The past. The future.

[Traveller14]

So I was reading the local monthly magazine in our lake area and on one spread there were 3 articles all together that were quite significant to me, showing boating past and boating future. When I was a kid, our big boat was a 14’ Traveler with a 40 Evinrude on the back (yes I misspelled my handle). My cousins had an older wood boat with a 50 Evinrude (V4 I believe) which I thought was a monster. The other 2 in the photo were a 5.5hp (white) and 10hp (green) Johnson’s. Like some people grow up being Ford guys or GM guys, I was always partial to Evinrude. So Last month the Evinrude brand finally bit the dust. Beside that article was one on a 60mph electric jet ski and a 150hp outboard. Electric is all of a sudden serious. Times they are a changin.

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[Big Block Power]

Yes times are a changing very fast. I remember being in tech school talking about 8 and 10 speed transmissions.
Hybrid or full electric boats are not far off.
Evinrude was built 100 miles south of us.

[dustinm]

I have a friend with an electric car, great around town commuter car, but I laugh when he has to plan his trips around charging stations. Dont also forget these are not just pull up and 5 minutes later your off and running its 4 hours minimum. What happens on Grapevine hill when a snowstorm closes the pass for 4-6 hours and you have all these cars at lower elevation with dead batteries from running the air conditioner?
Secondly these greenies think this electric is scot-free environmental wise.... maybe thats for another forum

[mdadgar]

I have a friend with an electric car, great around town commuter car, but I laugh when he has to plan his trips around charging stations. Dont also forget these are not just pull up and 5 minutes later your off and running its 4 hours minimum. What happens on Grapevine hill when a snowstorm closes the pass for 4-6 hours and you have all these cars at lower elevation with dead batteries from running the air conditioner?
Secondly these greenies think this electric is scot-free environmental wise.... maybe thats for another forum

LOL.

Here's what I just heard you say:

"These people and their new-fangled automobiles! What are they going to do when they run out of gasoline in the middle of a trip?! My horse can just wander off the side of the road and eat some grass and then I'll be good to go again! And air in the tires?! That's a flat waiting to happen! I'll take my wooden wagon wheels every time, man."

- Mark

[jhnmdahl]

I'm still a but surprised Tesla's model is to sit and wait while your own battery recharges rather than to slide out the dead battery and slide in a fully charged one. Pay a modest fee for each battery swap, and you're off.

[Big Block Power]

I'm still a but surprised Tesla's model is to sit and wait while your own battery recharges rather than to slide out the dead battery and slide in a fully charged one. Pay a modest fee for each battery swap, and you're off.

John I think that will be a option for sure. But I don't trust some kids changing my oil much less a battery pack.

[mdadgar]

I'm still a but surprised Tesla's model is to sit and wait while your own battery recharges rather than to slide out the dead battery and slide in a fully charged one. Pay a modest fee for each battery swap, and you're off.

They already demonstrated that years ago - robotically, no less:

https://www.tesla.com/videos/battery-swap-event

I think they backed off on that strategy once they realized that they could get the range on the cars high enough that most people charge overnight and for those relatives few people who need to charge on road trips, well, they need to stop to pee and top off their Big Gulp occasionally anyway.

- Mark

[thunder550]

I'm still a but surprised Tesla's model is to sit and wait while your own battery recharges rather than to slide out the dead battery and slide in a fully charged one. Pay a modest fee for each battery swap, and you're off.

If you plan the trip correctly, charging stops take 20-25 minutes. Most superchargers are in places with fast food...pull up, plug in, go use the restroom, order some food or a drink, and the car is ready or close to ready. We did a trip from Phoenix to Denver (815 miles) back at the beginning of July. It turned what used to be a 12.5 hour trip into a 14 hour trip, so a little bit longer, but really not that bad, especially when you consider that we saved $100 in gas each direction.

The batteries in these cars are liquid cooled...I think the added complexity of managing both electrical and cooling system quick connections compared with the relatively minimal time savings probably made hot swaps not worthwhile. Tesla is actively working on upgrading their superchargers from v2 (max of 150kw) to v3 (max of 250kw), so as we go forward I expect the time difference between gas stops and charging stops to shrink even more.

[Big Block Power]

So with the extra superduty charges will that decrease battery life? The odds always a trade off. The charging stations really need to get built up. How much cheaper is a gal of electricity on the road then gas?

[mdadgar]

How much cheaper is a gal of electricity on the road then gas?

A LOT.

Here's the example I use: the battery in a Chevy Volt hybrid (like the one I have) holds the energy equivalent of about 1 gallon of gas. A gallon of gas costs about $3.50 here in CA but charging the battery overnight at home costs about $1.20. Even if the price were double at a road-side charger, you're still $1 ahead.

- Mark

[dustinm]

Your gas has road tax figured in, with enough people converting in a broke state how long before they rectify that? Where is all this electricity going to come from? How long before the price hike on it? Granted your in before the bubble and reaping the benefits, but they wont last forever.

[Big Block Power]

WI just jacked up my vehicle registration for my clown car because it's a hybrid. Those turds. 1st year for it here.

[thunder550]

So with the extra superduty charges will that decrease battery life? The odds always a trade off. The charging stations really need to get built up. How much cheaper is a gal of electricity on the road then gas?

Yes, faster charge makes more heat, and heat shortens battery life. For people who supercharge infrequently, like road trips and such, I think the effect is pretty negligible. For those who drive a lot and supercharge all the time, maybe more impact, but I haven't seen data so can't qualify it.

Charging cost varies significantly depending on location, power company, plan, and if you're at a commercial station or charging at home. I see mdadgar's example from Cali above. For comparison, I pay $0.05/kwh off peak, so charging my Model 3 with the 75kwh battery, I can get a full charge for $3.75, which gives me about 250 miles of range real world. Supercharging is more expensive, but still relatively cheap in comparison.

[dustinm]

I pay $0.05/kwh off peak,

Consider yourself very lucky when I was on city council we bought at wholesale for .06 and sold to our customers for .09. We did get an allocation from the local hydro dam at .03 but after all the line transmission fees to get it 90 miles that savings was pretty much used up.

[mdadgar]

Consider yourself very lucky when I was on city council we bought at wholesale for .06 and sold to our customers for .09.

Agree. $0.11 is the very cheapest (off-peak, middle of the night) that I can get it for in the SF Bay Area.

On the positive side, I have 10.1 kW of rooftop solar so most of my power is free.

- Mark