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Who has or is planning to get an electric car / EV Talk
- Thread starter PracticalMac
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Though to be fair, if you are trying to drive 7+ hours a day you want the most comfy seats in a vehicle. Something like a Cadillac Escalade (which comes in a diesel variant) would probably fit the bill nicely.
Edit: and it has Supercruise so you can mostly relax on the road...
I have no idea about the American car market so wasn't aware of the diesel situation there. As a fuel it is a few pence more expensive a litre here too, but the mpg is much better so it tends to work out better on cost. I have a 2.0L diesel car and get around 55mpg. You must be needing to stop and refuel on a 500+ mile trip in a petrol car though. It wouldn't really be an issue in an EV as you'd have to stop for breaks on a long trip anyway.
So that would mean the argument about having to make recharging stops in an EV rather void too. If someone needs to stop to fill up a gass guzzling 20mpg petrol car, they might aswell re-charge an EV and take the comfort breaks they would need in any type of car on a 7-8 hour journey.
Unless they get a Prius (non-phev). Then they could drive for quite a while on a tank.
My buddy drives a Y and this month is full FSD Demo.
Its pretty incredible. It drove us from his house to target perfectly and even parked into a space. I was floored.
Its pretty incredible. It drove us from his house to target perfectly and even parked into a space. I was floored.
I could drive 600 miles in my diesel car, but I wouldn't be able to drive for that long without stopping for a break. That would be ample time to stop and charge an EV under similar circumstances. Considering we now have EV's that have 290+ mile ranges, the old cmplaint about range on longer journeys is becoming irrelavent unless the country hasn't invested in any form of infrastructure.
When I drove 500 miles over the 3 day holiday on those long stretches of lonely road, I turned on my Ford BlueCruise which was amazing at reducing driver fatigue.
I am so glad Tesla opened up charging to Ford EVs...
Ford vs Tesla self driving:
I’ve had FSD just over a year now. 12 is a game changer. Handles NYC and Long Island amazingly well. I use it for most of my driving.
I just got 12.3.3 after having 12.1 for over a week. 12 is increasing its level of knowledge at an exponential rate. 12.3 improves on the slowness of 12.1.
There still are issues, but I glad I got FSD on both my 3 and Y.
Hey did you notice the tail lights on the cars in the monitor have changed shape and it picks up blinkers now. Lots of little aesthetic changes too. It seems to see traffic very far ahead.
I didn’t notice a change in shape. But, blinkers have been showing as far as I remember. Were you part of FSDb before? Or only now with the free trial?
A lot of the visualizations were exclusive to FSDb, then slowly pushed to the non-FSDb visualizations after.
I’ve been in FSDb since I got my used TM3 January 2023, so I don’t know what non-FSDb visualizations looked like.
Also, FSDb always showed more of the surroundings vs non-FSDb including vehicles in the distance.
I don't know what it was called but it wasn't full self driving. And I've only been in this vehicle about a dozen times so anyone here is more of an expert.
Yeah. FSDb‘s visualizations were always more detailed than non-FSDb…. So when the trial people get it, they are now seeing what FSDb people have already had.
Same with the Polestar, or should I say in Europe. No charger anxiety whatsoever.
First, I'd never charge beyond where the charging curve drops on an ultrafast charger. Not only is it rude to keep it occupied, it doesn't make logical sense as it actually takes longer, opposed to having another charging stop in the optimised band of the curve.
A destination charger (slow one), like when having dinner or shopping etc yes sure why not...
Actually, it is way more practical and saves you a lot of time. With the figures, you've shared, you seem to be in the territory of the charging curve where your vehicle is very slow. It is illogical to target that during a road trip. When you are overnight, or dining, or shopping, yes sure do that on a slow charger.
I don't know which exact version you have, but for a Mach E GT this is the curve, just look at how badly it drops and slow it gets at 40% already. So when road tripping this is very useful information as it transforms your optimum moments to charge.
Then have a look at one of the most inefficient cars, but look at that charging curve. Whilst it uses more electrons it can charge at 150 for nearly the whole range.
