Would you have an electric car if you had the money for a new car and were in the market for one?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Teslas can/could get themselves into a sort of death loop - the 12V is charged from the big battery of course, but if the 12V gets too low it can't power the electronics which tell it how to charge from the big battery. You also then can't charge the big battery because the electronics are down

Hope they've fixed that design flaw!

[Count Steer]

Teslas can/could get themselves into a sort of death loop - the 12V is charged from the big battery of course, but if the 12V gets too low it can't power the electronics which tell it how to charge from the big battery. You also then can't charge the big battery because the electronics are down

Hope they've fixed that design flaw!

That's pretty much what happened. The 12V boots the electronics, no electronics, no nuffink.

(First time I tried to start it there was enough power to deliver a string of error messages/warnings...which finished off whatever juice was left. ).

[Cousin Jack]

If it is like mine on the Lexus, the lead acid battery is a leisure battery, not an automotive one. Mine doesn't do much except sort out all the big contactors that join up the lithium battery. That does all the work like starting the engine. The bad news is that the leisure battery will not be in stock and will take several days to obtain. DAMHIK.

[Pirahna]

The latest craze, extreme regen braking

https://news.sky.com/video/four-people- ... f-12778864

The bloke driving has been arrested for the attempted murder of his family.

[Count Steer]

If it is like mine on the Lexus, the lead acid battery is a leisure battery, not an automotive one. Mine doesn't do much except sort out all the big contactors that join up the lithium battery. That does all the work like starting the engine. The bad news is that the leisure battery will not be in stock and will take several days to obtain. DAMHIK.

Well, so far it seems OK (but, if it ain't one thing it's another, now the wife's HP mini-tower seems to have died ). If it happens again, I'll do the jump leads thing again, drive it to the dealers, chuck them the keys and say 'sort it'. It's only a few months old.

[Horse]

https://all-car-news.com/en/british-par ... g-garages/

Dangerous situations
Electric cars do not have a heavy gasoline or diesel engine “under the hood,” but a compact, lightweight electric motor. But because of a hefty battery pack, EVs are often bulky. An electric car sometimes weighs as much as 500 pounds more than a similar model with a traditional powertrain. This can create dangerous situations, according to the British Parking Association.

Ford Cortina
Indeed, according to the British Parking Association, there are some 6,000 multi-story parking garages in the United Kingdom, most of which were built to guidelines based on the weight of popular cars from the 1970s. What was the most popular model in the United Kingdom at the time? A Ford Cortina Mk 3.

Electric cars heavy
The differences between modern cars and the Ford Cortina of old are huge. The Cortina is a likeable but slow bolide, which, moreover, would not yet achieve a 1-star in a Euro NCAP crash test. But it is not heavy, and modern cars are. An average EV – such as a Tesla Model 3 (1,819 kg) – weighs almost twice as much as a Cortina (960 kg). Cars with regular powertrains have also gained considerably. A new Volkswagen Golf easily weighs 1,400 kilograms. Moreover, more and more people are opting for a large, heavy SUV. So it’s not just electric cars that the BPA should be concerned about.

Checks
Chris Whapples, structural engineer and member of the BPA: “When you see the weight of electric cars coming out of the factory, you begin to wonder if the existing standards are adequate. We haven’t had an incident yet, but I suspect it’s only a matter of time. We encourage owners of older parking garages to check.”

[Mr. Dazzle]

Is this like that thing when they say "when they built the library they forgot the weight of the books"?

It does raise an eyebrow though yes. I wonder how many fewer cars you get in a carpark now though, sure they all weigh twice as much but if you can only fit half as many in.....

[Horse]

I wonder how many fewer cars you get in a carpark now though, sure they all weigh twice as much but if you can only fit half as many in.....

Few years back I went to a meeting at the AA's Fanum House in Basingstoke. 1972's brutalist concrete at its best.

Two of us drove into the multistorey car park, reversed into spaces almost opposite, looked at each other, laughed, drove out.

In the spaces - but not possible to open the doors!




