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are you sure some intern didn't just stuff the wrong envelope? 
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Sep 18, 2013 03:10
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They are built in Smyrna now. Run on moonshine.
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Sep 18, 2013 15:10
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You know how some concepts for super-efficient cars have the side rearview mirrors replaced with cameras and screens? Tesla is planning on actually doing that with their upcoming Model X crossover: http://www.teslamotors.com/modelx Given how many people don't know how to adjust mirrors properly, this sounds like a nice thing to have. illectro posted:My wife just has a bad habit of crashing into fixed objects and then denying responsibility. Then wait for the [mostly] autonomous version to come out: http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/artificial-intelligence/tesla-working-towards-90-autonomous-car-within-three-years For that matter, Nissan is even planning to offer an autonomous Leaf by 2020: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/09/17/new-autonomous-electric-nissan-leaf/
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Sep 19, 2013 02:31
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Cockmaster posted:You know how some concepts for super-efficient cars have the side rearview mirrors replaced with cameras and screens? Tesla is planning on actually doing that with their upcoming Model X crossover: GIVE ME THAT ON MY MODEL S AS A RETROFIT NOW!!!! TESLA GODS! 
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Sep 19, 2013 02:33
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Cockmaster posted:Then wait for the [mostly] autonomous version to come out: I saw this news and shot out my resume within 10 minutes.  Tesla 
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Sep 19, 2013 18:09
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Mathhole posted:I saw this news and shot out my resume within 10 minutes. I will say that I think that the predicition of 10 years for legal and in place, 20 years for ubiquity and 30 years for mandatory is almost certainly right for autonomous cars. And about loving time, 90% of drivers are loving idiots and shouldn't be doing it. Don't read the comments. 
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Sep 19, 2013 23:53
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Backov posted:
Emphatically do not read the comments. I'll never grow tired of people that feel they have the finely tuned reaction times and reflexes to beat out software in every instance of an incident, or how lowering accidents and increasing safety is infringing on their "right" to drive how they want. It sets the blood to boiling. I love driving, but I can't wait for a world where the majority of vehicles are automated. It just makes sense to take control away from people that make all the mistakes. The article is right, though - even if it drastically cuts accidents down to fractions of their current rates, every single one will be a sensationalist headline, just because. "Murder Cars Fill The Streets!"
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Sep 20, 2013 01:11
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Can't wait to overclock my murdercar to get to my destination 20% faster than all those poor saps running stock murdercars.
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Sep 20, 2013 01:18
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grover posted:Can't wait to overclock my murdercar to get to my destination 20% faster than all those poor saps running stock murdercars. I wonder if that will become a thing, root your car to get performance upgrades. Completely autonomous electric cars could really screw up the car share and taxi businesses too.
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Sep 20, 2013 01:37
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Aargh posted:I wonder if that will become a thing, root your car to get performance upgrades.
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Sep 20, 2013 01:59
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Godholio posted:Reprogramming car computers for improved performance has been a thing for a while now. Why would it be different for EVs? I'd just imagine an EV would be a lot more complex than fiddling with your air fuel ratios and boost pressures.
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Sep 20, 2013 04:03
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Aargh posted:I'd just imagine an EV would be a lot more complex than fiddling with your air fuel ratios and boost pressures. I think it's just a different skillset. We all sort of naturally pick up knowledge about basic ICE performance improvements over the course of our enthusiast-ness, but we just don't get a lot of 'ambient' exposure to the EV stuff unless we go looking. Car enthusiasts being born today are going to look at fuel injection like many of us look at carburetors now: something that was going out of style when they were growing up and something they mostly didn't bother learning about while the EV stuff will be 'common knowledge'. I think all the really complex tuning stuff is in battery management rather than full-throttle power delivery, at least on the software side. Now, if kids want to open up a motor controller and upgrade components to handle double the current.. yeah, that will probably be more complicated that bolting in a fuel pump and injectors like we do today. Semi-relevant: I own an 01 Honda Insight and it is probably the most DIY-hackable car with a battery pack and an electric motor as of yet. People have figured out how to do all sorts of cool stuff with them and unlike some other hybrids and most (all?) current EVs it is not that difficult to add a lot of acceleration to them. But, they're MOSTLY an ICE car and thats where most of the easy hp are, so that's only marginally relevant to your point. But along the full-EV lines, Toyota's RAV4 ev is supposed to have the same motor as a Tesla Roadster or something like that, so conceivably if the battery pack has as many kW as the motor is rated for in the Tesla app, it could be tweaked to give the same peak HP and TQ. Vigo327 fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Sep 20, 2013 |
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Sep 20, 2013 05:56
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Aargh posted:Completely autonomous electric cars could really screw up the car share and taxi businesses too.
