"I'm worried about somebody taking my stuff while I'm gone." "SHOOT THEM."
Good job.
Hmm, that brings up a salient point - we know that booby-traps like automated turrets are illegal (in addition to being a really bad idea), but what about a firearm-based intrusion-mitigation system that's not automated, but remotely triggered?
I.e., the alarm sends an alert to your phone, you look at the video feed, determine the person in your house is an intruder, and deploy the system manually.
Thieves have been proven to prefer easier marks - most home invaders aren't going to risk getting mauled over a PS3 and/or whatever other small electronics they can get away with while that rottweiler scarfs down a steak, when the house next door, with no dogs, is a far easier target. The only way a burglar is going to bother with bribing a dog is if A) you have some seriously valuable stuff worth the risk, in which case the thief is probably someone you know, or B) they're fucking morons.
All the money you save by driving an EV for 50 weeks of the year covers the cost of renting a car for 1 or 2 weeks, and then some.
Can you provide empirical data that supports your conclusion, or am I supposed to take your word for it?
Here, I'll even give you some data to start with: My current 'long-trip' vehicle is a 2012 fully-equipped (everything but satnav) Jetta TDI that I paid ~$27,000 for; it gets 45-55 MPG and has a range about 500 miles, and we put about 20,000 miles/year on the odometer.
What equally equipped EV could I buy that would save me money over the course of the first year of ownership, and how much money will it save me? Side question, if it doesn't save me money in the first year, how long until it does?
You can't take the long view, and then shorten up your timeline. What makes you think Superchargers would not also become ubiquitous? I can't even respond to this.
Plug-in hybrids usually have small batteries sized for a typical 30 mile daily commute, since they can use gas for longer trips. So the battery replacement cost is minimal.
Say what you want, but the fact is hybrids lose a lot of value over the course of 10 years - just go look up what a 2004 Prius cost new, then go to kbb.com and find out what the same car is worth today. It's a significant difference.
what if the family is like mine, and one of the vehicles must be a pickup truck?
Two solutions: 1. Buy an electric pickup. 2. Buy an electric car as the non-pickup.
1. you can buy an electric pickup in the US? Where, and from whom? Also, assuming one can, does the electric pickup have comparable hauling/towing capacity and range? Because if it doesn't then it's not a feasible replacement.
2. So what, I should take the gas-guzzling, 2-seat pickup on long trips? Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of buying an electric in the first place?
Lemme guess, next you'll say I should rent a car for long trips, which totally makes sense for someone who already owns 2 vehicles. To which I'd respond "OR, I can keep the 50 MPG diesel I already own."
where would one pick up a 'temporary battery booster' designed for use with an electric automobile? I've yet to see one.
Electric cars are still a niche product. As they become more mainstream, lots of add-ons will be available.
So, then, it's not a solution to OP's "Currently I can fill my gas tank within 15 minutes and drive for 400 miles. Compare that with hours to charge a battery." statement.
It's not legal to operate a generator while driving down the road in most places
I have a hard time believing that is true, since a billion cars have built in generators/alternators. But even if it is, laws can change.
You didn't really just conflate a portable, tow-behind, gas-powered generator with the reciprocating-assembly-powered "generator" already strapped to your engine, did you? There's a world of difference between the two, you know.
Anyway, I know it's not legal to operate a portable generator in a moving vehicle in my state, as I already looked into it when I was considering building my own hybrid vehicle - pure electric drivetrain w/ a 2-stroke diesel that only kicks on to charge the batteries.
Look around. Almost everything you see in the modern world was once considered implausible. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and platooning, are already planned as standard behavior for SDCs. Peer-to-peer power transfer isn't a big leap from that. The inductive power transfer devices could even be strap on after-market items, and the transaction could be arranged and paid for using a smartphone app.
I don't think you're considering the legal, social, or economic impacts that will hamper adoption; I remember several years ago, someone talking about a-la-carte cable programming like you're talking about SDCs - "Oh, we're just a few years from that being the way things work" - yet we don't have a-la-carte cable programming, despite the fact that the technology exists.
