Technology

I've had an EV for a couple of years and had to rent a gas car on a trip recently. I was prepared for the expensive fuel, I wasn't prepared for how shit it was to drive.

See, an EV's electric motor and (usually) single reduction gear means you get basically the same acceleration between 5 km/h and 120 km/h. You can put your foot down slightly and forget you're accelerating because it feels just like sitting in a stationary car on a hill. How far you push the accelerator is how much acceleration you get. Unless you're getting wheel spin or you're at the car's power limit, that's all there is to it.

A gasser has an engine with different performance depending on RPM and a gearbox that provides different performance based on which gear it's in and changes according to it's own logic. You're just used to this when you drive one all the time, but for me it was awful the way I'd put my foot down and get nothing, then engine noise, then some power, then a lurch and more power and another lurch and less power. The accelerator pedal is a suggestion, mostly disconnected from what the car actually chooses to do.

I charge mine 80% of the time off the solar panels on my roof here in Australia. Making your own fuel is quite the thing.

Another 10% is overnight on a cheap tariff

and the other 10% public charging on longer trips.

I drive an EV, and planning around driving habits is simply not a thing for me. It’s hooked up to its 230v charger and will be ready at 100% charge every morning. I drive the 50km to work and back for about 25% worth of charge. There’s a few public chargers on the way to work and almost anywhere I care to go. Range anxiety is waaay overblown in my opinion.

Sorry, but can't relate. Had that feeling for the first few trips until the first one where we drove so much more efficiently that we deliberately did not take the first planned stop. I rode shotgun, so I then looked for alternative spots to charge, just to see that there are so many in my country that having planned those routes in the first place literally doesn't make sense.

Since then we just drive. Once we get below 50 km remaining range, we check some map app for the next charger. Like we did with gas stations.

Also, coming from practicality... it's just so nice not to have to use gas stations. Like, you usually just always start whatever you do with a full battery because you just charge it overnight. No gas stops on my commute is quite practical.

I can't share that feeling. My country has a law that every parking garage and parking lot must have chargers and often a fast charger is installed. I really have to go a few countries over to a place that's not full of chargers.

Oh no, I have to stop for 15 minutes after four hours of driving, every time I drive more than four hours at a time.

I have anxiety right now just thinking about the next time I have to spend that 15 minutes in a couple months from now.

Do you think I can save up all the times I don't stop for gas between now and then and use that as some sort of credit towards that time?

It sounds like your problems aren't with EVs. It sounds like your problems are with any modern car.

Is it the drive train you have a problem with or the software? Because I think you just dislike new cars, not electric cars. In which case keep an eye out for the Slate EV

They should stop with that touch screen crap, always connected to the internet spyware bullshit, but they are putting that everywhere now not just EVs.

We will soon be in the siutuation where if you want an old car without that crap you can't even go into the larger eu cities anymore, because the engine will be too polluting.

There really is a market for cars without that crap. As long as it brings me and my family to destination safely I don't care how it is propelled.

If you can find a Saab from before GM bought em that's still in good condition... *chef's kiss* perfection.

I drive a hybrid, it's identical to the previous car except it uses 60% less fuel. $2000-3000+ a year savings.

Americans need to pay more attention to what is going on in Iran. Trump is draining US reserves to keep prices low, and there has never been a supply crisis this bad in history. We are months away from gas line ups and flag systems, like the 70s fuel crisis, except this crisis is far worse. The shit hits the fan after the mid-terms, by design.

I like the idea of a plug in hybrid.

But there's a lot more to a car for me. I need it to be affordable. I need replacement parts to also be affordable, and I need it to be user serviceable.

This is why my 20 year old Honda, and my wife's 13 year old Lexus are both ideal.

Mine is a Honda, which means parts are everywhere, even in the deep deep south. It's easy to repair basically any issue with it. I have no car note, and liability insurance is $32 a month for it.

Hers is a Lexus, which is for all intents, a Toyota. Which also means parts are ubiquitous. I swapped a water pump in it over a weekend. And I had never done that before. Sure, I've always done basic maintenance, but until about 3 years ago, I didn't trust myself to do anything more in depth.

When my previous car (also a Honda) had a head gasket failure, I swapped it. Took me several months because I was learning as I went. But I did it.

Why? I had no choice. Couldn't afford another car, and couldn't afford the 2 to 4 hour labor rates a $20 gasket needed. What would've cost 500 to 600 bucks if I'd had someone else do it, wound up costing me less than $150. Had the head machined at a local machine shop, and that less than 150 bucks included that cost.

As I've heard my entire life, "po folks gots po ways"