What's wrong with the Fisker?

I saw my first one out in the wild last week and thought it looks amazing.

 

Maybe the "are they still going be around in 5 years" caution?

Tesla & Rivian are maybe the only 2 EV-only brands I'd put as having 'guaranteed' longevity. The rest, not seeing the sale numbers to have confidence in them being here long-term, yet.
The ICE/EV brands, Ford, GM, H/K, etc. I'd be less wary of, since they're long-established.

 

^ That, but I've also heard that their software is very buggy - not sure if that's been addressed. They do look fantastic and I like that all windows open. Also, where does it get serviced? They don't have a service center network that I'm aware of.

 

It's too small for us. It would be great if we didn't have a kid or a dog. But with both, road trips become very tight.

Ours is pushing 70k miles. The transmission is shit, but it's a CVT so that's to be expected. I'm concerned about the typical 1.5l fuel contamination issues. The touchscreen is laggy and frustrating. I think the rear struts are shot. The interior does not wear well, and there's paint flaking off near the lift gate.

With that said, it still gets 32mpg on the highway and it's paid off, so a replacement won't be any time soon.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/hertz-sell-20-000-evs-123933213.html
https://www.yahoo.com/autos/ex-hertz-tesla-model-3s-150000091.html

IMO Hertz went too large with their initial BEV order, it should have been lower perhaps 1/2 of what they ordered from Tesla.

 

I'd buy one for $14k and just use it as an around town beater for my wife. Looking at the Hertz website, there aren't any of them even close to $14k though.

 

There were a handful of them around $20k but it appears they have all sold. They also had 80k+ miles.

The majority of these cars are high mileage, and rental companies typically keep cars for 2-3 years at most. This is a tax move IMO.

 

Wow, the cheapest I saw this morning was a $22k ($18k after the tax credit) 2021 Model 3 with ~40k miles, now only 2023 going for $31k

 

FWIW, a colleague bought a new 2023 Y (cheapest Y he could find at Baltimore Tesla dealership, 260mile range single motor) last month for $34k (no title/taxes/registration) with all the Fed/MD/Tesla incentives. Pretty amazing price as the incentives were changing for 2024. It was a Xmas present to his wife, she was totally surprised and ecstatic

 

This should have been a poll to see a quick summary of what folks are thinking.

I considered going EV with my last car (bought March 2023) but chose to stick with the RDX for a second run. I had almost settled on an ID.4 after test driving it but then backed out after a second test drive. Something in my gut told me not to do it. The main issue I have right now is the lack of options. The only EV that I think is worth considering right now is the Model Y and it is due for a refresh and insurance rates are very high. I won't buy Acura's GM-based EV. Will reconsider again as I get close to the end of the warranty on my current RDX.

Not too excited about needing to install charging equipment and have to plug/unplug the car all the time. It becomes less of an issue if charging stations are as plentiful as gas stations and a charge takes no more than about 10 mins. But I think we are probably a decade away from something like that.

EV is great for a performance car. I would never consider buying a car like an M3/RS4/C63 AMG/Type R/Type S/F/etc. or even an ICE super car. If you care about performance, EV is the way to go. ICE makes a lot of noise and gets easily smoked by EV.

 

BMW's best selling M last year was the i4 M.

Installing and plugging in your car is SO easy and convenient vs going to gas stations or waiting at charging stations. You plug your phone in every night...maybe watch, too or whatever other devices you may have and use. It's almost 2nd nature.

Model Y isnt "due" for anything. Tesla doesn't work that way when it comes to refreshes/updates. Yes the Model 3 Highland just went up for orders...so it's safe to assume at some point the Model Y will get a similar treatment. But with Tesla it could be tomorrow....or next year or....

 

Interesting...Harvard development of SS battery technology.


https://electrek.co/2024/01/15/harva...es-in-minutes/

 

Charging at home takes less than 10 minutes. In fact, it's less than 30 seconds. You plug in and you go inside to have dinner, watch TV, sleep, whatever. When you go outside to drive it's charged and ready to go. How is that less convenient than having to refuel an ICE vehicle?

 

^ This. Also you don't have to stand out in the cold/heat/rain/snow/whatever. The "refueling" does not happen on your time so the overall time spent charging is essentially zero since you can do other stuff while it's happening.

 

So I managed to get a free upgrade to a larger vehicle and got a Kia EV6 - I believe it is a Wind RWD model, since it has ventilated seats and a 310 mile range. I'm happy I did too because the extra space was needed.

Pros:

• Build quality - it's much quieter than my Tesla Model 3, the interior has zero squeaks or rattles, and the interior design/fit/finish is in a different league.
• Cooled seats that work! Not that my Tesla has them, but compared to other makes (ahem, BMW & Audi...) they work very well.
• The range. I didn't take it below 60% during my entire trip but the estimated range for that ~40% used (and I charged it to 100% twice because not my car) was spot on with mileage driven. That impressed me most.
• The screens are clear, and I love the radio/nav screen high up in the center stack. I do wish the gauge cluster had a better layout though. I found that adjusted the way I was most comfortable, the steering wheel cut off the speedometer, but I had full view of the worthless car animation in the center.

