EV or ICE ,
What about turning a Suburban into a woodie?
I mean the suburban is so blah!! Boring looking.
But put some wood on it, real wood not that vinyl stuff printed up to be wood. It would be pretty simple. Only real wood working would be the finger joints in the corners. You could drill holes through the body skin and screw it onto the body from the inside. 
Another idea to go along with the coachbuilding- thanks to those in-wheel hub motors you could conceviably sell modular frames and chassis to go with them, so you could have your skateboard with X type of motors sized for Y batteries. Not only could you slap whatever chassis on top of it you want, but you could go mad with what role you want it to play. Think about that racing EV up there, like the Original electric that inspired the Tesla? Super low, hyper aero, built Just. To. Race. I think you could do a lot with that!
VolvoHeretic said:Yesterday I saw this.
That's so E36 M3ty; they could have easily stolen it too, those destination chargers are backordered now.
The Bolt looks pretty good to me. Speaking of that, how do the tax rebates work with those? Apparently there is a decent size one out nationwide until Feb or March plus state ones depending where you live..
300 mile range, selectable wheel drive (fwd, awd, or rwd), p71 sized sedan. Good for my work trips, big enough to haul the family, still fun to toss around in the dirt.
If I wanna get fancy about it, that set your follow distance adaptable cruise control would be a nice option I think.
i was hoping to see the Bollinger EV come to light, but they pivoted to making commercial 'skateboards" to make electric trucks.
Rivian keeps teasing on a smaller truck/suv. I am waiting on that, though I do kinda like the canoo.
If I could build an EV, I would love to shoehorn the tesla stuff into a Porsche 928.
It's not the Ultimate EV - but practical for our purposes.
In October we picked up a used Fiat 500e out of California by way of Calgary and had it shipped to Ottawa, Canada ( it's dangerous to write Ca when talking to you folks :) )
It's a grocery getter and general errand mobile that will get us anywhere in the city. (National Capitol region)
With a 220/240 volt charger we get a rate of 25% charge per hour, so unless we're planing on taking a nap or reading the latest Classic Motorsports mag a few times, we don't venture out of its 60 - 100 mile range.
That works fine for us as this was a cheap Science Experiment, to see what it's like to live with an EV. We are starting to get over the idea that when we leave the house we only have 2 or 3 gallons in the tank... equivalent.
I drive it with the power consumption display on, and it's obvious that the energy consumption is Dirrectly related to how hard I press on the right pedal !
If I pay attention and keep the rate under 20kw while acceleration up to the speed limit I'll get N miles of range. If I run it up to between 30 - 40kw I'm using twice the power so expect to lose twice the range i would have for that % of the time I'm accelerating at the increased rate. The power required to maintain speed is a bit different in a 30 or 40mph zone vs. a 60mph zone, you also notice the impact that slight uphill, down hill grade has on energy consumption.
I'm keenly aware that when coasting or braking I'm generating power , charging the battery, but only for a Very small amount of the time. The % of time you spend coasting or braking is Not much of the time spent on the road but it all help extend your range!
All to say, range and capacity are complicated to determine , two people driving the same car in different places may get significantly different results based on the Driving style and local geography !
This whole idea of EV's only in N years is Crazy ! What will all the people that don't have a home charger do ? There will never be enought local charging spots for all those people.
Even though Petro Canada claim to have EV charging stations every 120 miles across Canada it's more than likely that there will be more than 2 or 3 cars traveling across this waste land at any point in time ! Spending a hour or more waiting to get connected to the charger , is not my idea of a road trip...
my 2 cents Canadian..
The Pole Stars are the closest thing I've seen thus far in terms of styling and size. I just wish that any of the other EV producers figure out Tesla level of efficiency, mph speed, and charging speed. I'm sure they'll eventually catch up but c'mon guys!
Don2001l said:It's not the Ultimate EV - but practical for our purposes.
In October we picked up a used Fiat 500e out of California by way of Calgary and had it shipped to Ottawa, Canada ( it's dangerous to write Ca when talking to you folks :) )
It's a grocery getter and general errand mobile that will get us anywhere in the city. (National Capitol region)
With a 220/240 volt charger we get a rate of 25% charge per hour, so unless we're planing on taking a nap or reading the latest Classic Motorsports mag a few times, we don't venture out of its 60 - 100 mile range.
That works fine for us as this was a cheap Science Experiment, to see what it's like to live with an EV. We are starting to get over the idea that when we leave the house we only have 2 or 3 gallons in the tank... equivalent.
I drive it with the power consumption display on, and it's obvious that the energy consumption is Dirrectly related to how hard I press on the right pedal !
If I pay attention and keep the rate under 20kw while acceleration up to the speed limit I'll get N miles of range. If I run it up to between 30 - 40kw I'm using twice the power so expect to lose twice the range i would have for that % of the time I'm accelerating at the increased rate. The power required to maintain speed is a bit different in a 30 or 40mph zone vs. a 60mph zone, you also notice the impact that slight uphill, down hill grade has on energy consumption.
I'm keenly aware that when coasting or braking I'm generating power , charging the battery, but only for a Very small amount of the time. The % of time you spend coasting or braking is Not much of the time spent on the road but it all help extend your range!
All to say, range and capacity are complicated to determine , two people driving the same car in different places may get significantly different results based on the Driving style and local geography !
This whole idea of EV's only in N years is Crazy ! What will all the people that don't have a home charger do ? There will never be enought local charging spots for all those people.
