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As someone who doesn’t own an electric car, why are they better for the average driver? The only thing I know about is their acceleration but that isn’t import

As someone who doesn’t own an electric car, why are they better for the average driver? The only thing I know about is their acceleration but that isn’t important to me personally as I prefer to drive slowly.

rfrey 4y ago
Reduced maintenance costs, reduced operating costs.
DasCorCor 4y ago
Almost zero maintenance costs (oil changes, less brake usage, etc), cheaper to charge per mile than gasoline in most places. Can charge at home.
sroussey 4y ago
They have a lot fewer moving parts… like transmissions, etc.
dheera 4y ago
- An order of magnitude safer in terms of fires per mile - Much quieter ride - Much less maintainence, less moving parts, brake pads almost never need to be replaced, no transmission, no oil changes - Internet-connectivity-related features, generally much nicer user experience - You can use them as a mobile office, they can be camped in with the heating on overnight, there's no concept of idling and no carbon monoxide issues with sitting in an EV with the car on as long as you want - If either your home or office has charging, you basically leave full every time
- imwithstoopid 4y ago
  > Internet-connectivity-related features Potential for remote shutoff is not a feature
  - RosanaAnaDana 4y ago
    Plenty of stupid EV's out there with no internet like mine.
jiggawatts 4y ago
Having a zero pollution power source lets the car do things that would be unsafe in a normal vehicle. Preheating, or precooling is safe in an electric car but can cause dangerous accumulation of carbon monoxide if running a fossil fuel engine. That’s just a random example. Generally EVs are cheaper to operate, are quieter, have a lower centre of gravity, and are more spacious. In theory they could be cheaper and more reliable, but currently Tesla makes mostly luxury models and has poor quality control. That’s just them, and isn’t anything to do with EV technology. Other manufacturers will eventually make a cheap EV with better reliability than a Toyota.
- calvinmorrison 4y ago
  > Having a zero pollution power source lets the car do things that would be unsafe in a normal vehicle. Preheating, or precooling is safe in an electric car but can cause dangerous accumulation of carbon monoxide if running a fossil fuel engine. Which is like, relevant inside a building only, at which point preheating and cooling isn't that useful
  - ImprovedSilence 4y ago
    >> Which is like, relevant inside a building only, at which point preheating and cooling isn't that useful My garage in the winter would disagree throughly with that statement.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - chongli 4y ago
      If you're going to preheat your car in the garage in the winter, you're probably better off installing a heat pump to heat the whole garage. Heating the car itself with its resistive heating is going to be very wasteful. With EVs you need to heat the batteries, not just the cabin, so that's a huge amount of mass that needs to be heated up. If you try to run the batteries cold on an EV it's going to kill the range because current battery chemistry is not optimized for low temperatures.
tmn 4y ago
As an average car user, we can easily enumerate the somewhat significant trade offs. Main points of difference: Filling with gas vs charging. Oil changes, transmission fluid changes, etc vs replacing battery in ~10(?) years. That’s about it from what I can tell. No wrong choice. Just trade offs.
- codazoda 4y ago
  All those oil changes PLUS changing the engine and/or transmission in 10 years (for me that’s about 150k miles). I drive a hybrid, which has some of the advantages and some of the disadvantages of both. I need to be able to do cross-country trips, but EV’s appeal to me on their lower long term costs and all the advantages others have mentioned.
  - kagakuninja 4y ago
    I bought a plug-in hybrid several years ago, Prius Prime with 25 mile battery range. It is a good transition, as I wasn't ready go go all electric at the time. My next vehicle will be an EV. Since we are no longer commuting, we rarely need to buy gas. It is essentially an EV, that has the convenience of gas power when going on long trips.
Zanni 4y ago
