Electric Cars/Trucks and winter weather testing with results. What do you think? Who has taken one in Freezing cold long distance to a Ski mountain?

[BodeMiller1]

Throwing a 240v 20A circuit in a vacation rental probably will be expected, much like color TV or air conditioning is now expected equipment. Whether use of that charger is part of the rental or if it's charged extra per kWh while you trickle charge overnight will likely vary.

Beside the coffee maker will be a 3D printer you can make new Poles and all other gear. Good thing Mr. Musk is around.
What's this about color TV?

 

[Former Sunday Rivah Rat]

Do they care about viability? Or are they more concerned that they'll profit less because you definitely won't come back to them for oil changes, so they steer you to an ICE vehicle.

What kind of moron goes to the dealer for an oil change? I worked at 2 dealerships. Unless it's warranty work you can do better almost anywhere else.

 

[ss20]

What kind of moron goes to the dealer for an oil change? I worked at 2 dealerships. Unless it's warranty work you can do better almost anywhere else.

This was my thought for a long time. Dealer gave me 3 pre-paid oil changes/tire rotations when I got the car. Used them up. Asked for ha-has what it would cost for 3 more pre-paids. $180 and it's full synthetic. $60 a pop. A bit less than the mom/pop shop near me. Save a few bucks plus the ridiculous setups they have in dealer waiting rooms now (gone are the days of piss-awful coffee and crappy magazines) hard to go wrong.

 

[skiur]

I change my own oil and unless warranty work will never go to a dealership. Find an independent garage you can trust and stick with it, it will save you money and give you peace of mind.

 

[trackbiker]

A plug in hybrid would make the most sense for most people. The average car trip is 11 miles. Plug in hybrids average between 35 and 40 miles per charge. This is more than enough for daily driving needs. When you go on a longer trip you run on gas. I know someone who has one and does do a lot of weekend trips. They only fill up with gas about once per month. During the week they run on the battery.

 

[cdskier]

This was my thought for a long time. Dealer gave me 3 pre-paid oil changes/tire rotations when I got the car. Used them up. Asked for ha-has what it would cost for 3 more pre-paids. $180 and it's full synthetic. $60 a pop. A bit less than the mom/pop shop near me. Save a few bucks plus the ridiculous setups they have in dealer waiting rooms now (gone are the days of piss-awful coffee and crappy magazines) hard to go wrong.

I'd rather spend a few more bucks on an oil change from a local mechanic and have a relationship with local mechanic that I can trust for when something else does go wrong and needs repair/service.

 

[zyk]

A plug in hybrid would make the most sense for most people. The average car trip is 11 miles. Plug in hybrids average between 35 and 40 miles per charge. This is more than enough for daily driving needs. When you go on a longer trip you run on gas. I know someone who has one and does do a lot of weekend trips. They only fill up with gas about once per month. During the week they run on the battery.

Agreed. That is what I wanted. However long lead times, a hefty premium, and rising interest rates resulted in the purchase of a regular hybrid.

 

[snoseek]

I'd rather spend a few more bucks on an oil change from a local mechanic and have a relationship with local mechanic that I can trust for when something else does go wrong and needs repair/service.

Better yet I'd just change my own. It takes very little time and isn't difficult

 

[KustyTheKlown]

i went to a local garage for an oil change last feb. they told me my radiator fan was gonna die soon and i should replace it. i said thanks that's on warranty so I'm gonna go to nissan. nissan looks, says radiator fan is fine, finds a bunch of other random shit to charge me for (some legit, some not legit and declined). in may my car broke down in manhattan a block before being inside the holland tunnel. blown radiator fan. stuck blocking heavy 6th avenue traffic for 3 hours while waiting for the tow. fuck nissan dealer service centers.

 

[cdskier]

Better yet I'd just change my own. It takes very little time and isn't difficult

That defeats the purpose of building a relationship with a local mechanic though. Plus my mechanic looks everything else over while he's doing the oil change so at least that gives me some peace of mind too.

i went to a local garage for an oil change last feb. they told me my radiator fan was gonna die soon and i should replace it. i said thanks that's on warranty so I'm gonna go to nissan. nissan looks, says radiator fan is fine, finds a bunch of other random shit to charge me for (some legit, some not legit and declined). in may my car broke down in manhattan a block before being inside the holland tunnel. blown radiator fan. stuck blocking heavy 6th avenue traffic for 3 hours while waiting for the tow. fuck nissan dealer service centers.

