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Thread: Electric Car Rant

  1. #21
    Senior Member fc321's Avatar
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    In my opinion it is still to early to jump on the "electric car" bandwagon. The technology is not fully mature. The infrastructure is sparse. Because of that to buy one in 2019 would make you an "early adopter".

    The early adopters of flat screen TVs paid over $5000 for a living room tv. ANd the earlier HDTVs where not fully flat like what you see today, they where "projection tv" sized and 3 feet deep (They stuck out 3 feet from the wall I mean).

    Nowadays you can get a completely flat LCD flat screen tv for $300 for a living room. Compare that to the >$5000 that the early adopters paid and they paid it for a more ancient iteration of the technology we see today.

    Ands its the same with electric cars. I personally will wait at least 10 more years. Wait until its "mass produced on a large scale" and wait until you can get one for under $10,000. In my case i will just keep the Mirage until them.

    I certainly dont approve of the USA goverment subsidizing the price of electrics or "buy-back programs" for getting gasoline vehicles off the road such as Obama's Cash4Clunkers program .......in any way manipulating the market forces. They should step back and allow it to happen organically. If you hear some of these "green" politicians talk it sounds like they are planning to take older cars such as 1996 "off the road" in one way or another. And will use the "excuses" of emmisions/global warming and so forth.

    Big government just keeps getting bigger and bigger and they are stripping us of more and more of our freedoms every day. And the mandatory backup cameras" and "robot emergency braking" that they are going to mandate on all vehicles is a perfect example. I would not be surprised to see them outlaw manual transmissions on new cars as well. That is the trend, they continue pushing their ideas BY FORCE which is the seeds of Tyranny.


    2015 Mirage DE 5 speed Manual - 30k miles

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 44.9 mpg (US) ... 19.1 km/L ... 5.2 L/100 km ... 53.9 mpg (Imp)


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  3. #22
    Moderator Eggman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fc321 View Post
    I certainly dont approve of the USA goverment subsidizing the price of electrics or "buy-back programs" for getting gasoline vehicles off the road such as Obama's Cash4Clunkers program .......in any way manipulating the market forces. They should step back and allow it to happen organically. If you hear some of these "green" politicians talk it sounds like they are planning to take older cars such as 1996 "off the road" in one way or another. And will use the "excuses" of emmisions/global warming and so forth.

    Big government just keeps getting bigger and bigger and they are stripping us of more and more of our freedoms every day. And the mandatory backup cameras" and "robot emergency braking" that they are going to mandate on all vehicles is a perfect example. I would not be surprised to see them outlaw manual transmissions on new cars as well. That is the trend, they continue pushing their ideas BY FORCE which is the seeds of Tyranny.
    I see what you are saying here, but please let's try to keep politics out of this.

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 49.6 mpg (US) ... 21.1 km/L ... 4.7 L/100 km ... 59.5 mpg (Imp)


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  5. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by fc321 View Post

    I personally will wait at least 10 more years. Wait until its "mass produced on a large scale" and wait until you can get one for under $10,000. In my case i will just keep the Mirage until them.

    I certainly dont approve of the USA goverment subsidizing the price of electrics or "buy-back programs" for getting gasoline vehicles off the road such as Cash4Clunkers program .......in any way manipulating the market forces. They should step back and allow it to happen organically. If you hear some of these talk it sounds like they are planning to take older cars such as 1996 "off the road" in one way or another.
    I agree, right now it seems like more of a novelty or luxury to have an ev right now. I'm sure things will be different in 10 years.

    We had the cash for clunkers programs here too. I can't remember the age cut off for the program but I think it was 10-15 years old to sign up your car for it.
    Wreckers signed up to buy cars from program and had to meet a few easy requirements to be able to buy cars from the program. They had to participate in the switch out program that collects mercury switches from cars before being crushed and a few other simple things. We weren't aloud to sell any engines or emissions related parts. (Sure). Nobody checked to verify that. We weren't aloud to sell any of the vehicles either as they were all to be scrapped. Nobody checked that out either, I waited 6 months then began checking to see if vins were flagged and none of the ones I checked were inactive or non-repairable status. We used to get some decent vehicles(at the time), so I'd check if they had a clean status and I made up a quick bill of sale insured and plated them. Had a 04 envoy denali, 04 Silverado diesel, a 95 grand cherokee with 60k kms.

    We were buying vehicles from the program for $50 a piece. Eventually they took the ban of selling engines away and started charging $2-400 for the vehicles. Which was still decent for the most part. The prior owner got a thousand or 2 off a new car, we got their old car for a few hundred dollars. I still don't see the point of the program other than to just throw money towards auto mfg's.