EVs are quieter due to lack of engine noise. This is especially noticeable when paused at intersections. EVs don't "idle." There's also no engine shake, something which never bothered me in ICE cars until I started going back and forth between an EV and an ICE car. (Most) EVs have a single gear, which means you always have power when you want it, like when you want to overtake someone heading up a hill. You don't have to wait for your car to find a lower gear when you mash the accelerator. EVs don't have exhaust. Mostly not an issue for the driver but still nice. If you have a home charger, EVs start every day with a full "tank." EVs are typically have cheaper maintenance and fuel costs, which, in some cases, offsets the higher upfront cost. There are downsides too, of course, the biggest being charging times (if no home charger or road trips), range (if you travel a lot) and upfront cost, but if you can sort those, they are huge improvement. I'll never own an ICE car again.
- kube-system 4y ago
  Many hybrids are also quiet and fixed gear ratio. I won’t switch back to gasoline-only cars for many of the same reasons of comfort. I’d love an EV but I still have to drive long distances regularly, and hybrid range is often even better than most gasoline cars.
  - nradov 4y ago
    Which specific hybrid vehicles have a fixed gear ratio? The only one I'm aware of is the Koenigsegg Regera.
    - kube-system 4y ago
      Most all hybrids that operate in series mode, or primarily in series mode. The Chevy Volt and all current Honda hybrids work this way. The main motor spins the wheels directly at a fixed ratio. The engine primarily operates as a generator. Then they do have a lock up clutch to connect the engine to the wheels when their speeds align at cruise and there is an efficiency gain to be had from eliminating conversion losses. https://youtu.be/QLUIExAnNcE https://youtu.be/QLUIExAnNcE Also, technically most Toyota hybrids are also fixed ratio, most of them use planetary gears with two electric motors to simulate gear ratios with respect to the engine. It is somewhat confusingly called an eCVT, although the variable part isn’t the gearing, it’s the speed of the motors connected to the gearing. What changes is the relative speeds of MG1/MG2. It’s like a differential in a car, but backwards. Parallel hybrids are the ones that drive like regular cars. Like Honda IMA, Hyundai’s hybrids, anything labelled “mild” hybrid —- those all have old school transmissions.
hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
I in general don't like driving, and I don't understand how anyone who's ever owned an EV could ever want to go back to an ICE vehicle: 1. As others have pointed out, the maintenance is much less. Not to mention, of course, the electricity costs much less than equivalent gas. 2. The cars are just so much cleaner for an individual. No gas smell, no oil changes, etc. 3. They are much quieter. 4. Even if you drive a lot more slowly, the smooth acceleration is much more pleasurable. Plus, the quick acceleration does come in handy when you want to get out of uncomfortable situations.
- vladgur 4y ago
  I compared costs to drive a Tesla model y for 1000 miles and a Toyota Camry hybrid for 1000 miles when buying a car recently. With my electrical costs in SF Bay Area, that cost was $94 per 1000 miles on a Tesla and $100 per 1000 miles on a Camry hybrid. However Tesla was $20,000 more than a Camry and Camry had wider, more comfortable seats. We went with a Camry and judging by its reliability record I would probably not have to worry about anything other than a fluid change for a decade or two
  - lostlogin 4y ago
    My Corolla had one service in 10 years. Terrible behaviour from me, but I’m not sure I was wrong as it lasted the distance. However the benefits of EV are subtle but great. Before buying I worried about range. That’s not an issue. I never have to go to petrol stations, it’s quick to get to speed, it’s quiet, it’s fun. 100% love it. Would increase that rating if the charging interface allowed ‘charge to 80%’ without nasty hacks, and if it had a dog mode. It wasn’t the cheaper option, and our fuel costs a lot more than it does in the US.
  - rootusrootus 4y ago
    Yes, California has some of the worst electricity prices in the country, something like 3 times the national average. OTOH, I pay 4 cents per kWh to charge my EV after 10pm. I pay about as much in electricity costs per year as I was paying for gasoline per month on the last car.
rgmerk 4y ago
