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Author Topic: Electric Vehicles  (Read 46516 times)

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AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #240 on: July 19, 2017, 02:37:39 pm »
BYD e5

BYD Turns On Warp Speed (China Electric Car Sales Report)

July 17th, 2017 by Jose Pontes

SNIPPET:

The Chinese market had more than 43,000 new EVs zooming the streets last month. With the market growing below expectations, at 16% YoY, this performance from China feels like when LeBron James scores 28 points in an NBA Finals game — it would be a great score for anyone else, but people expect more from the star of the team.

Anyway, the EV market share grew to 1.5% in China, already beating last year’s record (1.45%). Expect that as the year progresses and sales expand, the Chinese PEV market will surpass the 2% share by year end.

This is still a highly protected market, where 93% of sales belong to domestic brands. Of the 7% left for foreign brands, 6% belong to Tesla, with the remaining 1% divided by all other automakers.


Read more:
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/07/17/byd-turns-warp-speed-china-electric-car-sales-report/
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AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #241 on: July 19, 2017, 03:05:37 pm »

4 Passenger Street Legal Golf Cart
PLENTY of room for groceries without passengers  ;D


See many affordable Electric vehicles at their web site:   

http://www.motoelectricvehicles.com/low-speed-vehicles
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AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #242 on: July 21, 2017, 02:31:06 pm »
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-18/chevy-forced-extend-shutdown-bolt-plant-after-realizing-literally-no-one-wants-bolt
Chevy Forced To Extend Shutdown Of Bolt Plant After Realizing That Literally No One Wants A Bolt
Tyler Durden
Jul 18, 2017

General Motors launched it's much-hyped, all electric Chevy Bolt at the end of 2016.  The Bolt was expected to make a splash as it was the first electric car in the U.S. market to offer 200 miles of driving range at an affordable price starting around $35,000.  The only problem is that pretty much no one seems to want one.



As AOL Finance points out today, GM has managed to sell just over 7,500 Chevy Bolts through the first six months of 2017.  Moreover, since dealers are sitting on about 111 days worth of inventory, we're going to go out on a limb and say the Bolt launch slightly underperformed expectations.  All of which has resulted in GM's decision to extend the shutdown currently in effect at it's Orion plant for just a little while longer.


    General Motors Co has extended a shutdown at the Michigan factory that builds the new Chevrolet Bolt electric car as part of a broader effort to get control of bulging inventories of unsold vehicles in the United States.

     

    "Shutdown periods vary by plant based on launch timing of new or refreshed models across the portfolio and our ongoing efforts to align production with market demand," GM said in a statement.



But it's not just the Chevy Bolt that GM is having a hard time selling.  Overall, the company is battling   a massive inventory glut, some 126 days of supplies, in passenger cars. As such, the company has extended summer vacation shutdowns at three other North American assembly plants. The assembly plant at Lordstown, Ohio, that makes the Chevrolet Cruze and a plant near Kansas City, Missouri, that produces the Malibu sedan both have three additional weeks of downtime. An assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario, will be idled for two extra weeks to reduce inventories of the Chevrolet Impala large sedan.

Of course, this shouldn't be much of a surprise for our readers as we recently pointed out that GM's "channel stuffing" hit a new all time high for the restructured company in June 2017, with the number of GM vehicles parked at dealer lots and patiently waiting for a buyer rising to the highest since the summer before recession officially began, when GM was still pre-bankruptcy GM, with far greater (if ultimately superfluous and in need of restructuring) production.

 

All of which kind of makes you wonder just how well that other, highly-anticipated, mass-produced, affordable, all-electric vehicle [Tesla Model 3] will perform when/if it officially starts to ship later this year.



GM has done his before. The article you just posted is disinformation. The demand for EVs is actually skyrocketing.

GM is setting this car up to fail BECAUSE they WANT IT TO FAIL.

Here's what they should do, but refuse to because of their pro-gas guzzler bias:

Chevy Bolt Production Ramps Down While Tesla Model 3 Production Ramps Up

July 18th, 2017 by Steve Hanley

SNIPPET (PLEASE Palloy, read the ENTIRE first sentence to see how your article is pushing lies. The sonic is NOT a Bolt!):

The company blames the extension on slow sales of the Sonic — sales are down 37% for the year as buyers flee from small sedans — but it is also selling far fewer Bolts than expected.



According to Reuters, there are now more than 6,000 unsold Bolts on hand in the US. That translates to a 111 day supply. 70 days is considered ideal. One dealer is reported to have more than 200 Bolts on its lot.

Excess inventory may be one reason why Chevy opened up orders for the Bolt to all 50 states a month early. So far, 7,592 Bolt EVs have been delivered through the end of June. A company spokesperson says, “General Motors Co has extended a shutdown at the Michigan factory that builds the new Chevrolet Bolt electric car as part of a broader effort to get control of bulging inventories of unsold vehicles in the United States.”

