Coffee 10-4 -14

My brother hadn't left to head back home yet so I snapped a few more pics

Sweet ride...hope your visit went well Rob!

I think you would need a lot of money to own a car like that, when things start to go south on that you would need to take it to the stealership,,,,, or nearest dump. Just give me the basic's and i'll drive anywhere !

theo wrote:I think you would need a lot of money to own a car like that, when things start to go south on that you would need to take it to the stealership,,,,, or nearest dump. Just give me the basic's and i'll drive anywhere !

I guess when you can afford a Tesla, repairing one would be like any other new car under warranty.

When you are at that level, it's no biggie.

I can't afford one, and they don't exsist yet, but I would buy an electric car that had a 250 mile range for under 25K in a heartbeat.

When you are at that level, it's no biggie.

Just because you bought one does not mean you can afford to run one. A couple of NE winters and salt and corrosion will set in. All negative earth contacts will then become questionable. Those become intermittent issues - the hardest to fix. I guarantee it will make my old Jags with Lucas electrics seem like reliable runners. Stick with your 7.3.

To each his own sir. Lots of speculation on your part though.

Put your money where your mouth is. A lightly used Volt is just around the corner. Report regularly. CT winters would be a good test track. The last time I was called Sir was in the drunk tank at Fareham, England police station - now that takes me back.

coalnewbie wrote:Put your money where your mouth is. A lightly used Volt is just around the corner. Report regularly. CT winters would be a good test track

Apples to oranges Newb....there is no comparison....

Let's start anther thread if you want to go down this road, so as not to continue to drift this one.

I'll post it up.

scalabro wrote:I would buy an electric car that had a 250 mile range for under 25K in a heartbeat.

How about a 65 mile range for $13,000? That's what we have into this lil' crackerbox. I see one on eBay go for under 9 grand!

All entries of the ash pan drag are doing well.... scrapes healing well & no more ashes in their eye.

I like it Freddy

No oil & filter changes
No tune up
No air filter
No spark plugs and associated systems
No fuel filter, pump and associated plumbing
No starter motor
No alternator
No exhaust system
No accessory drive belt/s?
Very long brake friction surface life due to regenerative braking system
Etc, etc, etc

Now, for my needs, if they could get that range up to 250 or so......

Glad it's working out for you so well.

What are your electric expenses per month to run it, and are they less than gasoline for the same miles driven?

I am always fascinated by new things but somehow and electric vehicle just does not pass my smell test. How about a somewhat negative look at a Nisan Leaf as it's a similar car. Stolen from a number of sources... nothing original here.

As a start, let's just look at what it means to take care of your battery. This means don't charge it to more than ~80% of capacity and don't discharge below 20%.
- This takes the 73 mile range down to 73 X 80% X 80% or 46.7 miles
Next, let's assume that after 7 years, the capacity is expected to be down to 80% of the new, maximum.
- This takes the 46.7 miles down to 46.7 X 80% or 37.4 miles for 'battery-kindness"
What this means is that if you drive the benign EPA driving cycle, you shouldn't buy a Leaf if you expect to need to drive more than 37.4 miles between charges every day. EPA estimates are taken at a crawl. The question people really want to know, however, is what normal people will get. Let me dock the range by another 80% due to driving a lot faster like if I wished to stay alive in New Jersey. I'm sure people are kinder in Maine.
.
This take the 37.4 mile battery-kind range down to 37.4 X 80% = 30 miles

You'll need to knock it down another 10% for heavy A/C or heag. It is not I am suggesting Maine cars need heat. I am sure Freddy has another Rolls Royce for the winter so this does not apply. However, a poor horse farmer needs to think about this one.

- This takes the 30 miles down to 30 X 90% = 27 miles

This also means your commute, without charging at work, needs to be less than ~13 miles each way. I shop a lot in Middletown NY which is 11 miles away, so that may work. However, to stay alive on Route 86 I would have to maintain 50MPH. Then even if I hook it to my dryer plug it will take 6 hours to recharge, 23 hours in a normal plug. Then I worry about being smashed into by a coked out soccer mom in an Excursion...... I'm sticking with my horse and buggy forget that new fangled stuff. There's a used Amish Buggy on Ebay and I have a horse that's just about useless for anything else.

OTOH, some people genuinely find a good use for these vehicles:

coalnewbie wrote:How about a somewhat negative look at a Nisan Leaf as it's a similar car.

Yup.... I wouldn't own a Nissan Leaf either! There is a class action law suit now concerning the batteries in the Leaf. Mitsubishi took a little different approach. My I-miev stops charging at 80% all by itself. Without computer hacking skills and dealer software you will never charge a Mitsubishi battery "Full". There is a lot of speculation on the life of the batteries. I read a white paper concerning them & this world renown battery expert said, basically, "We do not yet understand them". He seems to think they could easily last 20 years & still have over 80% life. Only time will tell, but the Prius has been in the USA for over 10 years now & those batteries are proving to be very, very dependable. Here's a link talking about a study of old Prius saying that they are almost as good as new after 10 years: http://autos.aol.com/article/toyota-prius-reliability/

I've had the I-miev for a year & a half now with about 6,000 miles on it. If anything I am getting better milage now than when new! After a charge it tells you how far you might go if you drive the way you have been driving. It used to always say 63 to 66. Now it always says 67 to 76. I actually DO get about 60 miles as I don't drive it that easy. Often...no...every time I'm first at a red light I leave all the gas engines way behind when the light turns green. Yes, every gas car CAN beat me off the line, but they have to try to do it. I don't have to try, I just zip away.

Using the heater uses much more power than using the AC. AC will cut range down from 65 to 60, Using heat will drop it from 65 to 45. I do not use it in the winter for two reasons: 1) the heater just doesn't keep up if it's below 25 degrees or so, and 2) I don't want it to rust out. I use it when it's cold, but the first snow I'm done for the year.

<edit> Oh, and, I would never buy one at all! Other than we got this one for 30% of MSRP. ($13,000 vrs $35,500) I see the 2014's have dropped to $22,500 MSRP. Even at that price..... I dunno. It's a super fun toy, but unless you live on CA I don't think it would be worth it.