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Off-Topic The Car Thread
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What are your thoughts on the BMW EVs?
It depends what you are looking for....they are more luxurious than Tesla, but are way more expensive and have less range. For example, the Model Y is $55K for the base model, while the BMW IX is $87K.
As of today, I am getting another Tesla when my lease ends in Q4.
UMFarArcher
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Buying an EV? Here's How Long Until It Will Pay Off.
Whether it’s a Tesla, Volvo, or Ford, it could take five to 10 years for an EV to pay off financially compared with a gas car. Here’s what to know if you’re thinking of going electric.www.barrons.com
One Tesla Battery requires: Mining 500 tons of ore to refine 25 lbs of Lithium, 900-1000 gallons of fuel to move the ore, and Lithium is refined by sulfuric acid. The Lithium mine at Thacker Pass requires 75 semi loads of acid per day.
25 lbs of lithium
60 lbs of nickel
44 lbs of manganese
30 lbs of cobalt
200 lbs of copper
400 lbs of aluminum, plastic, and steel.
And this is "clean" energy? Not counting all the fuels/techs required to produce electricity to charge these things!
You are correct, but I have had Tesla's from the very beginning, simply because I like them.
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UMFarArcher
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Not knocking Tesla's, nor any other electric or hybrid.
Just pointing out that this is not a clean energy - and is much, much more destructive on the frontend and during processing than the end result that is the only things folks see.
Like at the grocery story - all the meat is cut, trimmed, dressed, and wrapped for presentation.
No one ever sees all the things that took place for that meat's neat, enticing retail presentation.
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It doesn't matter if it's actually clean or not. It's presented as clean and endorsed by lobbyists for clean energy.
Hence the reason Toyota is betting on hydrogen despite being a leader in hybrids. They're betting on reality.
As a follow up on my earlier comment:
Tesla cuts U.S. prices for fifth time since January
Tesla cut U.S. prices between 2% and nearly 6%, its website showed Thursday, as it extends a discount drive that analysts caution could hurt profitability.
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As a follow up on my earlier comment:
Tesla cuts U.S. prices for fifth time since January
Tesla cut U.S. prices between 2% and nearly 6%, its website showed Thursday, as it extends a discount drive that analysts caution could hurt profitability.www.cnbc.com
Thanks. You are on top of this for sure. The initial thought that comes to my mind when thinking about EV’s is: how much of a pain in the *** is the charging, stopping, etc vs the current convenience of gas stations, etc.?
It may be totally unwarranted. But example: drive from Orlando to Hard Rock for game, what circus, if any, would I face having an EV and wanting to drive back after the game.
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You have "range anxiety", join the club! Most charging is done at night at your home, but for trips, you would use the Tesla "superchargers".
What would probably make sense coming from Orlando is to stop at one on your trip down to be fully charged for the return trip. If you often travel long distances though, dont get an EV.
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Good stuff man! Thanks!
UMFarArcher
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That's fine. Hydrogen doesn't require as much mining and destruction - except for the energy to split the hydrogen from the oxygen.
Where's that coming from? Coal fired plants?
Wind power? Lots of steel, polymers, resins, chromium, processed ceramics, and another twenty five items that much be acquired, manufactured, installed, and maintained - and they don't work worth a tinker's dam in the long run.
Solar? Same thing - lots of elements, minerals, rare minerals, processing, and flattening large swaths of land for installation.
It's one thing to take a technology and take advantage of it if it's relatively efficient to acquire and apply - it's another to try to force ten pounds of **** in a two-pound sack. Which is what we've been doing.
Our problem is our physicists. They have a book - let's call it the Collective Physics Book. But they will only look at one-half of the book. Won't even peek at the other half. Worse - they've altered the most important part of the other half of the book and thus limit and inhibit others from delving into the other half - where all the magic occurs.
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Coal is dying out. Well, everywhere except China and India. But there's no criticism or cuts for them and no outcry, that's weird.
Anyway, I'm cool with nuclear taking a larger role and fully understand that wind and solar will never realistically be more than a fraction of our sources.
