Posted on 07/27/2022 6:50:51 AM PDT by Red Badger
The Sion, a five-person family car covered completely in solar panels, should enter production in the second half of 2023, the German start-up said Monday. Following years of development, Sono Motors is now building a fleet of test vehicles before beginning mass production.
VIDEO AT LINK..................
Details here…
https://insiderpaper.com/solar-car-sion-to-enter-production-in-2023/
No, I would not drive that car.
Not. At. Gunpoint.
“You think you hate it now, wait until you drive it.”
All this Automotive electrial stuff is just a fad.
Ha, ha. You're probably right. And he may not even "identify" as male.
Your Tagline is tragic. So is mine.
Those things look like great targets for a 12-year-old with a slingshot.
HELL NO!
Bubba wrote: I live less than a mile from my office and drive an average of less than 5K miles per year.
Ditto on that being a good reason not to get an EV. My EV works in the math only because my wife and I drive it over 10,000 miles per year. That means the yearly gas savings (vs. cost to charge it, which increases your power bill if you don't have lots of solar) makes it worth considering. Other factors would be if you're about to be in the market to replace a car anyway (I was about to replace my wife's old used van with another used gas car for $10K anyway, so my cost to purchase the EV is not relative to $0 but relative to $10K). Bottom line, if you're not driving it at least 10K miles annually don't even think that gas savings will make up for the cost difference.
--- Side note: I anticipate a 3% inflation rate on the cost of gas and all other energy rates. But that's after gas drops to about $3.50/gallon here in Alabama, the Dims teach the masses we should be grateful for it, then gas costs resume going up. To me a 3% inflation rate is reasonable. Once I realized that the gas savings wasn't just at this year's cost but at future year's costs too, I started to lean harder towards the EV.
Bubba wrote: Most of those out of town trips are 300 miles or more through rural Texas.
Ding! Ding! Another reason to not get an EV, especially if you're not going to keep an ICE car for long trips. My wife and I need 2 cars anyway, so one is an ICE. Plus, my wife and I can take the EV on most long trips because most long trips go in one of the directions where there are plenty of fast chargers on the road (and my wife likes to stop every 200 miles anyway). If we go in the one direction that has few chargers we'll take the ICE. So before getting an EV, figure out the directions you usually drive toward and see if there are plenty of chargers. If not (or if you drive way past 200 miles before taking breaks), then don't count the EV as good for trips.
Bubba wrote: Most EV batteries only last 5 years before they have to be replaced and the cost of replacing an EV battery (if you can find one) is more than the EV is worth.
Well, the battery replacement cost is worth considering, but the numbers need to be adjusted. Any EV you get made in the past couple of years has a battery that should last 10 years, not 5 years. If it doesn't have the brand name Too Expensive Still Liberals Adore, it'll probably cost $10K to replace it. Now, as for whether or not it's more than the EV is worth IMHO is immaterial. It's not how much you can sell the 10-year old EV at that point, it's how much it'd take to get another car (whether ICE or EV, whether new or used) to replace it. IMHO, $10K is worth another hopeful 10 years of gas savings to give you 20 years of life from the EV.
That is about 400 watts of solar panels. Barely enough to power the running lights. It will never charge a 50 to 100 KWh battery. And won’t that be fun trying to replace those panels when they crack from a rock or shopping cart. AND with a lifespan of 5 years the panels are useless. BUT they will get billions in tax dollars so it is all good.
it needs millions of miniature windmills all over it too ..
EV batteries are warrantied for 10 years. The current cost of an EV battery is 30000. The cheapest electric car is about 32000. The electricity cost of driving 3.5 miles is 43 cents. If you charge at home it’s about 23 cents. That is with air conditioning. Add in the savings of not needing oil changes and fewer brake jobs, and not having smog certification every year. It may not be a huge difference but it is competitive. I drive 800 miles and 400 miles just to do it even though we have a gas vehicle in the garage. 3 times to Portland and once to LA and also once to Bishop. I live in the Central Valley of California.
what’s the pay???
I’m in South Alabama. My May average is 5.99.
I am retired now and hardly go anywhere... Just to the local Walmart or Piggly Wiggly; occasionally Pizza Hut or Taco Bell (once a week MAYBE).
So this could work out for me. I wouldn’t buy one, but if they gave one for free I’d take it.
Leaving it outside in the sun would work, too. However, currently it is 94 degrees just outside, and this car would need a good blast of A/C to cool it just so I could sit in it without frying. Also, when I reached, say the Walmart and bought groceries, I’d need another blast of A/C just to cool ii to drive the 2 miles home. So how much power would THAT take?
IMHO, the bigger things are driving habits and top speeds. My lead foot keeps us from getting as much range when I drive vs when my wife drives, but that's not as relevant in our EV as it is in our gas car (since heavy starting and stopping at least builds back some power during stopping with the regenerative breaking in an EV).
As far as top speed goes, I can tell you from personal experience that the further up you go from 60 mph, the hit on range increases geometrically. But I doubt that's relevant for a local trip to the store.
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