QOTW: Will your next car be electric?

[philehidiot]

Well I'm not into cars at all so no, but as for a bike. Maybe. Depends how long my Honda CBR1000RR will last me and how expensive these electric versions will be. I'm actually all for it. If only they kept the nice sound of the liter bikes. When you open the throttle on a electric super-bike it sounds pretty good as well though, but still a tad bit too quiet for my taste and as they say loud bikes can save lives.

so far with my twin brothers exhaust system it seems loudness does help people notice you and as a biker every little thing helps.

My bike has an aftermarket exhaust on it as well. I think I strike the balance between being loud enough to be heard when filtering / in built up areas (especially if I knock it down a gear) and being antisocial. When you open the throttle on mine there's an amazing whine noise which I love and I suspect that would be present on an electric bike. You'd lose a lot of the drama / fun and also I feel that for filtering it would be potentially dangerous. Have you seen the electric Dominoes scooters? They have speakers on which goes "Dominos Dominos Dominos Dominos" repeatedly, kind of mocking a Lambretta rhythm.... Utterly bonkers.

Also, there's nothing quite like someone who is on their phone and weaving all over the road having their conversation interrupted by a motorcycle in first gear riding alongside them. I feel electric bikes will need some kind of EMP or other mechanism to allow revenge on arseholes who put our lives at risk.

EDIT: Me and a friend who both ride as our primary means of transport did an analysis of an electric bike's costs and found it to be pretty much break even. The killer was two fold - one that longer journeys on it would be just not doable and that the servicing / dealer network just isn't there. Plus you can't really get a small garage to do it as the tech is pretty proprietary so you can get raped for service costs.

[cflymo]

Diesel cars are rubbish to drive (especially if your journey doesn't start and end at 70mph on the motorway, but actually involves towns at any point), and are driven by people who hate driving.

Probably the dumbest blanket statement I'll read all week...

[adidan]

Probably the dumbest blanket statement I'll read all week...

Hey, come one, I've still got several days left yet - give me a chance.

[Jaffo]

Nope. Out of my price range, like most things!

[Ttaskmaster]

so far with my twin brothers exhaust system it seems loudness does help people notice you and as a biker every little thing helps.

Since getting a car full-time, I've found that even with no stereo, open windows and no distractions, you can still lose the sound of an approaching Harley to background noise.
I've always favoured positioning and riding to be seen, over loud pipes.

I feel ALL bikes need some kind of EMP or other mechanism to allow revenge on arseholes who put our lives at risk.

Fixed that fer ye...

If I had the money I'd buy an MTT, purely for the startup sound!!

[Rad77]

I had a ride in a Tesla S not long ago. Now all other cars feel like stone-age jalopies and it amazes me that there are people buying any other car at that price point.

Because there are many more considerations than just how the ride feels.

Specifically?

While that's true and I didn't manage to get to get behind the wheel to see how well it handled , in a straight line it was by far the fastest accelerating car I've ever been in. Beautifully smooth too, far nicer than even the slickest automatic. And almost silent.

The driver had just driven his whole family from the UK to Scandinavia and back in it and clearly loved the car. Bonus is that it has a boot at both ends, so there is plenty of room for luggage when using it as a tourer.

I shared the ride with another couple of passengers (both Audi TT drivers) and we all agreed that we'd buy a model S in a heartbeat if we could afford one.

[madmaca]

Yes. I'm already on my second EV having just collected a new 30KW Leaf, replacing our previous Renault Zoe. We have chargers here at work, which are free, so I currently have zero "fuel" costs. If the government do manage to sort out the charging infrastructure mess, it would improve things a lot and more people would switch to EV. At the moment, the confusing mess of companies and methods of payment for public charging is restricting growth in my opinion. Once that becomes more standardised I think we'll really start to see a shift. I love them tho - so easy and rewarding to drive!

[peterb]

Specifically?

Range, recharge time and charging infrastructure, battery longevity and replacement cost, and of course

I shared the ride with another couple of passengers (both Audi TT drivers) and we all agreed that we'd buy a model S in a heartbeat if we could afford one.

initial cost.

But I agree that the driving experience in a EV is good, Ive just had a Nissan Leaf for an extended test drive. The reasons why I won't be buying one (yet) are in this thread.

http://forums.hexus.net/automotive/3...ssan-leaf.html

[Jacxel]

Yes, although i don't expect to change my current car be for another 2-4 years. Right now the options for something with a range which i would be happy with are limited. However the opel ampera-e/bolt with its ~230 mile range would be plenty for me if they release a right hand drive model, the next gen leaf and golf also look good as well as of course the model 3.

