Are EVs really dead?

The car drivetrain remains straight ICE the whole time.
The initial time machine power source is an onboard nuclear reactor.
The later time machine and flight drivetrain is powered by the Mr Fusion, which appears to run on biosolids, and not nuclear power as the name implies, so it's still potentially a form of combustion (or oxidation?). So maybe similar to hydrogen cars today, an alternative fuel vehicle. (Although it would be more green, as the trash is an existing product, vs. using energy to separate the hydrogen fuel).

 

So... it's a hybrid!

 

12 parsecs!!

 

EVs make a lot of sense for some people, but not so much for others. We will be buying an EV for my wife next year. She works in outside sales in and around the greater San Diego area. Sometimes could drive 150 miles a day. Charge up over night when rates are cheap... go about her business during the day, charge up again next night, rinse and repeat. Makes perfect sense.

What i don't like about EVs is apparently insurance is a lot more expensive (can't confirm, just what i've heard), and tire wear. Also, none of the 'good looking' ones are affordable. Although not going full on practical mode, she still wants to drive something that has some cool factor, like most of us do. The Tesla Model 3 would be perfect, and is reasonably priced, but they are eeeeeverywhere around here. We aren't anti-Elon people at all, she just wants something at least somewhat unique. Right now we are on the waiting list for the Rivian R2.

 

If the insurance is more expensive and you need tires much more frequently are you really saving any money by not buying gasoline?

 

I don't think anyone saves money with an EV (at least not since the original Leaf). People buy them because they like them.

Some niche cases probably make sense, but I think it's more like luxury cars. You've probably noticed, there aren't many budget EVs out there, they all come across as high end.

 

And that's the way it should be.
Not because someone else said they must buy them.

 

Maybe if you have a bolt and can charge for free at work it might be cheaper but other than that EVs are just too damn expensive compared to similar gas vehicles.

 

People throw this around, but no one has been forced to buy an EV to date.

Closest I can think of was the proposed future ban on new gas car sales in California, and that was a pretty lofty goal.

Incentivizing EV purchases actually gives consumers more choices, as it makes the more expensive cars more affordable. The real reason it's going away is because a certain EV manufacturer doesn't like competition (Tesla).

Personally, I don't see this as any different than regulating fuel (leaded gas anyone?) or emissions. Situations change, and we should adapt to them.

 

Good points, but with how expensive gasoline is here in CA, maybe. I'd have to crunch some numbers. An EV also solves her hatred of having to go to gas stations, but that's just a personal preference on her part.

 

Gas is probably about half as much here and I still hate paying for it. A new problem here is that the electric companies have been jacking our rates up so much the last couple years that our bill has more than doubled. I’m starting to hate the utility companies more than the oil companies. If we planned on staying here long term I would install solar panels.

 

…

not going to gas stations saves mileage and time. Our Rav4 Prime basically only sees a gas station when we are traveling long distances.

 

Dude, SDG&E is the devil. Our 'transmission' costs are like three times our electric 'generation' costs. Means i have to pay three times the amount of energy i generated, for them to get me that energy. And thats on top of probably paying one of the highest rates in the country for energy. What a racket.

 

I’d be more amenable to electric cars if they weren’t so enmeshed with the social credit score concept. I’ve never been much of a joiner, and the thought of being one of those people with the smug expression on his face, walking out of Trader Joe’s in his Tom’s shoes and sustainable bamboo board shorts, toward his electric car while munching his waxy bitter Fair Trade chocolate bar — it gives me the heebie jeebies.

 

Just wait until more people are forced or conned into electric heat, ranges, cars, lawn equipment, etc. They’ll be able to charge whatever they want.

 

Honestly, who cares? My brother-in-law drives a VW ID4 EV, he's 6'6, all tatted up and looks like a biker. He doesn't give a f*ck.

That stereotype you mentioned maybe was 15 or 20 years ago with hybrids, but I've never actually seen anybody like that.In my observation, the people that seem to make their vehicle their whole personality are truck bros.

 

The South Park smug episode comes to mind, but I agree, never seen one of these people in real life.

 

Yeah, that's the first thing that came to my mind when I read it, I feel like that's what he was thinking of.

 

Okay, I’m going to be the jerk for just a second here (lightheartedly, of course):

I’ll keep that in mind when I see Tesla drivers having tailgates and reading novels at the local Sheetz, when I’m in and outta there in five minutes.

- - - -

Okay, I’m done being the jerk now.

 

What? Have we been deceived all this time? I was under the distinct impression the biosolids were used as a fuel to feed a nuclear fusion reaction. I feel so let down by the future.

