Electric Cars and Hybrids

[nynnja]

I love it. It makes me feel 30 years younger every time I get in It's fast, slick, quiet, looks pretty and feels futuristic. And having not stopped at a gas station in 3 months is good too.

"It makes you younger" they should add that to the promotional materials.

Being a computer on wheels is a great bonus to me, because I understand how it works and feel in control. And with new features and bug fixes every few weeks via over the air updates it always feels new.

Updates are amazing, I really wish the Leaf had those, but I'm guessing Nissan isn't computery enough and they still operate on a planned obsolescence model.

I just crossed the 1000 mile mark yesterday. So, I don't drive long distances. Mostly the work commute which is around 15 miles. The car has a 310 miles range so charging is not really something I think about. I just plug it in a regular wall outlet in the garage when I get home. In 5-6 hours it's back at full charge again. A home charger is relatively cheap ($500) but the problem is you have to run a 60 Amp line to it, which in my case would cost a lot because my main panel is outside on the other side of the house. And I am not seeing the need to do that yet.

I did this with the Leaf for 18 months until my breaker melted in the garage. I think I had more than just the charger running that day and pushed it over the edge. The wiring was old, crappy, and only wired for 15 amps. So I upgraded the garage to 50 amps and installed a 30 amp level 2 charger. Now I can do a full charge in about 4 hours! My rewiring was less than $500 with an electrician friends help, but if you don't need it I suppose you're fine.

[zlordsahan]

The City of Austin has a program where they add $25 on your monthly electric bill and give you unlimited use of any of the hundreds of chargers around town. We have 2 ChargePoint chargers at my work parking and several co-workers use those and never charge at home.

However, so far I don't think I spend even $25 worth of electricity per month so I'm sticking with the wall plug charging for now.

[brien]

it seems like vaporware.

Yep, the fact that they are now taking pre-orders yet still haven't shown an actual proof of concept that isn't a CGI rendering has me worried. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for them, too

[nynnja]

It seems like they have some videos of a vehicle driving, but who knows what the details of that vehicle are. With all the hype of Tesla and popularity of trucks, I can see how easy it would be to scam everyone with an EV truck.

They should invite a few reporters to check it out and take a test drive, that would set my mind at ease.

[brien]

Did you notice they sped up most of the driving footage in pretty much every video? It's very peculiar/suspicious

[nynnja]

I haven't been able to google up any speculation that they are illegitimate. Maybe the press is convinced it's real. They did roll out a vehicle at a couple auto shows.

[nynnja]

I want a Sono Sion!!!

To and from work I would never need to plug it in!

[Macheath]

The distinguishing characteristic of the exterior are the solar cells, whose full-surface integration completely redefines the body. The hood, fenders, sides, roof and rear of the vehicle carry solar cells that visually blend into the surface.

I'm sorry, but come on...

1. There's no way a solar cell that can be printed on a car's paint job is efficient enough to do much.
2. Especially not if it spends 90% of the day at wildly oblique angles relative to the sun. Why don't we put solar panels on our walls? Because they'd be mostly worthless.
3. Door ding? More like SOLAR PANEL DESTRUCTION and PERMANENT SYSTEM DEGRADATION!!

You'll be plugging this thing in nightly.

[nynnja]

Well, I like the concept, and I'm certain solar cells will continue to improve until one day I never need to plug in my electric awesome mobile!

[nynnja]

Gnorlin, hows that Volt working out for you? Would you buy it again? I work with a guy debating his next car. He's not ready to shell out for a Tesla and was contemplating a LEAF, but then found out that remaining Volts are real cheap because Chevy discontinued them.