SDCs can only become mainstream with a government mandate (I don't know many people who would be keen on paying several tens of thousands of dollars for a machine that they can't control), and so long as local governments are earning revenue from issuing traffic tickets, they'll fight to keep that cash cow tooth and nail. Those are both pretty big hurdles to overcome.
The oil companies and other incumbents want it dead. They bought all the patents they could get their hands on for the components of electric cars but the much of the proverbial cat was already out of the bag. However, they already own just about everything related to hydrogen fuel and it's pipeline. So they're pulling out all the stops to kill the electric car.
No, no, no, you've got their motivations all wrong; they don't want to kill the electric car, they merely want to own all the technology behind it, and put it into stasis until the day after their primary revenue stream (fossil fuels) stops being profitable. That way they'll basically have a perpetual semi-monopoly on transportation.
Which is definitely evil, but at the same time, a very wise move in terms of capitalism.
The Volt starts at $35k and the next generation (2016 MY) will have a low end offering starting at $30k
Or, for $30K (less if you know how to negotiate - we paid about $27,000 for ours) you could buy a brand new Jetta TDI, with all the trimmings - satnav, premium audio, sunroof, leather interior, WeatherTek floormats, trunk organization system, custom rims, gold-level maintenance package, etc - and get 45-50 MPG, and have a range of over 450 miles.
The day an EV can match that level of luxury at the same price point is the day I might start seriously considering the purchase of one.
The average American doesn't even spent $30,000 on a car, so the price range of these new vehicles is still in the realm of the rich for toys and games.
The average price of a new car in America is $31,252.
I can only think of 2 major issues that would need worked out:
1) once you stuff all the necessary parts in (hydrogen tank/lines, batteries, miles of electrical... stuff), will there be any room left for passengers and their luggage?
2) how will the weight of said drivetrain affect the mileage and performance of the vehicle?
That said, I think you're pretty spot-on here. The next step will be figuring out how to explain to the ignorant masses that no, they aren't hydrogen bombs on wheels...
Currently I can fill my gas tank within 15 minutes and drive for 400 miles. Compare that with hours to charge a battery.
Solutions: 0. Buy a plug-in hybrid instead of a pure electric.
That seems feasible, presuming you're in the market for a new vehicle, and don't mind it having little to no resale value here in a decade or so (because of the battery replacement cost, you see).
1. Drive your other car for long trips. Most American families own two.
... and if they don't?
Better still, what if the family is like mine, and one of the vehicles must be a pickup truck?
2. Rent a car for the trip.
I'd almost recommend that anyway - saves you from having to deal with the wear-and-tear that comes with road-tripping.
3. Rent a temporary battery booster pack and put it in your trunk or roof rack.
That sounds heavy, expensive, and of questionable value. Besides that, where would one pick up a 'temporary battery booster' designed for use with an electric automobile? I've yet to see one.
4. Rent a tow-behind generator.
It's not legal to operate a generator while driving down the road in most places (which sucks, namely because "ICE for power generation only" is probably the smartest way to build a hybrid).
5. Since self-driving cars (SDCs) are likely only a few years ago, you can use platooning to extend your range. 6. While your SDC is platooning, you may be able to engage in automated transactions with the other cars in the platoon, and purchase power from them. The power could be transferred by magnetically coupling the cars while they are physically separated by a few inches. People on short trips could then make some money by transferring power to those on longer trips.
I've heard of pie-in-the-sky, but you're clearing the mesosphere with that one.
Or you know, give yourself enough time to get where you are going and take a 1 hour pitstop near a supercharger.
That doesn't do a lot of good for those of us who don't currently live within 500 miles of a Supercharger station, nor does it take into account the possibility that, were electric cars to become more ubiquitous, there very well could be a line at that station, transforming your "1 hour pitstop" into 2, 3, even 4+ hours of sitting around waiting.
mod parent up for knowing the difference between pedal and peddle. I do believe this is the first time I've seen it spelled correctly on Slashdot; everyone else thinks it's "backpeddling".
It's a comon error; nothing too loose your shit over...
