The truth about EV's

[whitels1ss]

[amckiwi]

Rowan clearly not expecting a celebrity endorsement discount any time soon

[BLACK 346]

Weirdly, Toyota UK cover their Hybrid battery packs for 10 years but Toyota Australia, only 8 years / 160,000 kms. Toyota take all old battery packs and recycle them. You give them the car and they remove and recycle the battery packs at no cost to you. Even if the car is wrecked. You don't send them off to wreckers or land fill.

I do think you would need to be careful as the second or third owner of a an electric or Hybrid car. You could get stuck with some big bills, but I guess you offset that vs how much you would have spent on petrol. Indeed, those huge costs don't deter second, third and fourth petrol euro car owners, those bills can be eye watering!

It's all a consumer choice. Don't get sucked into believing we will all have to be driving electric cars in 15 years. Not going to happen. Especially in Australia. It will probably not even happen in our life time. There's still going to be lots of old and fun petrol cars running around for decades. Lots of daily cars will be electric though, and I think people will like them once the infrastructure improves. It doesn't work well right now for everyone but it will get there.

I assume that warranty is for total failure, rather than degradation? So in 10 years when my electric car has barely enough range to just get me out of my estate I cannot go back to the manufacturer and get them replaced? Agree totally on the Euro cars, there have been a few over the years that I would have loved to own but avoided due to fear of maintenance and repair costs. There is a letter in the latest Unique cars where a bloke outlines what a cheap near new (just out of warranty) BMW X5 has cost him over a few years. Some of the costs are just mind boggling (ie 15k for a trans). So yeah, petrol cars are risky if you get the wrong one for sure. Another thing which worries me is the rising cost of electricity in Australia, we just got another 25 percent hike here is SA recently. And when will the government run out of goodwill and start taxing the power that these cars are using, similar to how they tax fuel?

[Red CV8 R]

I believe for Tesla, it's a percentage of how much charge it can hold. 80 % or less and it's a replacement, but don't hold me to that, I'm posting this on memory. Toyota is different, being a hybrid, because the motor charges the battery. It can't technically stop, I assume the battery would just end up working less and less. The car could essentially then become a petrol car until you replace the battery? Someone may know as the Toyota system has been out in Japan for many years.I would imagine all those Taxis running Hybrid Camry's wouldn't be using them if it doesn't work and isn't cost effective when doing massive KMs.

[Red CV8 R]

Electricity price rises are a concern for an all electric car. Especially if you rent or are in an apartment. If you have a house or town house with solar and a Tesla power wall, the car is basically free to run. You can do it without a Power wall too, with a bit more effort. However, even when using the grid, compare the price of electricity to petrol. I don't think that disparity is changing any time soon. Petrol is going to keep getting more expensive.

Theoretically, if you can get more local renewable energy into the system, electricity costs should be able to be controlled. Especially if the Government is put under pressure by us, the voters. We import our petrol (do we even have a refinery anymore?), So controlling costs is much harder. I think history shows it won't happen in any meaningful way.

So, if you don't have deep pockets, you won't be driving around in a V8 powered truck or SUV, you will have to use small, slow but efficient cars. Can't say that as my only option makes me want to give up electric. Even synthetic fuels will really be for the rich. So, you can keep your Lambo or GT3 RS Porsche going with all the rumble and noise. Doubt they will be powering cars for us average folks. I'm enjoying my V8 while I can!

[Red CV8 R]

I should add, that last paragraph is the far future. Synthetic fuels aren't even proven yet and Petrol is still going to be a major source of power for our cars for many years to come. Currently, you can run a V8 weekend car quite easily, but I don't know how guys run their big V8s in the city each day without feeling the pinch. I haven't daily driven w V8 for nearly 20 years. So,I don't feel like I'm losing out. I just need to get my V8 fix on the weekends to be happy. I'll enjoy it for as long as I can

[jc_sv8]

I’m on a work trip at the moment and there is always a big fuss about dietary requirements, and there was a snowflake running around asking about any food allergies and my response was “I’m vegan intolerant”… apparently that was the wrong answer

[amckiwi]

I am thinking for my funeral notice I might request no EV’s

[SASLS1]

Interestingly, the Tesla Model Y was the best selling SUV in Australia last month. There will be no shortage of Tesla running around in the future. We also get the China made cars, better quality than the US made cars most of the big markets get.

May 2023 top-sellers listed below:

Tesla Model Y
Toyota RAV4
MG ZS
Hyundai Tucson
Mitsubishi Outlander
Mazda CX-5
BYD Atto 3
Toyota Prado
Toyota LandCruiser
Mazda CX-3

I think I saw that the Tesla Y was only outsold by the Hilux and Ranger.

Thunderf00t’s latest video just out, predicts Elon Musk will be Bankrupt in about ~ 5 years…

Interesting..

Time will tell…

https://youtu.be/vYURUiOjZSw

[Red CV8 R]

Second richest person in the world to bankrupt n 5 years. Big call. Who knows, maybe, but I would wager that Tesla will still be around in 5 years, despite many hoping they won't be

[SASLS1]

Crazy…

https://youtu.be/1SEfwoqKRU8

[whitels1ss]

[Devil CV8]

For me the biggest issue against EVs is the electrical grid. There isn’t enough generation now and each time they shut down an old coal power station it gets worse. Check out AEMO’s app and check the flow of electricity into NSW.
Let’s not even start on the range before recharging or how long it takes to recharge.

[Red CV8 R]

For me the biggest issue against EVs is the electrical grid. There isn’t enough generation now and each time they shut down an old coal power station it gets worse. Check out AEMO’s app and check the flow of electricity into NSW.
Let’s not even start on the range before recharging or how long it takes to recharge.

A fair concern. Although, in a country like Australia, you shouldn't be using the grid to power your electric car. We have plentiful sunshine, lots of detached dwellings and a high intake of solar panels. Mandate solar and batteries and you run your electric car for free. Apartments are more difficult but doable. Battery storage costs will come down and grid electricity costs will keep rising. We can see how it's going now. It's on the news most nights.

The recharge issue is technology specific. You can use a Tesla supercharger to nearly completely charge in 15 mins. Most people won't need a full charge either. That's more likely to decrease over time with tech improvements, but the point is that most people would only be doing top ups, due to battery storage and home charging. Most people don't do huge KMs each day either. A single charge may last them a week or more.

I can understand if you're a person doing 500 KMs a day why you wouldn't switch to an electric car, but that's not the majority of people obviously. So, you'll not be changing often anyway but if you pop your car on your home battery night at least a few times a week, you would probably not ever use a public charger. You're not ever able to completely avoid a petrol station in a petrol powered car

[Red CV8 R]

Starting to see some more interesting electric cars coming out, look at this beauty from Caterham:

https://caterhamcars.com/en/models/projectv