be a perfect second car for us. When I need a new car, maybe in two years, I'll consider it or, by then, its competitors.

My wife drives no more than 5 miles on most days, and when she needs to go further, the other car is almost always in the driveway. In this metro-suburb, there are many people in like circumstances.

As for the motorcycle, my wife hasn't ridden on one with me for roughly 40 years, and the last time she did she fell off. You won't get her on another one. d8-)

Sounds similar to my circumstances, except it is I who work at my home office and my wife who travels to one of three jobs, the furthest is

20 miles away, and the nearest, three miles. "My" car often sits undriven for 3 or 4 days at a time.

When it's time for a new car - probably 3 or 4 years - I'll be looking at electrics or hybrids. I drove a Prius for the first time the other day. It was, well, unremarkable, just as a car should (in my opinion) be. All I want it to do is get me where I'm going.

As far as needing a "long distance" car for those occasions... I could rent a car for $17 a day from a place a mile and a half from here. Assuming the above-stated $1000 per year to have a second car, I could rent more than once a week and still be ahead.

Sounds similar to my circumstances, except it is I who work at my home office and my wife who travels to one of three jobs, the furthest is

20 miles away, and the nearest, three miles. "My" car often sits undriven for 3 or 4 days at a time.

When it's time for a new car - probably 3 or 4 years - I'll be looking at electrics or hybrids. I drove a Prius for the first time the other day. It was, well, unremarkable, just as a car should (in my opinion) be. All I want it to do is get me where I'm going.

As far as needing a "long distance" car for those occasions... I could rent a car for $17 a day from a place a mile and a half from here. Assuming the above-stated $1000 per year to have a second car, I could rent more than once a week and still be ahead.

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Yes, I've rented for my second car before, when I was working from home all of the time. It's not a bad way to go, if you don't need a car every day. Even now, my Focus sits in the driveway for three or four days at a time, just like your second car.

That was a low-ball round-number estimate for easy mental math. A $20,000 car that lasts 10 years costs you $2000 per year, not counting insurance, registration, maintenance, lost investment interest, yaddayadda. I figure I'm way ahead if I spend less than $1000 a year to keep an old vehicle running.

Honda has aimed several vehicles at no-compromise economy buyers and not found very many takers:

I think the loudest demands for small cars are from people who want to force others into them.

jsw

Maybe you could talk her into a Paiggio MP3 three wheeler. Pretty cool ride but the price was way out of my comfort zone last time I checked. See:

I came across a few pictures here too:

They are very cool. However, as I said, I will not get her on another thing with a sub-standard number of wheels.

She didn't fall off at speed. We were riding my new little Honda 175 up a steep dirt hill, and the poor thing didn't have enough oomph (the bike, not my wife). The brakes wouldn't hold in reverse. So I yelled at her to jump and she landed in a heap, but with no injuries.

I'd ridden up that hill with her many times on the back of my BSA Victor, but the little Honda wasn't up to it.

IIRC it was Renault that thought it could produce a car for emerging markets a few years ago for around 6000 Euros and others in the industry said it couldn't be done, they came in around 5000 Euros IIRC. These were normal cars but to cut costs they didn't use the latest technology, had one body style, they kept them simple and easy to maintain by leaving out the bells and whistles, and they were intended to be made in those markets. I read that Renault was surprised at the number of people in Europe that personally imported these cars in order to have cheap functional transport.

Except you stay dry and have a "little" more protection and more comfort.