8 ms·
Yea, I had a ID.4 pre-ordered but canceled it after I realized how absurd the price is. I bought a utility e-bike instead and that was probably one of the best
by fassssst 5y ago
Yea, I had a ID.4 pre-ordered but canceled it after I realized how absurd the price is. I bought a utility e-bike instead and that was probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I barely use my car anymore and biking is way more fun and greener than any car.
- Koshkin 5y agoYeah, California is one of the very few places on Earth where you can do that.
- Tepix 5y agoand many places in Europe, Asia, ...
- mikestew 5y agoDo what? Use a bicycle for tasks many use a car for? If my guess is correct, I have to ask why you think California is unique in that respect given the absolutely huge set of data to the contrary? I mean, you have heard of the Netherlands, right? Of course, if my guess is wrong, ignore me. And be more clear next time. :-)
- Armisael16 5y agoLiterally every other person responding figured out that they were talking about weather, so I don’t think they had issues with clarity.
- RamRodification 5y agoI think you are being a bit overly negative but you do have a point. Where I live (northern Europe) I could never get by with any kind of "open" vehicle (i need a roof and heating) and snow tyres.
- Hamuko 5y agoYou can get snow tyres fitted on a bicycle (I had some as a youth) but bicycles are still quite horrible in the winter. I remember biking home from school during the winter when it was snowing heavily. The sidewalks were completely snowed in with heavy snow so the bike just really went where it wanted to go and very slowly. I eventually decided to move over to the road but I was soon tailgated by a bus. Since the bus was honking at me, I had to pull over to the next bus stop to get him out of my ass. I think it was about at that moment that I decided to ditch winter biking once I could own a car.
- petre 5y agoYes bikes are nice and fun until you have a familiy that aren't hippies. Also hippies prefer warmer climates and home schooling. I wonder why. We've got quite a few bikes. Never use them during winter. Winter means snow and sub zero temperatures. I'd rather nordic walk instead. Not in the city breathing fumes, of course. I would ride my bike most of the time once cars or vehicles that spew fumes and turn you into roadkill are taken off the roads either by legislation, environmentalist militias or apocalypse.
- germinalphrase 5y agoWhat kind of nonsense is this. I and many others commonly ride and commute by bicycle in the winter up here in Minneapolis.
- henriquez 5y agoMinneapolis is the most bike-friendly city I’ve lived in. Even in the winter the city maintains its bike routes; it’s safer than most of the SF Bay Area.
- semi-extrinsic 5y agoModern snow tires like Schwalbe's Ice Spiker Pro are a far cry from what existed in the olden days. Nowadays it's mainly a matter of having the quads (or electric motor) to drive them. Even with kids in the bicycle trailer, biking as primary transport is straight-forward on 95% of the days in winter.
- grecy 5y agoI lived in the Yukon, Canada for 4 years, and rode my bike 365 days a year. Yes, even in -40 and beyond temperatures I rode. In fact, Whitehorse has the highest rate of bike ridership in Canada!
- 0_____0 5y agoWow that's pretty amazing. I'm a Californian in Boston and I managed to ride when it was about 0F out and I thought that was a bit much. How do you dress for such a venture? I find that either I'm freezing cold when starting off until I get warm through exertion, or I'm comfortable starting off and am sweltering by the time I get where I'm going.
- grecy 5y agoIt's a tricky balance, and usually you want to start a bit cold, knowing you'll get warm "Be bold, start cold" - but of course you have to watch out for frostbite. My commute to work was only ~15mins on the bike, and for the first half I was a bit cold, and then the second half I was unzipping my jacket and would even stand outside the office with no jacket of toque or gloves for 3-5 minutes in -40 temps to cool off. The steam coming off me was always fun :) With a longer ride (my landlord rode 40 mins each way) you stop after about 20 minutes and change layers - usually go for windproof with minimal insulation to prevent overheating/sweating.
- 0_____0 5y agoi find that my hands, toes and ears seem to be weak points. i might have to find some earmuffs that work with a helmet for next winter. side note: i snooped your profile a bit and i'm intrigued by the path you've chosen. i am moving in a similar direction, and no doubt could benefit from referencing your experience...
