There are 17 million new cars and light trucks sold each year in the United States. It is unbelievable to think that all the battery cars will be able to charge…and to charge that fast….even more impossible.

And just wait and see what happens when the cost to charge is equal to that of a gas…taxes go up…somehow, some way….roads have to be fixed and repaired.

Battery recycling fees you say? …or gee maybe a disposal fee on top of that as well.

What about some idea that they could tax the tire distance? Somewhere that as discussed.

Or maybe we have have EV “connection” fees when you charge at home?

EVs are a great idea. Expensive as heck. Powerful yeah…and a Tesla is damn sexy….but in some way…I just miss the old days when stuff was much simpler.

 

I suspect that, eventually, assuming that the electric-grid can meet the power-demands for all those vehicles recharging in the first place, that we will see taxes go up on that electricity. And then, if possible, people may (?) start doing what some of the diesel owners have tried before, when they ran their vehicles on homemade biodegradable oil.....running their vehicles on home-generated electricity from solar power.

 

Well, in many ways, a BEV IS much simpler. Simple electric motor, with few mechanicals. No anti-freeze cooling system, radiator, water-pump, hoses, ignition system, spark plugs, air filter, etc... One-speed transmission. No fuel system. No gas tank. no plumbing. The main issue, of course, is the size, weight, and cost of the large battery-pack.

 

Would you add the fossil fuel industry/paradigm to this list? Considering it's a non-renewable energy source, I think it would only be fair.

How far back do the good old days go? For example, I often hear enthusiasts say "my car has a soul", and reference a given vehicle from a decade or three ago, mainly because it makes cool mechanical noises and rumbles. I can imagine people who owned/relied on horses, used to echo the soul argument, too, after grooming their living, breathing horse, while frowning at cold, "soulless" machines. Change requires work and it can be tricky to see the goal, but simplicity seems to really mean "maintain the status quo"-- which sure, is comfortable for many people, but also leads to stagnation. Infrastructure must be built, similar to every other challenge we've faced, from roads, to fueling stations, to the expansion of electric grids, etc. This is really no different than the cycle you've outlined above.

 

this thread no longer has anything to do with the topic but want to comment on last few posts anyway...

regardless of what you think, whether you like it, and the obstacles, this is happening. There's obviously too much momentum in terms of environmental activism, political will, government programs, and manufacturers for it to not happen. About the 17m new vehicles... of course tons of vehicles go away too (old age, accidents, etc) each year.

but they're not that expensive any longer. A basic model 3 at 42k i think with almost no maintenance and typically less than half the 'fueling' costs (or none if one has solar) pays back in the long run.

In what was it simpler and how far back do you mean by the "old days".

So what, especially the last part, if people use home-generated solar power to charge their cars, as thousands are today, that's a GREAT thing.

there's really nothing simple about an EV. Yes, it's mechanically simpler overall without an ICE but it still has brakes (regular and regenerative which is more complicated than ICE cars), axles, suspension, usually a battery cooling/heating system i believe, endless safety features, tons of software to manage and monitor health/usage, etc.

 

You've been around Car Chat enough to know that most of the Tesla threads end up being a discussion about EVs themselves, and the future of the EV industry. This one is apparently no exception.


I think you misunderstood me...and the intent of the post. Personally, I don't have any problems with people using home-generated fuels like solar power or biodegradable diesel oil...I say live and let live. Governments and institutions however, often look upon it as tax-evasion.....and I won't really get into that here because, yes, that would be off-topic. All I'll say is that Car and Driver did a story, some time ago on a diesel-owner in (I think?) Wisconsin, who would save the oil he cooked his food in, give it a simple clean-up and purification, and run his vehicle with it. The state didn't like it, and actually prosecuted him. I don't remember the outcome of the trial.



Either way, BEVs require a lot less maintenance than an ICE. I'm not necessarily a big BEV fan, yet I concede that.

 

You mean oil industries falling? Not sure what you meant.

as for good old days, I guess for me it goes back about 40-50 years. When I say good old days, I refer to a time when things just seemed more relaxed and less complicated. Less regulated. Less virtue signalling

I remember a time when we didn’t have:
calories in food
Food labels weren’t so complicated
no recycling (not that I want no recycling)
no plastic bag fees
no issues ordering a large diet soda at the movies
my husbands Playboys actually had advertisements from every major brand such as Toyota, Johnny Cuervo, Timberland and other such stuff next to the sultry ****. People weren’t so offended

even stuff like trees in my yard have to be tagged
battery recycling fees
my new Toyota is supposedly “connected” and knows where I go. (No my old one). Have to pay a damn fee.
my new Toyota has endless beeps and stuff warning me about this and that,….and the menus I need to navigate just to find a radio station.

So…good thing tax payers $$ might go to this big electric conversion…mark my words…it will be more expensive to own a battery electric and or a hydrogen electric car. It will because of taxes. Just like you a “carbon tax” now added to gas in some parts of the world….there will be all sorts of lovely fees.

…I am still annoyed Lexus took away the dedicated air conditioning button on some of the higher end Lexus models…so yeah…I miss the good old days when things seemed a little more simple.

 

You answered the old days question for me.

But see my post above.

 

The whole old day vs good days discussions is fine and dandy, lol, but there are many places in the world where EVs are just not cut it in any foreseeable future, and even more so for the self driving nonsense. Most roads in NYC are pothole ridden obstacle courses, unless they somehow teach self driving cars to maneuver around potholes on roads with no lane marking, it's going to remain nothing but a hipster fantasy. Props to Elon for making money off stupid people who are paying for this scam.

 

I went back and read the Tesla thread (since locked) from 7-8 years ago. To put it kindly the vast majority of pessimism turned out to be unfounded, I am confident the same will be said going forward about the pessimism in this thread.

 

An excellent point. There is little excuse for roads being in that kind condition (except maybe in the Snow Belt, where roads deteriorate faster than they can be repaired). But, unfortunately, excuses or not, in some places, poor-quality roads are a fact of life. And, unfortunately, trying to maneuver around one pothole can sometimes mean hitting another one.

 

Autopilot could not have been functioning in Tesla Texas crash, NTSB saysAnd there it is.

 

Still they found the body in the back seat. With the belt engaged. Not good

 

That means they thought they engaged autopilot but instead engaged cruise control then proceeded to go into the back seat.

 

no it does not.