What will it take to make you seriously consider an EV?

I’m pretty sure they will able to figure out solar somehow eventually.

 

EVs have a niche but we simply aren't close to having battery and EV technology that can replace vehicles that haul heavy cargo.

Also, there is no national network to charge non-Tesla EVs and there is no plan in the works to have one. There isn't really an easy way to charge your EV unless you have a house either. Good luck apartment dwellers!

Third, the price of EVs has not come down enough to make it economical for the majority of Americans. Additionally, I am highly curious about their claim in the article of gas savings making up the $18k difference in price. If you are an average driver then you save maybe about $1000/year on gas versus what it costs to charge the EV at home.

Average electric car price hit $66,000 in the US, but that’s not the whole story

Also, home solar is simply not enough power to charge EVs. It's too space consuming, too limited on the time of day, and batteries to store the energy are still not cheap enough for the average person. This doesn't even get into how badly solar and battery installers screw people on installation price. It's just not economical. The govt subsidies are lovely, but they don't do anything in the end from my perspective.

I can keep going on the issues preventing wide scale adoption, but that's a few for right now. Trust me I get wanting things to be different for EVs and solar, but wearing rose colored glasses don't change the reality of the major issues that still have not been addressed and that are not remotely close to being addressed.

 

You're spot on. Then think about where things were 5 years ago and where things could be 5 years from now.

Nobody (responsible/reputable) has ever said this was going to happen rapidly.

 

More details are out for the Chevy Equinox EV.
https://media.chevrolet.com/media/u...ews/us/en/2022/sep/0908-equinoxev-reveal.html

Important bits
- 250 mile to 300 mile range depending on spec and FWD/AWD
- No official price, but still targeting starting price of $30,000 before government incentives
- 210 HP, 242 lb-ft of torque for FWD, 290 HP and 346 lb-ft of torque for AWD
- 150kw DCFC charging
- Production starts Fall 2023 with the 2RS trim.

No big surprises, but no disappointments either. I think GM will have a massive hit on their hands if they can keep the prices in the $30k-$45k range. Wish they had released prices, but I bet GM doesn't want to handcuff themselves with prices since when production is more than a year away.

 

I'll just say one of our constant failures is an inability to see beyond our own right now. The problems will demand solutions whether we're ready or not.

Back to actual cars: After 10 months of having a Mustang Mach-E I have no complaints at all about the car. Drives great, cheap to power, negligible maintenance costs and time. The one big problem looming for an individual user of an EV is that they are essentially computers on wheels, which creates a massive opportunity for corporate mischief with software. My car gets routine software updates, but I don't know what's happening and Ford's notices are not technical at all. I just have to trust them and by extension the federal government and courts that have oversight of corporate practices. Not an entirely comfortable place. I can imagine everything from planned obsolescence like we see with some phones and tablets to monitoring every drive and car conversation to subscription services for things like regenerative braking to more extreme stuff like turning your car into a brick for some debt reason. And then there are hackers. John Deere has recently come under fire for making their ICE tractors bricks because of unauthorized maintenance--meaning the tractor has to be serviced by a John Deere guy and nothing can be done by the owner or a non-certified mechanic--of course, maintenance is much more expensive that way and farmers have been trying to hack the tractors for years now. John Deere is giving into the pressure in typical corporate fashion: they are now willing to sell software licenses to individuals for the tractors they already bought. Anyway, we need some laws and better oversight about what those software updates are allowed to do and the security of those systems. If trust is lost, it will make the transition much more difficult.

https://www.wired.com/story/john-deere-tractor-jailbreak-defcon-2022/

 

Hybrids are still the most convenient answer to all of your points.

But I'm not sure if you want to haul heavy cargo with one.

Yeah, the right to fix is an issue normally dealt with smart phones or personal devices.

I think if car companies want to add subscriber shenanigans, then they should be on the hook for replacing 10 yr old batteries as part of the fees, though it's unlikely since they want the fattest of margins.

 

John Deere's coolest thing that's actually useful is their "introduction" of autonomous tractors for farmers. A lot easier to implement than autonomous cars, but ... take that Elon. lol. Some of the coolest machinery I've seen involves the planting, maintenance, and cultivation of crops. And now they're going toward batteries and autonomous vehicles, too.

