So who thinks they will be driving electric in 10 years?

My entire life I have never paid more than $20K for a vehicle and I have only purchased 1 vehicle from a dealer. Not only do electric vehicles have to be available but they have to be available long enough to trickle down to cheap skates like me.

I bought my 2010 Lexus RX hybrid w 76K about 3 years ago and still love it. My biggest concern was the battery going bad so I did my research first and found that there are a variety of rebuilt batteries available for reasonable prices (They remove only the bad cells and replace them with new cells. The more cells that are on the border line that they replace is reflected in the cost of the rebuilt battery). No way would I ever pay for a new Lexus... new cars just don't make sense to me. I would have a hard time going back to a non-hybrid after having driven a hybrid though. My guess is electrics will be similar. I imagine the day in which we change a power cell in our vehicles will be much like changing the batteries in our tv remotes today.

It is really hard to ever conceive of a time in which I am willing to give up my 2006 4 door Duramax though! It was a huge upgrade from my 67 F100 that I was sad to let go but have moved on and don't miss it anymore.

My guess is that as us old folk die off our old ways will die off with us and the younger folk will be more open minded about vehicles than we are.
 
Last edited:
I'm all about keeping a car for as long as possible unless it was a mistake or lemon. It just makes sense to not waste all those materials only to get in debt again for a shiny new finish. I hope to keep my electric for a good long time.

I took my neighbor and friend out to lunch because he helped me out with a project. He's a motor-head with some 70's muscle cars that are his pride and joy. Most definitely a skeptic of electrics. I let him test drive my car and bet him $1 that he would either smile or exclaim something when he hit the pedal. One "holy sh**" later and I was $1 richer. So, it's not all about the green-ness!

I don't know where all the electricity will come from either. I think nuclear is still a good option if implemented right but I don't think most of the public thinks that way. It is costly to build.
 
I looked at EV but 6 months ago I settled on 2019 Camry Hybrid. I tend to drive longer distances and charging stations are not common in rural areas yet. The previous car was ‘07 Cobalt SS. No longer have to buy premium gas and a 20% increase on hiway and a huge jump for city, makes me pretty happy.
I did purchase an extended warranty from Toyota as this car is going to be a lot hard for me to repair, unlike all my previous cars.
Now I need a project car, saw a 1936 Chrysler coupe the other day, humm !
Pierre
 
Reddinr said:
I don't know where all the electricity will come from either. I think nuclear is still a good option if implemented right but I don't think most of the public thinks that way. It is costly to build.
Click to expand...

My 13 year old daughter (not having lived through the nuclear protests of the 80's) is very pro nuc. Too bad the Nuclear technology isn't being implemented as quickly as battery technology but there are good things to come. One of my daughters and my favorite Nuclear technologies is the Salt cooled reactors built to run on our current nuclear waste.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3043099/this-nuclear-reactor-eats-nuclear-waste

Molten salts (not molten table salt) are very corrosive. Nuclear waste reactors could be built and functional today... the problem appears to be with our current material science. The molten salts waste reactors have a very limited life expectancy (around a decade I believe) before they have to be torn apart and rebuilt. As better high temperature corrosion resistant materials are developed the life expectancy of these reactors will continue to increase until they reach a feasible level.

My daughter and I watched a very interesting PBS special on where Fukushima is today. The Japanese are committed to a complete clean up of the entire site... not just pouring a concrete sarcophagus over it like at Chernobyl (at which the concrete tomb is currently failing).
 
Last edited:
MikeInOr said:
My 13 year old daughter (not having lived through the nuclear protests of the 80's) is very pro nuc. Too bad the Nuclear technology isn't being implemented as quickly as battery technology but there are good things to come. One of my daughters and my favorite Nuclear technologies is the Salt cooled reactors built to run on our current nuclear waste.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3043099/this-nuclear-reactor-eats-nuclear-waste

Molten salts (not molten table salt) are very corrosive. Nuclear waste reactors could be built and functional today... the problem appears to be with our current material science. The molten salts waste reactors have a very limited life expectancy (around a decade I believe) before they have to be torn apart and rebuilt. As better high temperature corrosion resistant materials are developed the life expectancy of these reactors will continue to increase.

My daughter and I watched a very interesting PBS special on where Fukushima is today. The Japanese are committed to a complete clean up of the entire site... not just pouring a concrete sarcophagus over it like at Chernobyl... in which the concrete is currently failing.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the fastcompany.com link. I'll have to read it later today.
 
pdentrem said:
I looked at EV but 6 months ago I settled on 2019 Camry Hybrid. I tend to drive longer distances and charging stations are not common in rural areas yet. The previous car was ‘07 Cobalt SS. No longer have to buy premium gas and a 20% increase on hiway and a huge jump for city, makes me pretty happy.
I did purchase an extended warranty from Toyota as this car is going to be a lot hard for me to repair, unlike all my previous cars.
Now I need a project car, saw a 1936 Chrysler coupe the other day, humm !
Pierre
Click to expand...

You got to love Toyota's Atkins cycle engine... the power stroke is longer than the compression stroke so it extracts more power out of the combusting fuel. The direct injection (like a diesel, fuel is injected directly into the cylinder when needed instead of injected into the intake manifold and drawn into the cylinder with the air) is what allows it to run on low octane fuel without pre-detonation. Like you I went from a hi-octane Nissan V6 to a low octane Toyota hybrid and love it... mine is still a V6 which I love! :)

I feel the hybrids have matured enough that I am not afraid of owning one. The full electric vehicles will get there some day.
 
No thanks. Hard to beat that rumble of a gas guzzling V8. Plus who would want to drive an electric 1955 Chevy Belair? Yuck.
 
Civilisations need for electricity is always increasing and barring a major catastrophe to drastically lower the population probably always will unless a major new discovery replaces it such as home fusion devices or similar.
Personally I would like to see small scale modern nuclear power plants in a distributed network alongside renewables.
Nuclear gives us the instant on demand generating system (which fossil fuels cant) for when the renewables cant cope but with half of all voters falling on the left hand side of the bell curve it wont happen.
Personaly I would drive electric tomorow if the price was right.
I believe its Norway who have removed all govt taxes on electric vehicle to make them more affordable.
Considering the exponential increase in computing power towards AI in recent years I dont think any of us will be driving anything soon and with the number of total nut jobs on our roads it cant come soon enough.
Before electric cars are dismissed just think how many buggy whip manufacturers there are out there.
 
Reddinr said:
There is no simple solution that exists today
Click to expand...

This is the crux of the biscuit. I am in the "Fleet" business. The EV game has so many variables that it is nearly impossible to gather consensus on how to proceed. I have spent a considerable time in research. What I have gleaned is this- Lithium-Ion has too many detriments to be viable for the future. The mining of raw materials is NOT friendly, earth or humanity based. Without functionable safeguards, these batteries can burn down an AIRLINER:eek 2: No reasonable alternative currently exists, that any NORMAL human can afford. Yet Elon and his competitors continue to ramp expectations, and capital to expand.
I will continue to source parts for my ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) rigs, and will continue to educate the kids on proper maintenance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top