Reminds me of a couple experiences I had with dealers:
1) Had some warranty work done on my old truck at the dealer. They did a multi-point inspection as part of that and said the brakes were fine and still "green" on the report as the pads had plenty of thickness left. Literally only a week or two later my brakes started squealing. Immediately took it to my own mechanic and when he looked at the pads there was almost nothing at all left on the rear pads. No way pads went from "plenty of thickness left" at the dealer to being nearly completely gone a week or two later. Don't know what the dealer was looking at but if they couldn't even get something simple like that right, what else would they get wrong?

2) Another time my dad was constantly complaining to the dealer about something on his car when it was under warranty and they kept saying it was fine. As soon as the warranty ended all of a sudden they agreed whatever it was needed to be replaced (and it wasn't cheap). That's when my dad promptly sold that car and switched to another brand. I think one of the biggest problems with dealer service (at least with the dealers I've been to) is that you never know which mechanic is going to be working on your car. It could be a senior mechanic that knows their stuff or it could be someone with minimal experience.

 

[BodeMiller1]

What's holding me back from buying an electric is how to change the oil. I change my oil when I have time. It's nice to have an accelerant around besides gas. The Feds used to give you a tax brake for burning used oil is you own a dealership or garage. Pretty sure that's gone away butt, people still drip used oil in woodstoves for extra BTUs.

There's a oil change place on the heights of concord beside the transmission shop. I went there because I had a small brake fluid leak. They cut my brake lines on an old Ford Ranger. I left the truck there and they ended up giving me $500.

Never had a bad experience with a dealer, car dealer that is.

 

[mister moose]

1) Had some warranty work done on my old truck at the dealer. They did a multi-point inspection as part of that and said the brakes were fine and still "green" on the report as the pads had plenty of thickness left. Literally only a week or two later my brakes started squealing. Immediately took it to my own mechanic and when he looked at the pads there was almost nothing at all left on the rear pads. No way pads went from "plenty of thickness left" at the dealer to being nearly completely gone a week or two later. Don't know what the dealer was looking at but if they couldn't even get something simple like that right, what else would they get wrong?

I do my own brakes usually, and I've seen where the outer visible pads are looking fine but the inner pad ends up being worn out. A sticky caliper or a pad stuck in the guides will wear unevenly and cause that. It's hard to see the inner pad sometimes. Should you look at the inner pad? More time to do that, constant tradeoff I'm sure on keeping rates low and providing good service. No idea if that was your situation, but it might not be as simple as you thought.

The Feds used to give you a tax brake

Is that a new revenue generator for electric car brakes that pay no gas tax?

 

[slatham]

A plug in hybrid would make the most sense for most people. The average car trip is 11 miles. Plug in hybrids average between 35 and 40 miles per charge. This is more than enough for daily driving needs. When you go on a longer trip you run on gas. I know someone who has one and does do a lot of weekend trips. They only fill up with gas about once per month. During the week they run on the battery.

This is what we found with a Prius Prime (not our ski car LOL). Hence we’ve been looking at the RAV4 prime, but hope they come out with a Highlander prime, or someone else does the equivalent. Just not sure I want to be 100% EV on a long cold trip in the mountains………

 

[cdskier]

I do my own brakes usually, and I've seen where the outer visible pads are looking fine but the inner pad ends up being worn out. A sticky caliper or a pad stuck in the guides will wear unevenly and cause that. It's hard to see the inner pad sometimes. Should you look at the inner pad? More time to do that, constant tradeoff I'm sure on keeping rates low and providing good service. No idea if that was your situation, but it might not be as simple as you thought.

My mechanic showed me the pads at the time...it wasn't a case of uneven wear. The "multi-point inspection report" from the dealer had 3 levels of color coding for each item - Green for brakes was supposed to mean the pads were over a certain thickness. Yellow meant it was getting thin but still had some time before needing to be replaced. Red meant that it needs attention asap. They had checked off green for front and rear pads. The excuse that fully checking the inner pads would take more time doesn't fly. If you aren't going to do something properly because it would take too much time, then don't do it at all and give people a false impression that you checked something that you didn't really check. Doing a half-ass job is worse than doing nothing.

