Electric cars: five big questions, and probably more...

[Hotrodder]

One more waste of fuel and unpoluted air for those who can afford it.

[niemeyjt]

Soon daily flights to the frozen continent?

I guess there is an irony in running flights before the ice thaws due to global warming using the transport form most likely to accelerate such warming.

[DominicBest]

The unsold cars are not helped by the likes of Hertz who discovered the hard way that people don't want to rent EVs - so are flogging off a load of low mileage EVs.

Go woke - go broke.

This is the first time I’ve read that people don’t want to drive EVs. Every article I’ve read has said it’s to do with repair costs. Hertz have said is that there is a demand and they will continue to offer EVs. Yet again a bit of fact checking will counteract the sensational headlines.

[niemeyjt]

Nowt to do with repair costs here:

Ford cuts F-150 Lightning production as EV demand softens

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Ford Motor (F.N), opens new tab said on Friday it would reduce production of its F-150 Lightning pickup truck, as demand for electric vehicles (EVs) has been lower than expected.

source: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos- ... 024-01-19/

[ajm]

The constant question is where is all the electricity coming from? The answer- France. The UK imported £1.5 billions worth from France last year

[niemeyjt]

Yes - who would have thought relying on solar power when there is no sun and wind when there is too little or too much wind could lead to power shortages - clearly not the politicians.

[RobertArthur]

About winter and comparing thermal vehicles and EVs, the art of statistics and mathematics, left-hand side and right-hand side of an equation. After reading an article in TopGear, translation below, I had one question: what have they been comparing, relatively new EVs and not so very young thermal vehicles having difficulties with their batteries of probably more than four, five years old? One of the concluding remarks of the Norwegian Svein Setrom: ' This means that in the cold, electric cars are almost twice as good as fossil cars'. Is he jumping to conclusions? Missing is more detailed information about the nature of the winter problems of thermal vehicles. Age of the vehicle, age of the battery, sloppy maintenance, EVs perhaps concentrated in the more protected environment of cities, thermal vehicles more in the tougher climate of the country side? Battery problem somewhere on a road: a traditional 12 V car battery, not too difficult to fix and get the car moving, not blocking the other traffic. Battery problem of an EV, less easy. Always more questions in this difficult multiple factor analysis.

Translation from a Top Gear article that popped-up on my smartphone this morning:

' Norway recorded the coldest temperature in the past 25 years: -43.5 degrees. The extreme cold sounds like bad news for all the electric cars there, but according to roadside assistance service Viking, it is not that bad. In fact, they think EVs do better in the cold.

One Svein Setrom of Viking tells Norwegian TV channel TV2 that in the first nine days of this year, his colleagues had to turn out 34,000 times to help a car with starting problems. In 2022, Viking received 13,000 calls in the first nine days. Of the 34,000 starting problems, 87 per cent involved a car with a combustion engine.

We hear you thinking: there are bound to be more petrol and diesel cars too. That's right: 77 per cent of cars in Norway simply still have a combustion engine. So percentage-wise, EVs do slightly better, with 23 per cent of cars causing only 13 per cent of the problems. This is a snapshot of nine days, though.

EVs are also superior on other problems. Setrom does want to take a stand: 'This means that in the cold, electric cars are almost twice as good as fossil cars. '

[niemeyjt]

Meanwhile, in the US

[Hotrodder]

Oh dear.
Even a horse will go in bad weather but the future of transportation might not.

[RobertArthur]

Incoming ocean waves, from China to Germany. A dolphin in the snow, made by BYD, an Ocean Aesthetics design. They started as a battery manufacturer in 1995, from 2003 also cars. In a different league than Tesla, but a major industrial factor to be reckoned with. Introduction price in Germany 4000 € below the equivalent VW ID 3 model, also an EV. Counterattack by VW: special offer, ends late March this year, the ID 3 for 7000€ less than its original list price. How low can you go, for how long.

In plain English this information.