Got an electric car

[FenderLover]

This is total misinformation. Even the US has plenty of lithium. We just stopped mining it to buy it cheaper elsewhere. (It’s not really mining iirc).

We used to be the #1 producer through 1980, we used it for nuclear weapons.

...Also recycling, it is a thing.

More misinformation. Tesla is just now dealing with the disposal issue. They bury it in Nevada. Show me your lithium recycle plants.

Solar cells cannot be recycled. They get buried.

Wind mills don't last long, and many get buried. Some recycling goes on for steel and copper, the rest is buried or abandoned.

The next generation will figure it out. Like every generation.

 

[Mjark]

I hope mine next car will be electric and drive itself.

 

[Fenderdad1950]

I drive a Jeep, not too much into elec vehicles, but Tesla seem to be very quick at the drag strip against bone stock cars

 

[buster poser]

Mentioned elsewhere but I just got a used i3 on the 18th; hope you enjoy your ev as much as we’ve liked ours so far. Superior in every way to an ICE for my daily usage/needs.

If I’d been unable to find the right i3 or was willing to spend a little more for new, the Niro was second on our list. Less spendy than the Mach E iirc, comparable numbers, looks great. Congratulations!

 

[maxvintage]

We just did about 60 miles or so. The car has lane recognition so it drives itself--it's spooky. Set the cruise control to keep a fixed distance from the car ahead, and then it turns itself. It beeps to tell me to keep my hands on the wheel, after a minute maybe, but meanwhile it's turning in response to the lane markers.

Honestly that seems like a bad idea--hands should always be on the wheel. You can turn it off easily though. I really need to sit down and read the manual

 

[keithb7]

Batteries are nearly 100% recyclable, ICE engines aren't.

This seems to me, to be an odd statement. All the parts of an ICE are recyclable. Aluminum, steel etc.

 

[Space Pickle]

I just bought a Nissan Leaf a couple months ago, it's my first EV. I'll never go back to driving ICE, home charging is way too convenient.

 

[imwjl]

It's a flowed green concept, they cause more pollution in creation and there is no safe way to dispose of the batteries

I don't know what a flowed or even flawed green concept is, but the Wall St. Journal article I posted a few times here is probably the best single read for a skeptic.

To start, that publication is as far from the stereotype you allude to as can be. The skeptic angled study looked at 3 possible outcomes. In the worst we might see in US we still have a net benefit for the automakers goals. Goals that are not totally replacing ICE vehicles.

It can still be fine if you don't like EVs or change. If you'd like someone to change their thoughts on EVs you should do that with information that's accurate.

I say what I did because was a skeptic. I was appointed to a city council committee that had to make sustainability and vehicle and planning decisions. In my day job I'm an infrastructure director in an enterprise where these sorts of decisions came up. We use lots of electricity and have a deliver as well as company fleet. Disciplined study of good data changed my mind.

Years after the city and enterprise decisions, the results have me understanding the changes at hand. In that time I also watched a taxi and delivery fleet where associates work be an early Tesla taxi company. I followed my city and neighboring city results with moving to some electric vehicles. Where I work and in those fleets they expand it because it's just plain good business sense same time it's overall common sense.

My area doesn't have oil, natural gas or coal unless we import it. We have electricity from hydro, manure digesters, solar and wind. Lots of areas are like us. We run 2/3 of our small grocery chain on that stuff. An area health care provider now powers 80% of their operation with renewable energy. Right now we can't yet get the electric vans or modestly priced fleet EVs but there are 3 Teslas at c suite level. The electric fork lifts are superior.

It would be a foolish move to reverse our path. I don't want getting my food and health care to have TX style reliability.

It's not all perfect. We don't yet know if electricity will be sufficient for refrigeration in our delivery fleet. Ford and GM are battery constrained and not ramped up with the vehicles we need most. There's no renewable energy option in one of the cities we operate in.

 

[keithb7]

It's early in the game and I am still skeptical from some reason about acquiring an electric car. I suppose, based on where I live and the climate, are main factors. Also my lifestyle. What I need from a vehicle. I do drive 3.5 miles to work and back 5 days a week. Yet I have a $2,000 4 cylinder ICE car to do that. No transit here. Very steep long hill to get home. -9F this morning. We have snow all winter. So a bicycle is out. I can't see myself acquiring an electric car to make the same trip to work and the grocery store.