Cons:

• It's slow as fuck, especially from 0-40. It feels like power is being pulled in that range. But compared to a comparable ICE car, it's still much quicker.
• The paddle controlled brake regen controls are annoying. The car defaults to a 3 setting (out of 4) every time you start it, so it will slow down but not come to a complete stop without pressing the brakes. So every time I get into the car, I shift into drive, put it in sport mode (it's the only way to get decent throttle response below 40), and flip the brake regen to 4 out of 4 so I can drive with one pedal.
• Speaking of throttle response - sport mode is not refined at all. The throttle is uncomfortably touchy.
• No matter what brake regen setting you have selected, it all goes out the window when the car is in reverse. There is no auto braking. You put it in reverse, tap the throttle, and it goes. And goes. And goes. It's similar to a gas car where you have to use the brake, which would be fine, if it matched that behavior in drive. But it doesn't, and it just doesn't feel natural when you're used to one pedal driving. It's not even normal for an ICE driver, where they would expect the car to move once you take your foot off the brake - it doesn't do that. It requires a press on the throttle to back up.
• The steering wheel turns the car but you might as well be in another county. There's zero connection to the front wheels. I'm not saying the Tesla has great steering (it has zero feel too), but at least it's weighted properly IMO. This is just way too light.
• Laughably small frunk. This is something that probably won't bother many people but it bugs me. EVs can be built on a skateboard platform with most things down low, and engineers can really play with packaging in order to maximize storage. But the EV6 has pretty much a lunch box under the hood for storage. It's a joke. That space is valuable to me - so much so that we actually prefer to take my Model 3 on road trips over our CRV because the 3 has more usable storage space.

I know the list of cons is long, but the EV6 is still a good car, especially if you are new to EVs. It's something that I'd strongly consider for the fiance when the time comes to replace the CRV.

Turns out they only have two - both provided by Chargepoint. And surprisingly, they worked!! Flawlessly, actually. It is a bit annoying having to hit some buttons on my phone instead of just plugging it in and letting the car handle the transaction, but I don't even know how that would work with rentals anyway. But the best part was, charging at the hotel was free. The only thing you'd have to pay is $5/hr in idle chargers if you left the car connected and not charging. But it was a nice little bonus being able to drive all around for no added cost.

 

https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/...n_deep_freeze/

 

crazy to think everyone is going electric. lmao. ummm didn't think everything thru, did ya.

 

This is not a problem with the cars, it's a problem with dumb people. I have an EV (on my second one) and live in one of the coldest places in the US, works just fine and I have never ever had an issue.

Similar to why you can't just start up your car in -10F weather and immediately hit redlines without it warming up to prevent engine damage, you cannot charge a stone cold battery. You can set schedules for departure times or manually kick a car on to preheat the battery from the comfort of your bed if you want. The added benefit is that the cabin is also warm when you get in as well.

The best option is to charge at home on a L2 like most people do and never worry about any of this.

 

I’d imagine there’s people who don’t charge at home? Are they SOL, then?

 

No. They just need to precondition their battery for charging. You can easily do this by scheduling it ahead of time (the apps have really good scheduling abilities) or manually by turning the climate control on. If you're on a road trip and using the nav, the car automatically will precondition as it needs to while you're driving to the next charger. It's really not that hard.

You can set your schedule by days of the week, times, multiple times a day, etc. They make it easy to do so, just have to be aware of it.

 

I beg to differ. If it is not idiot-proof, it _is_ too hard. I shouldn't need an external app on my phone to operate my car.

 

Having the app to operate the car is integral to the EV experience.

Also, you don't NEED it. You can set the precondition schedule with the infotainment screen if you want.

 

So that should be set by default.

Your example about rev-ing a gas car when cold -- I can do it, right? It doesn't make the car unusable. There was a time when it was recommended to warm the engine before driving. Then drive gently when the engine is cold. Now you can pretty much drive normally on a cold engine. It is just recommended not to drive aggressively. Kind of like it's not recommended to be punching the "gas" pedal in an EV as it reduces battery life. But the car becoming undriveable without user intervention because of weather is unacceptable. How far back in time do we have to go for that to be true in a gas car?

 

Possibly.

Still, it's a story: https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-te...g-cold-weather

 

Axios: https://www.axios.com/2024/01/16/tes...ctric-vehicles

 

The car is not drivable because of lack of user intervention it was not drivable because of lack of fuel. If the battery had charge, it would drive just fine. It was a windchill of -35F here over this past weekend and my EV did just fine all day.

There should be a default setting for someone's schedule? That seems kind of dumb to assume that any two people would have the same schedule. I think what is definitely needed is some additional knowledge for people on how to manage these situations. Running a tangibly different vehicle requires some level of training on how to handle the specifics of it.

Also, it does not damage the battery or reduce life to floor it in an EV.

 

Why is this only an issue in Chicago, and not in even colder places like Canada or Scandinavia? Isn't Norway at an almost 90% EV purchase rate for new cars?

 

I think that's regional news. And yeah, up here in Canada where it hit -40s (yes, not a typo)...it was a problem for Tesla owners from what I heard.

 

Here you go: https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/prairie-t...date-1.5729102

 

...

 

This seems like a different problem. This looks like an issue with that specific car and/or a SW update that messed something up.

EV's work fine in Norway and Iceland just fine.

 

 

Not really contributing much to the subject, but saw this and I thought I’d share. Do you all see them in your area as well?

 

^ I haven't paid close enough attention, but they have to be there given that CA is the EV capital (state) of the US. Looks inspired by the Evoque.

 

I haven't seen one yet. I think they look pretty good, and I like "California mode" where all but the front windshield opens. It's a nifty party trick.

 

I've seen a couple out and about, there's one regularly at the gym I go to. They look pretty cool and are smaller than I expected them to be in real life.

Has been dark out every time I've seen it so I haven't been able to peek inside much.

 

I see them. Ive seen a lot more Cybertrucks recently.

 

Were they all rusted out from the rain you just got?

 

Id still drive one

 

I have yet to see a cybertruck actually…

regarding the California mode, seems like a huge miss that you can’t operate those windows outside of that mode…

I also agree with the evoque vibes, especially in that color.

apologies if this is a repost, but Mr. Bean has doomed our planet!
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...rowan-atkinson