There are a number of advantages: * they are quieter. * they are smoother. * you may not care about performance but lots of people do like it. * they require less maintenance (which is a cost saving, sure, but also a convenience issue) * if you can charge at home you don’t have to take time to visit the gas station.
- r00fus 4y ago
  Considering my wife got her wallet stolen at a gas station (thief came right in the unlocked passenger door and swiped it from the center compartment), this is a huge perk for us. Gas stations are also all environmental disasters.
abriosi 4y ago
I recently bought an electric car and it is an enjoyable experience. It makes no noise, there is loads of space everywhere. I don't visit gas stations anymore, I have less stress in traffic situations; the car handles all the workload of heavy traffic. I rarely use the brakes and mostly drive using one pedal. It is by far the most comfortable car I have ever driven. The cheery on top is its performance. It feels awesome to have a supercar available at a moments notice if you want too, although it gets normal and boring very fast. Also, it is scary to have loads of torque and you have to respect that. Overall, electric cars offer a very good bang for the buck. In the end, mechanically, the cars are very simple and you feel that simplicity. They feel polished and well engineered
- gruez 4y ago
  >I have less stress in traffic situations; the car handles all the workload of heavy traffic. That's a vehicle with advanced cruise control thing, not an EV thing.
  - DangitBobby 4y ago
    Try it in very slow and in particular stop-and-go traffic. The acceleration curve is very smooth and predictable and makes these conditions a lot less stressful.
- larsrc 4y ago
  I get a Renault Zoë occasionally through our car sharing. It's my favourite of the cars available for all but very long trips. But I agree that you have to respect the torque, even in a minor car like the Zoë. I find myself sometimes accelerating dangerously just because it's so much fun!
RosanaAnaDana 4y ago
Number one thing I love about mine, when I press the 'go' button, it goes. They have a lot of power and because you don't have to bring an engine up to RPM and shift, and bring up to RPM, and shift.. and on.. That power is also instantaneous. However far down I push on the pedal, I'm at that speed basically right away. Another huge thing, is that they are quiet. There is still a bit of road noise from wind and the physical contact of the wheels with the road. But compared with almost any typical car, its basically silent. Also, they don't stink. You might not notice it, but your car smells. It gets on you and the people around you. My car doesn't smell like gas or exhaust or anything. Oh and not to mention, basically nothing ever goes wrong. There is so much less to go wrong on an EV. We don't have a bunch of coolant and pumps sloshing around effectively trying to cool a giant, shaking, moving lump of iron. With out all that rattling, things just don't need as much maintenence.
- prottog 4y ago
  > We don't have a bunch of coolant and pumps sloshing around I thought all mainstream EVs were liquid-cooled? I'm sure the motor and battery still need cooling, though perhaps less than exploding dino juice engines. If this weren't true, Tesla wouldn't sell branded jugs of coolant ;-)
  - RosanaAnaDana 4y ago
    I suppose you must be right but I've never even touched or had to think about that. My technician hasn't mentioned anything either. I suppose maybe because there isn't a big oily thing the coolant is moving through it isnt a bother? (2013 leaf, btw. very basic. just kinda works.)
    - prottog 4y ago
      Yeah, it makes sense that the overall design is more resilient and you'd have far less issues with cooling in general.
    - Baeocystin 4y ago
      Leaf is air cooled, so there you go.
r00fus 4y ago
Buy a $200 inverter and you can have basic power (lights/router/modem, aquariums) in the case of a power outage. I've had to do this two weeks in a row in our third-world-power Silicon Valley.
- vladgur 4y ago
  FWIW that will void your battery warranty on Tesla
  - lostlogin 4y ago
    How would they find out?
  - r00fus 4y ago
    Good point, but that’s one reason I don’t have a Tesla.
r00fus 4y ago
One other thing not mentioned - they brake faster. Like hybrids, EVs have dual brake systems - regenerative + brake pads. On an EV, the regen can be much more powerful than a hybrid since the motor/batter are larger.
- YZF 4y ago
  I'm not sure this is true. They're a lot heavier and on most cars the brakes should be powerful enough to lock the wheels which is the max braking power you're going to get.
