Much more expensive

[ayin jade]

My husband is Navajo. I cant even begin to imagine how difficult it would be to have an electric car on the rez. Most homes there do not even have electricity. 

[Marathoner]

3 minutes ago, ayin jade said:

My husband is Navajo. I cant even begin to imagine how difficult it would be to have an electric car on the rez. Most homes there do not even have electricity. 

Like you say, it just isn't practical in our portion of the country. An electric car would be okay around Santa Fe and Albuquerque, but I can't overemphasize the risk faced by owners. If thieves aren't stealing the vehicle then they're stripping it of anything that contains platinum, like catalytic converters. They'll yank wires for the copper.

A few years ago, some thieves tried to steal a truck on this very street but the battery was dead. They broke into another vehicle that featured the battery they needed, yanked it out, put it into that truck, and absconded with it. They left the dead battery behind.

Imagine what the components of an electric vehicle are worth to thieves. 

 

[Starise]

You might be surprised at the prospects in a few more years. Toyota is introducing a 4wd rav 4 that will be electric. Expensive though not much more than the hybrid rav 4. The first run has been shipped to the US market.

Ford has an electric F150. Both electric and fuel vehicles store and deplete potential.

If electric cars can store the same distance potential in a battery as a fuel car with similar price and performance only it costs less to recharge than to refuel, then I believe we are on the cusp of seeing many more electrics on the road.

The company electric I drive,a Nissan leaf is 5 years old. It was one of the early electric cars with the lower power battery (40kv) still charges to it's range. Older Leaf batteries are being repurposed as home power storage units as backup power.

I did ready electric cars are popular in Scandinavia and taking hold in the UK.Here in the US all major auto makers and a few foreign ones are bringing out electric models. There will be more of them on the road.

Most people here buying electrics are still buying mainly Teslas. I believe this is about to change.

[debrakay]

Some friends and I discussed the topic of electric vehicles over the weekend and then I wrote this.

Electric vehicles in rural America? It does not seem too practical for my home. 
We would need an SUV & pickup with all-wheel drive. The Ford F150 Lightning AWD sticker price around $70K. Tesla Model Y is an AWD SUV starting at $65K.  We would need to install a dual charging station in the garage.  Only Level 1 or 2 stations (costs from $1K to $5K with LONG charging times) can be put into a residential home due to the voltage restrictions.  While a Level 3 station would only take 40 minutes to charge the battery it seems the Level 3 station would burn down the house. Electrical costs annually for 2 electric vehicles is approximately $2K. The lithium battery lasts approximately 100K miles. Battery replacement per vehicle is approximately $10K-$20K. As old people we should only have to purchase one time (2 vehicles) at around $150K starting costs. 
I have no idea how the younger generations will be able to afford this for the decades to come. There is such a huge plan to push this on everyone but the long term issues are overwhelming. 

[Marathoner]

1 hour ago, Starise said:

You might be surprised at the prospects in a few more years. Toyota is introducing a 4wd rav 4 that will be electric. Expensive though not much more than the hybrid rav 4. The first run has been shipped to the US market.

Ford has an electric F150. Both electric and fuel vehicles store and deplete potential.

If electric cars can store the same distance potential in a battery as a fuel car with similar price and performance only it costs less to recharge than to refuel, then I believe we are on the cusp of seeing many more electrics on the road.

The company electric I drive,a Nissan leaf is 5 years old. It was one of the early electric cars with the lower power battery (40kv) still charges to it's range. Older Leaf batteries are being repurposed as home power storage units as backup power.

I did ready electric cars are popular in Scandinavia and taking hold in the UK.Here in the US all major auto makers and a few foreign ones are bringing out electric models. There will be more of them on the road.

Most people here buying electrics are still buying mainly Teslas. I believe this is about to change.

Don't get me wrong, brother. I'm certainly not opposed to electric vehicles by any means, but both @debrakay and @ayin jade express my own concerns about this matter. They would have to be very sturdy and durable to withstand rural life.

Having lived in rugged country inaccessible to most vehicles, nothing remains shiny for long. An afternoon drive down to Alamogordo involved traveling some rather unforgiving caliche pathways (can't really call those roads), and that alone will ruin a splendid automobile. It will also rattle your teeth and turn your head into a bobble-head ornament (oof). Hence why the best vehicle for rugged country is beat-up to begin with, and why you need to carefully maintain it unless you happen to have donkeys or mules on the side. I know some folks who did.  

Not horses, because caliche is murderous on their hooves. Horses don't do well in those places. Donkeys, however, don't care. They're actually pretty sweet as a general rule... mules are the ones who can be a pain. 