    Even Home Depot had a program to trade in old lawn mowers and weed whackers. We got a bunch of stuff from one of the stores for nothing. I ended up with a few extra chain saws and lawnmowers at my house. We sold the other ones we got running.
    Mirage videos:

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


  6. #24
    Senior Member Top_Fuel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fummins View Post
    ...We had the cash for clunkers programs here too.
    ...We weren't aloud to sell any engines...
    When they ran that program in the US, the dealer had to destroy the engine in the vehicle being traded in. How did they do that?

    How to disable a Cash For Clunkers Car

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)


  7. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Top_Fuel View Post
    When they ran that program in the US, the dealer had to destroy the engine in the vehicle being traded in. How did they do that?

    How to disable a Cash For Clunkers Car
    Google search the average age of American vehicles?

    It's 11.8 years old vehicles. The majority of us must be driving clunkers? The auto industry seems out of touch with current economics. Smart people aren't throwing huge amounts of money @ new vehicles that just depreciate rapidly. Then again some people aren't that ......

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  9. #26
    Moderator Eggman's Avatar
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    Yeah, some knuckleheads throw good money at old car money pits.



    It's a crying shame.

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 49.6 mpg (US) ... 21.1 km/L ... 4.7 L/100 km ... 59.5 mpg (Imp)


  10. #27
    It doesn't really make sense to rant about EV's "not being ready". (Other than for the fun of it.)

    They're a tool, like any other vehicle. If the tool doesn't fit your needs/living arrangements, you don't buy the tool. Same reason I didn't buy a lifted, diesel pickup. (Hi Fummins! )

    As they're getting more known, more and more people are buying them. Sales growth is very strong for the segment, even though EV's are still a small percentage of total vehicle sales.

    My parents' suburban neighbourhood (upper/middle class, almost all 2-car households) has 5 plug-ins within a few blocks: Outlander PHEV; Chevy Bolt, Prius PHEV, Soul EV, Jaguar EV. (My street has zero. Do those electric mobility scooters count? )

    I've driven a bunch of EV's and PHEV's. I really like the torquey/quiet/smooth/relaxing driving experience. I dig the absense of internal combustion sounds/vibration and transmission shifts (though I'd rather have a stick shift!). I love instant, maximum cabin heat. I like that it's a fraction the operating cost of a comparable gasser. I used to drive a home-converted, short-range, slow as $$&# EV that I built with a friend for a thousand bucks, just for fun.

    If I was crazy rich, I think I'd own a BMW i8 PHEV. EV mode for around town, 3-cylinder turbo for the open road, and space-ship styling all the time.

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


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  12. #28
    Agreed. For the record I sold the lifted one But that turd got better economy than my buddies ecoboost f150. My current turd got a best of 20mpg but It's now a camping or hauling vehicle rather than a daily driver.
    I'm slowly converting to the 3 cylinder side.
    Mirage videos:

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


  13. #29
    Senior Member AtomicPunk's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark View Post
    Google search the average age of American vehicles?

    It's 11.8 years old vehicles. The majority of us must be driving clunkers? The auto industry seems out of touch with current economics. Smart people aren't throwing huge amounts of money @ new vehicles that just depreciate rapidly. Then again some people aren't that ......

    Also folks are driving older cars because of the cut in production of cars during 2008 Great Recession. Step on up and into a Mirage, folks!

    https://www.autonews.com/retail/work...-old-used-cars

  14. #30
    Moderator Eggman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mirageman38 View Post
    There are several problems with this. First even with more electric chargers via more sales it will still take hours to charge. Or the fact if a few more people bought electric cars the existing infrastructure would be swamped. Or that it would take years for cities to roll out more infrastructure even if people decided they wanted ev.

    I think most people have an expectation they should work pretty well before buying one. Whe you live in a city like me you cant have 2+ cars and many people only have 1 or none. This is why I think battery packs would solve most of these problems. In my current situation there is no way I could make an EV work as the technology currently stands and I think this is true for a large percent of the population. You cant just tell us to bug off because it doesnt work for us.
    So help me understand your position here - is your complaint with electric vehicles, their energy storage system, or charging facilities?

    For most who own an EV, its primary use is day trips around town (and for many, that is +90% of their transportation usage) and the EV gets charged overnight as needed. For those folks, an EV is the best choice.

    EVs range doesn't work for long distance trips, and that's the current state of the technology. In other words, it is what it is. I apologize for sounding callous here or before. But why blame the charging infrastructure?

    I'm not sure I would want to be stuck with a battery pack that is depleted on an expensive EV. I think that is why swappable battery packs haven't yet caught on.

    Like the Mirage, early adopters helped prove that our Favorite Little Car can work here, which paved the way for others to buy one, others who came here to find out if owners are having problems. Same goes with electric vehicles - it works for some, but not for all.

    But again, maybe I am misreading what you are trying to say.


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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 49.6 mpg (US) ... 21.1 km/L ... 4.7 L/100 km ... 59.5 mpg (Imp)


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