  - rootusrootus 4y ago
    > They're a lot heavier A bit heavier, but not "a lot." A model 3 is between around 3600 and just over 4000 pounds, depending on trim. Not far off a similar size ICE vehicle.
    - jjav 4y ago
      > A bit heavier, but not "a lot." To compare a car which is available in both ICE and EV, a 2018 Fiat 500e (electric, with a tiny battery bank good for only ~90 miles) weighs almost 3000 pounds, whereas the same car with ICE is ~2400lb. 25% more weight is a lot on a car.
      - rootusrootus 4y ago
        The 500E is a retrofit of an ICE, not a ground-up EV. All you can derive from that comparison is that retrofitting is inefficient.
        jjav 4y ago
        > The 500E is a retrofit of an ICE, not a ground-up EV. All you can derive from that comparison is that retrofitting is inefficient. That's all true, but I'm uncertain how much difference it can make. The bulk of the weight difference comes from the batteries, which will be there whether a retrofit or new design. Everything related to the ICE systems was removed, so it's not like there was any leftover weight from the conversion. Weight distribution can likely be better in a chassis designed solely for EV, but total weight seems likely to be about the same either way.
losvedir 4y ago
If you have a garage, by far the biggest benefit is charging overnight, starting the day with a full charge, and never having to go to a gas station. If you don't have convenient home charging, I'm not sure I'd recommend an EV just yet. We got ours in December, and the most unexpected benefit for me is sitting at stop lights, in traffic, or in a drive through. When the car is stopped, it's essentially off. No engine idling vibrations, no noise, no emissions. It's kind of peaceful. I hadn't really realized how much idling in a gas car bothered me before.
zzzeek 4y ago
If you enjoy having to change your oil every 3-6 months , then EVs might be disappointing because there's no oil to change. There are no transmissions, no gears (for most EVs at least), the cars are mostly silent, can't asphyxiate you in your garage, don't have to be jumped if you left the lights on all night, and you should be able to get many hundreds of thousands of miles where the car will drive mostly the same in ten years as when it was new (save for battery life decrease). Dealing with gas pumps and trying not to get gasoline drips on your shoes is a thing of the past.
- lostlogin 4y ago
  > there's no oil to change. I’ve heard rumours of diff oil.
  - Kirby64 4y ago
    I'm not aware of any EV that requires/recommends differential oil change schedules. Pretty much all fluids in EVs are 'lifetime' because there's no chance of fouling caused by engine blowby, unlike gas cars. Even gas cars typically have 'lifetime' differential oil fills these days. With no chance of contamination from blowby, there's not really any other mechanism for degradation besides oil just degrading over time from heating/cooling.
thallium205 4y ago
I like it because an EV is a gas vehicle. It's also propane powered vehicle. It's also a diesel. It's also solar powered. It's also natural gas. It's whatever generator you can find to plug it into at that moment in time. In the event of economic uncertainty, the gas stations are the first to run out and begin rationing resulting in miles long lines. An EV has many, many options to keep you operating in a disaster scenario. Plus, unlike gas cars, my EV is always fully charged ready to go every morning. How many people have a 1/4 or even an 1/8 of a gas tank sitting in their driveway right now? They are excellent prep vehicles.
gcanyon 4y ago
I rented a Tesla 3 the last time we took a trip. It has some fundamental flaws (shitty rear window visibility) that have nothing to do with it being an EV, but it fully convinced me that my next car will be electric. It's quiet It's fast -- you say you know, but it's not about the acceleration as much as it is the immediate response: put the pedal down, and you're accelerating. Doesn't matter if you're stopped, going 30, or going 60 -- you have speed on demand, and it changes how you drive. I guess some people don't like it, but one pedal driving (letting the regen do the braking just by letting off the accelerator) was awesome for me: I used the brake pedal less than ten times over a week, and my gas car seems tedious to pedal now. Not sure how to describe the rest, but it was just better. I like my gas car much less now.