I get it, we need to do something to reduce emissions. Climate events here have proven to me, we need to act quickly. It's early in the EV game still. Surely solutions and more options will come in time.

 

[imwjl]

that's cool. Electric cars , Self Driving cars, what this world coming to
I'm not a Ludite by any means , just look at my pedal collection.
However ever I'm on this retro-tip.
I'm doing bikes because my bike runs on Sulphur and methane at no cost to me or you.
I guess that we've all heard of the term " Carbon footprint", well I've coined a term called the "methane butt print"

It's a mix of ice and snow here now. Later or tonight I'll get down/out the bike with studded tires. I'll have wider butt print without more methane butt print. My cycling for utility drops in winter but I still manage much less car use and for 16 years now.

 

[mudbelly]

My daughter in Chicago bought a mini van, I can't recall the brand but it gets about 30 miles to a charge. It's perfect for grocery runs or taking kids to school in a town with public transportation and bike friendly. Maybe 3 tanks of has in 8 months

I have a 2013 Ford hybrid. It's been great.

Here in Texas people worry about charging stations. There are huge travel stops on every highway frequently side by side. My theroy is that this is how they cornered up the real estate to put in charging stations.

 

[buster poser]

We just did about 60 miles or so. The car has lane recognition so it drives itself--it's spooky. Set the cruise control to keep a fixed distance from the car ahead, and then it turns itself. It beeps to tell me to keep my hands on the wheel, after a minute maybe, but meanwhile it's turning in response to the lane markers.

Honestly that seems like a bad idea--hands should always be on the wheel. You can turn it off easily though. I really need to sit down and read the manual

Ours has a similar feature, but has a touch sensor and it will get loud/come to a stop if you take a paw off. Haven’t tried it.

My friend sent me a self-driven vid from his Model 3 the other day and it looked like a whole lot of nope to me, even three years after I first saw the tech in action as a passenger in a Model S. Even around his neighborhood it just looked really risky.

That’s a whole other issue anyhow, I just love the electric power delivery and relative running cost, don’t need it to drive me. Next up for us is a level 2 charger backed into solar and a battery system for the house. So much fun I’m considering converting my old 911 a la Zelectric and they are hardly alone in this market.

 

[Space Pickle]

My daughter in Chicago bought a mini van, I can't recall the brand but it gets about 30 miles to a charge. It's perfect for grocery runs or taking kids to school in a town with public transportation and bike friendly. Maybe 3 tanks of has in 8 months

Chrysler Pacifica?

 

[bgmacaw]

We just did about 60 miles or so. The car has lane recognition so it drives itself--it's spooky. Set the cruise control to keep a fixed distance from the car ahead, and then it turns itself. It beeps to tell me to keep my hands on the wheel, after a minute maybe, but meanwhile it's turning in response to the lane markers.

Honestly that seems like a bad idea--hands should always be on the wheel. You can turn it off easily though. I really need to sit down and read the manual

Is this your first vehicle with these features? They're really great. Most of them do have some kind of monitors to make sure your hand is on the wheel and/or looking at the road.

 

[Wildeman]

Heck yeah, its a sweet one

 

[imwjl]

More misinformation. Tesla is just now dealing with the disposal issue. They bury it in Nevada. Show me your lithium recycle plants.

Solar cells cannot be recycled. They get buried.

Wind mills don't last long, and many get buried. Some recycling goes on for steel and copper, the rest is buried or abandoned.

The next generation will figure it out. Like every generation.

Isn't it embarrassing to say stuff like that when it's not so and easily proven that way? I said in the other post I came at this as a skeptic but the way I try to decide from good data makes that nonsense create the opposite effect. I go learn more.

Tesla recycles, but it is a nascent industry. IIRC a west coast firm called Redland or Redwood is a partner beyond thier own recycling, and they are with the firm that makes Nissan components. There's a firm in MA with patents making ready to use cathodes. Now a large amount of Apple product goes in their recycling robots. GM and Ford have relationships like the others.

They're doing the recycling as supply chain management too.