Some people have more than one SIM. Others use the same SIM in more than one device.
My point is that "how many SIMs are active right now" is the metric telcos use to determine the number of subscribers. If the SIM isn't active (i.e., installed in a device and transmitting info), it's not considered a subscriber.
Also, a smartphone can still can be usefull without a SIM card.
Totally - I put Torque Pro and Track Recorder on my old Droid X, which now lives a new life as my dashcam.
In addition, "mobile subscriber" does not automatically equal a cell phone - you also have cellular enabled tablets, personal hotspot devices, portable cellular units for use with regular, analog telephones, etc. I have a good couple dozen of those in a closet, active and ready for deployment.
Total adoption is hard to dertermine. Is a phone bought 3 years ago still used? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it's only used as a remote control for the TV while the same person has a new phone. Does that count? Hard to say.
It's not hard to say at all - they're talking about active cellular subscriptions, i.e. active sim cards.
Does that 3 year old phone still have an active sim? Then it counts as a subscriber; if not, it doesn't.
I honestly think they don't know how many individual humans are their customers.
As has been pointed out by others, "subscriber" in telecom parlance refers to the device, not the person who owns it. Ergo, if you have a work phone, personal phone, and one of those wireless hotspot devices, you count as 3 subscribers.
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As much as I love that idea, it sure sounds like the kind of booby-trap that will get you sued, at least in some states.
"I'm worried about somebody taking my stuff while I'm gone."
"SHOOT THEM."
Good job.
Hmm, that brings up a salient point - we know that booby-traps like automated turrets are illegal (in addition to being a really bad idea), but what about a firearm-based intrusion-mitigation system that's not automated, but remotely triggered?
I.e., the alarm sends an alert to your phone, you look at the video feed, determine the person in your house is an intruder, and deploy the system manually.
Large dogs have been proven to be easily bribed.
Thieves have been proven to prefer easier marks - most home invaders aren't going to risk getting mauled over a PS3 and/or whatever other small electronics they can get away with while that rottweiler scarfs down a steak, when the house next door, with no dogs, is a far easier target. The only way a burglar is going to bother with bribing a dog is if A) you have some seriously valuable stuff worth the risk, in which case the thief is probably someone you know, or B) they're fucking morons.
Statistically, dogs do more to reduce your chances of being burglarized then electronic alarms.
Anecdotally verified by a conversation I had with an insurance adjuster, who told me my large breed dog was the "Best security system money can buy!"
Place a camera in plain view and out of reach. Put up a beware of Doug sign and get a Glock window decal.
Better yet, get a real dog and Glock instead. If someone ever breaks in, I guarantee they'll be a lot more effective than any sign.
I'm OK with Amazon sharing info on people I disagree with. I'm not OK with them sharing data to prosecute people that I agree with.
Maybe that's not what you meant, but it sure sounds that way to me.
By the end of 2014, Seattle will have 130 single men for every 100 single women.
Worst. Orgy. Ever.
Of all time.
All the money you save by driving an EV for 50 weeks of the year covers the cost of renting a car for 1 or 2 weeks, and then some.
Can you provide empirical data that supports your conclusion, or am I supposed to take your word for it?
Here, I'll even give you some data to start with: My current 'long-trip' vehicle is a 2012 fully-equipped (everything but satnav) Jetta TDI that I paid ~$27,000 for; it gets 45-55 MPG and has a range about 500 miles, and we put about 20,000 miles/year on the odometer.
What equally equipped EV could I buy that would save me money over the course of the first year of ownership, and how much money will it save me? Side question, if it doesn't save me money in the first year, how long until it does?
You can't take the long view, and then shorten up your timeline. What makes you think Superchargers would not also become ubiquitous? I can't even respond to this.
Well, then, I guess that makes two of us.
Plug-in hybrids usually have small batteries sized for a typical 30 mile daily commute, since they can use gas for longer trips. So the battery replacement cost is minimal.
