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

[Yorick]

The nerds are arguing

[Mr. Dazzle]

Did you mean to say nerds, or neds?

[DEADPOOL]

I see it's up to 6 and a half minutes. That's impressive.

https://www.iter.org/sci/BeyondITER

I don't follow this tech but I am also surprised it is not more widely publicised.

Doesn't say what the reset parameters are; how long it takes to bring the machine up to operation before you get a brief spurt of power.

[moth]

I don't think anyone even makes large electric estate cars or any that can tow, so it isn't just range and charging that makes it a non-starter.
I also don't have the right driving pattern to make it economically or environmentally friendly it would be a pretty stupid idea for me to do it no matter how woke it makes me look.
I'd love an electric car if it were practical but there seem to be a few issues the protagonists are ignoring when they say it's the future. I've been hearing we are on the brink of a massive battery breakthrough for the last 20 years so forgive me for not expecting it before 2030.
If I was looking for a second car then it would be different, that could easily be replaced by electric or self driving hire cars.

They need to get that sorted PDQ.

https://www.ford.co.uk/future-vehicles/new-e-transit

[cheb]

I am not an expert and I haven't troubled Google over this either, it's common sense really.

There is a slim possibility that a microscopically energy positive reaction can be manufactured down here and the gigantic energies involved might even make that beneficial. Using say 100 gazillion Mw to produce 100.1 gazillion MW but I suspect the efficiencies will also be astronomical, let alone the complexities and cost of maintenance.

The science behind how stars even work at all is amazing but the science says the actual fusion event is incredibly rare even at those temperatures and pressures.

"They" can already sustain a reaction where you get 65% of the energy you put in back out again. I.e Q = 0.65. The reactor they're currently building in southern France is designed to achieve sustained Q of 5 to 10.

Thermonuclear weapons get a Q significantly higher than 1.

Now obviously a nuclear bomb isn't a practical way to power a city (it would alleviate you of the need to power it though....) and they haven't actually finished building this reactor in France yet. However saying "its just common sense" is a bit wide of the mark

When will there be enough spent but usable car batteries to make a big enough storage array to cope with the output of a nuclear bomb powered generator?

[Horse]

Now obviously a nuclear bomb isn't a practical way to power a city

Since this is a 'vehicle' thread, it's probably worth noting that some early internal combustion engines (eg the
Huygens' engine) were fuelled by gunpower.

Edit: 1979
https://patents.google.com/patent/US4301774A/en

[Mr. Dazzle]

If you're gonna do it, go large.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_O ... prov=sfla1

[Kneerly Down]

Thought I'd posted this earlier, where it would have made more sense in the flow of the thread, but anyway...
https://singularityhub.com/2020/10/05/n ... -reaction/

Be very, very, very impressed if they do it to the proposed timescales, or at all really.

[ZRX61]

My rents are caravaners and have kyboshed getting an electric car because of the "range issue". The irony to me is, they can't drive more than 15 minutes without a 45 minute tea and wee break anyway They stop for a half hour break on the <2 hr drive up here.

My parents are the same way when they visit the US. Took them to a local canyon one time about 35 miles away, we had to stop for tea half way there. It took them five days to drive to OKC from LA, I did it in 21 hours.

[Mussels]

This is a cool feature of electric cars, Tesla don't recommend you try it but it's better than sinking.

[wheelnut]

This is a cool feature of electric cars, Tesla don't recommend you try it but it's better than sinking.

There’s something about Teslas that irritates me. I can’t put my finger on it but that sort of thing sums it up, I know I’m being vague but they have a lack of substance, a lack of history and gravitas. A preference for stupid gimmicks over quality of build and the culmination of decades of testing. I had a glance at a Tesla forum once and lots of the complaints reinforced that; complaints about basic design flaws that other, real, car manufacturers had ironed out decades ago.

I’m not talking about the electric powerplant side of things, more general stuff. Door handles that might not work when it gets to -10, the way water pools in the wrong place when it rains.

There are some nice electric cars out there that I would consider, but I would need two cars as my driving habits can be quite spontaneous. If you want a car that will take you to work and back and you have fast charge points at both places then fine. If you have a wife that messages you at 1pm on a Friday telling you she’s booked us in to applecross inn for two nights and to get my arse home cos we need to get gone then electric isn’t going to do it. Yet.

[ZRX61]

GM have reintroduced the Hummer as a $100,000 electric contraption.

[Yambo]

There’s something about Teslas that irritates me. I can’t put my finger on it but that sort of thing sums it up, I know I’m being vague but they have a lack of substance, a lack of history and gravitas. A preference for stupid gimmicks over quality of build and the culmination of decades of testing. I had a glance at a Tesla forum once and lots of the complaints reinforced that; complaints about basic design flaws that other, real, car manufacturers had ironed out decades ago.

I think you may have to take your rose tinted specs off wheelnut. There are plenty of real car manufacturers that turn out new vehicles that a few months later are called in to have a common fault rectified. Sometimes these faults are on the most mundane parts of the car, others are on brakes or steering - despite the basic designs of those systems being around for a hundred years or so and despite decades of testing.

I'm sure Tesla employ people that have a working history in the automotive industry (and of course purpose built robots to do a lot of the build) but I doubt they only employ people who have been sacked by the proper car manufacturers for designing or building cars with common flaws.

[Mr. Dazzle]

TBF a big part of the reason I haven't bought a Tesla is cause I'm waiting for "real car companies" to launch their equivalent electric cars. Pretty much for the reason wheelnut describes.

Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of Tesla. It is true however that in a lot of the areas unrelated to the powertrain they're a long way behind the usual suspects. That's only to be expected...you can employ as many experienced people as you like, but there's no (immediate) substitute for long established supply chains and company processes.

[ZRX61]

TBF a big part of the reason I haven't bought a Tesla is cause I'm waiting for "real car companies" to launch their equivalent electric cars.

ta daaaa...
https://www.gmc.com/electric-truck/hummer-ev

[Yorick]

TBF a big part of the reason I haven't bought a Tesla is cause I'm waiting for "real car companies" to launch their equivalent electric cars.

ta daaaa...
https://www.gmc.com/electric-truck/hummer-ev

Prices ?

[ZRX61]

Prices ?

Base model is $100,000, so about $25k more than a fully optioned Platinum Edition F350 crew cab dually.

[wheelnut]

I think you may have to take your rose tinted specs off wheelnut. There are plenty of real car manufacturers that turn out new vehicles that a few months later are called in to have a common fault rectified. Sometimes these faults are on the most mundane parts of the car, others are on brakes or steering - despite the basic designs of those systems being around for a hundred years or so and despite decades of testing.

I'm sure Tesla employ people that have a working history in the automotive industry (and of course purpose built robots to do a lot of the build) but I doubt they only employ people who have been sacked by the proper car manufacturers for designing or building cars with common flaws.

Possibly, my current car has spent more time in the dealers with warranty issues than any other one I’ve had. The faults with mine have been with the TFT display. Lots of Tesla owners are reporting things like paint issues, panel gaps, panels coming loose, which are pretty basic things. As more customers road test their cars for them though, I’m sure they’ll get better.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Producing a robust product is quite a lot of effort, but it's also quite dull. There's not much glamour in spreadsheets, but that's what you need to make sure you can build half a million cars all the same!

McLaren had/have the same issue. Their cars have always been mind bendingly fast with amazing handling, as you'd expect from an F1 team. The infotainment is dog slow and the central locking often breaks though....

[cheb]

Are car manufacturers allowed to claim 'character'?

No logic to it, but I'd forgive Mclaren for small faults but not Tesla. Probably based on how I perceive Musk, mostly negatively.