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Sep 20, 2013 09:23
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sincx posted:Good. My hatred for taxis is only matched by my equal hatred for pink car-mustaches. Took me a few months to realize that the pink mustache thing is actually a calling card for Uber and not just some random thing dumbasses were doing because it literally makes me fly into a rage. Goddamn you look like a loving idiot driving a car with one of those.
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Sep 20, 2013 13:52
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wilfredmerriweathr posted:Took me a few months to realize that the pink mustache thing is actually a calling card for Uber and not just some random thing dumbasses were doing because it literally makes me fly into a rage. Goddamn you look like a loving idiot driving a car with one of those. I wonder how many cars have overheated from that stupid pink mustache preventing enough airflow into the engine?
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Sep 20, 2013 19:31
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Kenshin posted:I wonder how many cars have overheated from that stupid pink mustache preventing enough airflow into the engine? Hopefully most of them.  EVs typically have heat exchangers in front as well for their liquid-cooled motors and motor controllers, but i dont know that ive ever heard of anyone getting a coolant over-temp warning.. hmm.. Some hypermilers use partial grille blocks to raise the operating temperature of their vehicle for efficiency gains. Im wondering if an intercooler would serve that purpose on my Insight. 
Vigo327 fucked around with this message at 19:50 on Sep 20, 2013 |
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Sep 20, 2013 19:47
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Mortanis posted:Emphatically do not read the comments. I'll never grow tired of people that feel they have the finely tuned reaction times and reflexes to beat out software in every instance of an incident, or how lowering accidents and increasing safety is infringing on their "right" to drive how they want. It sets the blood to boiling. I love driving, but I can't wait for a world where the majority of vehicles are automated. It just makes sense to take control away from people that make all the mistakes. I love driving, and I never want to lose the ability to go to the track (I have a dedicated track car in the garage), but I would dearly love to be able to do my hour+ commute every day (each way) while reading a book or napping. Normal work-day commutes suck, and have exactly zero driving enjoyment in them, no matter how much you love driving.
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Sep 21, 2013 18:31
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The Locator posted:I love driving, and I never want to lose the ability to go to the track (I have a dedicated track car in the garage), but I would dearly love to be able to do my hour+ commute every day (each way) while reading a book or napping. Normal work-day commutes suck, and have exactly zero driving enjoyment in them, no matter how much you love driving. Moving manual cars to the track and other things of that type is almost certainly how it will happen, I'd bet. It's unlikely to ever be a blanket ban (in the US anyway.)
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Sep 21, 2013 18:32
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Backov posted:Moving manual cars to the track and other things of that type is almost certainly how it will happen, I'd bet. It's unlikely to ever be a blanket ban (in the US anyway.) But some areas completely lack suitable tracks. For instance in Denmark, we have a bunch of gokart tracks, but only 3 actual full-size race tracks. They're all primarily driving centers used for driver's license tests and safe driving courses, so they're not ideal for racing. There's a track close to me south of Roskilde, but it absolutely sucks for any kind of racing, it's just an oval with a kink and two enormously wide straights, boring as hell. I don't think they even use it for racing anymore. Then there's Sturup Raceway in Sweden, which I hear is a decent track, but that's about it. There are a handful of speedway and motocross tracks too, so perhaps some motorheads will migrate to that. Which brings me to something else. What happens to motorcycles once cars go all autonomous? Don't tell me you'd still be allowed to ride a motorcycle alongside them, because that sure as hell ain't gonna happen.