I don't think we are going to see a big shift until the second hand market fleshes out with the longer range models. If i was in a household with 2 cars i would already have switched to a second hand leaf as its range is more than enough for my day to day use.

There seems to be an awful lot of misinformation going around about electric cars from "not being able to use a kettle while charging" to serious misconceptions about battery wear.

[kompukare]

I thought it was well understood that research into thorium was clearly abandoned in 1964/5 because they wanted something easily refined into weapons grade, which is precisely what thoruim isn't.
I copuld always ask the guys at AWE round the corner, if you like?

So the nuclear industry's close link to the military and the security state probably ultimately cost them their future in countries like Germany and Japan. Neither of whose cvilian nuclear industry were interested in military use, but whose industry was still deeply part of the security state with at least these two important consequences:
1. Any accident, mishap etc. was immediately covered up etc. and treated as a matter of national security.
2. Anyone protesting against the industry was immediately treated to the full works of the security police.
Both of these things immensely increased the public's mistrust of the industry.
Whereas if Thorium reactors had been the norm, being able to explain that there is very little waste product, no danger of a meltdown, and absolutely no link to any weapons programme might have been enough to get the industry to be at least somewhat accepted. Also, less links with the military-industrial complex might have meant no massive budget overruns each time a new one is built.
Instead, the German Energiewende has turned off the source with the lowest CO2 and increased the one with highest CO2 (brown coal), at least until the new renewables come onstream. Whereas the more rational thing would have been to turn off coal first.

[Ttaskmaster]

Both of these things immensely increased the public's mistrust of the industry.

Well, that and places like Chernobyl and Sellafield...

[Corky34]

I thought it was well understood that research into thorium was clearly abandoned in 1964/5 because they wanted something easily refined into weapons grade, which is precisely what thoruim isn't.

That's a common myth, it's also wrong to say the thorium fuel cycle produces "safe" waste.

AFAIK anything that involves splitting atoms apart leaves you with both medium and long term nuclear fission products.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I thought it was well understood that research into thorium was clearly abandoned in 1964/5 because they wanted something easily refined into weapons grade, which is precisely what thoruim isn't.
I copuld always ask the guys at AWE round the corner, if you like?

Nope,countries like India have put a lot of effort into Thorium based reactors since they have huge Thorium reserves which means they don't need to import expensive Uranium from abroad..

[peterb]

IIRC, the thorium fuel cycle produces some very long half-life uranium isotopes, which emit hard gamma radiation.

[Rational]

ABSOLUTELY! The time to go electric has finally arrived.

Here in Japan at least they're selling used Nissan Leafs for $3300-$3800 for the 2011-12 model years. And Under $7-8000 for the 2013-15 model years. Not from the dealer, but from used car shops here. The dealers have them for $10-11,000 with a 5 year battery warranty.

Realize that a full charge runs about $2 or so and will get you upwards of 200km. The dealer told me yesterday it's about $20 a month on average to charge one for most users.

So in effect the car would pay for itself in 4-5 years if you could pick one up cheap used. Yes! Free driving. Free car. I'll take one.

Add to that there is NO real maintenance to speak of other than tires and maybe brakes. Hell yes.

Add to that the complete silence! Finally! And sports car like acceleration. Fun. I'll take one!

Put solar on your house and in effect you'd not have to ever pay for fuel costs again. Just tires every 4-5 years.

And on the battery replacement costs, well that depends. It costs currently about $5000 to replace the battery. (That will go down in coming years as competition enters the market for replacement batteries). And the new ones last longer than the 1st gen and handle heat better now. If you buy your Leaf within the initial 5 year warranty, say you purchased a 2014 Leaf and the battery died, you could get it replaced for free at Nissan within that year. Also, even if you bought a used 2013-2015 Leaf for $5000, and the battery eventually did die, you could have Nissan replace it with a brand new one that would last a LONG time (5+ years. Maybe even 8-10) and still only spend $10,000 on the car. Still would pay for itself over 10 years easy. Free driving -- with a new battery.

Or if you buy it at the dealer, even a used one, comes with a 5 year battery warranty from them. I asked yesterday at my local dealer and they confirmed this.

Now is the time people. Can't wait!

[Bambooz]

QOTW: Will your next car be electric?

Nope. Not the next one, and not the ones after that.
Maybe in 10+ years or so the tech will be worth at least taking a look at, but as of right now? Nah. I'll let the "more money than brains" demographic alpha and beta test this stuff for me for a while longer