Just drove the new i3 from BMW, this is one trick looking car!
03-01-2014, 06:33 AM
#21
I don't understand why we don't have diesel hybrids yet. The hybrid could give you the getup and go, while the diesel giving you freeway cruising. Cycling the hyrbid on/off during certain speeds (freeway) could get you 65-70mph. It would be the best of both worlds.
Yet we're focused on EV's, or gasoline hybrids. Gasoline cars now pushing 40mpg without hybrid making the original hybrids looking like poor performers.
Yet we're focused on EV's, or gasoline hybrids. Gasoline cars now pushing 40mpg without hybrid making the original hybrids looking like poor performers.
03-01-2014, 07:33 AM
#22
I don't understand why we don't have diesel hybrids yet. The hybrid could give you the getup and go, while the diesel giving you freeway cruising. Cycling the hyrbid on/off during certain speeds (freeway) could get you 65-70mph. It would be the best of both worlds.
Yet we're focused on EV's, or gasoline hybrids. Gasoline cars now pushing 40mpg without hybrid making the original hybrids looking like poor performers.
Yet we're focused on EV's, or gasoline hybrids. Gasoline cars now pushing 40mpg without hybrid making the original hybrids looking like poor performers.
Good points and agreed. There are a few manufacturers who've echoed similar sentiments.
03-03-2014, 08:14 AM
#24
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I'm originally from Chicago (born/raised) so I know what cold temps are like and agree 100% that electric cars (battery powered) is not for every climate. Even trying to own an s2000 in the blistering cold is not practical but at least it will run.
I would never try to own a EV car if I still lived in the midwest and their brutal winters. Cold sub zero temps will destroy any battery powered car in the long term unless you park it in a heated garage and NEVER let it sit outside for long periods. A lot of my friends don't know what cold is when they drive to Tahoe for a few days. Plug-in cars would simply not last.
I didn't even know Tesla's have cars on the road past 100k miles, that is amazing feat but I bet they are all here on the west coast or in Florida. Don't get me wrong, I love Tesla and have a lot riding on that company to do well however I just don't see how their cars will sell well in the midwest except to wealthy folks who have multiple cars and garages to store them. It's still a niche car in my book.
I've read about owners of hybrids (CT, Prius) who have trouble starting their car in winter storms after leaving it parked outside in sub-zero temps. There is more than one report of this so it has to have some validity. I believe hybrids are the real future since it solves the problem of running out of juice and also gives back good mpg. I know our CT gets 50+ mpg if you are a light-footed. My wife just cruises around at 60-65mph and she gets very good range. Given this is a car forum and most of us (me included) like to go fast, the hybrid is painfully slow
I would never try to own a EV car if I still lived in the midwest and their brutal winters. Cold sub zero temps will destroy any battery powered car in the long term unless you park it in a heated garage and NEVER let it sit outside for long periods. A lot of my friends don't know what cold is when they drive to Tahoe for a few days. Plug-in cars would simply not last.
I didn't even know Tesla's have cars on the road past 100k miles, that is amazing feat but I bet they are all here on the west coast or in Florida. Don't get me wrong, I love Tesla and have a lot riding on that company to do well however I just don't see how their cars will sell well in the midwest except to wealthy folks who have multiple cars and garages to store them. It's still a niche car in my book.
I've read about owners of hybrids (CT, Prius) who have trouble starting their car in winter storms after leaving it parked outside in sub-zero temps. There is more than one report of this so it has to have some validity. I believe hybrids are the real future since it solves the problem of running out of juice and also gives back good mpg. I know our CT gets 50+ mpg if you are a light-footed. My wife just cruises around at 60-65mph and she gets very good range. Given this is a car forum and most of us (me included) like to go fast, the hybrid is painfully slow
03-03-2014, 10:58 AM
#25
An ominous thought is if you get in a real car accident in an EV. EMT's aren't going to be as valiant pulling you out of the car with not as much expertise on how to deal with EV's in an emergency.
03-03-2014, 02:26 PM
#26
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It's as if people believe history resets the day they were born. News flash: Plug-in electric cars are old tech. Older than the internal combustion engine. There is a reason we don't all drive battery powered cars. If you want to harken back to the 1890's, battery tech is your thing. The rest of us will acknowledge we burn things to make power efficiently. Plug-ins have their niche and I am glad they exist. But their existence doesn't invalidate the history that has shown they are not a very good solution to personal transportation for the vast majority of people who need transport.
A year from now I expect to read a post similar to "Wait until xxx/xxx has their new battery plant in operation, then ..."
Battery prices will not drop significantly. If you could sell a battery for $100 yesterday, it will be $100 tomorrow. One manufacturing plant won't change the price structure. It is being built because a group of people with the money to make it happen were able to multiply $100 times the number of batteries they could produce. NOT because they imagined a dramatic drop in the price of batteries worldwide.
I'm a big fan of old tech, but battery cars are seriously limited.
It's as if people believe history resets the day they were born. News flash: Plug-in electric cars are old tech. Older than the internal combustion engine. There is a reason we don't all drive battery powered cars. If you want to harken back to the 1890's, battery tech is your thing. The rest of us will acknowledge we burn things to make power efficiently. Plug-ins have their niche and I am glad they exist. But their existence doesn't invalidate the history that has shown they are not a very good solution to personal transportation for the vast majority of people who need transport.
A year from now I expect to read a post similar to "Wait until xxx/xxx has their new battery plant in operation, then ..."
Battery prices will not drop significantly. If you could sell a battery for $100 yesterday, it will be $100 tomorrow. One manufacturing plant won't change the price structure. It is being built because a group of people with the money to make it happen were able to multiply $100 times the number of batteries they could produce. NOT because they imagined a dramatic drop in the price of batteries worldwide.
I'm a big fan of old tech, but battery cars are seriously limited.
Guess you don't know that battery prices are dropping 6%-8% on yearly basis. That is why Elon Musk had said he is waiting for cost to come down far enough to deliver BMW 3s size and price level for a 200 mile range car (He has projected year 2017, with a prototype due next year). By getting the rights to building their new battery plant (with real money already on the table), they will drive that price down faster. Tesla wants to expand, not just sell a few cars to rich kids like most Euro companies.
While I cannot see ICE cars go away, EVs are coming faster than you think. Battery tech is growing faster and better, not because of EVs, but because of mobile electronics wanting even more power. This is not your fathers' lead acid battery technology anymore.
People that do not believe in anything but old tech oil burners are the same people that said hybrids are a joke. Guess the joke is so bad that even diesel loving companies are putting hybrids on the road and on race tracks. Don't get me wrong, I love ICE cars like most people on this forum. But I also welcome new technologies, not fear/hate them.
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