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UMFarArcher
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Several years ago I held in the palm of my hand a generator with an output of 4.8kW that weighed maybe a pound and a half.
The very next day, I held in the palm of my hand a generator with an output of 7.2kW that weighed maybe a couple ounces more.
Each one would run for several weeks without stopping - and to refuel - it would cost maybe today - $10.
One can even recharge typical Marine/Commercial lead acid batteries with zero energy put into the batteries. No charger required.
Was used successfully back in the 1930's in the country where electrical power poles were unavailable. But like things that kill cancer outright are denied and discouraged - that source of energy has been ignored as well.
No money in it.
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What powered this?
UMFarArcher
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I know what you're asking - but not going there for good reasons. So I'll just say this -
The second half of the physics book. But with the REAL, ACTUAL Maxwell's Equations. Quaternions.
The Maxwell's Equations taught in universities - are NOT Maxwell's Equations. Rather, a seriously gutted re-write that are written to zero everything out. As the term "equations" requires in the minds of academia.
That's not reality.
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UMFarArcher
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I'll give you another - and use a example that's not the exact same - but one most folks are familiar with.
We've all seen the "stones" in fish aquariums that are in essence tiny pieces of stones or ceramic pressed together in some matrix/adhesive that acts to spread the gas around through matrix and create many more tiny bubbles to oxygenate the water.
Currently, we use fuel injection for gasoline as one of the more efficient introductions of fuel into the combustion chamber - and yet - most of the fuel still is wasted and goes out the tailpipe.
There are now ceramics that have such a small porosity that fuel or liquids can barely pass through - but will present tiny, sub-micron particles of that liquid.
One can take these ceramics, and with pressure - squeeze out tiny sub-micron particles of fuel - get almost a 100% combustion, and your mileage would be many multiples of high mileage engines currently in production.
Oh - and emissions - none.
Small, engineered ceramics replace injectors with small orifices - and the ceramics change the entire approach to fuel, efficiency, and just a few minor alterations to an already mature technology.
I've had enough lab disasters to NEVER drive a hydrogen or hydrogen/oxygen car. So many problems that it's appealing on the surface - but the downsides are soon made known.
SIDE NOTE: On this subject - in a survival situation, and in preparation in a survival situation where you fear your clean water supply may be affected - as in a hurricane . . .
You've all seen the red clay pots everywhere. Seal up the hole in the bottom of one pot, and set up a catch basin underneath and maybe a bit of the sides to not lose any to evaporation.
Put your dirty water in the pot, and over a few hours, the water will seep through - well filtered - and it's a water filter that you can clean for years - and it still filters water well enough for drinking.
The ideal setup is the "dirty water" pot fits inside a larger pot - but without the dirty water pot touching the bottom of the "catch basin," which should be non-porous.
Yet another crazy regulation. Following the law of unintended consequences, my sense is that ICE vehicles will become more popular/valuable.
www.reuters.com
Biden looks to boost EV sales with plan to cut vehicle emissions
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday proposed sweeping emissions cuts for new cars and trucks through 2032, a move it says could mean two out of every three new vehicles automakers sell will be electric within a decade.
UMFarArcher
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Yet another crazy regulation. Following the law of unintended consequences, my sense is that ICE vehicles will become more popular/valuable.
Biden looks to boost EV sales with plan to cut vehicle emissions
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday proposed sweeping emissions cuts for new cars and trucks through 2032, a move it says could mean two out of every three new vehicles automakers sell will be electric within a decade.
Oh yeah. This past Winter, in many areas, the electric vehicles sat at home or on the side of the road.
The brilliant California leaders - (The Land of Dumbazzes) didn't have enough electricity to provide sufficient power to charge electric cars, and almost had to resort to rolling blackouts.
Probably won't get much better this Summer as Air Conditioning will require more demand for electricity.
But a '55 Chevy could go where it wanted! WHEN it wanted.
Think of evacuations from an emergency, say a Hurricane or Earthquake....
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