Wind turbine components can be recycled but like many products not everyone does. The 2nd and 3rd gen turbines near me have been recycled but some people daft to this just forward a same meme from a photo I recall was in WY where there's little recycling at all.

I used to own two recycling businesses and totally served a car making town. I stay up on this stuff. A lot of the naysayers look like fools ignoring long known realities of recycling. The new gen cars are more recyclable than ever. More AL and high value metals. Replacing foam from oil with recycled fabric materials etc.... The new era car batteries even have value where some cells get reused for storage and consumer products.

If you want a legit criticism you should aim below first tier products and manufacturers. There we really do have too much stuff just getting buried or burned. Fortunately China's 2013 plan has done a lot to improve pollution. More countries need to set and reach goals like they did.

 

[bholder]

This seems to me, to be an odd statement. All the parts of an ICE are recyclable. Aluminum, steel etc.

True - can be, but in practice aren't. Battery recycling is already ahead and will stay that way given the current investment climate.

 

[FenderLover]

Isn't it embarrassing to say stuff like that when it's not so and easily proven that way? I said in the other post I came at this as a skeptic but the way I try to decide from good data makes that nonsense create the opposite effect. I go learn more.

Tesla recycles, but it is a nascent industry....

'Easily proven the other way' works both ways, doesn't it?

It is embarrassing to say that recycling nasty chemicals exists and accept that it's happening when in fact you hit it on the head - nascent industry.

Solar panels have been around for decades, they recycle what they can, but the nasty stuff still isn't. Tesla does bury stuff in the desert. And to say recycling relationships exist with GM and Ford means little when they don't have electric cars old enough to need new batteries, or electric cars at all!

Hasn't the plastic problem been around long enough to clue us in that good intentions mean little unless it is addressed? We can look on the bright side or look at reality.

 

[imwjl]

We just did about 60 miles or so. The car has lane recognition so it drives itself--it's spooky. Set the cruise control to keep a fixed distance from the car ahead, and then it turns itself. It beeps to tell me to keep my hands on the wheel, after a minute maybe, but meanwhile it's turning in response to the lane markers.

Honestly that seems like a bad idea--hands should always be on the wheel. You can turn it off easily though. I really need to sit down and read the manual

All the 2022 fleet has AEB (automatic emergency braking) and lots of vehicles made in past few years have that. Same robots that do AEB can use their data for the adaptive cruise control.

The other safety stuff such as stay in lane has been evolving for many years now and in addition to being a safety thing, makers add it to be competitive. All the ones I've known won't let you keep your hands off of the wheel.

We see more and more of this because it does cut down accidents and can also show where the liability is in an accident. The fine print for one of our newer gen cars says the manufacturer gets 90 seconds of camera and other data if they're brought into court for an example.

I'm guessing you have Android or Apple dashboard choice and I suggest using that too.

 

[imwjl]

'Easily proven the other way' works both ways, doesn't it?

It is embarrassing to say that recycling nasty chemicals exists and accept that it's happening when in fact you hit it on the head - nascent industry.

Solar panels have been around for decades, they recycle what they can, but the nasty stuff still isn't. Tesla does bury stuff in the desert. And to say recycling relationships exist with GM and Ford means little when they don't have electric cars old enough to need new batteries, or electric cars at all!

Hasn't the plastic problem been around long enough to clue us in that good intentions mean little unless it is addressed? We can look on the bright side or look at reality.

The nascent new era battery recycling plants aren't big yet because the market is new. They do it. I don't think they will recycle batteries just for entertainment, and buyers would not accept the cost of frivolous batter replacement in the purchase price.

Here's the reality of other and almost all recycling. Not everyone chooses to take on the expense when there is not a market that makes recycling profitable. The majority of people in my municipality chose to pay for plastic recycling that used to be economically feasible without that. Area municipalities are split on that. One of the reasons some of the municipalities near me got on board with what I described earlier is being powered by oil, coal and natural gas is all of that industry not taking on the negative externalities the way we can with renewables and other changes.

All of these choices and decisions still have costs and negative externalities. With less than perfection in any choice, I like the idea of that worst possible scenario with change that the WSJ series pointed out - it's still better.