 

[BodeMiller1]

I do my own brakes usually, and I've seen where the outer visible pads are looking fine but the inner pad ends up being worn out. A sticky caliper or a pad stuck in the guides will wear unevenly and cause that. It's hard to see the inner pad sometimes. Should you look at the inner pad? More time to do that, constant tradeoff I'm sure on keeping rates low and providing good service. No idea if that was your situation, but it might not be as simple as you thought.

Is that a new revenue generator for electric car brakes that pay no gas tax?

I do my own brakes usually, and I've seen where the outer visible pads are looking fine but the inner pad ends up being worn out. A sticky caliper or a pad stuck in the guides will wear unevenly and cause that. It's hard to see the inner pad sometimes. Should you look at the inner pad? More time to do that, constant tradeoff I'm sure on keeping rates low and providing good service. No idea if that was your situation, but it might not be as simple as you thought.

Is that a new revenue generator for electric car brakes that pay no gas tax?

Master Moose,
Good point so many states have used the gas tax to fund upkeep on roads and the like. On one hand you want to give green cars an advantage (Fed Tax Credits). It's similar to when the internet was new and there were no taxes. The transition from one technology to another is never easy, the industrial revolution and child labor is a good example. In Manchester kids were small enough to fit in the machinery...

Back on point (maybe), NO.

 

[IceEidolon]

Good point so many states have used the gas tax to fund upkeep on roads and the like...

Gas taxes don't actually charge the people causing wear and tear on roads and highways. If you want true fairness, road useage should be paid by some combination of mileage traveled and vehicle weight per tire. Commercial trucking does the vast majority of wear and tear (that isn't weather or aging) on roads and that isn't currently reflected in their gas tax, useage fees, etc. Personally I'm not a fan of subsidizing Swift and Amazon and all the other trucking companies with my tax dollars (especially since gas tax doesn't cover all road maintenance and upkeep, generally).

 

[Granite1]

Gas taxes don't actually charge the people causing wear and tear on roads and highways. If you want true fairness, road useage should be paid by some combination of mileage traveled and vehicle weight per tire. Commercial trucking does the vast majority of wear and tear (that isn't weather or aging) on roads and that isn't currently reflected in their gas tax, useage fees, etc. Personally I'm not a fan of subsidizing Swift and Amazon and all the other trucking companies with my tax dollars (especially since gas tax doesn't cover all road maintenance and upkeep, generally).

These large trucks are paying their fair share, they use a lot more gas and diesel per mile than a passenger car, so are paying more taxes. The people that aren't paying their fair share are EV owners, they are the ones that have to pay taxes based on mileage. They need to pay a huge surcharge on their electric bills too if tax dollars are going to be used to build charging station infrastructure.

 

[IceEidolon]

These large trucks are paying their fair share, they use a lot more gas and diesel per mile than a passenger car, so are paying more taxes. The people that aren't paying their fair share are EV owners, they are the ones that have to pay taxes based on mileage. They need to pay a huge surcharge on their electric bills too if tax dollars are going to be used to build charging station infrastructure.

Murphy’s Law: How Trucks Destroy Our Roads

And how a fee on trucks could solve state’s transportation problem.

urbanmilwaukee.com

The Hidden Trucking Industry Subsidy

Freight trucks cause 99% of wear-and-tear on US roads, but only pay for 35% of the maintenance. This $60B subsidy causes extra congestion and pollution, and taxpayers pay the bill. It seems obvious…

truecostblog.com

Notably both articles assume all damage to roads is caused by wear, rather than plowing, thermal expansion, etc - I doubt the true number is actually 99%. But it's undoubtedly higher than the proportion of useage tax paid by semi trucks. Meanwhile, an EV owner (or a person driving a hybrid with 45 MPG) is actually still contributing to their state's budget and paying their fair share that way - they're just not being overcharged quite as much as the guy with the early 2000s Suburban.

I did say I wanted to see people paying their fair share, right? That should lead to lower road use fees for most Americans, assuming we keep the same proportion of highway maintenance money coming from useage - whether they drive a Spark or a Corvette or an F250.

 

[VTKilarney]

The people that aren't paying their fair share are EV owners

Most states place a surcharge on EV registrations for this reason - or they are about to.

 

[Former Sunday Rivah Rat]

If we have rolling backouts like they warned of in NE, then heating systems will not work. People could actually go cold and freeze to enable more EV's to charge. Those EV owners are usually the same green activists that vote against the Northern Pass etc.

MSN

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