I don't care about non-EVs anymore

[LoudMusic]

In 2008 I owned a Honda S2000 and purchased a new Jeep Wrangler. At that moment I said to my wife, "This is the last internal combustion vehicle I intend to buy." And I held to it. We sold the S2000 and Wrangler and in 2020 bought a Model Y (turns out in the interim I bought a sailboat with diesel engines and a dinghy with an outboard petrol engine - but they didn't have wheels so cut me some slack).

While I owned the S2000 and Wrangler I was still very interested in ICE cars. Watching performance videos, attended an F1 event, talked about cars with friends. Etc etc. But when I actually started shopping for EVs and test driving Teslas I just stopped caring about non-EVs. It's gone beyond cars too. If I get back into boating I fully intend to have an electric boat. I want an electric motorcycle. I have an electric lawn mower. And so-on.

Has "EV life" had that affect on anyone else? This is what cars should be. Everything else is a waste of time.

 

[father_of_6]

Agreed. My mower is electric. If I never have to pull start a gas mower again it'll be too soon.

The fumes and noise of small engines is awful and I've been very averse to them for many years. Now that I own an EV, that same feeling applies to ICE vehicles.

We still have an ICE family van, but I look forward to the day that an EV can replace that.

 

[LoudMusic]

Agreed. My mower is electric. If I never have to pull start a gas mower again it'll be too soon.

The fumes and noise of small engines is awful and I've been very averse to them for many years. Now that I own an EV, that same feeling applies to ICE vehicles.

We still have an ICE family van, but I look forward to the day that an EV can replace that.

I don't understand why no one has made a minivan EV. It seems like an ideal platform.

 

[father_of_6]

I don't understand why no one has made a minivan EV. It seems like an ideal platform.

Even worse for us, we're a family of 8 and grew out of our minivan almost 4 years ago. We need something like a Ford Transit EV 12 passenger. We'll be waiting a LONG time.

 

[LoudMusic]

Even worse for us, we're a family of 8 and grew out of our minivan almost 4 years ago. We need something like a Ford Transit EV 12 passenger. We'll be waiting a LONG time.

I believe I've discovered your problem.

 

[SageBrush]

Has "EV life" had that affect on anyone else?

Exactly the same, if not more. There is very little chance of my ever buying an ICE, and at least a few days every week I plot the removal of my NG heating.

 

[KJD]

In 2008 I owned a Honda S2000 and purchased a new Jeep Wrangler. At that moment I said to my wife, "This is the last internal combustion vehicle I intend to buy." And I held to it. We sold the S2000 and Wrangler and in 2020 bought a Model Y (turns out in the interim I bought a sailboat with diesel engines and a dinghy with an outboard petrol engine - but they didn't have wheels so cut me some slack).

While I owned the S2000 and Wrangler I was still very interested in ICE cars. Watching performance videos, attended an F1 event, talked about cars with friends. Etc etc. But when I actually started shopping for EVs and test driving Teslas I just stopped caring about non-EVs. It's gone beyond cars too. If I get back into boating I fully intend to have an electric boat. I want an electric motorcycle. I have an electric lawn mower. And so-on.

Has "EV life" had that affect on anyone else? This is what cars should be. Everything else is a waste of time.

I like the Everything else is a waste of time comment. Pretty well sums up how I feel about gas burners. In a previous life I owned a Lincoln V-12 and a 66 corvette.

Here is a link to one of my first EV's, an electric motorcycle. I went through 3 battery packs before I passed it on to someone else.

Kyle Dansie's 1986 Kawasaki Ninja ZX 900

 

[ThomasD]

When I replaced my small 30 inch cut lawn mower I had a 2000 dollar budget. I could not find an electric riding mower with a 40 inch cut or larger for less than 3500 dollars The majority of them were in the 4 to 7k range and I needed a mower now.

 

[MrWattson]

Was just thinking yesterday that, if my MY were in an accident, and I needed to replace it quickly, that the lead times might mean I need to consider something else to replace it. I could not go back to an ICE vehicle as my daily driver at this point.