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Sep 21, 2013 19:59
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Our government had a program where you got paid to have your old car's engine destroyed as a way of promoting fuel efficiency. Nobody making these decisions gives a gently caress about people who enjoy cars or bikes.
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Sep 21, 2013 23:42
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Godholio posted:Our government had a program where you got paid to have your old car's engine destroyed as a way of promoting fuel efficiency. Nobody making these decisions gives a gently caress about people who enjoy cars or bikes. This. It's a percentage of a percentage of actual enthusiasts.
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Sep 22, 2013 00:17
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Godholio posted:Our government had a program where you got paid to have your old car's engine destroyed as a way of promoting fuel efficiency. Nobody making these decisions gives a gently caress about people who enjoy cars or bikes. That wasn't in the name of fuel economy, that was a plot to stimulate the economy of Japan.
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Sep 22, 2013 02:25
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Colonel Sanders posted:That wasn't in the name of fuel economy, that was a plot to stimulate the economy of Japan. I also think it had tie-ins to larger regressive policy, to keep the low, low, as they well deserve. The program only benefited (aside from the obvious corporate interests and business elites that the program was designed for) people in the lower middle class and up, who could afford, at minimum, to finance ~8-9k on top of the $4.5k trade-in. Of course before C4C you could get a new car for less than 8+4.5K, but as soon as it kicked in the prices of Versas and Accents et al 'coincidentally' jumped by like 3k. Everyone below that, who actually buys and gets to work in a car they bought used, got screwed and the people at the VERY bottom of the market (and i am VERY-bottom-feeder of the car market by hobby if not necessity) got ULTRA screwed. In the wake of C4C the supply of cheap useable cars took a big dump that got worse the cheaper the price bracket, and the price of everything that was left made a huge jump. It's only just now getting back to 'normal' (in my informed opinion as a frequent <$1k CL peruser). As for how this is relevant to EVs.. uhh.. well i'm sure that Nissan was in a more comfortable position during the Leaf launch because of all the marked-up Versas sold during C4C. 
Vigo327 fucked around with this message at 04:38 on Sep 22, 2013 |
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Sep 22, 2013 04:36
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KozmoNaut posted:Then there's Sturup Raceway in Sweden, which I hear is a decent track, but that's about it. Well, we do have more than one track in this here country. From Köpenhamn you've got, besides Sturup, 300km to Anderstorp Raceway, 230km to Falkenberg, and 110km to Ring Knutstorp. For example.
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Sep 22, 2013 04:39
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Nidhg00670000 posted:Well, we do have more than one track in this here country. From Köpenhamn you've got, besides Sturup, 300km to Anderstorp Raceway, 230km to Falkenberg, and 110km to Ring Knutstorp. For example. I know, but I was only looking at tracks in Denmark as such, or very close by. Those of my acquaintances who race all talk highly of tracks you mention. Which just goes to show how bad the situation is in Denmark, really, that we don't even have any decent tracks to choose from in our own country. I blame noise-frightened NIMBY types and the tiny almost withered racing scene here for that. We've got some real world-class racing drivers who started out in Danish go-kart racing, but once you graduate beyond that, you pretty much have to go abroad to make it big. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 10:43 on Sep 22, 2013 |
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Sep 22, 2013 10:40
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 I hate waiting. We agreed on terms the 11th and I still haven't seen the correct paperwork (supposedly sent out overnight on Tuesday). I know it takes a while to get stuff here, but this is killing me! At least it solves one of my concerns: I was worried a dealership who has to sit on a vehicle for two weeks after the sale might want to charge a storage fee. Now they'll get the paperwork back just a few days ahead of my arrival. I really need to get the sale completed before I arrive, too, since I can't get a trip permit from the Alaska DMV until the sale closes and I take a copy of the paperwork, in person, to a DMV office.
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Sep 22, 2013 21:44
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Advent Horizon posted:
How asinine.
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Sep 23, 2013 18:43
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Even better: The DMV is only open during normal weekday hours.
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Sep 24, 2013 00:14
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Advent Horizon posted:Even better: The DMV is only open during normal weekday hours. What DMV isn't only open during "banker's hours"? On the trip permit thing, how far do you have to go? Colorado allows you to drive a vehicle home with only the bill of sale and proof of insurance if the sale took place outside of DMV hours or on a weekend. Maybe Alaska does the same?
