Electric vehicles have an efficiency problem

[Boiler 45,434]

I do find it fascinating that the Ultra Geenies hate Musk.

[Dashinka 24,466]

10 hours ago, Boiler said:

I do find it fascinating that the Ultra Geenies hate Musk.

Yes, the woke "progressive" left can be a fickle bunch.  That being said, and yes that is part of the issue, but not the entirety of Tesla's problems.  As I alluded, other than the CT, Tesla has no new product or major facelifts in the pipeline.  It seems they are putting the supposed Model 2 on the back burner, so by the time a major facelift for existing models shows up the Model Y will be close to 8-9 years old.  People buying new cars are not looking for a car that looks like the car someone else bought 8 years ago (even Apple and Samsung know you cannot keep selling things without even minor hardware/styling updates).  Then there is the entire strategy of lowing prices willy nilly which really upsets recent buyers and stifles the used car values.  We shall see what happens, but if Tesla is pivoting toward full steam AV, that would seem a mistake to keep the company viable long-term.

 

Edited April 23 by Dashinka

[Boiler 45,434]

Tesla get a mention here but the whole market is tanking

 

 

[Dashinka 24,466]

11 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Except for its effect on Elon Musk, who is largely one of the good guys, I personally don't care if every electric-car company or division goes under.

I like Musk, particularly his no-nonsense approach to free speech, but he seems a lot more like Billy Durant then Alfred Sloan.  Good at realizing dreams, but not really great at actually managing a big company.  Time will tell, but at some point, just announcing something will not keep the stock price up.

 

 

Edited April 23 by Dashinka

[TBoneTX 45,223]

Tesla Cybertruck Stops Working After Car Wash

 

Tesla Cybertruck owners have experienced breakdowns after washing their vehicles, sparking discussions about the truck's durability.  [...]

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tesla-cybertruck-stops-working-car-142400110.html

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,370]

On 3/31/2024 at 9:05 PM, Neonred said:

Reminds me of the time I was driving from Darlington SC back to Columbia in my '71 Dodge Dart (please don't laugh).  I had just gotten a fancy new "radar detector",  Bearcat was the brand.  I also was doing at least 10 over and that darn new radar detector kept making noise and I thought there was something wrong with it.  Just about that time I saw the cop in the median.  Sure enough he pulled out to track me down.  I slowed right down and pulled that detector off the dash.  He followed right behind me for a couple of miles but didn't pull me over.  Only thing I could figure was that he was a SC fan and liked all the stupid bumper stickers I had on the back of the car.  "Go Gamecocks" and "Rednecks turn orange in the fall".  One thing I'm sure of is that he wasn't a Clemson fan.  That would have been '78 or '79.

I read somewhere the other day, that so many cars use radar now for Blind Spot Monitor etc, that Radar detectors  are almost no good due to false alerts 

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,370]

On 4/11/2024 at 10:17 PM, TBoneTX said:

English-only etc.!

The rule began in the late '70s.  It was lifted far too many years later, certainly in the '80s.

I am sorry I used a word outside your vocabulary 

 

definable

adjective

de·fin·able di-ˈfī-nə-bəl 

 

Synonyms of definable

1

: able to be defined

 

2

: able to be specified to have a particular function or operation

definable keys

[Neonred 3,560]

48 minutes ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

I read somewhere the other day, that so many cars use radar now for Blind Spot Monitor etc, that Radar detectors  are almost no good due to false alerts 

The better new radar detectors will filter out the radar used on new cars.  I'm using a Uniden R7 and the latest firmware I recently downloaded added some new filters.  The bigger problem, especially in GA on I-95, is laser speed detection.  Really need (expensive) laser jammers.   I'm not ready to spend over $1000 just for that.

[Boiler 45,434]

Hybrid owners trying to remove plugs to avoid road user charges

 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/508403/hybrid-owners-trying-to-remove-plugs-to-avoid-road-user-charges

 

Kathryn Trounson of EV lobby group Better NZ Trust said the fact people like Parker were trying to remove the plugs was an indictment of the way the government brought in the changes.

"I think the number the government has put on it feels more like a finger in the wind than anything that's been worked out sensibly, and for 15km of range you can understand the gentleman in his Mitsubishi."

Trounson does not dispute the need for change: she said with 100,000 EVs in the country, it was always expected they would have to start paying road user charges.

But in the current design she fears it will turn people to petrol, with the change landing soon after scrapping Clean Car Discounts for EVs.

"We are trying very hard to clean up our atmosphere... all those things are not going to work if people look at RUCs and no clean car discount and think, well I may as well buy an efficient petrol car. Those cars may be in the fleet for 15 years."

