real world EVs review
- Thread starter Daemon64
- Start date
kjclow
Top Post Dawg
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- Apr 26, 2003
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- Charlotte, NC
- TDI
- 2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
I'll go look at it and probably test drive it but my days of wanting/needing a minivan are long behind me. Even thinking about coast to coast travel, I don't want to do that in a minivan.
I like the looks of the SUVs but will wait a few years to let the VW bugs show themselves.
El Dobro
Top Post Dawg
kjclow
Top Post Dawg
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2003
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
- TDI
- 2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
I've been tempted but just can't figure out how to make a 2500 round trip work with an electric only vehicle. Thinking of the early days when diesel was not as widely available. There were a few pucker moments!Be careful, you may be tempted to the dark side.
gearheadgrrrl
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2002
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- Buffalo Ridge (southwest Minnesota)
- TDI
- '15 Golf DSG, '13 JSW DSG surrendered to VW, '03 Golf 2 door manual
Just about ran out of diesel in San Diego on a Sunday in 1979- CA tax on fuel was high so most over the road truckers bought out of state, local truckers didn't work weekends so the couple stations with diesel were closed. Stayed overnight with a friend and fueled up Monday morn before heading back to Minnesota.
oilhammer
Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Hehe:
Missouri battery plant fire, explosion in Fredericktown | ksdk.com
We're also now BURNING wind turbine blades here.
Rural Missouri is becoming the dumping grounds for "clean energy" fallouts. Luckily our coal fired power plants keep it all humming along.
Missouri battery plant fire, explosion in Fredericktown | ksdk.com
We're also now BURNING wind turbine blades here.
Rural Missouri is becoming the dumping grounds for "clean energy" fallouts. Luckily our coal fired power plants keep it all humming along.
IndigoBlueWagon
TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
I had a similar experience in 1978 in San Francisco. Drove up there from LA for the weekend, and Sunday morning there were no diesel stations open in the city. My Rabbit was well into the red on the fuel gauge. I ended up depending on my girlfriend's charms (later my wife) to ask a local dairy to give us a few gallons of diesel so we could get to the interstate.
Lightflyer1
Top Post Dawg
Maybe they can make a plant that burns windmill blades.
El Dobro
Top Post Dawg
I got a surprise back in '05 when I pulled into a service station and none of the diesel pumps had the restricted nozzle. I had to borrow a funnel and splash some diesel in to make it back to the highway.
IndigoBlueWagon
TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
One member here has made multiple cross country trips in their Tesla Model 3. It actually sounds pretty easy: stop every 150-175 miles and charge from 10-80%, takes about 30 min. Not my preference but it can be done.
tikal
Veteran Member
kjclow
Top Post Dawg
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2003
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
- TDI
- 2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
Article I saw the other day said that Ford was looking at slowing down their E division in favor of hybrids.
El Dobro
Top Post Dawg
Still doesn't top oil rigs going up.
El Dobro
Top Post Dawg
tikal
Veteran Member
State Farm Insurance takes EV chargers out of its parking garages
The U.S.-based insurance company, one of the country's largest, said it's pulling the chargers due to risk of fires
State Farm Insurance takes EV chargers out of its parking garages
The U.S.-based insurance company, one of the country's largest, said it's pulling the chargers due to risk of fires
Author of the article:
Jil McIntosh
Published Nov 04, 2024
State Farm, the largest auto and home insurance company in the U.S., has removed all electric vehicle (EV) chargers from its parking garages, citing concerns over fire risks. The decision, announced in late October and effective almost immediately after that, affects chargers at the company’s head office in Bloomington, Illinois; and at its hub locations across the country. State Farm does not operate in Canada.
In a message to its employees, the insurance giant said, “While we understand the impact to those who rely on EV charging, it is our top priority to ensure a safe and secure working environment for our employees. Following an Enterprise Risk Assessment and evaluations conducted by local fire departments and workplace protection in each hub and corporate headquarters, fire risks were identified in the parking garages that cannot be mitigated at this time.”
In a report to a local news agency, a State Farm representative confirmed that charging stations “housed within our parking garages will be closing,” and that “plans are in place to explore alternative charging locations outside of parking garages, including the possibility for EV parking.”
