Electric Vehicles on the horizon? Do your homework

The wife and I drove from Central Massachusetts to Scranton PA and back this past Saturday morning in our 2002 Acura TL. We left at 6am and returned home around 2:30 pm. That's almost a 400 mile round trip in 8 1/2 hrs. We did it on 1 tank of fuel. We topped it off before we left and filled it at a gas station less than 10 miles from the one we topped off at because the fuel light came on (I'm sure we could have made it home).
Mrs. Shooty and I (she shoots as well) were discussing electric cars on our trip. What about power shortages? The west is already struggling with electricity. They are now planning, and not just discussing shutting down two of the biggest and most important hydroelectric plants in the west. How will you guys charge your cars with power rationing and rolling blackouts? It took about 8 minutes to get our car ready to drive another 400 miles.

Here is an old family photo of me and the Mrs. doing some yard work.
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Struggling with electricity? Best to turn off Faux news there. What we are struggling with is gas is up to $5+ a gallon. Good thing we got us a solar array on the roof and the Volt does 90% of our driving on electric and if we do have to go out of town we can use the engine once the battery runs out. We are averaging over 250+mpg, no problem.
 
C-Bag said:
Struggling with electricity? Best to turn off Faux news there. What we are struggling with is gas is up to $5+ a gallon. Good thing we got us a solar array on the roof and the Volt does 90% of our driving on electric and if we do have to go out of town we can use the engine once the battery runs out. We are averaging over 250+mpg, no problem.
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I just paid $2.85 gal to fill the car. Why is it so much more where you are. Europe is closer to me than you.
 
Shootymacshootface said:
The wife and I drove from Central Massachusetts to Scranton PA and back this past Saturday morning in our 2002 Acura TL. We left at 6am and returned home around 2:30 pm. That's almost a 400 mile round trip in 8 1/2 hrs. We did it on 1 tank of fuel. We topped it off before we left and filled it at a gas station less than 10 miles from the one we topped off at because the fuel light came on (I'm sure we could have made it home).
Mrs. Shooty and I (she shoots as well) were discussing electric cars on our trip. What about power shortages? The west is already struggling with electricity. They are now planning, and not just discussing shutting down two of the biggest and most important hydroelectric plants in the west. How will you guys charge your cars with power rationing and rolling blackouts? It took about 8 minutes to get our car ready to drive another 400 miles.

Here is an old family photo of me and the Mrs. doing some yard work.
View attachment 374096
Click to expand...

This is where PHEV's like the Volt really shine. 420 miles range with the ICE and ~55 miles in 100% EV mode and you can make ~10 PHEV's with the same battery materials as ONE BEV. The average driver will rarely need to use any gasoline. Sadly GM discontinued it but there are still a few others available.
I had a 2000 Acura CL which cost me over $100 to fill up. I can go the same distance for $6 with the Volt. Yes, gas in Western Canada is over $7/gal !
 
Shootymacshootface said:
I just paid $2.85 gal to fill the car. Why is it so much more where you are. Europe is closer to me than you.
Click to expand...
Let's see. We pay a combined $0.69 state & fed tax on every gallon. Each summer and fall the refineries have to adjust their blend which always seems to increase the cost regardless if one is less costly to make or not. In conjunction with those "blend" changes it also seems there is some unwritten requirement that half the refineries must close for maintenance causing less supply which in turn raises costs. At least that's what they keep telling us. I also believe it is mandated by the state that at least one refinery has to have some kind of malfunction there by limiting even more supply.

Oh and every five or so years our political class says we need even MORE taxes on gas to pay for fixing those pesky roads they never fixed with the previous gas taxes that were promised to ONLY be for fixing roads AND somehow they keep getting passed (I don't know anyone who has ever voted for more gas taxes...hmmm).

The only way roads get fixed here is if they can add toll lanes for the wealthy who can afford them while us mere peasants sit for hours in endless traffic listening to the news talk about the billions of transportation dollars wasted spent on the visionary 18th century technology of low speed high speed train to nowhere which still has not been built 10 years later even though our fabulous current governor said it was a boondoggle but was going to build it anyway cause it is a good investment in our future for those who commute between Merced and Bakersfield! No offence to either.

Guess what will happen as more EV vehicles replace petrol vehicles and the gas tax revenue shrinks? Get ready for more toll lanes and mandated smart license plates to track your mileage and sell your data!

Then there is the subject of what it costs to register a vehicle in this fine state.

Yay California!
 
gas costs $5.68 a US gallon here. :bawling:
edit, $4.18 US dollars
 
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It looks like most of the entire US east coast has it pretty good with the cost of petrol compared to you guys.
If I was faced with $5+ per gallon I would definitely be considering a gas/electric hybrid for my daily.
 
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