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Sep 24, 2013 00:20
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Advent Horizon posted:Even better: The DMV is only open during normal weekday hours. At least in AZ this was 'solved' by means of allowing third-party offices to do most DMV tasks at whatever time of day they choose. You do get to pay even more for it, but I'll take it for the few tasks that can't be done online, over sitting in line for hours at the real deal.
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Sep 24, 2013 00:26
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In Massachusetts if you've sold your car you can put the plates from it on your new car and drive it for 7 days as long as you have a copy of the bill of sale in the car. If you haven't sold your car, you have to take the title from the new car to the RMV in order to register it. This means when I bought my car in Rhode Island I had to convince the seller to mail me his title so I could take it to the RMV and register the car before I went down to RI on the train with the new plates to pick the car up. I can only imagine what a headache it would have been if I had to buy the car out of state. Massachusetts also doesn't issue temporary plates, or honor other states' temporary plates.
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Sep 24, 2013 00:29
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Brigdh posted:On the trip permit thing, how far do you have to go? Colorado allows you to drive a vehicle home with only the bill of sale and proof of insurance if the sale took place outside of DMV hours or on a weekend. Maybe Alaska does the same? From Washington to Alaska on the ferry. The WA trip permit expires while on the boat and I don't get home for 6 days after taking delivery (and two weeks after the 'sale', which is tonight because we have the paperwork). On an amusing note: The gal with the cubical next to me just picked up her brand new Prius at the ferry terminal this morning. She didn't get out of the parking lot before her son decided he had to puke.
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Sep 24, 2013 02:13
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The Alameda building inspector is refusing to sign off on Solar City's paperwork for my charging connection. It's on a 30A fuse (a circuit it shares with my dryer connection, selectable through a transfer switch in the garage) which is fine, I can dial the Model S down to not draw more than that while charging. But because the car is rated for 50A @ 240V, the inspector won't approve it until Solar City produces an official document from Tesla that says the car can be charged at less than fifty amps.
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Sep 27, 2013 21:18
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Madurai posted:The Alameda building inspector is refusing to sign off on Solar City's paperwork for my charging connection. It's on a 30A fuse (a circuit it shares with my dryer connection, selectable through a transfer switch in the garage) which is fine, I can dial the Model S down to not draw more than that while charging. But because the car is rated for 50A @ 240V, the inspector won't approve it until Solar City produces an official document from Tesla that says the car can be charged at less than fifty amps.  I guess they think since you obviously dont have circuit breakers or any other kind of circuit interruption like the fuse you just mentioned (....) that pulling 50a on a 30a circuit would lead to something more inconvenient than flipping the switch after you remember to change your settings to <30a. The horror.
Vigo327 fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Sep 27, 2013 |
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Sep 27, 2013 23:17
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Woohoo, picked up my Leaf today! It shall be dubbed The Electric Mayhem. Carwings was down today, I've already had to go back to the dealer to get the car reset once The servers were reset. Other than that, and the GPS being absolutely horrid, I'm loving the car.
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Oct 3, 2013 03:40
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Does the EV mean the FJ will ever come out to play again? I'll be interested to see what your long-term battery life is up there in AK. The only reason I don't have a Leaf now is because the warrantied minimum battery life, when factoring for highway driving and A/C blasting, isn't enough for me to commute both ways on a single charge (and there's too many people with confirmed degradation here in AZ). In other news, I guess the Soul EV is coming to the US too? No actual specs yet so there's not really much to discuss. I think if they can hit 100 miles range on the EPA test I might be able to comfortably commute in it, though.