I’ve heard the same thing about tire wear. What I don’t understand is why that would be the case. Is it just because drivers think EVs can be accelerated hard with total abandon because they’re “efficient”? One of my gripes about much of the EV segment in practice is that they’re being built and advertised as fast. And if not fast, the gargantuanly sized EVs. What’s the point of efficient cars if their being built and marketed as a free pass to operate in the most inefficient wasteful manner?

A properly set up and aligned EV shouldn’t wear on tires any faster than any other similar ICE car.

 

It’s about the extra weight, from carrying the heavy batteries around.
Extreme example: there’s a reason the new Hummer is something like 9k pounds….

With added weight comes extra road friction in general, particularly during braking and cornering. Inertia’s a cruel b*tch sometimes!

 

But if your tires are wearing notably faster than similarly heavy vehicles, that means they’re outfitting them with inappropriately sized tires. Or they’re using super soft specialty tires with a short tread life to get maximum traction. To me that’s not an EV problem. Rather it’s just a result of engineering/design choices (designing them to operate as hot rods instead of a more efficient vehicle).

That’s what I think is wasteful, if you’re buying them (or marketing them) for the green aspect. It makes little sense to take the efficiencies of EV and cash those savings in to make it faster than a Ferrari. Laws of thermodynamics apply to EVs just the same.

 

Put an extra 800-1000 pounds in your truck and drive around that way for six months or so. You’ll see the increase in tire wear.

It’s an EV problem more than an ICE vehicle problem, because the EVs are constantly carrying so much extra weight around. Could tires be better designed, specifically for EVs? Probably. But it’s still just physics.

 

Hopefully more manufacturers start making basic EVs like the Slate truck is supposed to be rather than ones like the Rivian with 850 HP and every electronic doodad know to man.

 

I think that’s where the potential for honest growth is for EV companies. Plenty of younger folks growing up with the distinct impression nobody wants their business (or wants to enslave them in huge loans). If they were offered a product that was financially accessible, the EV manufacturers would potentially lock in a generation of customers.

And if anyone argues “nobody wants cheap/lightweight vehicles”, I call BS. While it’s an unfortunate reality, the truth is most of us are told what we want through various marketing efforts. Good marketing could solidify a cheap EV market, especially since there’s a solid reason to actually develop that segment.

Not that I’m holding out any hope for that. Antisocial business models and the weird conglomeration of laws and incentives for unnecesarily large vehicles would make it really unlikely manufacturers would want to make smaller inexpensive cars.

 

They could also be really shitty low rolling resistance tires with very little tread to maximize the range (think even worse than Dunlop Grandtreks). I could see those wearing out faster with the added weight and torque as mentioned above.

 

My 4runner weighs 1000 lbs more than a Camry, but yet the tires last longer than most other cars I’ve owned.

It’s totally possible for a car of any weight to have tires that last past 50k + miles, if they’re fitted with tires of the appropriate specification to meet that objective.

But if you’re design objective is to put down 1000ft/lbs of torque to the asphalt, and accelerate 8000lbs in plaid mode to 100mph, then yeah, you’re going to be stuck having to use supercar tires that need to be replaced every other weekend. My point is that low tread life is happening because they’re probably using soft low treadlife tires to handle the with the max torque output of these vehicles. Or the tires are not properly sized to the weight of the vehicle. Fast tire wear is not happening because a car is powered electricly.

They wear fast because EV manufacturers are speccing them with fast wearing tires. And they should…so long as they are making heavy cars with ungodly amounts of torque.

It would be nice if they didn’t need to do that.

 

You're right. I asked Mr. AI and this was the answer I got:


AI Overview
Yes, tires on electric vehicles (EVs) tend to wear out faster than tires on gasoline-powered cars, though the extent of the difference can vary. This is primarily due to the instant torque and heavier weight of EVs, which place more stress on the tires.
Here's a more detailed explanation:

• Instant Torque:
  .
  Electric motors deliver maximum torque from a standstill, causing tires to spin more easily during acceleration, leading to increased wear.
• Vehicle Weight:
  .
  EVs, particularly those with large battery packs, are often heavier than comparable gasoline vehicles, putting more pressure on the tires.
• Driving Style:
  .
  Aggressive driving, including hard acceleration and braking, can exacerbate tire wear on any vehicle, but it's more pronounced with the higher torque and weight of EVs.
• Tire Design:
  .
  Some EV manufacturers use low rolling resistance tires to improve efficiency, but these tires may have softer rubber compounds that wear more quickly, according to Brock Automotive Import Service.

....It's the tire design that makes 'em wear the fastest, I assume. "Improved efficiency" has a trade off.