StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
Oh, in that case, you need a couple more EV's to spread the overhead out! Are you on Time Of Use billing?
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Model Y unveiling event 2019-03-14 (official thread)
- Thread starter Matt L
- Start date
Oh, in that case, you need a couple more EV's to spread the overhead out! Are you on Time Of Use billing?
I posted that photo with my tongue planted firmly in cheek.
I think the proportions and styling clues of the Pontiac Aztek are so far out of whack that it makes me wonder what Detroit was thinking!
Aztec always made me think of the car Homer designed.
Cheap gas is part of it. The other side of that coin is that the OEMs figured out how to get SUV mileage close enough to that of regular cars that buying an SUV is no longer the penalty it once was.
But the big thing was, they figured out that since "light trucks" had different fuel economy rules applied to them, they were less of a hit to their CAFE rating. Let's not discount this fact.
So it becomes a case of, did people buy SUVs because that's what they wanted, or did they buy them because that's what was in the showroom, and they were sold the idea they need it?
Because I know for a fact that people got families, large families, around successfully for decades without SUVs. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard people say they need an SUV to carry their family. For the most part, they are wrong. I have an employee who bought a seven-seat minivan; they have one child. And will only ever have one child. I have a five year old myself, and we comport ourselves perfectly fine between my wife's Pontiac G6 and occasionally my XJ8. Most cars are pretty damn roomy these days, for the life of me I can't imagine why someone would choose a compact SUV over a similarly priced midsize sedan.
We are suckers for style, and smart companies know how to sell what they want us to have. Once the hook was set, all they had to do was tug. Now SUVs are everywhere, and here we are with this fat sedan barely disguised as an SUV. Marketing at its finest.
Last edited:
I wish! When I first installed the set-up, Eversource did indeed have a TOU rate for retail customers, and it saved me about 10%. But at the end of 2017, they filed a rate case with the DPU (state regulator), and asked to discontinue the TOU rate, arguing that too few people were using it. I thought it was cruel irony to discontinue it just as EVs are taking off, and wrote to the DPU and Attorney general to say so. But I was too late and the rate case was approved, so I no longer have TOU (and the retail rates rose by a hefty amount as well).
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
Generally correct but I did take both of my RAV4's into the woods on a regular basis for firewood.
Ulmo
Active Member
Ulmo
Active Member
No. Crappy ugly dangerous deadly tiny little cars brought us the SUV craze. Making crappy ugly dangerous deadly tiny little cars is the wrong thing to do, and therefore everyone responded by fighting against that. Cheap gas was a result of, not the cause of, SUV's. The problem, of course, is that cheap gas in big gas guzzling SUV's is even WORSE for pollution and politics; luckily, we also increased our pollution cleanup in how we burn gas at about the same time the SUV craze hit us, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. The main lesson is that mandating crappy central committee solutions to problems ends up causing more problems than it solves unless it's thought out well. Incentives to research into solar power finally brought us enough solar photovoltaic development that solar is around cost par with most energy types today, cheaper than a lot of energy types in many circumstances (with the highest cost being governmental paperwork and taxes, not materials any more). Now that's happening with electric vehicles. We have an opportunity to go into clean vehicles that are sensible and not ape nuts crazy ugly dangerous tiny little tin can cars that ushered in the SUV era. Elon understands that and did the SEXY thing with nice looking, safe, comfortable cars; while I can shake a stick at it and say "but my Mercedes is still quieter and more comfortable", it is true that Tesla has beaten back the "econobox" model of crappy ugly dangerous deadly tiny little cars that accosted us in the 1970s and 1980s. Now Trump ushered in a temporary glut of oil to beat back communist and Islamic evil while polluting ICE cars are still the main manufactured car type, so he is giving us the political and economic breathing room necessary to bring electric vehicles and clean energy to market, and that's exactly what we're seeing: VW-Audi Etron, Jaguar Ipace, GM-Chevy Bolt, Tesla SEXY+Roadster+Semi+Pickup+Solar Roof Tiles+PowerWall&PowerPack+Solar Retrofit, and probably many more long range electric vehicles coming. We need to make hay while the sun is shining, and that's what the best of us are doing.
As usual, the communists have it backwards: cheap gas didn't bring us SUV's; mandated deadly crappy cars brought us SUVs that brought us cheap gas because the demand for cheap gas was there. But as a limited resource, gas became a game of chicken, and right now we're temporarily top chicken** in a world turning to Fusion Power, a good place to be, if only we recognize and embrace it. More solar power!!! And Gen IV nuclear power, too (let's finally recycle all our old nuclear fuel)! And it's best to charge our cars from our work solar panels (which means installing solar panels and charge ports at work ... by the way).
Thank God for Tesla!
Last edited:
Ulmo
Active Member
The Leaf is an ugly cheap unsafe bug-eyed short-range failing-battery Tesla Model Y that won't even get you to work on time, much less home after work. Tesla for the win!
In about 3 years, most kids will say "who is that Leaf copycat of Tesla? Their version sucks! We want the original ... Model Y!" Only us old people will remember that the Leaf came first, and it will be something we'd rather forget.
