My first drive of an EV
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@Rainman said in My first drive of an EV:
Jon, your #2 bothers me just a bit. I rely on the brake lights of the car in front of me for obvious reasons. If the brake lights don't come on, I may plow into you if I'm slightly distracted or something like dark rainy night driving. Personally, I always consider turning on my brake lights with a gentle push of the pedal just so the person behind me knows I'm slowing down. That's why I hate tailgaters, I always figure they're not that good in reacting to driving circumstances as they think they are.
Apparently this has been an issue with some brands.
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wrote on 19 Sept 2023, 20:35 last edited by
George, you need to find out the answer. Not sure how. Maybe your wife or one of your daughters could follow you in semi-congested traffic and let you know? It's important.
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@jon-nyc that's interesting.
I love the adaptive cruise control in my car. I use it all the time, even in heavy traffic. I wonder how the brake lights function with it enabled.
wrote on 19 Sept 2023, 20:43 last edited by@George-K said in My first drive of an EV:
@jon-nyc that's interesting.
I love the adaptive cruise control in my car. I use it all the time, even in heavy traffic. I wonder how the brake lights function with it enabled.
I'm pretty sure the brake lights come on with mine - at least, the break light indicator showed. I don't use it because I hate having somebody else brake for me.
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@jon-nyc that's interesting.
I love the adaptive cruise control in my car. I use it all the time, even in heavy traffic. I wonder how the brake lights function with it enabled.
wrote on 20 Sept 2023, 01:19 last edited by@George-K said in My first drive of an EV:
I wonder how the brake lights function with it enabled.
Asked a friend who is kind of knowledgeable about this, and he said,
"Federal motor vehicle safety standards require the brake lamps to illuminate whenever the service brakes are applied whether they're being applied by the driver or by the vehicle."
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wrote on 20 Sept 2023, 16:53 last edited by
I guess "service brakes" is a thing then. I didn't know that, must be new territory.
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wrote on 29 Mar 2024, 01:46 last edited by
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wrote on 29 Mar 2024, 01:53 last edited by
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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wrote on 29 Mar 2024, 01:55 last edited by
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.
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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.
wrote on 29 Mar 2024, 02:00 last edited by@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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wrote on 29 Mar 2024, 13:53 last edited by
George my Mazda has that heads-up display too. Love it.
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wrote on 4 Jul 2024, 02:51 last edited by
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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wrote on 14 Aug 2024, 17:13 last edited by
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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wrote on 14 Aug 2024, 17:20 last edited by
Nice. Even if those numbers are a bit exaggerated and/or rely on optimal driving conditions, that’s still good progress.
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wrote on 14 Aug 2024, 17:23 last edited by
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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wrote on 14 Aug 2024, 17:25 last edited by
There’s a Lucid dealer in a high-end mall here. They look pretty sweet. But I doubt I’d consider an electric car for my next purchase in 2027 timeframe (probably send the boy to college with the Mazda).
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wrote on 14 Aug 2024, 18:18 last edited by
It's not just "battery technology" but also the "charging infrastructure" more broadly. I see myself sticking with gas/hybrid for quite a while yet.
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wrote on 14 Aug 2024, 18:33 last edited by
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".
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wrote on 14 Aug 2024, 21:39 last edited by
It is nice they made progress.
This isn't yet the progress that beats internal combustion.
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wrote on 14 Aug 2024, 22:24 last edited by
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?