Say what you want, but the fact is hybrids lose a lot of value over the course of 10 years - just go look up what a 2004 Prius cost new, then go to kbb.com and find out what the same car is worth today. It's a significant difference.
what if the family is like mine, and one of the vehicles must be a pickup truck?
Two solutions:
1. Buy an electric pickup.
2. Buy an electric car as the non-pickup.
1. you can buy an electric pickup in the US? Where, and from whom? Also, assuming one can, does the electric pickup have comparable hauling/towing capacity and range? Because if it doesn't then it's not a feasible replacement.
2. So what, I should take the gas-guzzling, 2-seat pickup on long trips? Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of buying an electric in the first place?
Lemme guess, next you'll say I should rent a car for long trips, which totally makes sense for someone who already owns 2 vehicles. To which I'd respond "OR, I can keep the 50 MPG diesel I already own."
where would one pick up a 'temporary battery booster' designed for use with an electric automobile? I've yet to see one.
Electric cars are still a niche product. As they become more mainstream, lots of add-ons will be available.
So, then, it's not a solution to OP's "Currently I can fill my gas tank within 15 minutes and drive for 400 miles. Compare that with hours to charge a battery." statement.
It's not legal to operate a generator while driving down the road in most places
I have a hard time believing that is true, since a billion cars have built in generators/alternators. But even if it is, laws can change.
You didn't really just conflate a portable, tow-behind, gas-powered generator with the reciprocating-assembly-powered "generator" already strapped to your engine, did you? There's a world of difference between the two, you know.
Anyway, I know it's not legal to operate a portable generator in a moving vehicle in my state, as I already looked into it when I was considering building my own hybrid vehicle - pure electric drivetrain w/ a 2-stroke diesel that only kicks on to charge the batteries.
Look around. Almost everything you see in the modern world was once considered implausible. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and platooning, are already planned as standard behavior for SDCs. Peer-to-peer power transfer isn't a big leap from that. The inductive power transfer devices could even be strap on after-market items, and the transaction could be arranged and paid for using a smartphone app.
I don't think you're considering the legal, social, or economic impacts that will hamper adoption; I remember several years ago, someone talking about a-la-carte cable programming like you're talking about SDCs - "Oh, we're just a few years from that being the way things work" - yet we don't have a-la-carte cable programming, despite the fact that the technology exists.
SDCs can only become mainstream with a government mandate (I don't know many people who would be keen on paying several tens of thousands of dollars for a machine that they can't control), and so long as local governments are earning revenue from issuing traffic tickets, they'll fight to keep that cash cow tooth and nail. Those are both pretty big hurdles to overcome.
Did you see the movie?
The oil companies and other incumbents want it dead. They bought all the patents they could get their hands on for the components of electric cars but the much of the proverbial cat was already out of the bag. However, they already own just about everything related to hydrogen fuel and it's pipeline. So they're pulling out all the stops to kill the electric car.
No, no, no, you've got their motivations all wrong; they don't want to kill the electric car, they merely want to own all the technology behind it, and put it into stasis until the day after their primary revenue stream (fossil fuels) stops being profitable. That way they'll basically have a perpetual semi-monopoly on transportation.
Which is definitely evil, but at the same time, a very wise move in terms of capitalism.
The Volt starts at $35k and the next generation (2016 MY) will have a low end offering starting at $30k
Or, for $30K (less if you know how to negotiate - we paid about $27,000 for ours) you could buy a brand new Jetta TDI, with all the trimmings - satnav, premium audio, sunroof, leather interior, WeatherTek floormats, trunk organization system, custom rims, gold-level maintenance package, etc - and get 45-50 MPG, and have a range of over 450 miles.
The day an EV can match that level of luxury at the same price point is the day I might start seriously considering the purchase of one.
The average American doesn't even spent $30,000 on a car, so the price range of these new vehicles is still in the realm of the rich for toys and games.
The average price of a new car in America is $31,252.
Averages can be misleading
I can only think of 2 major issues that would need worked out:
1) once you stuff all the necessary parts in (hydrogen tank/lines, batteries, miles of electrical... stuff), will there be any room left for passengers and their luggage?
