What’s the dumbest thing you’ve heard about EVs?

[bedoig]

A guy at work (an aircraft pilot who you'd think took basic physics) asked me why they don't install a generator to make electricity while you're driving to recharge the battery. He wasn't talking about regen braking, but a literal perpetual motion machine.

It doesn't sound like he was suggesting a perpetual motion machine. It sounds like he was suggesting a Volt.

 

[ninpb]

It doesn't sound like he was suggesting a perpetual motion machine. It sounds like he was suggesting a Volt.

No physics guy but, what if you capture energy from the suspension like those sea buoy generators and regen from that as well.

 

[voip-ninja]

No physics guy but, what if you capture energy from the suspension like those sea buoy generators and regen from that as well.

You are talking about a handful of watts, not worth the cost or effort.

 

[daniel]

Very early on just after I had made my Model 3 reservation my father expressed his concerns to me. He was under the impression that the battery was in the trunk area and that there'd be almost no cargo room.

This was basically true of the Roadster.

This one is technically true (regarding manufacture) but after 6-18 months of actual use (depending on the EV and amount of use) it has evened back up, and all EV use after that is heavily in favor of the EV.

Tesla has to make the batteries. GM has to make the engine. I'm not at all sure that the former produces more carbon than the latter.

"What's the range on it, around 40 miles?"

That was true of my first EV, the little Zap Xebra.

Him: That's all good, being electric and all, but how do you fill up if the power goes out?
Me: How do you fill up your gas car if the power goes out?
Him: Dumb, speechless look.

Pretty soon I'm going to have solar at home. Not only will I be able to charge my car when the grid goes down, I'll be able to power my whole house.

With solar and Powerwalls, anyone can easily produce their own electricity when the grid is down. Not too many people can refine their own gas at home.

Oops. You beat me to it!

He sure sounds ignorant! I would put a wind generator on the roof so all the wheels can turn freely!

Way back in the early days of Prius there was a Photoshopped pic going around the internet of a Prius with what looked like a 30-foot-tall wind charger tower mounted to the roof of the car.

Now here's an idea: Not really practical for a car, but let's say you're on the water, in a boat, you could have a big piece of cloth sort of like a bed sheet, and hold it up to catch the wind and the wind would push you along. I'll bet you could go all the way around the world just using the wind.

Omg
I just had someone ask how many rechargeable AA batteries it needs and isn’t it a pain to crawl under to change them every week.

I thought she was joking , but was dead serious.
Showed the charge port and she then thought that’s how I recharge those AA batteries.
Had to explain that it comes with an industrial grade battery installed.

Not wanna stereotype.... southern california blonde.

That's not really all that far off. Tesla does not use AA batteries, but the batteries they do use are not far off in general size and shape. Of course, it's nice that we don't have to charge them two at a time like I do with my trackpad batteries.

When I first got my Prius (January, 2004) people knew it was "gas-electric hybrid" and they asked me if I had to plug it in. "No, it runs entirely on gas. The battery charges from the engine. It just makes the car more gas-efficient." Two or three years later when I got the all-electric Zap Xebra people were used to the concept of the Prius, so they asked me if the Xebra had a gas engine also. "No, it's all-electric." I ended up putting a custom bumper sticker on it that said "ALL ELECTRIC ALL THE TIME."

But through the Zap Xebra and the Roadster and now the Model 3, I've never experienced any hostility from anybody. Mostly just things like "I'd love to have one of those, but I need to go farther than 40 miles," (the Xebra) and "Wow, great car, but I need something bigger," (the Roadster) and "I'm getting one of those if I can ever afford it," (the Model 3). The dumb comments/questions have never been hostile.

 

[Trips]

Last weekend I was test driving an Audi e-tron and was told the following. The local salesman said "There is NO loss of range in the cold or at high speeds". I said how that was possible and he said it was because of Audi's advanced engineering and they have figured out battery technology. I was thinking to myself that they use LG batteries and the only way that is possible is if they are using a big portion of the 95 kWh battery for a reserve. That could be why they say it only has a 204 mile range.

That same guy also said that it had a single motor. His biggest selling point was 360 car view for the screen.

 

[Corsair]

Very early on just after I had made my Model 3 reservation my father expressed his concerns to me. He was under the impression that the battery was in the trunk area and that there'd be almost no cargo room.

Probably after he's seen this #SNL - Julia Louis-Dreyfus Does Commercial For Battery-Operated Mercedes AA Class Car

 

[jrh007]

I'm confused by that logic. Let's say batteries are rare and production of EVs limited. How does that imply that people don't want to be able to go on road trips?

Separately, here's my sample size of 1: I drive relatively little, certainly under 10K miles per year. I go on probably 4 road trips a year of 5+ hours. 99% of the time I'm a passenger. On the face of it, I need an EV that can handle zero extended road trips a year. Nevertheless, I want to be ABLE to. I do a 2-hour trip twice a year into rural NJ, and I'd really like to not have to worry about finding a charger there. If I had to, I could take mostly-highways instead of mostly-rural roads (likely there's a rest stop or hotel with a charger on the highway somewhere), and in fact I often do that on the way back because I'm dog tired and it's a simpler route. But I still don't want to be forced into it to having to find a charger. So whether or not I mathematically require a long-range EV, part of the car culture I've grown up in is that I want the flexibility that long range allows.