- grecy 5y agoI used to wear a pear of very thin merino wool gloves and then a MASSIVE pair of very well insulated mitts. After leaving the house I had to take off my mitts to unlock my bike, and I knew it was cold (past -35 or so) when I couldn't feel my fingers after 20 seconds of no mitts. On my feet I wore thick wool socks, and very well insulated winter boots. They were always hot, even just standing still past -40 For my face I had a toque under my helmet and a big thick merino wool neck warmer that I would pull up until it was right under my eyes - so it covered my ears entirely. Half way to work I would pull down the neck warmer, unzip my big jacket, etc. in an attempt to not sweat too much. .. haha, yeah, my path has been a different one, and I'm a thousand times happier than when I sat at a desk. I'm TheRoadChoseMe around the web, and my email is dan @ that .com if you want to get in touch!
- TulliusCicero 5y agoThis is a bad statement. California isn't even bike friendly. The Netherlands or Denmark, or hell, Germany are all VASTLY more bike friendly than California.
- seanmcdirmid 5y agoNot to mention those places tend to be much flatter. In the west Bay Area you have to ride next to 101 unless you don’t mind hills.
- TulliusCicero 5y agoMost of the heavily populated places in the bay area are fairly flat, so that's not really a problem. Plus, with ebikes these days, hills just aren't the barrier they used to be. The problem is mostly just infrastructure. Almost no California cities have more than a piddling amount of safe transportation biking support.
- seanmcdirmid 5y agoThese days have little to do with historically. The bay is hemmed in by hills and water. LA is similarly hemmed in, creating a nice bowl that traps pollution. Seattle and Portland are both hilly, you are not at a flat grade. Berlin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen are all flat in contrast. Cities with lots of hills in Europe don’t have as many bikers or biking infrastructure. Eg Lausanne unless you want to go for a jaunt by the lake. Cannes was the similar during a short visit I made 20 years ago. Hilly south Europe (Athens, Rome) doesn’t seem to like bikes very much either.
- mixmastamyk 5y agoGood thing we’re talking about ebikes with great torque that make short work of hills, right? LA is ten times less smoggy than when I was a kid, thanks to cleaner cars and no electric vehicles.
- 5y ago
- trevortheblack 5y agoI'm looking to do a similar thing. What was the e-bike you ultimately ended up getting?
- rubicon33 5y agoI'll never understand this. You presumably are biking on the street, at best in a bike lane, at worst in the shoulder, and are placing so much confidence in other people to not hit you. Given how SHIT other people are at driving, I have no desire whatsoever to be on a bicycle in front of them.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- JamilD 5y agoI wonder how we escape this trap. Cars are 1-2 ton machines that can kill you as a cyclist or pedestrian, and humans are awful at operating them. The solution is therefore apparently to put more of those machines on the road (for self-protection) instead of reducing the risk altogether?
- rubicon33 5y agoYea, it's a conundrum. I personally would love nothing more than to cycle to work, but it's not worth the risk of serious injury or death. The only solution I can see is at a city level legislating bicycle only roads which are totally void of vehicles.
- shafyy 5y agoIt's important that cities build great biking infrastructure to alleviate this problem. At the same time, this is used by a lot of people as an excuse to not get a bike. In fact, it's not that dangerous as you make it out to be as is proven by statistics I guess (didn't look them up)
- lemming 5y agoHere are the stats for New Zealand: https://ehinz.ac.nz/indicators/transport/road-traffic-injury-deaths-and-hospitalisations/#motorcyclists-were-at-much-greater-risk-of-injury-or-death-per-time-spent-travelling https://ehinz.ac.nz/indicators/transport/road-traffic-injury... Bikes are definitely far more dangerous than cars. Not as much as motorcycles, but that’s scant comfort.
- cjohansson 5y agoRegular bikes have the benefit that they improve your health, it's not exhaustive once you get a better stamina. E-bikes are a bad product I think in todays society
- shafyy 5y agoE-bikes are not bad at all. For a lot of people normal bikes are not an option because they are lazy or don't have the physical fitness. It's much better if they get e-bikes instead of cars for everyone involved.
- frosted-flakes 5y agoYou get just as much exercise with an electric bike—you just go faster, and changes in grade are effectively flattened.
- acomjean 5y agoI have switched from a normal bike to an ebike. My yearly mileage went from 1000 to 1800. I still use my old non powered bike for short trips. I’ll use the ebike when I’m tired so I end up using it a lot more. You can turn them off the power then your riding around with 30 extra pounds if you need more workout...
- zip1234 5y agoExactly this--I have a bike rack and saddle bags for the ebike. I will get groceries with it. With my regular peddle bike I took it out way less. It is replacing car trips for me now.
- fassssst 5y agoYou can control the amount of pedal assist. My heart rate still hits about what it does for a light jog. I’m losing weight too, all without really breaking a sweat.