Even though Petro Canada claim to have EV charging stations every 120 miles across Canada it's more than likely that there will be more than 2 or 3 cars traveling across this waste land at any point in time ! Spending a hour or more waiting to get connected to the charger , is not my idea of a road trip...
my 2 cents Canadian..
I was looking to get a 500e when I stumbled into my Abarth. The only reason I did not go for the e, the local dealer would not touch it with a barge pole if it needed any work. ANY work. They stated flat out that their techs were not trained on the E and he would not allow them to work on it.
mad_machine said: I was looking to get a 500e when I stumbled into my Abarth. The only reason I did not go for the e, the local dealer would not touch it with a barge pole if it needed any work. ANY work. They stated flat out that their techs were not trained on the E and he would not allow them to work on it.
I'm in that boat, No parts or support, if anything happens to it , it's a lawn ornament !
It would look cute with a couple of Giant Garden Gnomes in it ;)
No matter how long it does last - Then what ?
There is almost always an alternative with an ICE vehicle, but with this , when the battery will no longer charge - does it have Any value or possibilities ?
OR
is it going to cost me to dispose of it ?
I don't know how practical it is to try doing anything with it:
tear down video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROu8T_ehdLA
It is sort of basic , but still complicated...
mad_machine said:If I could build an EV, I would love to shoehorn the tesla stuff into a Porsche 928.
I would love to see an EV 928 conversion.
The ultimate EV will be the one that can replace an ICE car without any major compromises. Charge about as quick as you can fuel a car (atleast not a huge penalty), range as good as an ICE vehicle, no massive penalty for using the creature comforts people expect in a car like HVAC, no huge penalty because of temperature, infrastructure to support an EV (energy grid and charging stations) on par with ICE engines, relatively stable design/technology ( so no worry of the manufacturer abandoning supporting it, when the next model is completely different and you cant get parts), and reliability, price, and service cost in line with a modern ICE powered car.
Im seeing quite a few people who went EV as a status symbol or an emotional purchase (lots of consumers buy cars on impulse so its a real market factor to consider) without doing the calculus of wether an EV or this EV fits into their specific use case, and as a result later they are realizing they werent prepared to make the compromises the current field of EVs requires, and its turning them off of EVs all together.
Also the ever looming risk of massive repairs needs to be resolved. Sure an ICE engine may need an engine or trans, but its probably still cheaper than a battery or drive unit and probably less likely. I know people looking into EVs and they are so concerned about it they wont go used, and they cant afford to go new. You could make the argument that through reduced maintenance and fewer parts, even with a battery replacement, and EV is cheaper overall, and I think thats a reasonable point, but most people just spend the money they save month to month and a few years later cant afford the 5 or 10K repair needed, this will reflect poorly on public opinion of the cars, and as far as consumer opinion goes "perception is reality." How to solve this i dont know. Lots of ways it might get solved economies of scale, new technology, or the forgotten art of repairing components instead of replacing them, but something needs to be done.
Performance stuff is cool, and plenty of people could easily switch to an EV and it not really affect their life, but I dont think we will see wide adoption until there is a basic EV as versatile for everyone as a normal ICE car. ICE has had the advantage of the focus of the market for a long time so it has a head start, but EVs are getting a lot of attention and RD right now, so we are seeing accelerated development and I think eventually they will catch up, but we arent there yet.
I think Toyota is doing the right thing by not going full EV. I see the manufactures switch to EV only and I look at is as the same thing as the big 3 spending all their money on SUVs and Trucks before gas went up in the mid 2000s and for years they didnt have any cars to compete with the Asians once the market started caring about fuel economy. What the market wants can switch literally overnight, and it can take a long time for a car manufacturer to shift their focus and make a compelling car for the new wants. Im not saying dont work on EVs but in a world of ever increasing energy costs and energy production/grid reliability being called into question, i think only focusing on EVs COULD be a bad bet.
BAMF said:mad_machine said:If I could build an EV, I would love to shoehorn the tesla stuff into a Porsche 928.
I would love to see an EV 928 conversion.
I'd love the current Volvo V70 as a pure EV.
Failing that, the Taycan GTS wagon looks pretty slick, but with a base price of $136k, it's a tad out of reach
Hi Opti ,
Your talking Hydrogen, similar gas fill up times and Normal in most other ways...
It's still combustion, we're just moving the work - generation of electricity/ seperating the Hydrogen to some other part of the "food chain".
Don2001l said:Hi Opti ,
You talking Hydrogen, similar gas fill up times and Normal in most other ways...
It's still combustion, we're just moving the work - generation of electricity/ seperating the Hydrogen to some other part of the "food chain".
I get what your saying but Hydrogen currently has an even bigger disadvantage than EV when it comes to infrastructure. Plus EV is getting way more attention than hydrogen so its development is accelerating much faster than hydrogen. Not saying hydrogen wont come around, but it isnt there currently.
EV currently doesnt work well for a lot of people. Hydrogen doesnt work at all for most people (most people dont even have access to fill one)
I think charging time is the big thing for EVs right now, after they solve that there will be plenty more things to overcome, but if charging times got down to just a little longer than fueling a car, maybe under 30 minutes, and just a little more charging stations, youd see another huge wave of people giving EVs a try. Good thing is we have been seeing good gains in charging times over the last few years, so I think theyll get there eventually.
Yes indeed - for all intentional purposes there is no Real infrastructure to support nitrogen cars.
( a station here and there doesn't count)
And although they would like you to think the infrastructure is there to support charging EV , it won't work when "Everyone goes Electric"
From my limited perspective / experience, I think they make perfect sense as a local/urban vehicle when you have someplace to charge them...
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