'Motors'

Some anecdotes from our EVs

Nissan Leaf: normal range 106 miles, winter range 40 miles (usually 20 mile ine-way trips)

Tesla Model 3: normal range 320 miles, winter range 180 miles (but more short trips now)

4 Likes

Wow! Yeah, Imma gonna stick with plug-in hybrid for my next new vehicle. Your Leaf would maybe not even get me a full round trip on my whopping 8 mile each way daily commute! (It’s absurd how long this trip takes each direction - stop light after stop light, 17 of 29 will be red on my approach, three are wild cards. Way to be environmentally conscious, MDOT!)

5 Likes

The newer leaf has more range, but yeah the range was crushed by Chicago temperatures.

The Tesla is used for my Wife’s 6 mile round trip commute, but she does run the heater for a while before the drive and it never gets up to optimal operating temperature, so not the most efficient way to use it.

6 Likes

Keep in mind that your EV is using little to no battery power sitting at a red light.

3 Likes

Sure, but I will be running the heat, headlights and stereo. I hate shivering in my car in the winter. (Maybe the only perk of not driving the Prius right now, the Acura cranks out heat PDQ!)

After the morning drive, it will be sitting in a cold, open air parking lot for 7 hours, unplugged. That’s not so great for battery range. :pensive:

5 Likes

Yeah, for lots of people PHEVs are still the way to go if it’s your only car, or if local conditions aren’t optimal for EVs.

5 Likes

Speaking of cars with airplane engines, here’s a blast from the past: 1986 Lotus 56 using P&W gas turbine aircraft engine.

Then there’s this absolutely epic monstrosity: 1939 Plymouth pickup using a radial engine from a Cessna 195.

8 Likes

I’ll ask my Tesla-owning friend here in AK who have been enjoying sub-zero temps for the past week what they’ve seen of late as well.

3 Likes

There’s also the random 12 and 14 hour roadtrips we do that would be lengthened a fair bit by having to stop to recharge several times along the way.

Now I’m curious if there are any rapid charging stations in Alabama outside of the big cities. FIL lives 40 miles from Tuscaloosa, in middle friggin’ nowhere…Yup, Tuscaloosa is the nearest station, next nearest is Jasper (at least that’s on the way to and from). :roll_eyes:

2 Likes
6 Likes

Epic? That Cessna engine only puts out 300 hp. How about this Crown Vic with a tank engine sup’d up to 1200 hp?

(The tank engine is a derivative of the legendary Merlin aircraft engine so it kinda ties in to the earlier conversation.)

7 Likes

Oh, I think an absurdly re-engined, bulbous-fendered, steam-punked '39 pickup looks 1000X more epic than a re-engined cop car.

BTW: My favorite color is blue. I’m not anxious to get into a disagreement over that also though. :smiling_imp:

4 Likes

Brutus is horribly impractical but magnificent just the same!

image

5 Likes

I love everything about this 1930 Bentley Speed Six.

6 Likes

Birkin Blower or bust!

4 Likes

Watch Teslas And Audis And Other Cars Smack Into Fake Kids In Demos Of Automatic Emergency Braking Systems

5 Likes

tenor

4 Likes
8 Likes

Royal Marines.

And I’m somewhat sceptical whether the Gravity jet pack generates enough lift to propel the average US cop and his equipment.

8 Likes

Insurgency low-tech solutions always outpace establishment high-tech.

For instance, those control/power wires to the hand jets look unarmored. A drone can be fitted with a cordless circular saw, these days…

3 Likes