I replaced my gas weedwhacker with an E-Go electric several years ago with no regrets. My wife bought me an E-Go snowblower 3 years ago which meets our needs fine. I hate my current Craftsman lawnmower and the height adjustment has never locked in well. At some point, I will replace that with electric too. It is just too new to toss away and would get little on resale.

 

[jboy210]

Agree. They are banning gas powered mowers and other yard equipment in a few years by me, requiring a switch to electric. I can't wait to NOT be awaken at 7AM by a neighbor or their gardener blowing leaves.

 

[Murtaya]

Has "EV life" had that affect on anyone else? This is what cars should be. Everything else is a waste of time.

In my case, after I got the Plaid, I found I wasn't enjoying driving cars anymore...either ICE or EV. I've loved cars of all kinds and going out on drives ever since I started driving. With the EV, though, while the acceleration and tech are cool, I realized that the car isolates you from all driving stimulus and tries to do all the driving itself. This is great if you want simple transportation, but really not fun if you've learned to interact with cars, enjoy the stimuli, appreciate customizing/upgrading them, and love being rewarded for learning how to drive them better. I found myself having to turn on the radio while driving for the first time in years just to not get bored and forcing myself to go on drives for fun, only to get back and wonder why I just drove around in a big circle. I've never done that before with other cars. I thought I just didn't enjoy driving anymore.

Then I got my little roadster back on the road, and realized that I still loved driving, just not in the EV. And the Plaid's been collecting dust in my garage ever since.

I know this probably won't go over well on here, but as much as I think EVs make better sense for standard transportation (and people who don't like driving), I've been disappointed with their actual driving experience. They've proved to me that fast != fun (which can be hard to explain to people). I'm hoping that somebody will find a way to build one I can find enjoyable to drive before we're all forced into EVs exclusively, but at the same time, I don't see cars getting more interactive and driving-focused; with automated driving, safety tech, efficiency, etc., the industry is moving the other way. On paper it makes sense, because with it you get faster, safer, and more efficient cars. Progress, I guess? Much like I bet people thought the first cars were soulless and boring modes of transportation compared to horses, I suppose.

But I assume I'm in the minority...especially on this site. But, since you had asked....

I don't understand why no one has made a minivan EV. It seems like an ideal platform.

Probably won't be as cheap as one would hope, and some people can have issues with VW quality, but this one should finally be coming out:

The ID. Buzz from Volkswagen

The iconic bus is back and it's electric. Get the latest on the VW ID. Buzz.

www.vw.com

 

[father_of_6]

In my case, after I got the Plaid, I found I wasn't enjoying driving cars anymore...either ICE or EV. I've loved cars of all kinds and going out on drives ever since I started driving. With the EV, though, while the acceleration and tech are cool, I realized that the car isolates you from all driving stimulus and tries to do all the driving itself. This is great if you want simple transportation, but really not fun if you've learned to interact with cars, enjoy the stimuli, appreciate customizing/upgrading them, and love being rewarded for learning how to drive them better. I found myself having to turn on the radio while driving for the first time in years just to not get bored and forcing myself to go on drives for fun, only to get back and wonder why I just drove around in a big circle. I've never done that before with other cars. I thought I just didn't enjoy driving anymore.

Then I got my little roadster back on the road, and realized that I still loved driving, just not in the EV. And the Plaid's been collecting dust in my garage ever since.

I know this probably won't go over well on here, but as much as I think EVs make better sense for standard transportation (and people who don't like driving), I've been disappointed with their actual driving experience. They've proved to me that fast != fun (which can be hard to explain to people). I'm hoping that somebody will find a way to build one I can find enjoyable to drive before we're all forced into EVs exclusively, but at the same time, I don't see cars getting more interactive and driving-focused; with automated driving, safety tech, efficiency, etc., the industry is moving the other way. On paper it makes sense, because with it you get faster, safer, and more efficient cars. Progress, I guess? Much like I bet people thought the first cars were soulless and boring modes of transportation compared to horses, I suppose.

But I assume I'm in the minority...especially on this site. But, since you had asked....