 

Now hear me out…

we dig tunnels and plant crops there. Call it hyperhole…

 

Not just Deere, at all. The Legislation is called "Right to Repair" and it covers a bunch of industries and equipment (for example, McDonalds and their ice cream machine vendors are involved in one case)

For BS reasons it's being fought and passed on a State-by-State basis. NY just passed a bill:

https://www.business-standard.com/a...w-for-digital-electronics-122060400311_1.html

 

Dude, I've been talking about this for years, where were you?

 

Hell if I know. Probably out eating BBQ or something.

 

Alright now I want some good BBQ. Who is down for a road trip to get some bbq...

 

There's no food worth going 1 hour out of your way for.

 

Some Russians took off with farm equipment from Ukraine earlier this year and it was shutdown.

https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-how-farm-vehicles-stolen-by-russia-were-remotely-disabled/a-61691839



Business
Ukraine: How farm vehicles stolen by Russia were remotely disabled

Russian soldiers looted combine harvesters and tractors worth millions of dollars from Ukraine, according to a media report. But the machinery was deactivated remotely before it could be put to use.


Russian soldiers reportedly stole 27 farm vehicles worth $5 million from a local dealer in Ukraine

Not content with stealing Ukrainian grain, Russian soldiers also reportedly looted nearly $5 million (€4.72 million) worth of agricultural machines from their neighbor and foe.

Citing an unnamed source in the occupied Ukrainian city of Melitopol, CNN said this week that Russian troops stole a large collection of high-end agricultural machinery from a local dealer and transported it 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) away to Chechnya.

5:01 min
Is Russia deliberately stoking the world food crisis?
What was stolen and where was it taken?
CNN said a total of 27 agricultural vehicles were taken, including several combine harvesters, which alone are worth $300,000 each.

The equipment was stolen from a John Deere dealer in Melitopol.

John Deere is the world's largest manufacturer of agricultural machinery, including tractors, combine harvesters, balers, planters/seeders, silage machines and sprayers.

One of the flatbed trailers used to transport the looted vehicles had a white "Z" painted on it and appeared to be a Russian military vehicle, the contact told the US broadcaster.

The letter "Z" has become a symbol of the war as it was displayed on Russian vehicles massed on the border with Ukraine in the lead-up to theinvasion on February 24.

Several other reports have emerged of farm equipment and crops being stolen by Russian soldiers during the conflict in Ukraine, while Russia is also holding up Ukrainian grain exports.

Over the past two months, Agrotek-Invest, a Ukrainian farm machine dealer, has posted several times on Facebook detailing the theft of equipment, including John Deere harvesters and machinery made by the Swedish firm Vaderstad.

Vaderstad commented on the posts, saying the machines had been remotely locked to stop them from working.

As the machines were equipped with GPS and geofencing (a virtual perimeter), their journey could be tracked to the Chechen capital, Grozny, and a nearby village.

What happened when the thieves tried to use the vehicles?
According to CNN, when the thieves tried to start up the stolen combine harvesters, they didn't work.

The machinery is fitted with anti-theft devices, which had been remotely activated.

For now, the vehicles have been rendered useless but could still be sold for spare parts.

Some experts believe the software on the machinery could still be hacked, allowing them to be used again.

How big is the problem of farm machinery theft?
The theft of farm machinery is a regular occurrence globally, causing huge personal and financial losses for farmers and the insurance sector.

Insurance firms recommend the use of GPS tracking technology, while many manufacturers now have software that disables vehicles if they are stolen.

Farm machinery is surprisingly high tech and manufacturers have for decades utilized GPS to help farmers to steer their vehicles around huge crop fields.

John Deere also boasts fully autonomous machinery where the farmer is no longer required in the field, except to refuel the vehicle every few hours.

 

Eventually a time will come when increased usage of hybrid and electric vehicles will force a conversation about road funding. Lower consumption of gas and diesel per miles driven will lower revenues from fuel taxes while road usage will be increasing. Those lost revenues will need to be made up from somewhere or spending on roads will decrease.

