Posted on 02/09/2019 12:16:08 PM PST by Hojczyk
Are electric vehicles the wave of the future, or expensive toys? This shocking news story–shocking if you live in the North, anyway–suggests the latter *** Many owners discovered the range limitations last week when much of the country was in the grips of a polar vortex. Owners of vehicles made by manufacturers including Tesla, the top-selling electric vehicle company in the U.S., complained on social media about reduced range and frozen door handles during the cold snap.
Frozen door handles are an annoyance not unique to electric cars, but reduced range can be life-threatening.
At 20 degrees, the average driving range fell by 12 percent when the car’s cabin heater was not used. When the heater was turned on, the range dropped by 41 percent, AAA said.
Of course, at 20 degrees you pretty much have to turn the heater on. T
Also, AAA tested the vehicles at 20 degrees above zero, a balmy temperature that we haven’t seen for a while here in the Twin Cities. What happens at 20 below, a temperature we have seen several times in the last week or two? Or eleven below, which it is at this moment where I live? A car whose range is severely compromised at such temperatures could be a death trap.
Advocates of “green” energy say that giant batteries will overcome the intractable problem of the intermittency–i.e., unreliability–of wind and solar energy. Of course, while batteries can power my laptop for six or eight hours, or a vehicle for a relatively short distance, no batteries exist that can power a city for six months, nor is any such technology on the horizon. But I wonder whether green energy advocates who toss around the word “batteries” much as they might say “magic” have considered the impact of cold weather.
(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...
Also, you do NOT want to try charging a lithium-ion battery in below freezing conditions. I would surely think Tesla has built-in protection - ie., can’t charge when the battery is too cold...
Back in the day, my cheapo Honda CRX had no issues other than routine maintenance until it was well over 100k miles. Granted, Honda was really “on their game” back then.
Biggest problem was at ~110k miles, I smeared a large buck (deer) out on the Interstate. A several inch portion (3 “points”) of an antler came through the windshield, broke off, and dropped by the gearshift lever. The rest of the deer, after partially smashing in the windshield & hood in front of me, and making a major dent in the headliner, flipped OVER the car and landed directly behind it.
What fun.
Kinda hard to blame Honda for any of that...
I seem to recall the starter died around 120k miles, and the water pump maybe around 150k. Still, not bad, for a car produced in 1984.
It may be getting there. Map apps will show them in any area desired. Around here - a fairly rural area, overall, there are not yet enough to really be “convenient” for everyone, but one could certainly get by without a lot of trouble.
Ms. Occasional-Cortex solves that problem by getting rid of most of them. No, I’m not kidding - she’s serious (as defined by her.)
Right. Our Outback doesn’t have a block heater (we are in the Mid-South) but, even given our location, the Subie is a MUCH better, and much better thought out, cold weather vehicle, than our Ford Explorer.
That’s not to say our Outback doesn’t have some other issues, but, then again, it’s over 175k miles @ present.
I spent almost eight years stationed in North Dakota and properly mixed coolant froze all the time. Yes, the heaters kept the oil warmer but engine blocks froze all the time up there and it was not due to improperly mixed coolant.
“I think Tesla included an “undocumented feature” in the cars (battery combustion) to counter the extreme cold and reduced driving distance.”
I can’t say I heard about that, but another article mentioned that Musk promised a ‘software push’ to fix the problem.
“Assuming you do, what does the AC drain on the battery do to range - assuming say, 90 degrees F ambient.”
I can’t say that I know that answer, but with gasoline cars, AC is an additional load on the engine, so I’d expect the impact to be roughly similar. But heaters are a freebie with gasoline cars, since engines generate tons of heat anyway and that heat is going somewhere, either into the cabin, or outside. Electric cars generate next to zero heat, so they have to actually run some type of electric heaters for the cabin, not cheap.
