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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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Smurf1976 said:
This.

Long term I very much doubt that car manufacturers will own the charging stations just as Ford or Toyota don’t sell petrol or diesel.
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I agree with you completely, however it is a bit of a hen or egg story, mass infrastructure won't be rolled out until there is a demand.
 
Most of them will be charging at home
 
There is a lot less parts that wear out or need regular "service" on an electric car
 
I firmly believe this is the future, however after ready the discussion can also see some issues.

I live inner city, so don't do a lot of km's per week, 400 would be a lot, one charge.
EV's are suited to those living inner city, however, those of us that live inner city park our cars on the street, garages (land is very expensive). How do we charge them?

While I live in a house in inner city Melbourne, there are lots of apartment towers, I used to live in one in the docklands, had a car park as most do, but again, I couldn't see the body corporate agreeing to put in charging points in every car park.

Where I see EV's and autonomous transport really taking hold fast will be in the uber/taxi sector, but again an autonomous transport vehicle picking up customers every minute of every hour, will need to get charged at least once a day, again the infrastructure needs to be place.

I see this industry as the most effected and computerization can create the greatest efficiency in customer load and requirements, plus no need to pay a driver
 
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satanoperca said:
How do we charge them?
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I guess you would go to a "charging centre" once a week, just like you go to a petrol station now. It depends on how long it takes to charge I suppose, 3 hours could be inconvenient, 20 minutes would be acceptable.
 
luutzu said:
Buzz and luring investors and lenders to park their cash in Tesla's bank account doesn't hurt either
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Have to give him credit for the fanfare. Best way to deliver the new generation of road vehicle is get attention.
It's going to be at least 10 years before people would adopt EV in any meaningful way, on any meaningful scale.
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Probably longer in Australia with large distance between places. 1000km on one charge for standard vehicles will allay range fear. Fast charge will dispel waiting time issue.
That's not because people don't like EV or doubt its ability to be driven around or such. It's just a matter of affordability and the seconds, the mechanic and insurance (costs) issue.
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Yes that is what will need to be known and improved. The biggies being lifespan and cost including installation of a battery (degradation over time), the service interval of a traction motor, the cost including installation of a failed traction motor.
 

As Rumpy suggested 20 -30 mins at a charging station one a week would probably do you, while you do the grocery shopping.

But their is electricity everywhere, this company is turning power poles into charging stations.

 
Value Collector said:
As Rumpy suggested 20 -30 mins at a charging station one a week would probably do you, while you do the grocery shopping.

But their is electricity everywhere, this company is turning power poles into charging stations.

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Yea, there's power everywhere and I don't think there'll be issue with finding or setting up a charging station.

Problem would be the cost Tesla or charging station operators would charge per kW. It'll be whatever costPlus they want once enough EV is out there. Maybe competition might bring that down.

To set up a charger at home... I'd imagine you'd have to put in a dedicated line with 3-phase power or something.

Then there's the scratches, dents and bumps. Tesla looks like they're going the Apple model where they don't outsource parts and services to any cheap seconds market and corner shop mechanics.
 

I guess every CEO must also be a showman now. I admire people who do stuff rather than sell stuff, especially selling it like they created it themselves.

I mean we all think Steve Jobs is a genius, and maybe he is in a business sense... but he's not the genius behind the technology as he or the media portrays it to be.

Drove the kids on a hired electric scooter in Bali recently. It was at a massive resort park out of public roads and one of them had on a helmet so we were responsible ... One full charge lasts about an hour. Chinese made with the barest minimum hardware.. and it was pretty dam good.

So yea, if I ever have $100K+ to throw around I'd get a Tesla right now. But I'm still changing my own car oil so it would hurt me very badly to take a Tesla to a shop and be screwed over by their authorised repairers.


The problem with digital and electronics is that the manufacturer can decide when they want certain parts to break down. I guess they can also design those warranty+5days lifespan on mechanical knobs too.

But yea, a Toyota Camry works fine with me. I drove my brother's very expensive BMW and it was no difference to the Suzuki Swift the wife got me for some reason. I guess she knows me better than I know myself
 
luutzu said:
So yea, if I ever have $100K+ to throw around I'd get a Tesla right now. But I'm still changing my own car oil so it would hurt me very badly to take a Tesla to a shop and be screwed over by their authorised repairers.
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"Build quality is a major issue with Tesla right now". I assume cheap plastic crap, thin/soft metals and new car manufacturer assembly and alignment issues. This video is current with a new car experience.


As I said before, first adopters beware.
 

Early adopters, like pioneers, gets arrows and scalped.

But I'd imagine I'd be grinning the first week or two if I have my own Tesla though. It does look pretty freakin cool.

I'd probably offered to drive everyone everywhere that first few weeks. Like when we first got our Ps.
 