So far, there haven’t been any reports of other insurance companies pulling EV chargers from their facilities. And we’re also wondering if there’s any possibility that, in future, State Farm may start looking at its customers – specifically, those who have installed EV home chargers in their garages – and wonder if the same potential issues it has earmarked at its head office may be on its radar at the consumer level as well as at the corporate one.
oilhammer
Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
My homeowner's insurance won't allow them, either. Which is fine, because I assume that means they won't take on the liability, and thus MY rates will be lower than the otherwise would. Plus I won't ever have one anyway, but that's less important right now.
State Farm in particular is very weird with stuff. I had an issue with them years ago that ended up in court, and in my favor, and turns out it was a common thing for them at the time because the lawyer and judge already knew all about it. Go figure.
State Farm in particular is very weird with stuff. I had an issue with them years ago that ended up in court, and in my favor, and turns out it was a common thing for them at the time because the lawyer and judge already knew all about it. Go figure.
IndigoBlueWagon
TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
That State Farm situation reinforces my belief that insurance companies are doing their level best to not provide insurance.
El Dobro
Top Post Dawg
Sounds like they have a crappy electrical system in their own garages and they don't want to fix it at this time.
"In a message to its employees, the insurance giant said, “While we understand the impact to those who rely on EV charging, it is our top priority to ensure a safe and secure working environment for our employees. Following an Enterprise Risk Assessment and evaluations conducted by local fire departments and workplace protection in each hub and corporate headquarters, fire risks were identified in the parking garages that cannot be mitigated at this time.”
"In a message to its employees, the insurance giant said, “While we understand the impact to those who rely on EV charging, it is our top priority to ensure a safe and secure working environment for our employees. Following an Enterprise Risk Assessment and evaluations conducted by local fire departments and workplace protection in each hub and corporate headquarters, fire risks were identified in the parking garages that cannot be mitigated at this time.”
Daemon64
Veteran Member
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- Jul 19, 2019
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- Tyngsborough, Massachusetts
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- 2022 Polestar 2 BEV - Current, 2021 Q5 55e PHEV - Retired, 2015 Q5 3.0 TDI - Retired, 2013 Golf TDI - Retired
Well all. I pulled the trigger 2021 Audi SQ5 Premium Plus w/ Air Ride & Sports Diff, Daytona Grey Pearl w/ Magma Red interior ( Black Optics Package ). 34k miles on it. It has all the niceties of the 2021 Q5 PHEV i liked, but will have all that low end torque of my diesel and the driving experience 60/40 torque split, zf 8 spd, etc... Car and Driver did its 75MPH test on it and got 28MPG and got the exact same result from the same gen regular Q5 w/ the 2.0. P2 lease is paid off, and is going back to P2 at the end of the lease.
Nuje
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- Feb 11, 2005
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- Island near Vancouver
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- 2002 Golf 6MT; 2015 Sportwagen 6MT; 2016 A3 e-tron 6DSG
Pro move right there: Find a significant other who is charming and non-threatening to strangers.
And then marry that person.
tikal
Veteran Member
Why Tesla supports eliminating the EV tax credit
www.morningbrew.com
"Looking ahead…because the tax credits are included in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Trump can’t remove them without an act of Congress. But Republicans, who will control both chambers next year, can get it done without Democratic votes through a process known as reconciliation (which Democrats used to pass the IRA).—NF"
Why Tesla supports eliminating the EV tax credit
Morning Brew delivers quick and insightful updates about the business world every day of the week from Wall St. to Silicon Valley.
"Looking ahead…because the tax credits are included in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Trump can’t remove them without an act of Congress. But Republicans, who will control both chambers next year, can get it done without Democratic votes through a process known as reconciliation (which Democrats used to pass the IRA).—NF"
kjclow
Top Post Dawg
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2003
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
- TDI
- 2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
So, stopping the incentives will only slightly hurt Musk but cripple his competition. Reason enough to double down on them.
El Dobro
Top Post Dawg
The other manufacturers will have to trim the fat to get their costs down.
