The FORD Lounge

[ArdWrknTrk]

You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Tesla around here. They're mostly driven by 30/40-something tech nerds.

Cnet states (in part) "EPA estimates have officially made the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range-Plus the most efficient electric car on sale in the US today.

The EPA uses a rating called miles per gallon equivalent to show how efficient electric cars and plug-in hybrids are, since they (obviously) don't drink fossil fuels, or drink them part time in a plug-in's case. It's the distance a car can travel electrically on the amount of energy contained in one gallon of gasoline.

The EPA estimates the Model 3 will return 141 mpge combined.

If you're a little lost in the mpge talk, let me make it super simple: The Tesla Model 3 will go an estimated 141 miles on the amount of energy a single gallon of gas contains. Thats, quite frankly, incredible to think about as most sedans will do a few dozen miles per gallon."

[grumpin]

You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Tesla around here. They're mostly driven by 30/40-something tech nerds.

They put in Tesla charging stations at a Fred Meyer store here, I scoffed, who has one around here!

Next time I was in the area there was a Tesla charging. But, that’s the only one I’ve seen around these parts!

[Ray Cecil]

So, are you calling it virtue signalng'

Or, are you saying these engineers recognize the advantages, and are willing to pay the price for them?

Im not calling it virtue signaling. I thought you were.

Anyway, Tesla cars look hideous to me. Look like every other jelly bean car out there. Whats more aerodynamic than a jelly bean? Apparently nothing. Next time your stuck in traffic look around, jelly beans everywhere. Jelly beans with mean looking faces and souless drones driving them, just doing the same thing everyone else is doing. Im a rebel at heart. Thats why I grow a beard, drive crappy vehicles, and dont follow what everyone else is doing.

Now...an all electric bullnose ford.....that I might go for.

[salans7]

Anyway, Tesla cars look hideous to me. Look like every other jelly bean car out there. Whats more aerodynamic than a jelly bean? Apparently nothing. Next time your stuck in traffic look around, jelly beans everywhere. Jelly beans with mean looking faces and souless drones driving them, just doing the same thing everyone else is doing. Im a rebel at heart. Thats why I grow a beard, drive crappy vehicles, and dont follow what everyone else is doing.

Thought this was written by me for a second. haha.

[ArdWrknTrk]

So, are you calling it virtue signalng'

Or, are you saying these engineers recognize the advantages, and are willing to pay the price for them?

Im not calling it virtue signaling. I thought you were.

Anyway, Tesla cars look hideous to me. Look like every other jelly bean car out there. Whats more aerodynamic than a jelly bean? Apparently nothing. Next time your stuck in traffic look around, jelly beans everywhere. Jelly beans with mean looking faces and souless drones driving them, just doing the same thing everyone else is doing. Im a rebel at heart. Thats why I grow a beard, drive crappy vehicles, and dont follow what everyone else is doing.

Now...an all electric bullnose ford.....that I might go for.

Guppy face = a 0.22 drag coefficient....

That beats out every other car, including past champ (and object of hatred) the Toyota Prius.

Tell me again what the figure is for a bullnose?

Ludicrous+ mode = 2.27550 second 0-60 times!

Quicker that any other production car, including the Porsche 918 and the LaFerrari.

That's not soul sucking, that's heart stopping!

There's a whole American based grassroots industry of body kits for the Teslas.

Don't care about how much power you use at speed? (because friction and air resistance are where the power goes)

You can get a nose and tail to radically change the look.

Teslas have their issues:

Model S 100PD fit and finish aren't on the level of other $120k cars like Mercedes and Audi, but the Model 3 is definitely on par with a similarly priced domestic car.

Serialized components bring up right to repair issues (but, just like Apple, this gets cracked and patched weekly)

At 250 miles I wouldn't have any range anxiety, and these Superchargers can get you to 80% in under a half hour.

If I needed to get to Florida fast I could buy round trip airfare on JetBlue for the price of the tolls I'd have to drive through.

Or, I could do a rental if I was smuggling something....

I just don't see a lot of downside

 

[Gary Lewis]

At 250 miles I wouldn't have any range anxiety, and these Superchargers can get you to 80% in under a half hour.

If I needed to get to Florida fast I could buy round trip airfare on JetBlue for the price of the tolls I'd have to drive through.

Or, I could do a rental if I was smuggling something....

I just don't see a lot of downside

A few weeks ago Janey and I took a trip down through southeast Oklahoma to see the trees changing and enjoy the "mountains" on our way to New Orleans. We had no reservations for the night and ultimately wound up in Monroe, LA.