- jhgb 5y agoE-bikes also improve your health compared to cars.
- lttlrck 5y agoI was thinking about an ID.Buzz until I took my Golf to a dealer for a 20K service. Then they tried to sell me tires for 4 x the price of Discount Tire - the tires on the car are absolutely fine - almost 1/4". Then they decided not to rotate my tires due to "tire condition" - to spite me? - and nickel and dimed me on a pair of wipers. I don't want to renew my relationship with a dealer. Especially not with an electric car where I really would be beholden to them until the independent shops catch up - if they ever do.
- woeirua 5y agoYeah, but electric cars have so many fewer moving parts that they just don’t need much maintenance at all. As someone who has an EV now, I’m never going back because EVs are just so much better overall.
- m4x 5y agoThis isn't really true in my experience. I have an Outlander PHEV and the costs associated with maintaining the electrical system have dwarved the ICE maintenance costs. The other major expense has been tires, which electric cars also have.
- rsj_hn 5y agoThat's the theory. The practice is ... different. It doesn't matter matter if there are only 50% as many parts to service if servicing those parts costs three times as much. At the end of the day, this is all revealed via depreciation. Cars experiencing a lot of depreciation, by definition, are viewed by the market as more expensive to service over their usable life, as depreciation is just the forward payment of future maintenance costs: Say a car will last for two periods. In the first period, the repair costs are zero, and in the second they are 15K. Now the car costs 35K new. Total ownership costs for both periods are thus 35+15 = 50K for 2 periods. Split evenly, that's 25K per period. But the buyer in period 2 will pay 15K in repair costs and 10K for the car. The buyer in period 1 will pay 25K in depreciation. Both parties pay 25K. If they didn't, and one party was paying more than the other, the put-upon party would prefer to buy new and resell instead, or buy used, etc, so in equilibrium, both parties pay for half the purchase price plus half the lifetime repair costs, except the new car buyer "pays" for their half of repair costs via depreciation whereas the used car buyer pays out of pocket. Now you have a situation where Tesla Model 3s are depreciating at rates comparable to the dreaded BMWs -- notoriously expensive to maintain cars. E.g. they are losing 44% of their value after 5 years of ownership (source: https://caredge.com/tesla/model-3/depreciation https://caredge.com/tesla/model-3/depreciation) So it doesn't particularly matter that there are fewer moving parts, etc, as for some reason the market believes these cars are going to be about as expensive to maintain as BMWs, which have lots of moving parts (and lots of plastic parts). Now if we know that, we can come to a few conclusions: * the market is just wrong and out-of-warranty Teslas will be cheap to maintain, in which case there is an arbitrage opportunity to sell Tesla warranties and make lots of arbitrage profits. Feel like getting into that business? Me, neither. * The theory is wrong and the fact that there is a simpler drivetrain doesn't have much to do with overall maintenance costs due to all the other stuff modern cars do that don't have to do with moving down the road. Uhh, maybe. * The theory is right and the electric car makers are just screwing the pooch by managing to sell expensive to maintain cars even though there are fewer moving parts. I tend to favor this theory. But in either case, arguing that because there are moving parts, the cars must be cheaper to maintain is a fallacy. It's a confusion of theory and practice in one of the many situations where out of warranty car owners are screaming in pain at their repair costs, and countering "muh moving parts" is missing the point.
- Black101 5y agoIn most places (in the US), riding a bicycle on the road is not very safe though. Even worst then motorcycles. Anyone who doesn't agree with this is probably riding a car or a truck and never rode a bicycle or motorcycle on the streets.
- btbuilder 5y agoThe price is high compared with ICE but for what you get as an EV it is well priced. Significantly cheaper than model Y [1] now that model Y standard range has been discontinued, especially as VW still gets the $7500 fed subsidy. You are looking at $14k more for the Tesla. You will get much more acceleration, all wheel drive and 70 miles range for that $14k if you want to spend it. The model 3 is cheaper but not the same class of vehicle. [1] https://electrek.co/2021/04/22/tesla-increases-model-3-y-prices-again/ https://electrek.co/2021/04/22/tesla-increases-model-3-y-pri...
- petre 5y agoMaybe they're priced like that exactly because of the subsidies?
- Johnny555 5y ago$40K ($32K after tax incentives) doesn't seem absurdly expensive. Most cars in that size class seem to be in the $30K range. What's surprising to me is that you were seriously considering a mid-size SUV, but settled on an e-bike. (My main commute vehicle (when I was commuting) was a bike, but that bike is in no way comparable to an SUV)