rfrey 4y ago

Reduced maintenance costs, reduced operating costs.

DasCorCor 4y ago

Almost zero maintenance costs (oil changes, less brake usage, etc), cheaper to charge per mile than gasoline in most places. Can charge at home.

sroussey 4y ago

They have a lot fewer moving parts… like transmissions, etc.

dheera 4y ago

- An order of magnitude safer in terms of fires per mile - Much quieter ride - Much less maintainence, less moving parts, brake pads almost never need to be replaced, no transmission, no oil changes - Internet-connectivity-related features, generally much nicer user experience - You can use them as a mobile office, they can be camped in with the heating on overnight, there's no concept of idling and no carbon monoxide issues with sitting in an EV with the car on as long as you want - If either your home or office has charging, you basically leave full every time

imwithstoopid 4y ago
> Internet-connectivity-related features Potential for remote shutoff is not a feature
- RosanaAnaDana 4y ago
  Plenty of stupid EV's out there with no internet like mine.

jiggawatts 4y ago

Having a zero pollution power source lets the car do things that would be unsafe in a normal vehicle. Preheating, or precooling is safe in an electric car but can cause dangerous accumulation of carbon monoxide if running a fossil fuel engine. That’s just a random example. Generally EVs are cheaper to operate, are quieter, have a lower centre of gravity, and are more spacious. In theory they could be cheaper and more reliable, but currently Tesla makes mostly luxury models and has poor quality control. That’s just them, and isn’t anything to do with EV technology. Other manufacturers will eventually make a cheap EV with better reliability than a Toyota.

calvinmorrison 4y ago
> Having a zero pollution power source lets the car do things that would be unsafe in a normal vehicle. Preheating, or precooling is safe in an electric car but can cause dangerous accumulation of carbon monoxide if running a fossil fuel engine. Which is like, relevant inside a building only, at which point preheating and cooling isn't that useful
- ImprovedSilence 4y ago
  >> Which is like, relevant inside a building only, at which point preheating and cooling isn't that useful My garage in the winter would disagree throughly with that statement.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - chongli 4y ago
    If you're going to preheat your car in the garage in the winter, you're probably better off installing a heat pump to heat the whole garage. Heating the car itself with its resistive heating is going to be very wasteful. With EVs you need to heat the batteries, not just the cabin, so that's a huge amount of mass that needs to be heated up. If you try to run the batteries cold on an EV it's going to kill the range because current battery chemistry is not optimized for low temperatures.

tmn 4y ago

As an average car user, we can easily enumerate the somewhat significant trade offs. Main points of difference: Filling with gas vs charging. Oil changes, transmission fluid changes, etc vs replacing battery in ~10(?) years. That’s about it from what I can tell. No wrong choice. Just trade offs.

codazoda 4y ago
All those oil changes PLUS changing the engine and/or transmission in 10 years (for me that’s about 150k miles). I drive a hybrid, which has some of the advantages and some of the disadvantages of both. I need to be able to do cross-country trips, but EV’s appeal to me on their lower long term costs and all the advantages others have mentioned.
- kagakuninja 4y ago
  I bought a plug-in hybrid several years ago, Prius Prime with 25 mile battery range. It is a good transition, as I wasn't ready go go all electric at the time. My next vehicle will be an EV. Since we are no longer commuting, we rarely need to buy gas. It is essentially an EV, that has the convenience of gas power when going on long trips.

