I see they are starting to develop lighter components for electric vehicles now ,should do wonders for the service departments and when they get the road tolls figured out the electrics should become more prevalent ,now if they can figure out how to include more expensive exotic fluids in the drivelines (needing frequent replacement ) and cheaper tires and brakes ,we should be good to go .
(please no comments about "blinker fluid " and nitrogen filled tires ,perhaps factory applied paint sealant ?)
Chew on me Folks ,I figure you will.
@kmccune This Is All Greek To Me. What Does It Mean?
“I see they are starting to develop lighter components for electric vehicles now ,should do wonders for the service departments and when they get the road tolls figured out the electrics should become more prevalent ,now if they can figure out how to include more expensive exotic fluids in the drivelines (needing frequent replacement ) and cheaper tires and brakes ,we should be good to go .”
Lighter components doing wonders for the service departments?
Getting the toll roads figured out?
Expensive exotic fluids?
"(please no comments about “blinker fluid " and nitrogen filled tires” - was that a reference to me? I know I was carping about that a lot lately, sorry. . .
I don’t know about the electric cars part, but I figure “when they get the road tolls figured out”, that is, get transponders on all cars so they can collect tolls without setting up any toll booths, we’re gonna start seeing a LOT more roads becoming Toll Roads.
Its easy to figure out ,these electric vehicles vehicles will not go on sale before all the components are cheapened enough to require constant maintenance or replacement ,Remember the ill fated "Impact "all it required was washer fluid ,wiper blades and air in the tires ,not much service money to be made on those cars .Probably one of the reasons they sent them to the crushers.
(I think you have to make something relatively cheap enough to require scheduled maintenance to insure profits ,I think its included in the concept called "planned obselescence )
One of the items I was referring to was a small much lighter electric propulsion motor which one company has developed ,probably wont last near as long as the older more robust units when "Leadfoot Leroy " gets in the cockpit .
@“Ed Frugal” , you are correct ,I foresee most of us having EZ PASS systems in our vehicles in the next decade ,especially around metro areas (its already available in the "Old Dominion " for tunnels and toll roads .etc ,the "carrot " is that it saves you a little money over responding by mail to pay the toll charges @CSA ,they need a way to get road tax money from the alternative fuel vehicles.
Why would Tesla deliberately make their product undesirable? And…seeing as how electric cars are FAR heavier than an equivalent gasser, due to battery weight…“lightweighting” seems entirely appropriate.
Hasn’t The Trend Over The Past Many Decades Been A Move Toward Less Required Maintenance On Cars, Already?
I Think A Very Low Maintenance EV Makes Sense In That Regard. EVs simply have fewer parts, especially fewer moving parts that can wear.
My first car required 3,000 mile oil changes and 6,000 mile valve adjustments. That’s when tires didn’t last long and engines wore out at 60,000 miles. Now my cars need little maintenance, relatively speaking, and run for hundreds of thousands of miles with no engine or transmission repairs!
Toll roads? That’s up to states. We have none in my state. I never drive toll roads. There are other ways to collect tax revenue from alternate fuel vehicles. Annual car registration time is an opportunity, for example. CSA
I hope the OP does not really think that the toll road transponders are a way to collect from alternative fuel vehicles. All they are for is to collect the tolls for toll road usage and with any luck someday we will have a nationwide transponder system .
Auto manufacturers will build vehicles that they can sell. Reliability has improved over the years, but auto builders still seem to sell a lot of parts. People abuse their cars and there will always be a need for replacement parts. And the car companies won’t make replacement parts if they don’t sell new cars. Electric car repairs are a secondary issue for auto companies, not primary.
Good point. If the electric cars are far heavier, they’re causing more wear and tear to the road, PLUS, they’re not paying the fuel taxes that pay for the upkeep of the road. I’d say they do need to find a legitimate way for the electric cars to pay their share of the tax.
Well I’m not quite as negative about dealers and car makers. Just like anybody else, dealers need to have work or there will be no dealers. Is that what you really want? Have an electric car giving you problems and the nearest dealer is 300 miles away in Chicago? Its great to talk about cutting out the middle man like Amazon seemingly does, but really dealers do perform a service whether you like it or not. You may not like $50 oil changes or $200 repair bills, but those electric motor replacements are not cheap, nor are the battery packs, assuming someone can diagnose it.
