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OT: Electric vehicles

Tesla didn't reveal this publicly , but it looks like they've added inductive charging to Cybertruck.






Tesla SVP of power train and energy responded with the emoji below. Most are taking his response as confirmation. Looks like a coil or plate would be attached to these ports and you'd have wireless charging. Tesla continuing to drive innovation. Could existing Tesla's be easily retrofitted?

 
I know this isn't strictly about an electric vehicle, but there is the Chevy Corvette E-Ray, so not entirely off-topic.

Looking through the photos in the article, of different Corvette models over the years, makes me even more disappointed with the styling of the C8. The older cars are so graceful and beautiful while this latest one is just... isn't either of those things. This one seems more like what a kid in grade school might come up with, which can be summed up as: overwrought.

The photos...


And the article itself...

 




Of all the FSD versions and updates, Version 12, an imitation learning model, overwhelmingly appears to be the biggest step change. I subscribed for 2 months on version 11 and can definitely say it was not "robotaxi" ready. Looking forward to giving this a go.
 
I mentioned hydrogen powered vehicles above. This is really interesting. @retired711 wonder if legislators will jump on board and put favorable incentives in place for hydrogen- powered vehicles. The trucks have long range- 500 miles. "Refueling" on takes 20 minutes.

Nikola’s long term plan is to be as much about building a hydrogen infrastructure, including green production, as it is about building the vehicles.

It’s been a struggle though as they are far from profitable and high interest rates make it more difficult to access capital.
 
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Haha pay up EV owners!

Not unreasonable. Affects all motorists with a moderate, timed increase. Promotes gas conservation and the use of no and low-emission vehicles all at the same time.

Let's just hope it's spent on roadway infrastructure and not wind up being "borrowed" to fund some other unrelated BS.
 
I just did the math.......... given how often I fill up our Grand Cherokee, if I switched to an EV, $250 would be less than what I pay annually in gas taxes.
That’s why I said it promotes purchasing low and no-emissions vehicles. In most cases, where a decent amount of driving is involved, ICEVs will be hit harder than EVs.

Hybrid drivers might have the lowest impact, depending on their use.

And, IIRC, the EV tax times out after 5 years. The gas tax changes do not go away, they just stop increasing after 5 years.
 
I just did the math.......... given how often I fill up our Grand Cherokee, if I switched to an EV, $250 would be less than what I pay annually in gas taxes.
Here's the problem. It's one thing psychologically to pay a little extra each time you go to the gas station -- you soon forget you're doing it. In addition, you can control how much you pay by driving less. It's another to get hit with a $250 fee each year when you renew your vehicle registration, and to have it apply no matter how much or how little you drive. Even if you come out ahead, the fee will feel worse to most people than a gas tax increase, and so the fee will discourage purchase of EVs.
 
That’s why I said it promotes purchasing low and no-emissions vehicles. In most cases, where a decent amount of driving is involved, ICEVs will be hit harder than EVs.

Hybrid drivers might have the lowest impact, depending on their use.

And, IIRC, the EV tax times out after 5 years. The gas tax changes do not go away, they just stop increasing after 5 years.
Hybrid might get double hit.
 
Per an an earlier article i read, new EV owners would have to put 4 years upfront in fees? Is this correct...thats over $1000

My guess is that it's tied to when you prepay registration for a few years when you buy/lease a new car.

EDIT: Found the article. It's not necessarily forcing them to pre-pay the EV road fee. Because the $250 EV fee would be tied to when you register, if you registered for multiple years up front, you'd also have to pay the EV fee for the years you registered for. So for example, if you lease a car for 3 years, you prepay 3 years registration. You'd then also have to pay the EV fee for three years up front as well as registration timing is the mechanism to pay the EV fee.

The bigger issue is that Murphy has floated an idea of phasing out the no sales tax on EVs over three years. If that comes true, that's what could rely stymie EV adoption.
 
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Just stumbled on this thread, and sorry if it's been discussed, but I'm not reading 320 pages of back posts.
For EV owners, there are companies out there that do battery swapping in lieu of charging. Would you want to turn your new/newer battery out after one charge to take another battery that may be older? Do all EV's have the same battery type?
 
Just stumbled on this thread, and sorry if it's been discussed, but I'm not reading 320 pages of back posts.
For EV owners, there are companies out there that do battery swapping in lieu of charging. Would you want to turn your new/newer battery out after one charge to take another battery that may be older? Do all EV's have the same battery type?
Nio (China) is the only company doing battery swaps. IMO, you won't see this catching on. The original Tesla Roadster was enabled with battery swap, but Tesla quickly discontinued it. No one used it. An EV battery pack will outlast the vehicle in most cases. Don't believe the anti-EV propaganda that EVs require a costly battery pack replacement Most EVs come with a 100k mi warranty on the pack. In some cases of extremely high milage (over 100k mi), a battery pack may need to be replaced.

All EVs do not have the same battery. The chemistry (metals and ratios) of the cathode varies, as well as the capacity of the pack.

Edit: Found this from an earlier post

There's currently a battery shortage and will be for the foreseeable future. Batteries need to go into vehicles rather than sitting in a swap station.

The cost and time for a swap station infrastructure far exceeds the cost of a charging infrastructure.

You'd probably get greater throughput with 10 chargers vs 1 swap station.

Battery packs are heavily fortified from any type of intrusion. Early Teslas were able to swap packs, however Tesla reversed course after packs got damaged from road debris. Big safety risk. Batteries can't just pop out of the bottom of the vehicle. Removal of these protections would add complexity and time to any swap.
 
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Nio (China) is the only company doing battery swaps. IMO, you won't see this catching on. The original Tesla Roadster was enabled with battery swap, but Tesla quickly discontinued it. No one used it. An EV battery pack will outlast the vehicle in most cases. Don't believe the anti-EV propaganda that EVs require a costly battery pack replacement Most EVs come with a 100k mi warranty on the pack. In some cases of extremely high milage (over 100k mi), a battery pack may need to be replaced.

All EVs do not have the same battery. The chemistry (metals and ratios) of the cathode varies, as well as the capacity of the pack.

Edit: Found this from an earlier post

There's currently a battery shortage and will be for the foreseeable future. Batteries need to go into vehicles rather than sitting in a swap station.

The cost and time for a swap station infrastructure far exceeds the cost of a charging infrastructure.

You'd probably get greater throughput with 10 chargers vs 1 swap station.

Battery packs are heavily fortified from any type of intrusion. Early Teslas were able to swap packs, however Tesla reversed course after packs got damaged from road debris. Big safety risk. Batteries can't just pop out of the bottom of the vehicle. Removal of these protections would add complexity and time to any swap.
Thanks for the feedback, was wondering if that was something that would gain traction.
 
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