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Oct 3, 2013 04:22
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IOwnCalculus posted:The only reason I don't have a Leaf now is because the warrantied minimum battery life, when factoring for highway driving and A/C blasting, isn't enough for me to commute both ways on a single charge (and there's too many people with confirmed degradation here in AZ). I wish everyone posting about the Leaf had such reasonable objections. You can't really get around the well-founded range concerns on a highway commute that is close to the limit (let alone over). On the other hand, one use case that the Leaf fits really well but rarely seems to get talked about, is for the person who has a mostly urban or low speed commute well under 50 miles total who likes to hoon around constantly. The Leaf is not fast but it's entertaining from a low speed and if you had a short enough low speed commute you could WOT it all over the place and have fun with all the torque and spend pennies on the dollar of a similar WOT gas-engine fuel bill.
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Oct 3, 2013 05:32
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Vigo327 posted:I wish everyone posting about the Leaf had such reasonable objections. Well, you could get a prius for like $24k, get 50mpg and end up paying about $350/year in gas. Or if you want to hoot around with a little more power, you could pick up a 2013 Civic Si for about $22k, but then you'd end up paying literally twice as much- an extra $350/year for gas. That adds up- over 5 years, you'd pay... about as much as you would've to buy a prius, I guess. Wait, how much does a Volt cost? I think you can get a used cayman for about the price of a new prius. How's that compare? grover fucked around with this message at 13:30 on Oct 3, 2013 |
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Oct 3, 2013 13:27
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I hate the conversation regarding EV prices/use cases. It's the same scenario as "Why would you buy a Corvette ZR1 when you can buy a Civic Si or Focus ST and get 90% of the enjoyment in something that costs 50% less?" Get an EV because you like EVs (and if you like Corvettes/911s/GTRs, get those). On a better note, my dad and I went to a local EV get together for National Plug-In Day this past weekend. It's notable in that this is in the Chicagoland area which isn't exactly known for its EV prowess. I see Volts on the roads often enough (aside from my parents') but only rarely see Teslas so it was nice to see so many in one place. It was organized by Nissan at an area test track and they were doing Leaf test drives around the track. Since mostly EV enthusiasts showed up, I'm not sure it was the greatest sales opportunity. It also didn't help that some of the Tesla owners asked and were allowed to bring their cars onto the track and give free rides too. Anyway, on to the actual EVs that showed up. As mentioned, Nissan had a bunch of Leafs to try.  Tesla owners were well represented.  Including one with the jump seat option.  They allow for a surprising amount of room. Small adults would be okay but I (6'1", 260lbs) would be pushing it to fit. A nice surprise was a gentleman who just got a Rav4 EV a month prior.    He had it trucked to Illinois since the model isn't on sale here. We also talked about the issues that brings up in regards to service. Some Toyota dealers refused to consider doing anything with it. However, he found out any Toyota dealer that will service Plug-in Prius units would be ok doing service (and confirmed with a local dealer). It's a nice idea but it seemed really small. Smaller than my brother's CR-V. But it certainly had more cargo room than this:  Nice to see an original Tesla Roadster. So much smaller than I had imagined.   (My dad for reference. he's 6'2" like me) Bonus shot of all the adapters the Roadster owner had accumulated so he could drive and plug in just about anywhere.  There were a handful of Volts on display as well. Not pictured was a Ford Focus EV which looked neat but had only token trunk space. Only the Roadster had less. Also not pictured was your stereotypical homebrew plug-in prius covered in stickers. I got the distinct impression that they were not interested in all this new-fangled Tesla hype. But then there were these two truck conversions.  The original truck was nearing 30 years old and the conversion itself was 15-20. It was a college project at first that replaced the engine with the batteries here. It was then bought by the current owner who put in an extra set under the bed.  I don't think it could look more homebrew. However, it could get 50 miles on a good day. And then there was another truck done more recently. Essentially the same set up, just less beat up and ghetto looking.   All-in-all, I think it was a good day for the enthusiasts. The Leaf test drive won my opinion of it over as a possible next-car and I got a ride in a Model S.
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Oct 3, 2013 14:29
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It's finally gotten cool enough in the mornings for me to use my Leaf's heater. I gather the heat pump on the earlier Leafs weren't as good as the 2013 model? I was pretty afraid, given everything I'd heard, but it seems hardly worse than the AC. Coming up on 5000 miles and 6 months next week. I've got to get it serviced for warranty purposes, but I've had absolutely zero issues so far.
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Oct 3, 2013 17:59
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