[TBoneTX 45,223]

A second charging station was hit on Wednesday.  Until details become known, I'm betting that this is copper theft (and VERY high-risk) rather than anti-EV activity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thieves steal high-voltage Tesla Supercharger cables from Montrose charging station

 

HOUSTON – Imagine pulling into the gas station only to find out that someone cut all of the hoses attached to the pumps.

That's the equivalent of what happened at a Houston-area electric vehicle charging station over the weekend.

 

Drivers pulled into the Kipling Street Tesla Supercharger only to find that all but one of the cords to plug into their vehicle was cut clean and stolen.  [...]

 

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2024/05/07/thieves-steal-high-voltage-tesla-supercharger-cables-from-montrose-charging-station/

[Boiler 45,434]

You might understand the shock that Hertz customer Joshua Lee felt when he saw the receipt for his rented Tesla Model 3. After returning the vehicle back to Hertz following a weekend vacation in Los Angeles, Lee noticed he was hit with additional charge of $277.39 on top of his initial reservation price. Why was he charged so much additional money? According to Hertz, that was the cost of refueling the electric Model 3. Unfortunately for Lee, the further he pried the company for information, the more Hertz doubled down, and the more confused he became.

 

When Lee made his reservation—the receipts for which were seen and confirmed by The Drive—he paid for the "Skip the Pump and Save Time" option, which allows customers to bring their rental cars back without refilling the gas tank. So even if he was driving a car that took gasoline, he shouldn't have been charged an additional refueling fee. OK—mistakes happen, and perhaps the person working at the counter accidentally checked the wrong box. However, when Lee submitted a billing question, Hertz doubled down on the refuel charge, despite the Tesla Model 3 not having a fuel tank to refill, and Lee having already paid for the "Skip the Pump" option.

 

You might ask, maybe Hertz was charging Lee for having to top the Model 3's battery upon its return? According to the final receipt, the customer gave the Model 3 back to Hertz with the battery 96% full, the exact same state of charge it was picked up with. And, even if Lee hadn't done that, the maximum fee should've been $35, per Hertz's EV recharging policy: "You can return your EV at any charge level and we’ll recharge it for $35—or just $25 for Gold Plus Rewards Members. Or, return it at the same level as pick-up and pay $0."

 

https://www.thedrive.com/news/hertz-is-charging-tesla-model-3-renter-277-fee-for-gas-wont-back-down

[TBoneTX 45,223]

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

even if Lee hadn't done that, the maximum fee should've been $35, per Hertz's EV recharging policy

Hertz put a big (and unrealistic), uh, Hert on him.

[Dashinka 24,466]

On 5/9/2024 at 1:14 AM, TBoneTX said:

A second charging station was hit on Wednesday.  Until details become known, I'm betting that this is copper theft (and VERY high-risk) rather than anti-EV activity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thieves steal high-voltage Tesla Supercharger cables from Montrose charging station

 

HOUSTON – Imagine pulling into the gas station only to find out that someone cut all of the hoses attached to the pumps.

That's the equivalent of what happened at a Houston-area electric vehicle charging station over the weekend.

 

Drivers pulled into the Kipling Street Tesla Supercharger only to find that all but one of the cords to plug into their vehicle was cut clean and stolen.  [...]

 

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2024/05/07/thieves-steal-high-voltage-tesla-supercharger-cables-from-montrose-charging-station/

Quite honestly I am surprised some of the Just Stop Oil types haven’t been cutting hoses at gas stations.

[TBoneTX 45,223]

5 hours ago, Dashinka said:

Quite honestly I am surprised some of the Just Stop Oil types haven’t been cutting hoses at gas stations.

Too many security cameras, or at least well-lit pumps?

And too many irate motorists always around who'd be ready to kill the JSOs?

[TBoneTX 45,223]

Small, well-built Chinese EV called the Seagull poses a big threat to the US auto industry

 

LIVONIA, Mich. (AP) — A tiny, low-priced electric car called the Seagull has American automakers and politicians trembling.

The car, launched last year by Chinese automaker BYD, sells for around $12,000 in China, but drives well and is put together with craftsmanship that rivals U.S. electric vehicles that cost three times as much.  A shorter-range version costs under $10,000.

Tariffs on imported Chinese vehicles will keep the Seagull out of America for now, and it likely would sell for more than 12 grand if imported.

But the rapid emergence of low-priced EVs from China could shake up the global auto industry in ways not seen since Japanese makers arrived during the oil crises of the 1970s.  BYD, which stands for "Build Your Dreams," could be a nightmare for the U.S. auto industry.  [...]

 

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/small-well-built-chinese-ev-055434324.html