My first drive of an EV
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Fun to drive, tons of bells and whistles. Exhilarating performance. Interesting not to have to hit the brakes to stop. You really have to adjust your expectations to the way the car’s features work. The autopilot put me in Tesla jail because I didn’t comply with its demands. It’s different.
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I don’t like that all the co trolls and display cause you to take your eyes off directly ahead. That part is very different.
@Mik said in My first drive of an EV:
I don’t like that all the co trolls and display cause you to take your eyes off directly ahead. That part is very different.
One of the things I absolutely love about my 2017 (!) Audi is the Head-up display.
There are very few things that require your (almost) constant attention. Two of them are the speed limit and your speed. If you want to use the Audi SatNav, that'll be displayed as well. I don't, I use CarPlay.
I imagine all the other crap in a Tesla (particularly the Model 3) with only that huge display, awkwardly placed, is a terrible distraction. How many menus do you have to go thru to change the ambient temp, a radio station....
Gimme knobs, you ... knobheads.
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A Cambridge-based EV manufacturer, though, says it has developed a battery that charges in less than five minutes, roughly twice as long as it takes to fill up a gas-fueled vehicle.
Nyobolt says it has developed a 35kWh lithium-ion battery that charges from 10% to 80% in just over four and a half minutes. Additionally, it says, the battery does not show the degradation of lithium-ion batteries.
The battery, the company says, citing independent OEM testing (though the company did not name who ran that testing), can achieve over 4,000 fast charge cycles, which spans roughly 600,000 miles, maintaining over 80% battery capacity retention.
and
Nyobolt’s battery depends on the chemical niobium, which is not heavily mined at present compared to the production levels of the materials used in the production of lithium-ion batteries.
Nyobolt is just one of many companies working to improve EV batteries. A company called 24M, last month, showcased a battery that is designed to have a range of up to 1,000 miles on a single charge. That battery uses lithium metal rather than lithium ion, which 24M, an MIT spinout, says gives it more energy density.
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Zeekr Intelligent Technology, the premium electric vehicle (EV) maker controlled by Geely Auto, has unveiled a new battery technology that can offer a car a nearly 500-kilometre (310-mile) range with just 10.5 minutes of charging, as the industry steps up the electrification process.
Zeekr’s self-developed lithium-ion-phosphate (LFP) battery, dubbed Golden Battery and installed on its 007 electric sedan, supports 800-volt ultra-fast charging and assures owners of “swift and reliable” performance, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. The 75-kilowatt-hour battery, when fully charged, allows a car to go as far as 682km, it added.
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While I am not sure of the re-charge rate, I know that Lucid (a US car maker) has a real demonstrated 500+ mile range with their cars.
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I looked up how long a Tesla car can hold its change (if you just let the car sit there doing nothing) and came away with this:
It loses 1%~2% of its charge per day.
So you charge a new Tesla to 100%, you unplug it, and just leave it there. After 100 days, the battery charge will have all dissipated. (And supposedly you're going to have a lot of other problems as a consequence of letting the battery run down to zero.)
Older Tesla cars (older batteries) will likely run out of charge sooner, maybe a couple of months.
So ... how does this compare to gas engines? How bad will it get if you let a gasoline car with a full tank of gas sit in a garage for two months to 100 days?
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Same, both to Jon and Ax.
I'm guessing in the next few years there will be a large anti-battery movement considering the electricity has to come from "somewhere" and the battery uses rare or mined earth materials from "somewhere".
@89th said in My first drive of an EV:
...or mined earth materials from "somewhere".
Recent article:
Serbia has withdrawn the exploration licences of Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto following weeks of protests over plans for a lithium mine.
"All permits were annulled... we put an end to Rio Tinto in Serbia," Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Thursday.
The decision comes just weeks ahead of Serbia's general election in April.
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2025-04-22/unpacking-catl-s-five-minute-ev-charging-video
Today, both CATL and BYD claim to have batteries that can charge electric vehicles in as little as five minutes. However, CATL raised the stakes earlier this week in Shanghai when it revealed that the 320-mile range of its new Shenxing battery is around 70 miles longer than BYD’s claimed 250-mile range, and it can charge that range in 5 minutes. By contrast, Tesla's Superchargers are only capable of providing 200 miles of range in around 15 minutes.