2) how will the weight of said drivetrain affect the mileage and performance of the vehicle?
That said, I think you're pretty spot-on here. The next step will be figuring out how to explain to the ignorant masses that no, they aren't hydrogen bombs on wheels...
It won't have as much torque as a Model S. Turbo lag and gears too.
Grasp at all the straws you want, fact is that today, a diesel is a more practical vehicle than an EV.
Don't know about the Passat, but my wife has a Jetta TDI, and it averages between 45-50 MPG, with a tank-range of somewhere around 500 miles.
Those numbers would probably be higher if her foot wasn't made of lead.
Currently I can fill my gas tank within 15 minutes and drive for 400 miles. Compare that with hours to charge a battery.
Solutions:
0. Buy a plug-in hybrid instead of a pure electric.
That seems feasible, presuming you're in the market for a new vehicle, and don't mind it having little to no resale value here in a decade or so (because of the battery replacement cost, you see).
1. Drive your other car for long trips. Most American families own two.
... and if they don't?
Better still, what if the family is like mine, and one of the vehicles must be a pickup truck?
2. Rent a car for the trip.
I'd almost recommend that anyway - saves you from having to deal with the wear-and-tear that comes with road-tripping.
3. Rent a temporary battery booster pack and put it in your trunk or roof rack.
That sounds heavy, expensive, and of questionable value. Besides that, where would one pick up a 'temporary battery booster' designed for use with an electric automobile? I've yet to see one.
4. Rent a tow-behind generator.
It's not legal to operate a generator while driving down the road in most places (which sucks, namely because "ICE for power generation only" is probably the smartest way to build a hybrid).
5. Since self-driving cars (SDCs) are likely only a few years ago, you can use platooning to extend your range.
6. While your SDC is platooning, you may be able to engage in automated transactions with the other cars in the platoon, and purchase power from them. The power could be transferred by magnetically coupling the cars while they are physically separated by a few inches. People on short trips could then make some money by transferring power to those on longer trips.
I've heard of pie-in-the-sky, but you're clearing the mesosphere with that one.
Or you know, give yourself enough time to get where you are going and take a 1 hour pitstop near a supercharger.
That doesn't do a lot of good for those of us who don't currently live within 500 miles of a Supercharger station, nor does it take into account the possibility that, were electric cars to become more ubiquitous, there very well could be a line at that station, transforming your "1 hour pitstop" into 2, 3, even 4+ hours of sitting around waiting.
For that, you could drive your spouse's car.
So, then, if having an EV means I still have to own a gasoline vehicle for longer trips... what was the point in paying for an EV?
mod parent up for knowing the difference between pedal and peddle. I do believe this is the first time I've seen it spelled correctly on Slashdot; everyone else thinks it's "backpeddling".
It's a comon error; nothing too loose your shit over...
Some people have more than one SIM. Others use the same SIM in more than one device.
My point is that "how many SIMs are active right now" is the metric telcos use to determine the number of subscribers. If the SIM isn't active (i.e., installed in a device and transmitting info), it's not considered a subscriber.
Also, a smartphone can still can be usefull without a SIM card.
Totally - I put Torque Pro and Track Recorder on my old Droid X, which now lives a new life as my dashcam.
In addition, "mobile subscriber" does not automatically equal a cell phone - you also have cellular enabled tablets, personal hotspot devices, portable cellular units for use with regular, analog telephones, etc. I have a good couple dozen of those in a closet, active and ready for deployment.
Total adoption is hard to dertermine. Is a phone bought 3 years ago still used? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it's only used as a remote control for the TV while the same person has a new phone. Does that count? Hard to say.
It's not hard to say at all - they're talking about active cellular subscriptions, i.e. active sim cards.
Does that 3 year old phone still have an active sim? Then it counts as a subscriber; if not, it doesn't.
I honestly think they don't know how many individual humans are their customers.
As has been pointed out by others, "subscriber" in telecom parlance refers to the device, not the person who owns it. Ergo, if you have a work phone, personal phone, and one of those wireless hotspot devices, you count as 3 subscribers.
.. or the RIAA.