Having said all that, and having noted above that Musk is taking care of the cold-weather range problem on Tesla’s with a software push. Perhaps enough people complaining will get him to do another software push that will fix the air conditioning problem and also allow the AC to run without losing battery range. After all, if you can change the laws of physics in cold weather with a software push, why not do the same for warm weather!
“Chinese buy more than 500,000 EVs per year not including Teslas. Their target is urban air pollution, not some imaginary energy benefit.”
And they’re serious. The rest of Asia still drives gasoline scooters - in China they’re now all electric. Probably several hundred million.
It would be reasonable to expect the same for cars, although it won’t help much, due to their very high use of coal - just moves the problem a bit outside of the city centers, but even that doesn’t help, as the pollution cloud literally covers the entire eastern half of the country.
Short of going all-out nuclear and closing their coal-fired electric plants, they’re still going to have a really tough time with pollution...but at least with electric vehicles, they have that option (and maybe a few others).
I’ve had a totally different experience. Having been born and raised in ND I’ve never experienced 50/50 coolant actually freezing. Coolant may gel at -40 or so, but properly mixed ethyl glycol remains fluid at temps warmer than -40.
If coolant actually did freeze to a solid, then the water pumps on all cars up here would lock up and the fan belt turning the pump would squeal and eventually smoke and burn in two.
Our 2016 Outback has no block heater as none is recommended by Subaru due to the thin oil. It starts perfectly at -35. Our 2018 F150 runs a heavier oil and needs to be plugged in at -20 and colder.
“A coworker said way back in the 80s: You take away a man’s opportunity to get rich and you take away his motivation to excel. Not all of us want just food clothing and shelter. If that were so I doubt we would have many of the things we really enjoy a whole lot now.”
Yea, I’ve thought about that too...clearly the case, since every Socialism test case has failed. I think the one weakness that our founders never imagined was that this country might wind up with a political party dedicated to tearing down the country - but here we are!
“The Volt has 1398 cc gasoline engine to keep the battery charged and to run a small generator to drive the wheels when there isn’t enough battery power.”
I can’t remember if it was this car or something like it, but someone tore into the drive train of the car and found mechanical linkage between the gasoline engine and the wheels, despite what they advertised. Then GM owned-up and said, yea, in really rare circumstances (like going uphill, I guess) the motor alone won’t cut it.
Tesla?
Coworker has a Model 3 that is four years old. Interior panels are coming off on his. YMMV.
I still think Mercedes and BMW will either purchase Tesla outright or drive them out of the car business in the next 3 years.
There are no four-year old Model 3s...production didn’t start until mid-2017. Are you sure he has a Tesla?
My car is a Model S and the interior is fantastic.
There are no four-year old Model 3s...production didn’t start until mid-2017. Are you sure he has a Tesla?
My car is a Model S and the interior is fantastic.
Well it wasn’t an S model - I guess whatever the over $100k model that Tesla was selling back in 2013/14 time frame?
I’m not big into Tesla’s so I admit I wouldn’t know the model.
I’ve only owned Nissan Leaf’s to this point.
There was only one model at that time, the Model S. Or, is it the Roadster? Hard to imagine an S having a bad interior.
I’m not sure, I’d have to ask him - looking at the pictures online, he definitely didn’t have a roadster - so it’s a Model S he has.
He’s complained about a lot of flaws in the design. Biggest one I remember is the large gaps in the trunk and doors on the exterior, in addition to the interior. He’s an engineer so he notices things that most folks wouldn’t.
FWIW, mine is a 2013 Model S and the build quality, including panel gaps, are roughly equivalent to a M-B S-Class. The interior is closer to a M-B E-class in appointments, but the materials and build quality are better in the Tesla (I have owned all of the aforementioned cars).
I haven’t owned any of those models, so I can only go on what others have said, like this fellow.
He was pretty vocal about not liking the interior of his Tesla, at least how it deteriorated over time.
IMHO, it’s an amazing drive.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.