[ayin jade]

3 minutes ago, Marathoner said:

Not horses, because caliche is murderous on their hooves. Horses don't do well in those places. Donkeys, however, don't care. They're actually pretty sweet as a general rule... mules are the ones who can be a pain. 

Caliche my old friend ....

I once was digging a canal in the phoenix area. The pick just bounced off that stuff. 

 

I routinely have to drive to Phoenix, a 4 hr plus round trip. Add on more as I drive around running errands. Very few gas stations between my home and phoenix. No charging stations. Not practical in large open states like mine or Marathoner's.

[Marathoner]

3 minutes ago, ayin jade said:

Caliche my old friend ....

I once was digging a canal in the phoenix area. The pick just bounced off that stuff. 

 

I routinely have to drive to Phoenix, a 4 hr plus round trip. Add on more as I drive around running errands. Very few gas stations between my home and phoenix. No charging stations. Not practical in large open states like mine or Marathoner's.

Call me crazy, sister, but I prefer where we live to the Eastern seaboard and the West coast. I dunno... the land here just has more character. Plenty of it! Where else can you drive along on a road that seems to go on... and on... and on, with no end in sight? Plenty of those in Arizona! 

[ayin jade]

1 hour ago, Marathoner said:

Call me crazy, sister, but I prefer where we live to the Eastern seaboard and the West coast. I dunno... the land here just has more character. Plenty of it! Where else can you drive along on a road that seems to go on... and on... and on, with no end in sight? Plenty of those in Arizona! 

I love living here. I used to live in the phoenix area, the sonoran desert. I am a desert rat. Now Im in the mountains and loving it too. Endless sky. All sorts of wildlife. Love it. 

[Omegaman 3.0]

On 6/12/2022 at 9:42 PM, TheBlade said:

WHO can offord one. Biden?

Well, maybe there will be a program of subsidies! Soon, the guys will be coming door to door to ask me if I would like a Tesla installed on my roof at no cost!

[Starise]

8 hours ago, debrakay said:

Some friends and I discussed the topic of electric vehicles over the weekend and then I wrote this.

Electric vehicles in rural America? It does not seem too practical for my home. 
We would need an SUV & pickup with all-wheel drive. The Ford F150 Lightning AWD sticker price around $70K. Tesla Model Y is an AWD SUV starting at $65K.  We would need to install a dual charging station in the garage.  Only Level 1 or 2 stations (costs from $1K to $5K with LONG charging times) can be put into a residential home due to the voltage restrictions.  While a Level 3 station would only take 40 minutes to charge the battery it seems the Level 3 station would burn down the house. Electrical costs annually for 2 electric vehicles is approximately $2K. The lithium battery lasts approximately 100K miles. Battery replacement per vehicle is approximately $10K-$20K. As old people we should only have to purchase one time (2 vehicles) at around $150K starting costs. 
I have no idea how the younger generations will be able to afford this for the decades to come. There is such a huge plan to push this on everyone but the long term issues are overwhelming. 

If a person thinks they absolutely need a Tesla of an electric F 150, then those numbers are going to be much higher. The F150 doubles as an emergency home power system. Still a lot of $$.

There are many models of electric cars costing roughly half those amounts. High 30's to mid 40's. Many coming in at hybrid prices only you'll never go to a gas pump again. 

The batteries in the older hybrids routinely go to well beyond 100,000 miles. You might lose 80% car's range your car can still drive for a long time after that.Remember the new hybrids have better batteries than the old ones. At least one forthcoming model will have solar panels in the roof to aid in charging. They use regenerative braking to help battery charge. Even the lowest charger would completely charge a car from empty in 9 hours i. e. The leaf. If I took one to work I would have only 60 miles round trip or almost 200 miles left on the charge.I could simply plug it in to top it off overnight.

Many of the cars offer 4wd. They are driven in the hilly areas of California. No issue with most country roads. 

I can buy a charger online and either self install it or have it installed since I know house electric systems ( upgraded my own panel and wiring). Many cars come with a level one charger that simply uses a power outlet. Don't know where the yearly charging costs come from. I was getting numbers of less than $4.00 to fully charge an empty car. You won't typically charge from empty.

Used electrics are a good deal for shorter run use and they can be had reasonably. Many with 100 or more miles range. If you can charge at points in between you can still take a long trip.

The numbers don't have to be high. Many of the luxury markets have very expensive electrics. I see those the same as the luxury car market. People don't buy them to save money. There's a new electric mustang but I think it's in the 60-70 thousand dollar range. You can find WAY more affordable electrics