 

Nice to hear on that Mach-E. I really like those. And yes I agree 100% with your comments updates and potential to screw customers over there. Tesla's updates were a big negative for me. They also changed their service so you were forced to use the app to contact anyone at service. There was no actual person you could call. Very frustrating to say the least.

 

https://insideevs.com/news/609121/lithium-supply-cant-meet-demand-ev-targets/

Not Enough Lithium To Satisfy US EV Adoption Goals, Says Mining CEO

Automakers already made it clear that the rules that will be put into law thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act will likely cripple EV producers long before promoting them. This is because the US simply doesn't have the battery material mining operations in place that are needed for the growing number of EVs on the road today. Now, the CEO of Piedmont Lithium is chiming in.

For background, the new US federal electric vehicle tax credit has strict requirements related not only to the EVs being manufactured in North America, but also to where the materials are sourced from. More specifically, the EVs' batteries must be made with materials sourced domestically, or from a country that has a free trade agreement with the US. The rules aren't as strict initially, but by 2026, vehicles will need to have 80% of critical materials sourced based on the rules.

Having rules that help make the US less reliant on other countries is arguably a positive. However, it's going to take some time for the country to catch up when it comes to lithium extraction and processing. Piedmont Lithium CEO Keith Phillips told Yahoo Finance Live in a recent interview:

“Yes, we’ll [eventually] have enough, but not by that time. There’s going to be a real crunch to get the material. We don’t have enough in the world to turn that much [lithium] production in the world by 2035."

While we never suggest relying on one single individual to tell it how it is, the CEO of Piedmont Lithium probably has a pretty solid grasp of the supply and demand issues related to battery materials. Moreover, as we continue to add more electric cars to the mix, the materials will become more scarce.

In the meantime, companies are trying to do what they can to find solutions, but there simply aren't enough facilities or workers to make anything happen immediately. This is all contributing to the fact that lack of supply and growing demand are causing battery material prices to rise when we have been repeatedly promised that EV batteries are going to get cheaper over time.

Despite the challenges that lie ahead, President Biden has set a goal that all new cars sold in the US by 2030 must be electric cars. To encourage people to make the switch, they'll be afforded a credit of up to $7,500. However, once the new rules officially kick in, most EVs sold in the US will no longer be eligible for a credit. It will take time for automakers to put the right pieces in place to ensure that their electric vehicles are eligible for a tax credit.

Piedmont Lithium is one of only a few lithium mining companies in the US. It has already announced plans to begin construction on a new lithium processing facility in Tennessee in 2023. It also has another similar project planned for North Carolina thereafter. CEO Philips expressed:

“The world has changed. We're now in an era where everyone's going to want an electric car. The car companies can't make them fast enough, and people are now looking for the lithium they need for the batteries to go in those electric cars.”

That said, Phillips is looking at a very long road ahead. He told Yahoo that the US has a very slow permitting process, which makes matters even worse. China continues to dominate the industry, and Australia and Chile are the largest lithium producers in the world. Phillips notes that lithium-related projects get permitted in Australia in less than a year, while it has taken as many as eight years in the US, though some permits only took two years, which is still way too long.

 

This is going on in Pennsylvania right now -a state that raises its gas taxes every time gas prices go down, to the point to where we have the highest gas tax in the country, IIRC.

They say there are too many electric cars, which is BS, and because of this, the gas tax is not sufficient in supplying road maintenance funding. Meanwhile, how do other states do it?

So, now, they've floated around different ideas. One was heavy tolls on bridge crossings throughout the state. Another, of course, was increasing tolls in general. Finally, the worst, was monitoring the amount of miles you drive, which apparently is already in use our west. There was some actual talk of the state installing some type of gps or other software in order to do this. Luckily that was poopooed before it got far enough....


Also, count me on the bandwagon of people that will not buy from a car company that charges me per month to use services in my car. I will not pay a monthly fee for air conditioning, heated seats, adaptive cruise, or anything else that is not actively maintained on my car. I will simply look elsewhere, to a different manufacturer.