Electric cars

Car_54

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Google Tesla short sellers and see how many $bn's they've lost over the years betting against the company, or even trying to push the price down with negative stories.

Indeed. But what has happened in the past is no guide to the future, as potential investors are invariably warned.

Come to think of it, perhaps Tesla may prove that one day by actually making a profit.;)

almillar

I seem to recall that whilst cars of capable of many 100's of thousands of miles, their cost becomes too high due to the ever increasing cost of maintaining the powertrain and drivetrain.

I agree - electric motors could be far more reliable than ICE ones.
Batteries will last 'the lifetime of the car' or can be replaced.

A well looked after electric car could last ages, but there is still plenty to go wrong, plenty that could put a car 'beyond economical repair'...

Why the limit? And no, components don't need to last 1,000,000 miles if they are easy enough to replace. Automated cars could easily sense when a suspension component is worn and book into a repair shop.
Whole interiors could be replaced.

You could apply this to ICE cars too. But as above, it's about cost to repair vs going and buying another car. Why would an interior, spring, wishbone, anti roll bar, last any longer in an electric car than an ICE?

There are costs to be removed on electric cars - oil changes, spark plugs etc, but there are many things that stay the same.

And in terms of running high miles, you'll be aware that electric cars aren't bulletproof. I've had no problems myself, but you'll be aware of plenty of models having various AC/DC chargers go wrong, and big bits of electronics between motor and battery. At this stage, many of these are being replaced under warranty, but a few years down the line, this will be like a blown engine, and could write off a car.

I still think at this early stage, it's safe to say 'an EV can last AS LONG AS an ICE car' (say 200,000 miles?).

it has been suggested that the air that a Euro 6 sucks in is dirtier than the stuff that comes out of the exhaust in cities.

I heard in the 90s (post catalytic converters) that a SAAB, I think, drove through London, and the air coming out of the exhaust was cleaner that what the engine was taking in. True? False? Urban myth?

Martyn1981

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Right because there are no known cases of an internal combustion engined car crashing and catching fire ... oh, wait ....

One news item I saw yesterday suggested 400-500 car fires per day in the US ...... but that sounded a bit high, or perhaps the person saying it was?

Regardless, statistically, I think EV fires are not a problem.

Martyn1981

Car_54 wrote: »

Indeed. But what has happened in the past is no guide to the future, as potential investors are invariably warned.

Come to think of it, perhaps Tesla may prove that one day by actually making a profit.;)

How are your shares in Nokia, AT&T, Peabody Coal and Buggy Whips-r-Us doing?

Car_54

Martyn1981 wrote: »

How are your shares in Nokia, AT&T, Peabody Coal and Buggy Whips-r-Us doing?

Down the pan. Thank you for illustrating my point!

AdrianC

almillar wrote: »

I heard in the 90s (post catalytic converters) that a SAAB, I think, drove through London, and the air coming out of the exhaust was cleaner that what the engine was taking in. True? False? Urban myth?

Late 80s, early 90s, when cats were still a novelty and before they became compulsory in 1992 - yep, Saab advertised the 9000 (with standard cat) as the exhaust being "cleaner" than the air going in. It was, of course, highly dependent on what was being measured... In terms of unburnt HC, it was probably very true.

RichardD1970

heathfieldmotors wrote: »

The electric car is the best option. Because an electric car has Less Air Pollution
The second major difference is in the cost of fuel, or ‘fuel economy’. The cost of the electricity required to power an electric car is significantly cheaper than that of regular fuel such as petrol or diesel.
Petrol and other fuel based cars can run for considerably longer than their electric Car.
Maintenance costs for electric car is less compared to a petrol car.

Nicely summed up...

But after nearly 1300 posts I think these points have already been covered in quite a bit of detail.

Car_54

RichardD1970 wrote: »

Nicely summed up...

But after nearly 1300 posts I think these points have already been covered in quite a bit of detail.

The school holidays have begun ...

Uxb

The state of the public chargers - let alone their availability is going to have to improve considerably.

I look ever now and then at the Zap map
Some charging facilities seem no more than some sort of virtue signal by the provider claiming how green they are.

Charging stations which are supposedly available but in reality are not, only open in office hours, only available to customers etc.
There is one single one in my local town
It has 580 comments under it from users - and as we know its mostly the outraged and dissatisfied that post review comments: in this case its various non functionalities continuing for weeks at a time.

Andy_L

Martyn1981 wrote: »

One news item I saw yesterday suggested 400-500 car fires per day in the US ...... but that sounded a bit high, or perhaps the person saying it was?

Regardless, statistically, I think EV fires are not a problem.

According to wiki there are 260million passenger vehicles in the US so that's quite low as a %age.
That's about 10x the number of cars in England and we have 300 fires per day (unfortunately that's a UK number edit: and I think all vehicles) Even allowing for the vagaries of international statistics comparisons they seem lower than us.