Explorer EV Coming

[Mbrooks420]

Some of my best friends through my life have had political views 180 degrees opposite from me. It never effected our friendship or respect for each other. It is possible to disagree and live together. Over the years, I have seen some knock down, drag out fights with insults flying in the forums here over numerous non political topics. 😉

You’re welcome 😂

 

[94Eddie]

You’re welcome 😂

I have seen the vitriol fly over whether one should use 0W20 or 5W30 engine oil. Comparatively, this thread is quite tame.

 

[Mbrooks420]

I have seen the vitriol fly over whether one should use 0W20 or 5W30 engine oil. Comparatively, this thread is quite tame.

I was mostly poking fun at my previous terrible behavior.

 

[94Eddie]

I was mostly poking fun at my previous terrible behavior.

I got it. We both have been here for a very long time and have seen it all and instigated it all more than likely.

 

[Xsbank]

Um...does anyone else on here wonder if the company that brought you Sync and, occasionally has to fix it, gives you the confidence to buy an entirely electric, computer controlled vehicle?

 

[Mbrooks420]

It’d be far simpler than its gas, or especially hybrid, counterpart.

 

[94Eddie]

Um...does anyone else on here wonder if the company that brought you Sync and, occasionally has to fix it, gives you the confidence to buy an entirely electric, computer controlled vehicle?

The deal breaker for me is having to sit at a charging station for an hour to fill up the batteries. This is using the fastest charging stations if you can find one. In my area cars are waiting in line at charging stations so that hour can turn into two hours or longer. That would get old REAL quick. Charging at home isn't much better. It typically takes 40 hours to charge from empty to full on a 120V house connection. The electric grid is massively undersized to handle charging in mass numbers so this dream of EVs taking over ICEs is a pipe dream at this point in time. I'll be interested in an EV when I can charge the battery from empty to 85% full in 10 minutes and not have to wait in a line to do it. It would also have to have a 400 mile range. Four hundred miles is needed to compensate for the range reductions due to terrain, cold temperatures, running heat/AC, payload etc. If you like to accelerate fast and drive spiritedly then you will be spending a lot of time at the charging stations. I can drive my Mustang like I stole it and spend less than five minutes at the pump filling it up for another run. Life is too short to spend hours every week at charging stations. A long road trip would be mind numbing in an EV for me. <rant over>

 

[quickfix]

The deal breaker for me is having to sit at a charging station for an hour to fill up the batteries. This is using the fastest charging stations if you can find one. In my area cars are waiting in line at charging stations so that hour can turn into two hours or longer. That would get old REAL quick. Charging at home isn't much better. It typically takes 40 hours to charge from empty to full on a 120V house connection. The electric grid is massively undersized to handle charging in mass numbers so this dream of EVs taking over ICEs is a pipe dream at this point in time. I'll be interested in an EV when I can charge the battery from empty to 85% full in 10 minutes and not have to wait in a line to do it. It would also have to have a 400 mile range. Four hundred miles is needed to compensate for the range reductions due to terrain, cold temperatures, running heat/AC, payload etc. If you like to accelerate fast and drive spiritedly then you will be spending a lot of time at the charging stations. I can drive my Mustang like I stole it and spend less than five minutes at the pump filling it up for another run. Life is too short to spend hours every week at charging stations. A long road trip would be mind numbing in an EV for me. <rant over>

I've similar views. But I'm all for it when the time is right.
The technology will get there soon enough for my grandkids. Just not soon enough for me.

 

[94Eddie]

I've similar views. But I'm all for it when the time is right.
The technology will get there soon enough for my grandkids. Just not soon enough for me.

I like all the positives that EVs bring and there are a lot of them. The technology just isn't there yet to make them viable en mass. Specifically battery technology. Out side of batteries, and the lacking electrical grid, the current tech is good enough to make them viable.

 

[I bleed Ford Blue]

The two biggest issues I have with massive rollout of EV's are
1. the grid is not ready and won't be for at least 20 years.
2. The charging time to get a full charge needs to come down to 10 minutes or less. Why would I spend 2+ hours at a charging station to get a full charge when I need it, when with an ICE vehicle I can get a full tank in 10 minutes or less.

 

[Mbrooks420]

They’ll never get charging down comparable to a liquid fuel. There’d be too much heat generated. It’s also really not needed. Very, very few people commute more than 100 miles a day. They can easily fully charge when you are sleeping.

 

[94Eddie]

They’ll never get charging down comparable to a liquid fuel. There’d be too much heat generated. It’s also really not needed. Very, very few people commute more than 100 miles a day. They can easily fully charge when you are sleeping.