Probably won't be as cheap as one would hope, and some people can have issues with VW quality, but this one should finally be coming out:

The ID. Buzz from Volkswagen

The iconic bus is back and it's electric. Get the latest on the VW ID. Buzz.

www.vw.com

Sounds like you're attached to ICE noise.

 

[SalisburySam]

I don't understand why no one has made a minivan EV. It seems like an ideal platform.

I agree a minivan could be an ideal EV, the lowered center of gravity would be huge for this format…and I’d love to get one. But given the paltry numbers of minivans sold against CUVs/SUVs and even coupes/sedans, it likely isn’t worth the manufacturers’ investment at this time. And it’d have to be pretty special to unseat the Odyssey and Sienna from their perch at the top of the minivan list. Although both the Pacifica and Sienna are available in hybrid forms at much higher cost, neither manufacturer seems to want to deliver a pure EV, at least not yet. Chrysler might get there first, but that’s only my guess.

 

[LoudMusic]

They've proved to me that fast != fun (which can be hard to explain to people).

That was always my argument with my Honda S2000. It's taken 15+ years but car reviewers are starting to talk about how the S2000 is the car they'd buy now "because it's actually fun to drive" where all its competitors aren't.

 

[Spdrcrj]

No

 

[Murtaya]

Sounds like you're attached to ICE noise.

I know, that's usually the knee-jerk reaction that EV drivers think: "The neanderthal likes vroom vroom noise", even though I try (like above) to note it's more the interaction I miss than the noise. In fact, I actually don't like noisy cars: I've put four mufflers on my roadster just to get it as quiet as possible.

Not only that, but the Tesla is--on paper--my ideal car: no sound, perfect AWD traction, instant torque, no clutch work for launching, no time wasted shifting, etc. But then after driving one, I realized that all that stuff that made the car perfect....made it boring. I was focusing on making it fast, not fun.

 

[Skotty]

I'm very much into EVs and think for various reasons that is where the majority of transport should be headed, but I'd also like ICE to stay around as a niche for special use, classic, and hobby purposes.

Motor sounds is a mixed bag. For most ICE vehicles, the motor sounds terrible anyway, so it's a bonus to make it go away. But I do like the general sound of a tuned motor in a high performance car. What I don't like is having it be loud, which is where I depart from the muscle car rank and file fans. I tend to like the factory setup of something like a Mustang GT, where it has a nice sound on hard acceleration, but you can still cruise around fairly quietly as well. When it comes to yard work, this is where the greatest advantages are; I get so tired of motor sounds from yard equipment. I also don't like motorcycles precisely because of how loud they always are; this provided sort of an "a ha" moment for me when electric motorcycles showed up and suddenly I realized it wasn't the motorcycles in general that I didn't like, it was the noise.

Smell and dirty air are other issues. Where possible, I would love to see more electric rigs and construction vehicles. It's annoying enough that dump trucks and construction equipment haulers are always dropping rocks all over the roadways chipping paint and windshields. It would be nice not to also have to deal with the black clouds of foul smelling exhaust that often accompanies them (this goes for buses too).

For mowing and yard work, I use a Ryobi RM480ex riding mower, and it's pretty good; mower blades still make some noise, but I love the complete silence (as some of my neighbors likely do as well) when I am just pulling a trailer or yard sweeper around with it.

 

[Unclepaul]

Two electric cars, two electric bikes and electric golf cart. All tools electric as well.

Made the transition and never looking back.

 

[father_of_6]

"The neanderthal likes vroom vroom noise"

Sorry, that wasn't meant as a jab. You didn't specifically state what it was that you were missing, and I've never been a "car guy"... so I assumed it was the lack of growl that you were missing. Sorry for the assumption. I've heard people say that driving an EV felt "empty" or things of that nature.

So... is it the "work" of driving that you miss? The need to shift and be really good at launching a manual transmission?

I only ask because I'm genuinely curious. I've never enjoyed driving a car more than the Model 3 in my entire life... but again, I've never been a car enthusiast (perhaps until now?).

 

[ThomasD]

I enjoy a rumble exhaust sound at idle and when you romp on it With a bit quieter exhaust while cruising down the road. But give me a car from the 60s and early 70s and I prefer side pipes.