Elon Musk? 7c kWh electricity? Don't make me laugh
 
What would be wrong with paying for electricity? You pay for fuel by the liter already.

You can charge from home using a standard power point, or if you want faster charging you can install a 3 phase plug.

Agl currently has a $1 per day unlimited car charging plan.

Also, charging station would be much cheaper to set up than a petrol station, the also have lower running costs, because they can be unmanned, and don't require trucks delivering fuel etc
 
What would be wrong with paying for electricity? You pay for fuel by the liter already.

You can charge from home using a standard power point, or if you want faster charging you can install a 3 phase plug.

Agl currently has a $1 per day unlimited car charging plan.

Also, charging station would be much cheaper to set up than a petrol station, the also have lower running costs, because they can be unmanned, and don't require trucks delivering fuel etc
 

Nothing's wrong with paying people to use their services and labour. Just that there's a difference between what's fair and what's entrepreneurial.

Not all efficiency would be passed onto the consumer. We all know that.

AGL might offer that $1 a day now, they'll get it back a few times over whenever they find it's appropriate for their shareholders. Kinda like initially buying power from domestic solar panels at some 20cents... they know buy the same power for 7cents or so, sell the same power to the same set of consumers for 21cents.

Saw on YouTube that Tesla in the US is starting to charge its SuperCharger user $0.45 per minute they left their charged car at the station.

So the moment your car is charged, you have 5 minutes to get out or be slug the fee.

The lady was a bit worried whether she overparked or not, and how much extra she's going to have to pay at her next Tesla checkup.

I'm guessing Tesla haven't had time to build an app to notify the car's owner their car has been charged. So owners will either have to stay in the car while it's being charged, or run back and forth, or just pay up.

All for the good of fellow customers so they won't wait for inconsiderate owners who parked their car their all day, of course.

Getting a 3-phase power line to your garrage won't be cheap either. Might need a separate meter, a seperate account, a whole bunch of paper work then a suitably qualified electrician who charges $500 for just cutting a cable from a pole.

So yea, Tesla and EVs are nice. Just for the average people who have to think about food, bills, taxes... it's going to be a while before the adoption rate make it economical. Until then, the first adopters will have to not think about the costs, just the pleasure of owning one.
 
luutzu said:
Until then, the first adopters will have to not think about the costs, just the pleasure of owning one.
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And the rest of us will be using them as guinea pigs to see what the problems are.

I wonder if Tesla co is using their own product as company cars ?
 
SirRumpole said:
And the rest of us will be using them as guinea pigs to see what the problems are.

I wonder if Tesla co is using their own product as company cars ?
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I wonder if they stringently test them. Like shake the car for hours, operate the electronics thousands of times and run the motor continuously until failure. With a rush to beat everyone to market obviously not.
 
SirRumpole said:
And the rest of us will be using them as guinea pigs to see what the problems are.

I wonder if Tesla co is using their own product as company cars ?
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That's what one owner I saw on YT said he feels like too.

But to be fair to Tesla, they're doing something unique with nothing but ambition, genius and lots of other people's money.

The Toyota, VW and Great Wall [haha] of the world will be studying and cut out all the bells and whistles. Put in their proper manufacturing processes and logistics and might win the day.

Maybe I'm showing my age but I get into a car and all I care about is going forward, reverse, fuel in the tank. Done.

Just got the bluetooth to connect on one car, the other I just turn the phone louder for the music because its cheapy "bluetooth" add-on don't work very well and I'd need to read the user manual to adjust and upgrade its software.

So a car with all the height adjustments, the auto-drive and fancy stuff... nice, expensive, good to have but a bit heavy on the pocket.

Kinda like that electric scooter I hired. It has 3 LED indicator showing the battery life. And that's it. For the speedometer you use your own judgement. The weather and temperature you check how sweaty you get.

That's why Henry Ford won the day. He doesn't focus on the comfort (or safety), don't care for a chauffer (or Tesla's e-equivalent), or care for the look (any colour as long as it's black).

Don't go that far but yea.
 
One consequence of mass adoption of electric vehicles is that if home charging is the dominant and economical means then that ought to have some broader influence. Houses with off street parking with power available become more attractive and gain value relative to those without it.

Significant costs for apartment complexes etc once residents demand that power is available for vehicle charging.

Not a good time to be in the business of maintaining vehicles given that electric cars by their nature need far less routine maintenance.

If self driving vehicles become common then that changes society in far broader ways since those who cannot now drive will no longer have that barrier.

It’ll be the saviour of the electricity grid in climates where standalone solar is a serious option. That idea doesn’t work nearly as well once the need to charge vehicles is added.

There’s a lot of broader outcomes from this one. Just like how computers have gone radically further than the obvious replacement of typewriters and aircraft did far more than simply diverting passengers from trains and ships. Entire new industries spring up, and others are wiped out, with this sort of change.
 
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