It's not going to be an overnight revolution, for sure. But over the next 20-30 years, I think you're going to see interest in electrification increasing in the aftermarket and custom community.
GM Announces eCOPO Electric Camaro Drag Car, Hints at EV Crate Motors
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75 miles would get me to work and back twice with a little extra in reserve. 200 would be great to have, but if you have to scrounge for your own batteries, then you would have to build for what you need vs. what you can afford.
That being said, a junkyard Prius battery pack could be had for about $1000 or so. The downside is one of those packs could move a Prius about 30 miles in all electric mode. You would probably need 3 or more of them to get close to 75 miles in something as heavy as a G-Body. You could also snag a battery pack out of something like a Tesla, which would probably get you to 125-150 miles of range, but they cost about $10k to $15k used and are next to impossible to find.
I think in the electric car game, the saying is: "Range costs money. How far do you want to go?"
Have to change that old axiom "How
EV's will get there eventually. I'm too old to change now. Right now, the cost effectiveness is lopsided so for the moment, they make EV's marketed to the more upscale crowd. Because they're not cheap. NOBODY that I know of only has an EV as their only car. Nobody. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen somewhere, but around here, nope. I doubt you'll see a new EV in a trailer park near you (when that does happen, that's when you know EV's have arrived). Without those gubmint incentives, EV's would have NEVER gotten off the ground. Ask GM about the first go-round with electric cars. Prices are coming down, but unless you live in a sanctuary city, people tend to not have an EV as their only car.
The availability factor will be huge, as will infrastructure build-up of charging/support stations. As the need grows, they will build it. But during the early days of this transition, if you break down on the highway miles from home, will Joe's Garage know how to fix it? Probably not. Dealership? Oh, that's 40 miles the other way. And you know how service can be slow as hell there, especially if they have to order parts. $$$$$.
I do give Musk some credit, although he acts like a dumbass sometimes. At least he's trying to trailblaze a path into being the everyman's EV. But I think his incentives are going away soon so next year I think he's going to be facing a strong headwind unless he ups his production and gets cars delivered with better quality.
Time will tell.
Wow, you basically beat me to my own post. All excellent points.
Personally, I have no problem with the concept or the technology. My gripe is with the methodology. If it's so great why can't/won't manufacturers build them without huge government subsidies? You almost never see a pure EV around here. Ever. When I lived in the Portland area there were quite a few -- all driven by .com d-bags and many were wrapped as a rolling billboard for whatever company was using it as a tax write off.
I don't feel like the fossil engine is going anywhere soon, barring additional government interference, but the real obstacle is the battery. Whoever solves that problem is going to change the game -- que 100mpg carburetor conspiracy theory here. Hybrids have proven themselves to be reliable. Range on an EV is the real issue. If I had the type of job where I commuted to the same place every day I'd really consider an EV. But it would have to cost the same as the equivalent gas vehicle and not be propped up by tax payer dollars.
More to the original post. This is a publicity gimmick. The answer to a question nobody asked.
"CheVRoleT eStiMatES qUArteR-MiLe tiMeS iN tHe 9-SeConD rAnGe."
In all seriousness, I think EVs are fine, and I'm sure they are only gonna become more and more common, but I have really no interest in them at all. As a commuter car, sure, yeah, whatever. But I feel the same way about EVs as a do my dishwasher or my dryer. Just an appliance, even if they are entering the performance segment.
But I don't have to worry about it because I'm way too ****ing broke to buy one anyways, and even if I had the money and did want one, I'd be too cheap to buy one.
JFC why did politicks have to enter into it. The "gubmint" subsidizes lots of things, not just hippies and their electric hippie cars. Farmers, oil companies, etc. for lots of different reasons. I saw a Tesla S driving around my backwater 1930's part of Oklahoma the other day and I was like 'about fcking time.'
https://www.nissanusa.com/vehicles/electric-cars/leaf.html MSRP ~$30K
https://www.bmwusa.com/vehicles/bmwi/bmw-i3.html MSRP ~$45K (it's a BMW what were you expecting)
https://www.fiatusa.com/500e.html MSRP $33K
https://www.ford.com/cars/focus/models/focus-electric/ MSRP $29K
Are they going to win races or go cross country? Nope. But its a start. For piddling around town sh*t I'd look at one of those Ford (swallow the puke) Focus'es.... The real problem is finding charging stations if you happen to get too far away from home.
There's an issue right now with companies like Tesla who don't want to let their tech out into the wild. There's a few videos on YT about a guy who has taken on the mantle of "salvage Tesla guy" and rebuilds the cars/motors/batteries from junkyards etc. The stories of him trying to get even basic parts from Tesla sounds like a nightmare. (There needs to be more people like that guy.)
IF companies like Chevy (or see above) make the parts available off the shelf to just anyone (Pontiac 1960's cough) at a decent cost then there will be change.
https://www.nissanusa.com/vehicles/electric-cars/leaf.html MSRP ~$30K
https://www.bmwusa.com/vehicles/bmwi/bmw-i3.html MSRP ~$45K (it's a BMW what were you expecting)
https://www.fiatusa.com/500e.html MSRP $33K
https://www.ford.com/cars/focus/models/focus-electric/ MSRP $29K
Are they going to win races or go cross country? Nope. But its a start. For piddling around town sh*t I'd look at one of those Ford (swallow the puke) Focus'es.... The real problem is finding charging stations if you happen to get too far away from home.
There's an issue right now with companies like Tesla who don't want to let their tech out into the wild. There's a few videos on YT about a guy who has taken on the mantle of "salvage Tesla guy" and rebuilds the cars/motors/batteries from junkyards etc. The stories of him trying to get even basic parts from Tesla sounds like a nightmare. (There needs to be more people like that guy.)
IF companies like Chevy (or see above) make the parts available off the shelf to just anyone (Pontiac 1960's cough) at a decent cost then there will be change.
What I want to know is how the manufacturers are gonna work out the charging infrastructure. From what I can tell, Tesla seems to want to keep proprietary chargers, whereas almost all the other manufacturers are seeming to want to go with a universal charger, which seems to make way more sense. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out, but I think Tesla is gonna isolate themselves (which may or may not lead to their demise) if they stay proprietary.
It may also work out like cell phones where all the apple phones have a proprietary charger, and all the different Android brands use the same charger.
Yep. That's a big one. "The great thing about standards is that there are so many of them." *I* don't get why they just don't build a freaking 240VAC dryer/stove plug "suitcase" transformer or whatever that you could plug in literally anywhere there's a 240 (or 120 I guess) socket and include it with the car. Couldn't be that bloody hard to do.
Musk enjoyed years of vurtuyally no competition and is still struggling so with these plug in hot rods coming out I think Musk is done. He is losing money on each car he puts out and that is not going to change any time soon.
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