Not sure why you say that...We did a 4000 one across europe. Also targetted 500 per day, altough last days to get home we probably did more like 600 to 700. My wife and daughter wanted us to take the Polestar. It was absolutely fine...
The newest EVs are getting really fast at charging now as well. You could stop to charge the thing, have something to eat and then be on your way.
That newest Porsche Taycan (the update) is damn hard to argue with and its electrical tech will surely filter across to others in the same group of companies. I like the updated styling, but the interior is a bit too monochrome in style/looks. I'm not sure the top version is necessary, 0-100km/h in 2.2 seconds (from a stationary standing start, not a rollout) is pretty outrageous, but do we really need that?
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They are indeed, but still worth looking at the charging curve. Unfortunately, not everything is at its seems and there are a few manufacturers that quote big fast numbers, but actually, they can't sustain that during the charging session.
Tesla can be a bit naughty like that, a model 3 for example has a theoretical peak speed of 250, but it needs to ramp up to get there, and then only holds it for a small percentage before it significantly slows down again.
Now compare that to say a Kia EV9 which can only charge at 200, but it can maintain that between 10-80%. Or even an Audi eTron. So whilst 'slower' it is actually much faster.
But yes, the 800v platforms are very interesting. Although even there you see some weird stuff going on where 800v isn't always 800v especially with the larger battery packs.
Now I appreciate that such experiences also have another angle and that is the actual charging infrastructure. Here in Europe we are blessed with forward looking planning and policy and it isn't really an issue and ultrafast charging is provided by a multitude of supplier to take the benefit of charging curves. And I appreciate that North America region reportedly isn't quite so blessed.
Hence the early days advantage of Tesla is diminishing rapidly with networks and for road tripping, but interestingly they remain a key player as they are often more competative than the chinese players.
We are all the winners in my opinion, there is just so much choice now.
The old platform was one of the best. The new is absolutely awesome. And dialled down slightly, the new Porsche Macan and Audi Q6 is also next level stuff. But also keep an eye out for the Geely models like the Zeekr 001 / Polestar 4 / Lotus Emerya, all very impressive as well. And even Kia/Huyndai old EGMP is showing it can still pull a punch.
The Q6 E-tron is very interesting - less $$$ than the Macan but similar engineering underneath (they are siblings). As much as I love Porsche, I find the Audi interiors a bit more inviting - the Porsche ones are just so monochrome. I suspect that and the Macan EV makes the existing Q8 E-tron basically pointless now. it didn't have too much range while these two new platform siblings are really top-notch.
That said away from EVs, I'd have a 993 Turbo WLS II in an instant, especially if it was Arena Red metallic. If the world was ending I would sit inside that and die a happy person. I know that's crazy but yeah, that classic fits my style.
It will undoubtedly filter across to the other VAG EV lines pretty soon as it has to to keep up with the market. That sort of acceleration is unnecessary I agree, but will appeal to some as a bragging right I suppose. A friend of mine has a late 2023 Taycan and given the choice I would take the Audi e-tron GT over it in regards to what you get for the money. Porsche really maximise the optional extra line whilst giving very little away as standard, unlike Audi. The GT is a nicer looking car too IMO.
it's like a very finely tailored Italian suit - it's noticeable but not screaming for attention. They aced the design. You can tell it and the Taycan are the same thing. They are both nice, just slightly different tastes. The Taycan is a bit more "tech" style.
But on that note, I do like the Merc EQE and particularly the EQS. I know some traditional buyers are a bit put off by the spaceship looks of those two but I'm fine with it because it's for aero efficiency and the MB-UX hyperscreen just has so much wow impact, but it's actually pretty easy to use. Compared to some others I find it quite easy and I also like the augmented reality functions on the HUD and camera-views linked in with the sat-nav, that's good logical design that makes navigation easier to understand and follow.
Here in my big city we have some pretty complicated road-junctions and if you get in the wrong lane by accident you can quickly end up stuck in a tunnel going somewhere far from where you intended at 80km/h and then it takes quite a time to loop back.