Zanni 4y ago

EVs are quieter due to lack of engine noise. This is especially noticeable when paused at intersections. EVs don't "idle." There's also no engine shake, something which never bothered me in ICE cars until I started going back and forth between an EV and an ICE car. (Most) EVs have a single gear, which means you always have power when you want it, like when you want to overtake someone heading up a hill. You don't have to wait for your car to find a lower gear when you mash the accelerator. EVs don't have exhaust. Mostly not an issue for the driver but still nice. If you have a home charger, EVs start every day with a full "tank." EVs are typically have cheaper maintenance and fuel costs, which, in some cases, offsets the higher upfront cost. There are downsides too, of course, the biggest being charging times (if no home charger or road trips), range (if you travel a lot) and upfront cost, but if you can sort those, they are huge improvement. I'll never own an ICE car again.

kube-system 4y ago
Many hybrids are also quiet and fixed gear ratio. I won’t switch back to gasoline-only cars for many of the same reasons of comfort. I’d love an EV but I still have to drive long distances regularly, and hybrid range is often even better than most gasoline cars.
- nradov 4y ago
  Which specific hybrid vehicles have a fixed gear ratio? The only one I'm aware of is the Koenigsegg Regera.
  - kube-system 4y ago
    Most all hybrids that operate in series mode, or primarily in series mode. The Chevy Volt and all current Honda hybrids work this way. The main motor spins the wheels directly at a fixed ratio. The engine primarily operates as a generator. Then they do have a lock up clutch to connect the engine to the wheels when their speeds align at cruise and there is an efficiency gain to be had from eliminating conversion losses. https://youtu.be/QLUIExAnNcE https://youtu.be/QLUIExAnNcE Also, technically most Toyota hybrids are also fixed ratio, most of them use planetary gears with two electric motors to simulate gear ratios with respect to the engine. It is somewhat confusingly called an eCVT, although the variable part isn’t the gearing, it’s the speed of the motors connected to the gearing. What changes is the relative speeds of MG1/MG2. It’s like a differential in a car, but backwards. Parallel hybrids are the ones that drive like regular cars. Like Honda IMA, Hyundai’s hybrids, anything labelled “mild” hybrid —- those all have old school transmissions.

hn_throwaway_99 4y ago

I in general don't like driving, and I don't understand how anyone who's ever owned an EV could ever want to go back to an ICE vehicle: 1. As others have pointed out, the maintenance is much less. Not to mention, of course, the electricity costs much less than equivalent gas. 2. The cars are just so much cleaner for an individual. No gas smell, no oil changes, etc. 3. They are much quieter. 4. Even if you drive a lot more slowly, the smooth acceleration is much more pleasurable. Plus, the quick acceleration does come in handy when you want to get out of uncomfortable situations.

vladgur 4y ago
I compared costs to drive a Tesla model y for 1000 miles and a Toyota Camry hybrid for 1000 miles when buying a car recently. With my electrical costs in SF Bay Area, that cost was $94 per 1000 miles on a Tesla and $100 per 1000 miles on a Camry hybrid. However Tesla was $20,000 more than a Camry and Camry had wider, more comfortable seats. We went with a Camry and judging by its reliability record I would probably not have to worry about anything other than a fluid change for a decade or two
- lostlogin 4y ago
  My Corolla had one service in 10 years. Terrible behaviour from me, but I’m not sure I was wrong as it lasted the distance. However the benefits of EV are subtle but great. Before buying I worried about range. That’s not an issue. I never have to go to petrol stations, it’s quick to get to speed, it’s quiet, it’s fun. 100% love it. Would increase that rating if the charging interface allowed ‘charge to 80%’ without nasty hacks, and if it had a dog mode. It wasn’t the cheaper option, and our fuel costs a lot more than it does in the US.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  Yes, California has some of the worst electricity prices in the country, something like 3 times the national average. OTOH, I pay 4 cents per kWh to charge my EV after 10pm. I pay about as much in electricity costs per year as I was paying for gasoline per month on the last car.

rgmerk 4y ago

There are a number of advantages: * they are quieter. * they are smoother. * you may not care about performance but lots of people do like it. * they require less maintenance (which is a cost saving, sure, but also a convenience issue) * if you can charge at home you don’t have to take time to visit the gas station.