Daemon64
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2019
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- Tyngsborough, Massachusetts
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- 2022 Polestar 2 BEV - Current, 2021 Q5 55e PHEV - Retired, 2015 Q5 3.0 TDI - Retired, 2013 Golf TDI - Retired
After leasing 3 different electrics. The cars themselves are on parity to compete with Gas & diesel vehicles. The incentives are to line the pockets of the companies at this point, honestly. Get your processes in order, bring parts in house like tesla which significantly trims your overall cost, they're trying to operate via tons of middlemen and it is hurting their bottom lines, supply chain, and etc...
If the batteries are so expensive you have to bring the cost down in other places but the quality needs to stay up, so taking the classic things that are through third parties and have processes that are easier to replicate is the easier and more cost effective thing. Again Tesla should be an example to these other manufactures that their success lies in the fact that they do so much of it inhouse. This is also why rivian made their own enduro motors instead of using bosch, bosch screwed the contract and hurt them in supply, so they made their own better, much less expensive motors.
When i worked in the semi conductor industry the company i worked for brough all parts of their ion implanters inhouse, including all testing and etc.. and it significantly slashed their costs and allowed them to compete harder on a global scale.
gulfcoastguy
Veteran Member
Been driving electric for nearly 4 years. I wouldn't endorse all of Tesla's cost cutting measures. The gigacasting basically means that a Tesla is totaled after a car crash, and trying for camera only FSD and traffic alerts is begging for trouble.But I would endorse bringing parts supply in house.
El Dobro
Top Post Dawg
Looks like Tesla had repairs already in mind when they came up with the gigacastings.
Daemon64
Veteran Member
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- Tyngsborough, Massachusetts
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- 2022 Polestar 2 BEV - Current, 2021 Q5 55e PHEV - Retired, 2015 Q5 3.0 TDI - Retired, 2013 Golf TDI - Retired
oh for sure. I mostly meant bringing it inhouse which brings the processes inhouse.
Which means in theory if the design teams worked together. They could make affordable parts, at high quality, that work really well together, and thus mechanics aren't cursing their names either.
Its amazing to me that their current model is to go, Yo Bosch give me X part where bosch then goes "Chinese manufacturer make this part for .02" and well hey car manufacturer wholesale on this part is $15, and then the car manufacturer marks it up to $30 to the consumer. Obviously not real numbers but the scale is still there. If the Car manufacturer could make it here for $7 and sell it for $22 then they still make the same margin and the consumer pockets some of the difference. Obviously in the current economy they'd still make it abroad, but it holds the same general concept... why deal with the middle man at all? Many of the cars are parts bin cars from different suppliers so scale isn't the issue.
idk maybe i don't understand enough about supply logistics, but the basics that i DO know about business is that middlemen = higher for the consumer, and often less profit for the manufacturer. Example my pellet stove had the door switch go out, to get it from quadrafire $45, finding the generic US version from a furnace $20, finding the part supplier, and buying it direct? $4 -- I bought 4 of these switches, current one has been working since last season no issue - Just saying.
dieseldonato
Veteran Member
Doesn't matter if tesla decided it was made to fix or not, matters if the body shops and insurance company says it is worth fixing. Time amd time again we see the electric vehicles just arnt worth the cost of repair let alone the risk taken on by the repair shop for doing the repair. Can't hardly even get them to fix a dent without replacing a complete panel.
IndigoBlueWagon
TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
I agree with your comment about middlemen, but auto parts supply, especially body parts, aren't the same as a generic door switch. They're made by one, or a very few, manufacturers for a specific application, and often the auto manufacturer controls supply and distribution. Need a DPF for your VW? Although you may buy it from different retailers, there's only one source. And they set the price.
I only know what little I've read about the challenges repair shops face when it comes to fixing any EV. Some of it is because of design decisions the manufacturer has made. I thnk a lot of the complaints stem from shops being unwilling to embrace changing how they work to accommodate a different type of vehicle.
And when people (reviewers, investors, consumers) talk about EVs in general, one word comes up at some point: Disposable. Build quality and repairability are less important than in the past, because in not too many years (probably fewer than 10) the tech will be far enough out of date that the car isn't appealing to anyone. Time to crush it.