Plummeting battery prices to make electric cars cheaper than gas cars in 3 years A Bloomberg bombshell. Achieving parity for upfront, initial cost means that the buying decision for electric vehicles (EVs) is about to become a no-brainer. That’s because EVs are already superior to gasoline cars in many key respects: they have faster acceleration, much lower maintenance costs, zero tail-pipe emissions, and a much lower per-mile fueling cost than petrol cars, even when running on carbon-free fuel.
To go back even further in time, I had a few Nexus 5 phones which are dead with the boot loop. This problem has been going on for a long time. One would think that they would/could fix it.
Tesla releases a quarterly safety report on their cars. About one accident for every 2.87 million miles driven in which drivers had Autopilot engaged. As a contrast, for the general public, it's about one accident per 436,000 miles. So, much better but not perfect. As long as it's better than driving without assistance, it's a win. https://www.tesla.com/VehicleS...
I've also noticed they tend to rush everyone on board and leave early. I'm sure this helps their stats. However, I was bitten by this on a recent trip where my arriving flight was late and I rushed to the connecting flight gate arriving several minutes before the scheduled departure only to find that the plane had left the gate.
Patents are a useful way to prevent others from becoming successful with the technology. So, even if you don't use it yourself, you can prevent others from competing. win-win!
Thank you for acknowledging that ICE cars cost more to maintain. (You might also want to check your oil change assertions. Most manufacturers recommend 5,000 to 10,000 mile intervals. Nobody recommends 18,000 miles. You could be damaging your engine with dirty oil.)
We know Cisco is compromised. Has there ever been any proof that Huawei is compromised or is it all just speculative paranoia? I say we just ban Cisco until we have some actual evidence that Huawei is spying.
You may only change your oil every 18,000 miles but that is not what most people are advised to do. Also, you understate the need for regular maintenance and the complicated engine/emissions/transmissions having problems. All of my ICE cars required several trips a year for routine maintenance or things that broke. Just don't have any of that with Tesla. Yes, my Land Rover does require lots more maintenance but after redoing the seals a few times, it's just regular maintenance plus emissions parts breaking like any other ICE car.
Modern ICE cars do need oil changes and have finicky emission systems which require regular maintenance. Teslas really don't need any routine maintenance. Even brakes seem to last forever because of regen.
The early production of the door handle retraction mechanism had a weak pivot gear which broke. The replacement is much stronger. Same with the early "drivetrain failure" which was just a "milling sound" due to lack of lubrication in early production models. The whole drivetrain can be dropped by removing about 4 bolts so the easiest thing to do was exchange them and send them back to the factory for rebuild. My car (a 2015) fortunately hasn't had that problem.
The reality is that the cars are very reliable and people have driven them hundreds of thousands of miles with very little maintenance or repair. Even the batteries are proving to be be solid with less than 10% degradation over 100,000 miles so they should last a lot longer than an ICE car. Tesla has loosened up their policy on parts so anyone can buy any replacement part and shop manuals and of course there are salvage parts available so anyone could open up a Tesla repair shop. Problem is that they don't need much in the way of maintenance and repair so not much of a market.
Tesla mobile service is awesome. They come to you and fix the car. Since Teslas don't need any routine maintenance (no oil change, tuneups, etc.), you only need service when something breaks. Again, since the cars are so simple (electric motor, big battery) there's not much to go wrong. In 75,000 miles, I've only needed service twice. Once for water in a tail light and once for a door handle repair. Mobile service came and fixed the door handle. Fast and easy. (Tail light was repaired under warranty before mobile service was available.) Auto dealers are pissed at Tesla because EVs don't need any of their overpriced service. So happy I don't have to go to the dealer for oil change, etc.
Lame excuse for doing nothing. Yes, it does matter what everybody does. BTW, both India and China are far ahead of the US in installing renewables. For some reason, they have more enlightened leaders.
Energy dense, yes but you have an engine that's only 20% efficient so hydrocarbons don't do so well. Safe? Other than the hundreds of cars combusting daily? Convenient? Have to find a gas station. Electricity is available in lots more places than gas stations. I even have electricity at my house so I just plug in anytime I need a charge (1 -2 times a week). Inexpensive? Electric cars are cheaper to run than gas cars. (Electric cars about 4 cents a mile, gas cars about 15 cents a mile)
The electric distribution network is already in place (and has been shown to be able to handle 100% electric cars). Range is not a problem. Charging time is not a problem.
Slashdot Mirror
I remember straw straws.
https://thinkprogress.org/elec...
Plummeting battery prices to make electric cars cheaper than gas cars in 3 years
A Bloomberg bombshell.
Achieving parity for upfront, initial cost means that the buying decision for electric vehicles (EVs) is about to become a no-brainer.
That’s because EVs are already superior to gasoline cars in many key respects: they have faster acceleration, much lower maintenance costs, zero tail-pipe emissions, and a much lower per-mile fueling cost than petrol cars, even when running on carbon-free fuel.
