sumo
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How driverless cars will change cities
- Thread starter sumo
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very interesting...just working on a replacement vehicle now...wonder if it will be the last one...dun dun dun...
sumo
Site Supporter
My next car will likely be electric. My brother has a Ford Focus Electric with a range of around 170 km (100 miles) which is working out great for him. His wife has a gas car so they can still go on longer trips. At a level 3 (550v?) charger he can get to 80% in 30 minutes, otherwise he plugs it into a 220v outlet (similar a dryer or stove outlet) in his garage and it gets to 100% overnight. You can use a regular 110v outlet but I guess that takes twice as long as the 220v.
I like the Chevy Bolt EV however they are in short supply.
anglachel
Member
I got a leaf back in June, same deal it's my wife's primary car (she has a longer commute, but still easy range for the EV), I'll take it when I go down to my parents (60 miles round trip for car that is supposed to get 100-120 miles handles it easily), but we keep the subaru for longer trips (and now that she doesn't "need it" all the time I've managed to fix about 2/3rds of the problems with it that I know about, and I'll be able to get it in for a timing belt BEFORE we cross the recommended replacement mileage instead of 40k miles later.)
Our monthly spending on gas is down about $100 a month, and our electric bill is up about $10-20, fair trade.
Electric drive train feels REALLY nice and smooth compared to gas... after driving the EV I always feel like our subaru has a rough idle, because everything feels rough compared to the EV...
4-5 hours to a full charge at home on a level 2 charger, (20 some hours on a 120v outlet, but that's because it caps at 12 amps, you can speed it up a bit with a charger that will do 16 amps on a 20 amp circuit... but most places don't want to have to deal with people blowing breakers on 15 amp circuits) to go from 0 to 100%... though I don't think we've ever gotten below 20%...
Best part was of course the price, starting at 32K in the dealer, but federal rebates and local programs from our utility brought it down by more than 50%.
And we could do better on electricity pricing if we went to off peak electricity for the garage, the charger and the car but support timed charging, so we could get electricity for it at 3 cents a kilowatt instead of 12, but that'd cost us in installation costs for a second meter and re-wiring the connection to the garage...
Down side, just in fuel costs the leaf is cheaper to drive than the NC... and tire costs and maintenance costs... my argument about the NC being more economical than our cars is pretty much gone now. Though it still gives me a more economical option when she has the leaf...
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GregC
Site Supporter
The federal and local rebates cut the price in half? Good grief I have to check into this.
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I haven't very much looked into electric vehicle costs. So the purchase is subsidized by the government (taxpayer) and users also avoid paying highway taxes? How long can this last? Maybe now is the time to jump in.
Could someone detail the price breaks currently offerred?
Could someone detail the price breaks currently offerred?
Dennis M
Member
At 25 seconds into that video there is a '56 Ford wagon just like the one my folks had when I was young.
This is from our 1957 trip to Colorado, me looking out the back window
This is from our 1957 trip to Colorado, me looking out the back window
anglachel
Member
$7,500 from the federal government. (tax credit disappears once the manufacture sells so many EV's though I think only tesla is getting close to that number)
$10,000 from my local utility (probably in collaboration with other folks? I couldn't really figure out who was paying that part, and it was only available for the LEAF in my area, no other EVs so nissan probably tossed in some amount too... maybe the state or some non-profit might have been involved?)
Other rebates vary from state to state, etc.**
However, that being said, It doesn't avoid highway taxes as much as you might think.
MN just changed the law, so EV's have an extra $85 wheelage tax* to make up for the "lost gas tax"
And with the new tax I pay MORE highway taxes in MN and always will, than a comparable ICE...
Electric Vehicles Pay Their Fair Share | Drive Electric Minnesota (article was written before the new wheelage tax* was passed).
*new tax takes effect jan 2018, but by MN law my registration fees can't ever go up from one year to the next, so instead they just won't go down until they've dropped the $85 difference and then I'll be paying the full $85 extra tax, should take a few years (original law would have let me use the carpool lane any time for that $85 but that got stripped out by a committee)
**I've heard tell of people in other states where there is a $2,500 state rebate, as well as a $10k discount, and the federal rebate making it out the door for with a few grand off from the dealer for under $10k.
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Wcmike
Member
I bought a 2014 Leaf with 29,000 miles last year for $8,400. And that was with new tires. I've put 8,000 miles on it and I still like it. At least I like it 60 miles at a time. I get 4 miles to the dime if I pay. Some places even offer free charging.
There are some great off lease deals due to those subsides when new. Many times its corporations buying the cars and taking the tax credits and not paying the gas taxes. Mine came from a person in Georgia where there was a state credit. He leased it. I think that he, like me, only got the gas tax break.
It is likely that I will have to put a new battery in it if I put another 70,000 miles on it as range lessens with use. Hopefully batteries will be cheaper in 8 years. It is currently $5,000 to replace. Or I will juse take the doors off and use it as a golf cart.
There are some great off lease deals due to those subsides when new. Many times its corporations buying the cars and taking the tax credits and not paying the gas taxes. Mine came from a person in Georgia where there was a state credit. He leased it. I think that he, like me, only got the gas tax break.
It is likely that I will have to put a new battery in it if I put another 70,000 miles on it as range lessens with use. Hopefully batteries will be cheaper in 8 years. It is currently $5,000 to replace. Or I will juse take the doors off and use it as a golf cart.
sumo
Site Supporter
Here in Ontario we get $14,000 back from the government (not sure if it comes from federal or provincial coffers) which works out because the the Bolt sells for $35,000 but it looks and feels like a $22,000 ICE car.
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Dohhh....I think we get $5k
anglachel
Member
I bought a 2014 Leaf with 29,000 miles last year for $8,400. And that was with new tires. I've put 8,000 miles on it and I still like it. At least I like it 60 miles at a time. I get 4 miles to the dime if I pay. Some places even offer free charging.
There are some great off lease deals due to those subsides when new. Many times its corporations buying the cars and taking the tax credits and not paying the gas taxes. Mine came from a person in Georgia where there was a state credit. He leased it. I think that he, like me, only got the gas tax break.
It is likely that I will have to put a new battery in it if I put another 70,000 miles on it as range lessens with use. Hopefully batteries will be cheaper in 8 years. It is currently $5,000 to replace. Or I will juse take the doors off and use it as a golf cart.
I don't know about the '14's, but my '17 came with a 10 year 100k mile battery warranty. If I drop below 80% SoH in 10 years or 100k miles, I get a new battery on nissan...
Even if I do end up replacing the battery after 10 years (presumable I'll be at least considering replacing the car around that point) it's still financially beneficial, and 80 miles is still further than we normally drive the car in a single shot (and the dash suggests we are getting 4.5 miles to the Kwh, and a 30 kwh battery means we are getting more than 100 miles range out of it right now... so 112 at 80% SoH isn't an unreasonable assumption).
Hank
Well-Known Member
There has been a very useful discussion on Revzilla’s Common Thread about self steering cars and how they will affect motorcycles.
T S N
Active Member
I share the road with driver less cars every day.They are all TEXTING instead of driving.
Short Time
New Member
Brother you said a mouthful. Just think how much more enjoyable motorcycling would be if all the cars WERE robotically controlled. We could ride without all the stress of thinking about getting creamed by an idiot in a cage.