Disclaimer: I’m just a consumer. Never been a mechanic. Have no stock in any dealer or manufacturer that I know of. Just like things fixed and someone close to fix it. Just can’t see myself driving a couple hundred miles to pick up a new battery pack or motor and installing such in my garage.
Ed Frugal: Modern EVs are not that far heavier. Battery technology with current lithium ion and smaller but more powerful motors is significantly lighter and more efficient. I live in Oregon. At this time the number of EVs on our roads is not even close to being a road wear factor. We have no sales tax but a fairly high state income tax. Legislation for sales tax never passes because it is always an additional tax not a reduction in state tax. It is the same with our fairly high state fuel tax which is per gallon. When E-10 became available the state made it mandatory. Was it to reduce dependence on foreign oil or save the planet? Of course not. A 4% reduction in mpg was an unexpected windfall income for the state. About 2 years ago they tried to add an additional per mile tax falsely attempting to blame it on the EVs not paying fuel tax. It consisted of the taxpayer having to track their total miles traveled per year ( shouldn’t that be miles travelled within the state?) declared on your state tax return. The tax would be determined by EPA mileage statistics for your vehicle. EVs would pay the most. Best mpg to worst mpg vehicles would pay more to least. WHAT??? Again. Save the planet. Foreign oil. The most disgusting thing from my experience is that much less than 50% of the revenue would actually be spent on state highways and bridges.
Lightweight goodies help ALL cars, gas an electrics. Carbon fiber body panels, aluminum bodies and suspension parts, magnesium dashboard supports and more.
And cars are still getting heavier with airbags, crash structure and all the little motors with iron and copper that motorize everything from seats to mirrors to widows to HVAC doors. Need those lightweight goodies to offset it all.
Electrics are a whole 'nother matter. Ask a forklift technician how maintenance free an electric forklift is (not). Most all machines benefit from maintenance.
I still think a road use tax would be fairest or better yet take the roads out of govt hands and let the market decide whats a fair price to pay (probably less unelected bureaucrats as a bonus ) I will always favor user fees over ,it seems the govt can tax the electromagnetic spectrum (they sure as heck didnt create it .
I dont know about the stealerships ,it seems I have actually had very little need for them after the fact ,the biggest advantage besides having to miss work (not is when the factory will grudingly replace a cheap defective hazardous part (they have a hundred years of building cars -havent they figured it out yet ?)
I have this warm fuzzy feeling that I am capable of replacing a battery pack or an electric motor (have done plenty of large delco Diesel electric starters and others ,just cant see were it would be that big of a deal after it was shipped to my residence ,there are plenty of loaders and such around ,dont think it would be any harder then replacing a large v8 engine or a huge diesel engine . Have to agree with MM ,deadweight is a burben ,I never minded driving a loaded truck as long as it was not so heavy it was loaded when "empty " used to drive some of the old medium diesel powered trucks and the owners never considered the deadweight of the thing ,some were real dogs loaded or empty ,I always hated to have to drop 2 gears on the main transmission on a slight upgrade "empty " .What a PITA ,the traffic follwing you didnt care much for it either. Down with dead weight ,I would sooner take 300 lbs of a vehicle then increase its horsepower by 10 hp .
I’m sorry, but I’m still having a terrible time trying to figure out what you’re trying to say.
Can anybody put this into sentences and paragraphs with proper punctuation and subjects to the sentences? Or am I not alone in my struggles?
I’ll try. Dealers would be out of business with robust electric car parts, so they will cheapen them to make sure they stay in business as everyone buys electric cars as our leaders insist we do.
Likewise, states will not get their money from gas tax like they do now so they’ll convert everything to toll roads.
Same , you are a grammar Nazi , if my posts annoy you (dont bother with them ) you sound like another Guy in another forum with bicycle in His name ,my keyboard sucks and when I type it comes out on my monitor looking the same as other posts ,I view here .
All ,I am trying to say is that from a revenue for the dealers standpoint ,is that Electric vehicles will not be a cash cow like a lot of the Hydrocarbon powered cars and @ Bing thank you ,you broke through my Hill Billy syntax .
