Electric vehicles catch-all thread

[Navin Johnson]

And where do they say the hydrogen is to come from?

Not my thing I know they have hydrogen stations in California.

And I'm not a person who gives a rat's ass about emissions within reason so I was a bit incorrect there is some use of natural gas to produce the hydrogen

The current cars in production are hydrogen powered electric cars

I think the big advantage of hydrogen is it be easy to convert gas stations to have both hydrogen and gasoline and it only takes a few minutes to fill up hydrogen car.....this is what I was told by a techie Toyota technician

[Jim Watson]

There is LARGE use of natural gas to produce hydrogen, electrolytic hydrogen is a small product in the US.
Norway used to do it because they had a lot of hydro power relative to other demands. I don't know what they do now.

Fuel cell electric looks kewl. I'd have to do an energy balance vs just burning the hydrogen... or natural gas.

[Crashpad]

I'm really looking forward to advances in electric motorcycles. A sub $10K bike with a 100 mile range and a top speed around 80mph would be awesome for my daily commute.

I've ridden a Livewire One and Harley has announced plans for a couple of smaller, less expensive models. Zero has several interesting looking bikes.
If Honda would offer an electric GROM it would be awesome.

[Darth_Uno]

Mom was ranting about how nobody wants electric cars, and I told her I'd get one. That seemed to surprise her. All "save the planet" politics aside (and the fact that creating electricity ain't a carbon-free ride), the technology is there. Electric vehicles can hang with gas engines. And I'll likely have electric trucks in my fleet within ten years. That's just the way it's looking like it's gonna go.

TBH I'm not really worried about emissions (I've got a 5.7 Tundra now) but if I can charge my work fleet at my shop for a fraction of the price of gas, hell yeah sign me up.

[RancidSumo]

I've been considering one for my next car just so I can avoid all Houston gas stations and the crime that goes with them. I'm still concerned though that my car will end up like my phone - obsolete in less than 5 years. At some point I've got to just jump in, but I don't know when that point is.

[Paul D]

I recently added solar to my home. Now I don't pay any electrical bills (for the most part). I'm looking at getting a RAV4 Prime. It is part hybrid, part EV. It can drive about 45 miles one charge and has about 310 HP. It is the 2nd fastest car in Toyota's US fleet. It think it will be great for day to day use and to drive to California without worry using gas.

How much of a hassle is it to install an charger at home?

Do they make batteries for home solar energy storage?

[Jim Watson]

The Honda Clarity pluggable hybrid that came nearest to suiting my needs did not last long. Charging would have been problematical, I don't have a 220 in the garage nor much extra house capacity to have it added. I could have gotten by with the 12 hour charge on 110 with some scheduling, though.

[Darth_Uno]

I'm still concerned though that my car will end up like my phone - obsolete in less than 5 years. At some point I've got to just jump in, but I don't know when that point is.

I don't really see that happening. The biggest hurdle is range, so worst case scenario your battery doesn't get the miles that a new one would. I don't know enough to say how upgradeable that might be.

And while you're likely fine sporting about town, you can't just whip into the gas station and fill up. Your range has to be planned around. Which is fine for my work fleet, which pretty much doesn't leave the county and can "top off" at my shop (or they could, if I had electric trucks and chargers).

Charging stations are also getting more common for local "fill ups", but there's not quite the infrastructure to go cross-country. I expect there will be in the next decade.

[Darth_Uno]

How much of a hassle is it to install an charger at home?

Not much more than adding any other 220v circuit. Depending on the charger it's a basic 40 or 50 amp line, hardwired to the charger. That's a pretty good pull though, so you may need to upgrade your service or plan around other appliances in use.

[BN]

I find this interesting because I think powers will try to us force into EVs.

I was searching for info on range and charging time, when I noticed an article that said something about companies racing to do something. And I wondered when some car company would field a race car for any established racing venue more than a 1/4 mile drag race.