r00fus 4y ago
Considering my wife got her wallet stolen at a gas station (thief came right in the unlocked passenger door and swiped it from the center compartment), this is a huge perk for us. Gas stations are also all environmental disasters.

abriosi 4y ago

I recently bought an electric car and it is an enjoyable experience. It makes no noise, there is loads of space everywhere. I don't visit gas stations anymore, I have less stress in traffic situations; the car handles all the workload of heavy traffic. I rarely use the brakes and mostly drive using one pedal. It is by far the most comfortable car I have ever driven. The cheery on top is its performance. It feels awesome to have a supercar available at a moments notice if you want too, although it gets normal and boring very fast. Also, it is scary to have loads of torque and you have to respect that. Overall, electric cars offer a very good bang for the buck. In the end, mechanically, the cars are very simple and you feel that simplicity. They feel polished and well engineered

gruez 4y ago
>I have less stress in traffic situations; the car handles all the workload of heavy traffic. That's a vehicle with advanced cruise control thing, not an EV thing.
- DangitBobby 4y ago
  Try it in very slow and in particular stop-and-go traffic. The acceleration curve is very smooth and predictable and makes these conditions a lot less stressful.
larsrc 4y ago
I get a Renault Zoë occasionally through our car sharing. It's my favourite of the cars available for all but very long trips. But I agree that you have to respect the torque, even in a minor car like the Zoë. I find myself sometimes accelerating dangerously just because it's so much fun!

RosanaAnaDana 4y ago

Number one thing I love about mine, when I press the 'go' button, it goes. They have a lot of power and because you don't have to bring an engine up to RPM and shift, and bring up to RPM, and shift.. and on.. That power is also instantaneous. However far down I push on the pedal, I'm at that speed basically right away. Another huge thing, is that they are quiet. There is still a bit of road noise from wind and the physical contact of the wheels with the road. But compared with almost any typical car, its basically silent. Also, they don't stink. You might not notice it, but your car smells. It gets on you and the people around you. My car doesn't smell like gas or exhaust or anything. Oh and not to mention, basically nothing ever goes wrong. There is so much less to go wrong on an EV. We don't have a bunch of coolant and pumps sloshing around effectively trying to cool a giant, shaking, moving lump of iron. With out all that rattling, things just don't need as much maintenence.

prottog 4y ago
> We don't have a bunch of coolant and pumps sloshing around I thought all mainstream EVs were liquid-cooled? I'm sure the motor and battery still need cooling, though perhaps less than exploding dino juice engines. If this weren't true, Tesla wouldn't sell branded jugs of coolant ;-)
- RosanaAnaDana 4y ago
  I suppose you must be right but I've never even touched or had to think about that. My technician hasn't mentioned anything either. I suppose maybe because there isn't a big oily thing the coolant is moving through it isnt a bother? (2013 leaf, btw. very basic. just kinda works.)
  - prottog 4y ago
    Yeah, it makes sense that the overall design is more resilient and you'd have far less issues with cooling in general.
  - Baeocystin 4y ago
    Leaf is air cooled, so there you go.

r00fus 4y ago

Buy a $200 inverter and you can have basic power (lights/router/modem, aquariums) in the case of a power outage. I've had to do this two weeks in a row in our third-world-power Silicon Valley.

vladgur 4y ago
FWIW that will void your battery warranty on Tesla
- lostlogin 4y ago
  How would they find out?
- r00fus 4y ago
  Good point, but that’s one reason I don’t have a Tesla.

r00fus 4y ago

One other thing not mentioned - they brake faster. Like hybrids, EVs have dual brake systems - regenerative + brake pads. On an EV, the regen can be much more powerful than a hybrid since the motor/batter are larger.