If it only runs on Windows, it is of no consequence since it only affects those too stupid to protect themselves.
To go back even further in time, I had a few Nexus 5 phones which are dead with the boot loop.
This problem has been going on for a long time. One would think that they would/could fix it.
Tesla releases a quarterly safety report on their cars. About one accident for every 2.87 million miles driven in which drivers had Autopilot engaged. As a contrast, for the general public, it's about one accident per 436,000 miles.
So, much better but not perfect.
As long as it's better than driving without assistance, it's a win.
https://www.tesla.com/VehicleS...
I've also noticed they tend to rush everyone on board and leave early. I'm sure this helps their stats. However, I was bitten by this on a recent trip where my arriving flight was late and I rushed to the connecting flight gate arriving several minutes before the scheduled departure only to find that the plane had left the gate.
Yes, it was a long time ago. Good old DOS days.
Reminds me of the old days where Microsoft Windows updates would regularly break Lotus spreadsheet.
Brilliant!
I'm sure the fanbois will love it.
Patents are a useful way to prevent others from becoming successful with the technology. So, even if you don't use it yourself, you can prevent others from competing.
win-win!
We all know that Apple never makes mistakes. It must be you.
Actually, degrees in economics and physics but don't let that get in the way of your rant.
Thank you for acknowledging that ICE cars cost more to maintain.
(You might also want to check your oil change assertions. Most manufacturers recommend 5,000 to 10,000 mile intervals. Nobody recommends 18,000 miles. You could be damaging your engine with dirty oil.)
We know Cisco is compromised. Has there ever been any proof that Huawei is compromised or is it all just speculative paranoia?
I say we just ban Cisco until we have some actual evidence that Huawei is spying.
Here's some actual data to prove my point. Your fantasy of no oil change, no repair ICE cars is busted.
https://electrek.co/2019/03/18...
You may only change your oil every 18,000 miles but that is not what most people are advised to do. Also, you understate the need for regular maintenance and the complicated engine/emissions/transmissions having problems.
All of my ICE cars required several trips a year for routine maintenance or things that broke. Just don't have any of that with Tesla.
Yes, my Land Rover does require lots more maintenance but after redoing the seals a few times, it's just regular maintenance plus emissions parts breaking like any other ICE car.
Modern ICE cars do need oil changes and have finicky emission systems which require regular maintenance.
Teslas really don't need any routine maintenance. Even brakes seem to last forever because of regen.
The early production of the door handle retraction mechanism had a weak pivot gear which broke. The replacement is much stronger. Same with the early "drivetrain failure" which was just a "milling sound" due to lack of lubrication in early production models. The whole drivetrain can be dropped by removing about 4 bolts so the easiest thing to do was exchange them and send them back to the factory for rebuild. My car (a 2015) fortunately hasn't had that problem.
The reality is that the cars are very reliable and people have driven them hundreds of thousands of miles with very little maintenance or repair. Even the batteries are proving to be be solid with less than 10% degradation over 100,000 miles so they should last a lot longer than an ICE car.
Tesla has loosened up their policy on parts so anyone can buy any replacement part and shop manuals and of course there are salvage parts available so anyone could open up a Tesla repair shop. Problem is that they don't need much in the way of maintenance and repair so not much of a market.
Anybody can fix any Tesla. Anybody can buy parts. Anybody can sell parts.
(Check out Rich Rebuilds on YouTube.)
Tesla mobile service is awesome. They come to you and fix the car. Since Teslas don't need any routine maintenance (no oil change, tuneups, etc.), you only need service when something breaks. Again, since the cars are so simple (electric motor, big battery) there's not much to go wrong.
In 75,000 miles, I've only needed service twice. Once for water in a tail light and once for a door handle repair. Mobile service came and fixed the door handle. Fast and easy. (Tail light was repaired under warranty before mobile service was available.)
Auto dealers are pissed at Tesla because EVs don't need any of their overpriced service. So happy I don't have to go to the dealer for oil change, etc.
Lame excuse for doing nothing. Yes, it does matter what everybody does. BTW, both India and China are far ahead of the US in installing renewables. For some reason, they have more enlightened leaders.
It can get worse if we keep burning fossil fuels. The projection is just the minimum.
Let me guess. You're not black.
And gasoline engines are only 20% efficient so they waste most of that specific energy and it makes them equal to Li-air batteries.
Energy dense, yes but you have an engine that's only 20% efficient so hydrocarbons don't do so well.
Safe? Other than the hundreds of cars combusting daily?
Convenient? Have to find a gas station. Electricity is available in lots more places than gas stations. I even have electricity at my house so I just plug in anytime I need a charge (1 -2 times a week).
Inexpensive? Electric cars are cheaper to run than gas cars. (Electric cars about 4 cents a mile, gas cars about 15 cents a mile)
The electric distribution network is already in place (and has been shown to be able to handle 100% electric cars).
Range is not a problem. Charging time is not a problem.