But looking at the map just now I see that we drove over 250 miles while going SE in Oklahoma, but looking on the list of Tesla superchargers I see there are none down that way. Does that mean we couldn't have gone there?

Janey gets really nervous when the fuel gauge gets below 1/4 tank, so "just making it" is not an option with her.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Im not calling it virtue signaling. I thought you were.

Now...an all electric bullnose ford.....that I might go for.

Ok, I failed to address these..

A) Around here -Fairfield county, CT- it is a way for people to show they are being virtuous (without any sacrifice on their part)

A car that comes when you call it, and will park and -practically- drive itself.

You never need to get your hands stinky at the pump, or wait in line.

Little down time due to oil changes, filter and plug tuneups, brake jobs, exhaust work, etc...

B) The whole roller skate body swap is a thing now.

No, it doesn't have a 133" (or 117") wheelbase.

But that may be coming.

Meanwhile, lots of people are swapping Tesla drivelines and in some cases just putting a new body on the skate.

Because of integration the body swap is tough, but look at the Rich Rebuilds YouTube channel for where it is going.

 

[ArdWrknTrk]

At 250 miles I wouldn't have any range anxiety, and these Superchargers can get you to 80% in under a half hour.

If I needed to get to Florida fast I could buy round trip airfare on JetBlue for the price of the tolls I'd have to drive through.

Or, I could do a rental if I was smuggling something....

I just don't see a lot of downside

A few weeks ago Janey and I took a trip down through southeast Oklahoma to see the trees changing and enjoy the "mountains" on our way to New Orleans. We had no reservations for the night and ultimately wound up in Monroe, LA.

But looking at the map just now I see that we drove over 250 miles while going SE in Oklahoma, but looking on the list of Tesla superchargers I see there are none down that way. Does that mean we couldn't have gone there?

Janey gets really nervous when the fuel gauge gets below 1/4 tank, so "just making it" is not an option with her.

Tesla is building out their network all the time. (see above)

They also control how deep the batteries can be discharged.

Note: They increased range for people close to the California wildfires...

Having that control allows them to guarantee the life of the battery pack, but it also limits available range, just like if you never let your phone go below 15% or over 85%.

Matthew is absolutely right about energy density.

New chemistries are promising faster charges (sulphur) and using less questionable elements like cobalt.

As I said before, there are billions of years of solar energy refined into every gallon of gasoline.

It's going to take time for scientists to meet or exceed that. (but it IS coming IMO)

 

[ArdWrknTrk]

Tesla is building out their network all the time. (see above)

They also control how deep the batteries can be discharged.

Note: They increased range for people close to the California wildfires...

Having that control allows them to guarantee the life of the battery pack, but it also limits available range, just like if you never let your phone go below 15% or over 85%.

Matthew is absolutely right about energy density.

New chemistries are promising faster charges (sulphur) and using less questionable elements like cobalt.

As I said before, there are billions of years of solar energy refined into every gallon of gasoline.

It's going to take time for scientists to meet or exceed that. (but it IS coming IMO)

Right now, the idea of a fuel cell hybrid is a viable idea, and needs no more infrastructure than a propane fill station.

You could fill up in seconds, or plug it in when you got a chance.

I hope to see more OTR trucks using this in the near future.

The advantage of 100% torque is almost overwhelming for semis.

[Gary Lewis]

Right now, the idea of a fuel cell hybrid is a viable idea, and needs no more infrastructure than a propane fill station.

You could fill up in seconds, or plug it in when you got a chance.

I hope to see more OTR trucks using this in the near future.

The advantage of 100% torque is almost overwhelming for semis.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of electric vehicles. But currently the infrastructure doesn't support the kind of driving I do. That list is supposedly the latest from Tesla and I can't get out of Oklahoma to the southeast. And similarly, a few years ago we took the back roads out of Oklahoma to the west, and we couldn't have done that even today with a Tesla. That's a show-stopper for me.

I had this exact conversation with a friend yesterday, who called to ask what vehicle he should buy in six months or so. We discussed the driving he does, which originates in SE Oklahoma or NE Texas, and came to the realization that an all-electric vehicle currently won't cut it.

Having said that, the time may be coming when electric vehicles can do it given the work being done on new battery tech. On the other hand, the fuel cell may beat them out. Much has to be done to make either happen, but the fuel cell might be the easier one for which to build out the infrastructure. Last I knew there was no standardization of charging systems for electric vehicles, but that should be an easy thing to do for fuel cells.