Nissan STILL hasn't made it onto the long range EVs list, and Tesla is currently in their 4th long range EV model (RSX3) and about to release their 8th long range EV model within a few years (RSX3+YRPS). Leaf is at 0, unsafe, and ugly.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
bhtooefr
Active Member
So station wagons lasted from, what, the 1950s to the 1980s, as the "default family car"?
Minivans, by comparison, only had ~15 years of being the default family car, with the SUV craze taking off about 5-10 years after minivans took off.
...but the SUV and CUV craze has only accelerated, ~25-30 years after it started (note that the first modern CUVs were ~20-25 years ago, and were called "cute utes", and were lumped in with the small true SUVs - like, the Suzuki Sidekick/Geo Tracker, Toyota RAV4, and Honda CR-V were considered the same thing by the market, even though the Sidekick/Tracker was a real SUV), and even younger people without families are buying them.
Have you seen the roads in large parts of the US? (Given your stated location, I suspect you have.) Ground clearance isn't necessary, but the additional suspension travel that a higher ground clearance vehicle can have is helpful for comfort. Our roads really are developing nation bad in many states.
But, that's not really why people are buying SUVs and CUVs in droves.
The real reason is a combination of factors that basically boil down to encouraging a high seating position.
It's easier to get in and out of higher seats, and to deal with a child seat in higher seats. People getting taller, older, and heavier doesn't help this, either.
In the US market, remember that full-size pickup trucks are one of the largest market segments, and those are huge, especially nowadays. You don't stand a chance of seeing over or around them in a smaller car. In a SUV/CUV, you do stand such a chance due to the higher seating position (and then you block the smaller cars' vision yourself, too).
Due to the prevalence of full-size pickup trucks, SUVs, and CUVs, side impacts are taken at a higher height. This requires a higher beltline to survive side impacts, reducing outward visibility out of lower cars. Elevating the seating position gets you up above the beltline, so you can actually see. Similarly, European pedestrian safety regulations, combined with the popularity of long-stroke DOHC engines for efficiency reasons (as opposed to shorter-stroke engines and cam-in-block engines), raise the hoodline, which reduces forward visibility, and creates stylistic pressures to raise the beltline. Moving the seat up restores that visibility. (Note that EVs can have lower hoodlines as a result of not having any engine up front, and Tesla takes advantage of this, but side impact is still an issue for the American market.)
StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
If you are woried about side impact, then don't by a Volvo V60, because the Model 3 outperformed it (by a large margin) in a side-impact test.
Honestly can’t stand their vids since they obviously shilled for the quick body repair when they had an “accident”.
Not sure what info you found interesting in that video, no new info and asking Ben Sullins about things he wasn’t sure about either. Can do without many of these Tesla Youtubers now TBH.
Barklikeadog
Active Member
people just don't think about the utility factor. I think about going non-truck and then...
just this weekend:
Took sofa to shop to be reupholstered.
picked up 1 yard of dirt
bought 4 cherry trees and about 20 plants today
Barklikeadog
Active Member
the V60? isn't that the wagon? how did you randomly pick that one? did you manage to find the one Volvo vehicle that actually had a driver death?
Call me cynical, but I'm sure you'll provide a reason this doesn't work:
Big Tex Trailers 30SV Single Axle Vanguard Trailer
Ulmo
Active Member
I'm not just interested in who has the very first brand new info; in fact, I don't value the very first in brand new info, since usually it's unconfirmed, poorly tested, and poorly filtered.
I'm interested in overall quality info and how it is presented to those who don't already know it.
I learned some things in that video that I did not know before, and I'd definitely not want to be the first to know something if it means I don't really know it as much as I would know it if I saw it after it had been researched by others first. Being first sucks. Take my word for it: my last name begins with an A, so I was almost always called first. Go away!
StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
What year RAV4's do you own? Because the maximum cargo capacity of even the newest RAV4 is only 1230 lbs. You need to subtract driver and passengers, gasoline, chainsaw and support kit, splitting tools, and anything else you might need. A tank of gas alone weighs over 100 lbs. Best case scenario, you 800 lbs. left over for firewood. A fresh cord of hardwood weighs over 4000 lbs. So you might get 1/5 cord.
They can tow 1500 lbs. but the firewood trailer is going to weigh 6-800 lbs. leaving you with only about the same 800 lbs. for firewood. No wonder you go firewood collecting on a "regular" basis! If you're like me, you can hardly wait for Tesla to release their pick-up! While we don't drive our truck except when we need a truck, I'm not getting rid of it until there is something to replace it.
But the silliest thing are those people who drive their big jacked-up and/or dually pick-up everywhere they go. To drop their daughter off at dance lessons, to pick up a six-pack of beer, etc. You see these things everywhere. When I see a particularly heavy truck, the kind that only "manly" men drive, I like to walk up in a friendly, enthusiastic country boy sort of way and say "Howdy, so whatcha haulin' today?" The reason this is so funny is it always leaves them speechless.
Not once have I had them tell me they just dropped off a sofa or refrigerator or such.
StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
No, I was speaking to actual NHTSA side crash test results. I could have got the particular model of Volvo wrong but, yeah, the Model 3 is particularly good aboiut limiting intrusions from side impact. It could save your life if the idiot on a sidestreet blows through a stop sign at high speed.
Barklikeadog
Active Member
I couldn't help but notice that the trailer, that I don't want in my driveway by the way, is hooked up to a pickup truck.
Similar threads
