Electric cars

[HONDO74]

I was wondering if any member on this forum has bought an electric car and if they have would they share experiences with it.

I looked into it recently and was considering buying one. I even extracted a large sum of money from my investment accounts last Nov to do it but then backed off when I learned more about them.

I came to the conclusion that the lithium battery presently is the Achilles' heel for the electric car

[Rufus T. Firefly]

We've been looking at and researching plug-in hybrids, but we also really do not need a new car.

[v8vega]

Their expensive and the technology is too new. I go on a big forum daily that has a lot on electric cars. Resale value is highly questionable.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Their expensive.........

Have you seen the cost of new gas powered cars recently? Or, the price of gas? Expensive is relative. New Subaru plug in hybrid is cheaper than my Outback was 11 years ago.

[HONDO74]

Their expensive.........

Have you seen the cost of new gas powered cars recently? Or, the price of gas? Expensive is relative. New Subaru plug in hybrid is cheaper than my Outback was 11 years ago.

This one ?

2022 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid
https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/sub ... rek-hybrid

[gregj410]

I came to the conclusion that the lithium battery presently is the Achilles' heel for the electric car

Seems as if it’s a trade off. It still requires fossil fuels of some sort to charge the batteries. You could argue the emissions are less, but those batteries are going to become a problem, maybe not now but for your kids or grand kids.
I really don’t see the advantage. Maybe cleaner air but not necessarily a cleaner environment. I’m with gas/diesel for now.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Their expensive.........

Have you seen the cost of new gas powered cars recently? Or, the price of gas? Expensive is relative. New Subaru plug in hybrid is cheaper than my Outback was 11 years ago.

This one ?

2022 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid
https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/sub ... rek-hybrid

Yup. Probably not available where I live, but then again, no rush and no real need. Just keeping aware of developments and possibilities.

[robert.]

If i can figure out how. I will post what i think is a cool video of an electric motorcycle.

[gregj410]

If i can figure out how. I will post what i think is a cool video of an electric motorcycle.

He said car Robert

[robert.]

I know. I saw a motorcycle that had no chance of ever running. 1924 Indian. 4 cylinder.

[robert.]

Indian, Ace and Henderson all made 4 cylinder motorcycle in the teen through mid 30's. these motors had the transmission and engine block cast as one unit. n order to rebuild it you would take the top half off of the bottom. Sometime in the late 30's a company name Heath made a design for an airplane powered by these 4 cylinder. You had to hack the transmission off the engine block. Leaving the crankshaft exposed. That's where you would mount the prop. 100s of motors got hacked up when these bikes started to become unrepairable ( in the 30's). Wanna be aircraft owners and craftsman bought up these hacked motors to build a homebrew plane. Very few ever were completed. The ones that did get finished probably meet a swift demise on barn roof top.
Now with antique bikes so valuable. people want to restore a 4 cylinder bike. Running ones can bring $75 to $100,000 or more. Still there is no way to properly fix the damage done by removing the transmission. Lots of guys have complete rolling chassis without a complete motor and trans.
Problem solved. This guy mounted an electric motor where the missing transmission should be. He then hollowed out most of the motor. ( this is to hide some batteries and speed controls. He also uses saddlebags to hold batteries. A real clever conversion. A 4 cylinder back on the road. Not something the purest like. But a great use of a bike that would never see the road again. t will do 120mph on rollers. The owner has not tried that on the street. This bike probably lacks the geometry to handle 120 mph.

[robert.]

[Mitch]

I'm not a fan of the electric vehicle yet. It's true that battery technology is improving markedly, but I just don't think it's there yet. I will say that they are very powerful; electric motors are awesome. When Chevy came out with the Volt, batteries were a major problem. Remember when people's laptops were catching fire on airplanes? Lithium ion batteries. A few cases where charging the Volt ended up with folk's garage and car burned up. Not cool! Then Chevy came out with the Bolt. Same deal with battery fires. The only partial electric vehicle I am familiar with is the Chrysler Pacifica hybrid. A detuned 3.6L V6 gas engine and about 600 lbs. of 380Volt battery, the car would only run max 36 miles on electric, but if power got too low, the gas engine would fire and you could run about 300 miles on gas. When you leave off the accelerator, in decel, the battery charges, but unless you drive down hill all the time, that's not gonna do ya much good. Two electric motors: A & B. The A motor actually starts the gas engine when needed. The B motor is the transmission. The car will light the tires from a dead stop! On 125V AC, the battery would require an overnight charge. On 250V AC, a little over 2 hours for full charge. You also have a regular 12V battery located in the left rear quarter panel that handles all the electrical loads in the vehicle, including HVAC, wipers, etc., and the 12V is charged by the electric motors and is fed through the big battery using rectifiers. When it first came out, you could buy a fully loaded Pacifica Hybrid about 10 grand cheaper than a fully loaded straight gas vehicle, mainly because the Fed would contribute $7500 and the State would pick up $2500. Don't know if those incentives are still available.

[v8vega]

Late model gas cars are really clean compared to older cars.

[HONDO74]

How about a classic electric TRUCK

Classic 1947 Chevrolet 3100 returns as an electric truck
Robert Downey Jr.-backed company will build you a pickup
https://www.foxnews.com/auto/classic-19 ... tric-truck

Kindred Motorworks is ready to inject new life into old pickups.

The Robert Downey Jr.-backed classic car restoration and modification company has revealed its latest model, a 1947-1953 Chevrolet 3100 pickup converted to run on electric power.

The California-based company also offers electric versions of the classic VW Bus, first-generation Ford Bronco and 1969 Chevy Camaro, the latter two of which can also be had with internal combustion engines.

The 3100 is based on an original donor truck, but has been fully refreshed and re-engineered.



The 90 hp inline-6-cylinder engine has been replaced with a 294 hp electric motor mounted on the rear axle.