Pretty sure your point is along the lines of mine. It’s not need to travel beyond the range of your home that drives the consumer purchase decision, it’s the ability to travel beyond range of your home that does.

 

[Knightshade]

Tesla has to make the batteries. GM has to make the engine. I'm not at all sure that the former produces more carbon than the latter.

it does- by quite a bit. But as I said, after 6-18 months in operation the EVs have evened that out again- and all operation beyond that period is greatly in the EVs favor.



Cleaner Cars from Cradle to Grave (2015)

Manufacturing a mid-sized EV with an 84-mile range results in about 15 percent more emissions than manufacturing an equivalent gasoline vehicle. For larger, longer-range EVs that travel more than 250 miles per charge, the manufacturing emissions can be as much as 68 percent higher.

These differences change as soon as the cars are driven. EVs are powered by electricity, which is generally a cleaner energy source than gasoline. Battery electric cars make up for their higher manufacturing emissions within eighteen months of driving—shorter range models can offset the extra emissions within 6 months—and continue to outperform gasoline cars until the end of their lives

 

[KG2V]

How do you get fuel for your generator if the power goes out?

People worry about the most theoretical things. If the power is out for long enough to impact your transportation, there are probably more pressing questions. Of course, the most disaster resistant solution of all would be to have an EV and a solar system capable of charging the car off-grid. Then the question becomes "What do you do if the roads are all buckled and the bridges are all down? Personally, I'm not married to my car, I have two legs.

After "Superstorm Sandy", Gas got REAL hard to get in NYC for about 10 days, and my particular section of Bayside (Part of NYC) had no power for 7 days. Was NOT fun. Thing is, work, and the garage by work had power, I would have had LESS problems plugging in there and charging than I would have had getting Gas

 

[FarmerDave]

The Porsche Taycan has a 2 speed transmission.

Tesla tried that on the original roadster. Transmission didn't hold up -- too much torque. We'll see about the Taycan when you can buy one.

 

[focher]

After "Superstorm Sandy", Gas got REAL hard to get in NYC for about 10 days, and my particular section of Bayside (Part of NYC) had no power for 7 days. Was NOT fun. Thing is, work, and the garage by work had power, I would have had LESS problems plugging in there and charging than I would have had getting Gas

This. I had a Volt at the time and we suffered a 7 day power outage with a newborn baby. Heat in the house was an issue. Charged the car during the day at a friend's house, then used an inverter off the car to power a space heater (and other stuff, including lights) as needed. Gas lines made access to gasoline much more of a challenge.

 

[gadgetboy]

"You can't drive those in the rain - you'll get electrocuted."

 

[DigitalJedi]

This from a guy driving a muscle car talking to someone after seeing my Model 3. “Yeah you know those cars have zero torque right?”

I was told that I shouldn't buy a Tesla because it will spontaneously burst into flames, and I'd die. When I told the person that driving on a container of combustable fluid is more likely to catch fire than the battery pack, they responded with, "fake news" and walked away.

 

[ninpb]

I was told that I shouldn't buy a Tesla because it will spontaneously burst into flames, and I'd die. When I told the person that driving on a container of combustable fluid is more likely to catch fire than the battery pack, they responded with, "fake news" and walked away.

I wonder where every movie with a car chase since the 70s got the idea that a crash would end up in an explosion.

 

[exLeaf]

That is going to save me a lot of money

 

[CyberShy]

The yarn store owner where my wife works thought I couldn’t get my car wet because it was electric. He thought it was like a toaster in a bathtub.

Sigh.

 

[duanra]

The yarn store owner where my wife works thought I couldn’t get my car wet because it was electric. He thought it was like a toaster in a bathtub.

Sigh.

Well, don't take a bath with your car !

 

[Jean-ClaudeD]

Dumbest? There was a guy on the Bimmerfest forums insisting that the electrical motors would cause physical ailments due to electromagnetic interference. He claimed that he had health problems when driving a Prius that cleared up when he got back into a BMW.

Now that's pretty dumb. Probably wears one of those magic bracelets to 'balance the ions in his blood using magnetism'.

I used to drive a Volkswagen Jetta. Because of the way I had to climb in the car, the seat started to bruise my back.

Getting a Tesla, that problem cleared up. (Although I still think the model S is the hardest car I have ever owned in terms of enter/exit).

 

[SO16]

I heard that the model 3 specifically was not safe because there is no engine to protect you in the case of an accident or crash. (From insurance agent)

I suppose it’s true in a shootout where you could hide behind the engine block.

 

[tccartier]

The Porsche Taycan has a 2 speed transmission.

the original Tesla Roadster back in 2008 had a 2 speed transmission but it proved to be troublesome and never made it to full production. But it's not a New concept.