Similar in a hospital car park in Southampton:

20230105_090604.jpg (1.56 MiB) Viewed 501 times

[Mr. Dazzle]

Yeah it's definitely noticeable in a lots of place. There's a pretty new multi level here in MK which opened a couple of years ago, the spaces are massive and they have foot wide white lines between each one. The street spaces outside the same car park are properly "breath in when you open the car door"

[Slenver]

I once went all Alan Partridge and actually wrote to complain about the parking spaces in my station car park. I had a Citroen DS3 at the time, so a very small car by modern standards, but it still required choosing a spot in between two similarly small cars in order to physically fit, and then you couldn't squeeze out until the wingmirrors had folded in. All the big cars parked at the back in alternate spaces.

In fairness, the station man did reply and agreed it was ridiculous but that the spaces were managed by NCP and they were sticking to 1970s specs.

Like everyone, I'm happy to moan about increasing car sizes/weights/move to SUVs etc, but there's no point living in denial and just forcing people to take up two spaces.

[gremlin]

Interesting figures re new car sales in 2022. Pretty bad if you're in the business of making or selling, but EVs are increasing their slice of the market. The comments re the ambitious targets vs. the reality of charging points is worth noting:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64165689

On another point, I've been watching the downhill trajectory of the Tesla share price over the last six months. I do wonder if it's a case of the Emperor's new clothes finally being seen for what they are*. Musk is seemingly becoming a toxic individual, notwithstanding his perceived distraction with Twitter. Add into the mix that VW, Ford, GM, etc are now well and truly on the EV bandwagon and that future earnings and lower than expected production are going hit investors, the sheen may be wearing off.

*Not the cars per se, but the valuation of the company.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I could never get my head around Tesla's share price - they were the most valuable car company in the world at one point, but AFAIK they've never actually made a profit from selling cars directly. All their money came from selling carbon offsets. That might have changed recently though.

I've said it before, but I don't see much bright future for Tesla. They got out in front by being the only place you could buy a decent EV, but everyone else has woken up now and Toyota, VAG, Mercedes et al are much better resourced - both financially and operationally - for making a success of EVs.

I'm not complaining, I exited Tesla shares after doubling my money I'm hardly gonna retire off it, but it was a nice bonus. I also moved into EV engineering a couple of years ago, which currently feels like it was a good decision.

[Count Steer]

It's the old 'prime mover' thing innit? Now the big boys are catching up.

A while ago now I used to be an avid reader of Motley Fool financial stuff and bought one of their publications which include a very upbeat assessment of a company that got their Internet banking operation off the starting line early on - expanded to include share/fund trading, credit cards etc. It looked like a winner. Does anyone remember egg?

(Their banking bit is now part of Yorkshire Building Society, the share trading went to Charles Stanley and funds to Fidelity. I have a suspicion that their call centre in Derby is now where you phone to enter those competitions you see linked with stuff like 'win a bicycle and £5k's worth of kit' on the TdF coverage).

[gremlin]

I could never get my head around Tesla's share price - they were the most valuable car company in the world at one point

Back in 2008 Porsche confounded the market by unexpectedly taking a controlling stake in VW. Many smart people had shorted the stock, but then were blind-sided by the news. Suddenly they weren't so smart. Panic set in as the short sellers fought for whatever VW stock was on the market, lest they be caught without the stock to settle, causing the price to rocket even higher. For a short period, VW was the most valuable car manufacturer in the world. Ironically, many an order for a Porsche was cancelled in the following days. Shame.

Odd thing, 'the market'.

https://business.ku.edu/new-analysis-re ... ock-market

[Count Steer]

Footnote to the tale of battery woe. The car was fine this morning

Plus I sorted out the HP mini-tower problem.

[gremlin]

Plus I sorted out the HP mini-tower problem.

Claw or club hammer?

[Count Steer]

Plus I sorted out the HP mini-tower problem.

Claw or club hammer?

Kango.

[Kneerly Down]

I could never get my head around Tesla's share price - they were the most valuable car company in the world at one point

Pretty sure it still is, even by Enterprise Value.
It is worth roughly $50bn more than Toyota and is various multiples more valuable than Ford and GM and around double that of VW.

[cheb]

Plus I sorted out the HP mini-tower problem.

Claw or club hammer?

Kango.

Renault?

[ZRX61]

uh oh....

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/11/11484837 ... fety-risks