The problem is EVs are very limited in practical use scenarios. A commute where there is a lot of time involved is problematic for them. In the winter time you will have the heater on sucking down battery. The cold also reduces battery performance. The same goes for the summer when using AC. The specs listed are mostly for ideal conditions. Where I live it is common to take 1.5 hours to drive 15 miles one way. It gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter here. Climate control takes up to 20% of battery capacity when used heavily. IMO, EVs would be a lot more viable if they incorporated a small gas powered generator to drive the electric motors when the battery is drained. Or it could be used to charge the battery in a pinch. If I were looking for a commuter vehicle I think a Prius would be a far better choice than an EV.

 

[donalds]

The problem is EVs are very limited in practical use scenarios. A commute where there is a lot of time involved is problematic for them. In the winter time you will have the heater on sucking down battery. The same goes for the summer when using AC. Where I live it is common to take 1.5 hours to drive 15 miles one way. It gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter here. Climate control takes up to 20% of battery capacity when used heavily. IMO, EVs would be a lot more viable if they incorporated a small gas powered generator to drive the electric motors when the battery is drained. Or it could be used to charge the battery in a pinch.

Have the small gas engine
start at random
My friends Prius does this
Just randomly start in park or on the road
It also starts when you give her the beans

 

[Mbrooks420]

The problem is EVs are very limited in practical use scenarios. A commute where there is a lot of time involved is problematic for them. In the winter time you will have the heater on sucking down battery. The cold also reduces battery performance. The same goes for the summer when using AC. The specs listed are mostly for ideal conditions. Where I live it is common to take 1.5 hours to drive 15 miles one way. It gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter here. Climate control takes up to 20% of battery capacity when used heavily. IMO, EVs would be a lot more viable if they incorporated a small gas powered generator to drive the electric motors when the battery is drained. Or it could be used to charge the battery in a pinch. If I were looking for a commuter vehicle I think a Prius would be a far better choice than an EV.

Your situation isn’t very typical. I’d go on a murderous rampage if it took an hour to go 15 miles.

 

[joney]

I am with you Don, dejen3303, and 94Eddie.
Just wish we could stop saying fossil fuel, cause does anybody really believe we are pumping a derivative of Dino?
And yes, we will not survive w/o depopulation being one of the solutions.

I like the idea of biodiesel...we have a constant supply of waste matter. BTW, ask Italy, Japan, and now China, how keeping population down really helps. Nobody young enough to do the work, they have to import workers/get massive immigration.

 

[94Eddie]

Your situation isn’t very typical. I’d go on a murderous rampage if it took an hour to go 15 miles.

I would say it is typical around any major city on the east or west coast. The midwest has a grid street system and traffic usually isn't as bad around major cities for this reason.

 

[94Eddie]

Ask Italy, Japan, and now China, how keeping population down really helps. Nobody young enough to do the work, they have to import workers/get massive immigration.

In the long term depopulation will work. It has to work because an ever increasing human population (or for any species) is not sustainable. We will be living in a Blade Runner future, or worse. Nature has shown time and again that overpopulation of a species will be corrected one way or another. It is better to do it in a planned way than a forced one.

 

[Mbrooks420]

I would say it is typical around any major city on the east or west coast. The midwest has a grid street system and traffic usually isn't as bad around major cities for this reason.

Sounds like a perfect reason to not live a place like that. I value my time too much to sit aimlessly in a car. With a 250 mile range I could probably get away with 2 charges a week.

 

[94Eddie]

Sounds like a perfect reason to not live a place like that. I value my time too much to sit aimlessly in a car. With a 250 mile range I could probably get away with 2 charges a week.

It isn't for everyone. I grew up in a small midwest town and will retire to one soon. I have been self employed since 1993 and have made it a point to not be in the commuting mess where I live. Office space was always located to take advantage of reverse commuting. For the past 20 years I have worked from home and set meetings between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm to avoid rush hour traffic. I know people who have spent 30 years commuting 15-20 miles into, and out of, the city for 3-4 hours a day. How they did this is mind boggling to me.

 

[Spacey]

No technology is born fully baked. Things that are useful tend to endure and those that don't go away. Automobiles were mostly a curiosity when they were developed. There was no support infrastructure available especially outside of major urban areas. There is an interesting story about Alice Ramsey, the first woman to drive a car across the U.S. It was a 1909 Maxwell and it took her 58 days to go 3800 miles. One point in the Midwest took 13 days to go 360 miles with multiple horse tows. Some people yelled "get a horse" at her. There was no support infrastructure, no maps, dirt "roads". She used power lines to navigate to populated areas.

If everyone still did use a horse, the country would never have developed and major urban areas would be buried in horse dung. I remember using some of the first personal "computers" in the 1970s. You had to build it yourself and it had no use outside of building it and trying to make it work. Look where we are now. People complained about auto pollution control systems being forced upon them, but without that technology many large metropolitan areas would be unlivable today. Electric mobility is no different. It is a technology pretty much still in its infancy from a utility standpoint. Time and people will decide what happens to it in the future.