GM Announcement

[BarryBobPosthole]

Is this one of those times like my Dad told me about when he was a kid? My Dad grew up in the 30’s in SW Arkansas on a little more than a section of farmland. He used to tell me about how wagons and mules and horses were still the main vehicles for farm work but they did have a big truck and trailer they used to haul stock the fifty or so miles to Fort Smith to the sale barn.
We might be in one of those transition times like that now.
GM announced their vehicles were going to be 100% zero emission by 2035. Seems like a long time. But they’re promising 30 new electric models out in the next five years. And they’re building the plants to make batteries too. This might be the first of the pack to make the mad dash to catch Tesla. If you go by stock price and number of shares out there, Tesla is worth more than the big three put together.
I’ve always loved my trucks, even named every one of them. I’m not sure if I can love a cold hearted bitch of an electric one! For people of a certain age this is going to be interesting times!

ps.....Chile might be a good place to invest! They sit on by far the largest lithium reserves in the world.

BKB

[Thumper]

I can imagine sitting at a NASCAR race and hearing nothing but "SWOOOOSH" (like a pack of golf carts) when the cars pass by the grandstands.

Personally, I can't even fathom all electric cars.

[BarryBobPosthole]

“Gentlemen charge your engines!”

BKb

[Thumper]

And pit-stops would be tires and batteries. I can see the Crew Chiefs figuring battery life to see if they can skip a stop and hold out 'til the end. Or, should we skip the tire change and just do a quick "charge and go" to gain track position?

I wonder how long it'll be before we have nothing but electric boats?

[HideHunter]

and Dodge is putting 700 horses in a minivan..

[Thumper]

I can see it now ... instead of heading to my garage to change the oil in my truck, I'll be changing my brushes.

[Thumper]

and Dodge is putting 700 horses in a minivan..

Those have GOT to be mighty small horses!

[BarryBobPosthole]

Electric motors are fairly common on boats now and have been for a long time. Developing one that can produce the torque to drive a 18 pitch prop is quite a chellenge though. Should I be saving for a new electric motor for my big boat instead of a four stroke?
BKB

[quercus alba]

Let's see, if the government will float me a tax and interest free 40 year loan I can get my new electric car payments down to about 175 bucks a month. I can probably make that most months

[Thumper]

I'm sure there's a provision in Biden's Green New Deal that will accommodate you Q/A.

[BarryBobPosthole]

One thing for certain: When that service engine soon light comes on man, its game over!

BKB

[Thumper]

My uncle just had to replace the batteries in his golf cart and it ran him $1200. I wouldn't even want to think about doing that in my car.

[quercus alba]

One thing for certain: When that service engine soon light comes on man, its game over!

BKB

When you see this A9806537-F7E5-4DA6-91B5-C949C417D1E0.jpeg there’s nothing left to do but phone a friend

[Thumper]

Ouch, I just did a Google search and this is the first thing that came up.

GMC Yukon Hybrid (2008-2013) - $2,899 Revitalized Hybrid Battery

Double ouch. I assume a "revitalized" battery is the same as a "rebuilt" battery? I wonder what a NEW battery costs? And that's for a hybrid, I wonder what a fully electric car would cost to replace all the batteries?

[Thumper]

When you see this A9806537-F7E5-4DA6-91B5-C949C417D1E0.jpeg there’s nothing left to do but phone a friend

I wonder how your check engine light will work if your batteries are dead?

[quercus alba]

Totally separate battery operates the ignition etc almost like a normal car

[BarryBobPosthole]

My son has an old Prius he’s put almost 300k on and never replaced the batteries. Not that they don’t need it. but instead of replacing themhe just bought another Prius. He says he’ll never own another non hybrid.

I think they have the battery thing to the point you don’t have to replace them much more often that an engine or tranny in a gasoline car.

BKB

[Thumper]

Actually, I was talking to a guy at the Toyota dealer a while back and he says they figure around 150k on the batteries.

[DeputyDog]

I can imagine sitting at a NASCAR race and hearing nothing but "SWOOOOSH" (like a pack of golf carts) when the cars pass by the grandstands.

Personally, I can't even fathom all electric cars.

The Formula E series has been around since 2014 and it is all electric formula cars. One of the biggest complaints about it is the noise, or lack of, from the cars. It’s had a lot of manufacturer support.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_E

INDYCAR is looking to put in hybrid technology in their next gen cars in the next couple of years. The biggest question racing series have is how much hybrid or electric to put into their regulations in order to get manufacturers interested.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[johnboy]

Guy here on the Island posted about needing a new battery pack for his Leaf. Quoted $15K. Car not worth that much. I'd love to see a cost/benefit analysis of all-electric vs traditional vehicles. Include all the associated manufacturing costs, material costs and issues such as environmental and social damage caused by the mining of rare earth metals.

What really grates me are all the govt subsidies to rich people from poor people (taxes) so they can virtue signal by buying a Tesla.

All-electric vehicles seem perfectly suited to urban use - cars, delivery trucks etc. but not very practical in Canadian winter conditions or outside urban centres.

[DeputyDog]

We have a Tesla charging station at one of the local hotels and a couple in municipal lots around town.

My question is this, are there enough charging stations for a person to travel long distance, say from Indiana to Florida, for example, for a person to make that trip without having to go out of their way to find the charging stations.

I ask this because a friend of mine delivers RV’s and other vehicles as a part time job. He picked up a brand new garbage truck in the Chicago area and needed to deliver it to the Cleveland area. This truck ran on CNG (compressed natural gas) and he had to make a fuel stop on the way. The direct route would have been to take I-80 but there were no CNG stations along that route. He had to travel an hour south of I-80 to the nearest station, then head on to Cleveland.

If they expect to go all electric then they had better get the infrastructure in place first so that it’s practical.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BarryBobPosthole]

Yep, there’s a lot of things have to happen before electric vehicles are a reality.

No more free electrons! (token electricity joke)

BKB

[johnboy]

How is all that electricity produced. Wind and solar will NOT cut it. Most electric vehicles are now actually coal powered. Nukes would work but that technology is now verboten.

[airbud7]

How is all that electricity produced. Wind and solar will NOT cut it. Most electric vehicles are now actually coal powered. Nukes would work but that technology is now verboten.

perpetual motion

[johnboy]

Whatever happened to fusion? That was going to be our big saviour a few years ago and now, nothing. How about geothermal? We need a new, clean power source to keep all our electric vehicles moving but can't seem to get past wind, a very old technology that really hasn't changed much since Don Quixote and solar which has huge problems. I want a car like Dr. Emmett Brown - throw a banana peel and a can of Bud in the hopper and you're good to go.