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Electric cars?

Would you buy an electric car?

  • Already own one

    Votes: 10 5.1%

  • Yes - would definitely buy

    Votes: 43 21.7%

  • Yes - preferred over petrol car if price/power/convenience similar

    Votes: 78 39.4%

  • Maybe - preference for neither, only concerned with costs etc

    Votes: 38 19.2%

  • No - prefer petrol car even if electric car has same price, power and convenience

    Votes: 25 12.6%

  • No - would never buy one

    Votes: 14 7.1%
  • Total voters
    198
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This development by Siemans seems to simplify and cheapen home charging costs for EV Owners


Siemens’ new home EV charger adapter ends need for electrical panel upgrades​


Michelle Lewis



0

Siemens and Philadelphia-based ConnectDER have partnered to debut a groundbreaking simple home EV charger connector. Previously, homeowners who wanted to install EV chargers might have had to spend thousands of dollars to modify their home’s electrical panel. This new proprietary plug-in adapter will eliminate that cost and allow installation and connection in minutes.

Siemens' new home EV charger adapter ends need for electrical panel upgrades

Siemens' game-changing EV charger adapter can end costly electrical panel upgrades and enable home chargers to be connected in minutes.
electrek.co
 
Tesla took a (rightful) bollocking for this piece of creative accounting. There is a downside risk to having your car micro managed by the company that stands to profit from any changes/charges it adds to the account.

It is a very interesting story. Well worth the read for Tesla owners IMV.

Tesla locks 80 miles of customer’s battery range for $4,500 ransom​



Fred Lambert

- Jul. 26th 2022 2:59 pm PT


Tesla tried to force a customer to pay $4,500 ransom over 80 miles of range that the company software-locked in his battery pack. The automaker only started to walk back on the strategy to squeeze $4,500 out of its customers after an uproar on social media.

Tesla used to sell Model S vehicles with software-locked battery packs. For example, Electrek‘s Seth Weintraub’s first Tesla was a Model S 40, which was actually a Model S with a 60 kWh battery pack software-locked at 40 kWh of capacity.

This was a way to offer different range options without having to make production more complicated with different battery pack sizes.

Later, Tesla started to offer owners of those software-locked vehicles the option to unlock the capacity for an additional cost. Tesla phased out the practice over the years, but the company still used software-locked battery packs when doing warranty replacements of battery packs of certain capacities that it doesn’t produce anymore.

This has created a situation for a customer that Tesla has completely mishandled.

Tesla locks 80 miles of customer’s battery range for $4,500 ransom

Tesla tried to force a customer to pay $4,500 ransom over 80 miles of range that the company software-locked in...
electrek.co
 
It is one of the reasons I have ordered a pretty basic E.V, as I hope to give it to the daughter in 5-7 years, when her current car will be ready for the wreckers, with any luck the self contained stand alone basic system in the Kona will be fine for what driving she does approx 3,000km/annum
 

As I said before, this sort of thing is making me think twice about buying a Tesla or any vehicle with software locked 'features'.

Why should we trust them ?

It should be illegal.
 
SirRumpole said:
As I said before, this sort of thing is making me think twice about buying a Tesla or any vehicle with software locked 'features'.

Why should we trust them ?

It should be illegal.
Click to expand...
It is one down side of over the air software upgradability IMO, it is just a matter of re writing a bit of code and your car changes, that can be good and that can be bad.
If the subscription model becomes the norm, it will be very easy to retro install it to wifi compatible software architecture, not all manufacturers are using that. Yet
 
I don't think those style of meters will be around for much longer Bas.
 
sptrawler said:
I don't think those style of meters will be around for much longer Bas.
Click to expand...
The smart meters are of course different. But I would have thought the technology they were developing was more to do with the electrical wiring. So hopefully that is still the same and capable of being adapted with the new "plug".
 
basilio said:
The smart meters are of course different. But I would have thought the technology they were developing was more to do with the electrical wiring. So hopefully that is still the same and capable of being adapted with the new "plug".
Click to expand...
Yes I'm not sure it is focused on our domestic supplies, ours are normally 240v 60A single phase mains so a 7KW home charger isn't a problem, in the U.S it is 110v domestic supply so a 7KW single phase charger requires an upgrade to 240v from my understanding.

From the article:
He also added that the adapters are expected to be available by first quarter 2023 and will be distributed through a variety of channels, such as EV charger installers, electricians, and utilities.

Nearly half of US home electrical panels previously would have needed upgrades to allow the installation of a typical Level 2 charger, usually a 7-11kW device requiring 40-60 Amps on a 240V line.
 
SirRumpole said:
Do Lithium batteries still catch fire these days ?
Click to expand...
SirRumpole said:
Do Lithium batteries still catch fire these days ?
Click to expand...
Yes, but less often than petrol.

Unfortunately it seems to be in the nature of the universe that when ever we figure out a way to store large amounts of energy, sometimes accidental rapid dissipation of that energy occurs hahaha.
 
moXJO said:
Can you hack Tesla's software?
Click to expand...
I haven’t seen anything where a Tesla has been hacked directly, but there is third party apps some people download on their phones which you can gives access to your Tesla. A 19 year old figured out a way to hack one of these third party apps and it allowed him to access some of the cars features like winding down windows, turning on radio etc.

These third party apps can not access things like steering or any other driving functions though, but may allow a nuisance hacker to turn your heated seat on.

Also apparently the hack only worked on android phones, if you used an IPhone he couldn’t hack you.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/27/lets-make-the-teen-tesla-hack-a-teachable-moment/amp/
 
I would suggest that by design any top key US agency has an open door, and can at the very least stop a Tesla..if not worse.
Moreover it is a massive honeypot target, so as more Teslas got sold,more incentives to hack orRansomware..
So not a matter of if but a matter of when..
could be directly hacking the software or hacking a network router to load a bogus update..you name it.
if you can hack a computer,you can hack a Tesla .
the only way to make it safe would be to disconnect it from networks..but then no auto update,etc.
I do not consider physically connecting to the car as hacking,more breaking in and that's possible,but not worse on ev than cutting the brake or fuel line on ice..
 
I meant jailbreaking your Tesla to be able to use all the extra features. I heard something about some hackers accessing the AWD features.
 
moXJO said:
I meant jailbreaking your Tesla to be able to use all the extra features. I heard something about some hackers accessing the AWD features.
Click to expand...
Yep, there are people that have “hacked” their cars to unlock more battery capacity and more acceleration, apparently Tesla knows if you have done it though.
 
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