YZF 4y ago
I'm not sure this is true. They're a lot heavier and on most cars the brakes should be powerful enough to lock the wheels which is the max braking power you're going to get.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  > They're a lot heavier A bit heavier, but not "a lot." A model 3 is between around 3600 and just over 4000 pounds, depending on trim. Not far off a similar size ICE vehicle.
  - jjav 4y ago
    > A bit heavier, but not "a lot." To compare a car which is available in both ICE and EV, a 2018 Fiat 500e (electric, with a tiny battery bank good for only ~90 miles) weighs almost 3000 pounds, whereas the same car with ICE is ~2400lb. 25% more weight is a lot on a car.
    - rootusrootus 4y ago
      The 500E is a retrofit of an ICE, not a ground-up EV. All you can derive from that comparison is that retrofitting is inefficient.
      - jjav 4y ago
        > The 500E is a retrofit of an ICE, not a ground-up EV. All you can derive from that comparison is that retrofitting is inefficient. That's all true, but I'm uncertain how much difference it can make. The bulk of the weight difference comes from the batteries, which will be there whether a retrofit or new design. Everything related to the ICE systems was removed, so it's not like there was any leftover weight from the conversion. Weight distribution can likely be better in a chassis designed solely for EV, but total weight seems likely to be about the same either way.

losvedir 4y ago

If you have a garage, by far the biggest benefit is charging overnight, starting the day with a full charge, and never having to go to a gas station. If you don't have convenient home charging, I'm not sure I'd recommend an EV just yet. We got ours in December, and the most unexpected benefit for me is sitting at stop lights, in traffic, or in a drive through. When the car is stopped, it's essentially off. No engine idling vibrations, no noise, no emissions. It's kind of peaceful. I hadn't really realized how much idling in a gas car bothered me before.

zzzeek 4y ago

If you enjoy having to change your oil every 3-6 months , then EVs might be disappointing because there's no oil to change. There are no transmissions, no gears (for most EVs at least), the cars are mostly silent, can't asphyxiate you in your garage, don't have to be jumped if you left the lights on all night, and you should be able to get many hundreds of thousands of miles where the car will drive mostly the same in ten years as when it was new (save for battery life decrease). Dealing with gas pumps and trying not to get gasoline drips on your shoes is a thing of the past.

lostlogin 4y ago
> there's no oil to change. I’ve heard rumours of diff oil.
- Kirby64 4y ago
  I'm not aware of any EV that requires/recommends differential oil change schedules. Pretty much all fluids in EVs are 'lifetime' because there's no chance of fouling caused by engine blowby, unlike gas cars. Even gas cars typically have 'lifetime' differential oil fills these days. With no chance of contamination from blowby, there's not really any other mechanism for degradation besides oil just degrading over time from heating/cooling.

thallium205 4y ago

I like it because an EV is a gas vehicle. It's also propane powered vehicle. It's also a diesel. It's also solar powered. It's also natural gas. It's whatever generator you can find to plug it into at that moment in time. In the event of economic uncertainty, the gas stations are the first to run out and begin rationing resulting in miles long lines. An EV has many, many options to keep you operating in a disaster scenario. Plus, unlike gas cars, my EV is always fully charged ready to go every morning. How many people have a 1/4 or even an 1/8 of a gas tank sitting in their driveway right now? They are excellent prep vehicles.

gcanyon 4y ago

I rented a Tesla 3 the last time we took a trip. It has some fundamental flaws (shitty rear window visibility) that have nothing to do with it being an EV, but it fully convinced me that my next car will be electric. It's quiet It's fast -- you say you know, but it's not about the acceleration as much as it is the immediate response: put the pedal down, and you're accelerating. Doesn't matter if you're stopped, going 30, or going 60 -- you have speed on demand, and it changes how you drive. I guess some people don't like it, but one pedal driving (letting the regen do the braking just by letting off the accelerator) was awesome for me: I used the brake pedal less than ten times over a week, and my gas car seems tedious to pedal now. Not sure how to describe the rest, but it was just better. I like my gas car much less now.