The US automobile industry is in the midst of a sales slowdown. Compared to 2015 and 2016, when record sales brought record profits to the industry, 2017 is shaping up to be a struggle for most brands.

The traditional car companies must be tearing their hair out about Tesla. Without spending a dollar on conventional advertising, Tesla is a media darling that gets all the buzz. But it’s put up or shut up time for Tesla. It says it will be selling 500,000 cars a year by the end of 2018, five times what it sells now. Can it do that?

That extra volume will put a strain on a company that eschews franchise dealers. It will also put a strain on Tesla’s proprietary Supercharger network of high-power charging stations and on company-owned service centers, which Tesla is ramping up quickly in anticipation of the fast growth in production.

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/07/18/chevy-bolt-production-ramps-tesla-model-3-production-ramps/

STOP pushing Disinformation, Palloy! 
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AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #243 on: July 21, 2017, 02:38:10 pm »
Quote
AG: The demand for EVs is actually skyrocketing.

GM is setting this car up to fail BECAUSE they WANT IT TO FAIL.

Oh, I see. Sounds very logical. - Er, why do they want to spend lots of precious money and have it fail?  Please explain it in full because it runs counter to everything I've ever known.

Your wish is my command.     ;D

Please read for comprehension, gaspadine (see: Long Knives in GM Boardroom in article below).

Is General Motors Recreating The Saturn Disaster With The Chevy Bolt? (CleanTechnica Original)

July 19th, 2017 by Steve Hanley

Yesterday, we published a story about how Chevrolet will shut down the Orion Township assembly plant where it builds the Chevy Sonic and Chevy Bolt for a few extra weeks this summer. Most legacy manufacturers take a two week break from production each year to do plant maintenance and reconfigure the assembly line for next year’s models, but the Orion summer recess will be longer than normal to reduce excess inventories. The story got a lot of comments.

The original story bemoans the fact that Chevrolet is suffering from an oversupply of Bolts in the US while Tesla has people begging for its new Model 3, the car that is touted as the Model T for the 21st century. Meanwhile, the Bolt is in critically short supply in South Korea, Canada, and Norway, to name a few places. Yet dealers in California are offering up to $5,000 rebates to clear the cars off their lots and one dealer in Rhode Island has over 200 of them in stock.

Why? Some suggest Chevrolet is setting the Bolt up to fail so it can cry about how Americans don’t want electric cars. If so, the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of clueless executives who refuse to see the changes that are coming in the marketplace and adjust their thinking accordingly.

Saturn SL2

The Saturn Debacle
Saturn is perhaps the best recent example of how the “Not invented here” syndrome that pervades the corporate culture in Detroit is threatening the legacy automakers with extinction. Older readers can remember back to the intransigence of those same companies when foreign automakers first began bringing smaller, more fuel efficient cars to the American market in the ’60s.

The response was an endless stream of crap-can cars like the Plymouth Valiant, Ford Falcon, and Chevy II. When the front-wheel-drive revolution took place, Detroit gave us more stinkers like the Chrysler K car, Chevy Citation, and Ford Escort.

When Roger Smith took over as head of General Motors, he crammed new thinking down the throats of his lieutenants by creating the Saturn brand. Fresh ideas sprang from GM’s best engineers, people who had been bottled up for too long by the hidebound strictures of the Big Three. The new venture was not named for the planet but rather for the giant Saturn rockets used to send Apollo missions on their way to the moon.

The Saturn factory at Spring Hill, Tennessee, pioneered new production techniques, beginning with an assembly line on which one team built an entire car from beginning to end. They traveled with the car as it was made on a skillet that brought all the tools needed with it.

The chassis was mounted on a scissors jack arrangement that allowed workers to raise or lower the car to the height most comfortable for them. The team members rotated jobs frequently so that everyone became proficient at every job in the assembly process.

Saturn took lost foam casting, previously used for small jobs, and scaled it up for volume production. The process eliminated 90% of the machining needed for conventional castings. It figured out how to make automatic and manual transmissions that shared the same housing so they could be produced on the same assembly line to meet the demands of customers.

Long Knives In GM Boardroom
When Smith moved on from the boardroom, the heads of Oldsmobile (remember them?), Chevrolet, Buick, and Pontiac (remember them?) gutted Saturn’s budget so the upstart division had no money to develop new models. Instead, they were forced to sell rebadged products from other divisions. That was the beginning of the end.

Saturn didn’t dispense with traditional dealers as Tesla has done, but it did bring no-haggle pricing to the marketplace. It is a little known fact that Saturn was designed from the get-go to appeal to women. Smith’s marketing research showed that women made the majority of buying decisions about automobiles. Why not design a car and a sales process that made women feel comfortable?

The original Saturn sedan, the SL, was designed for women. Lots of men complained that it was too small but women loved it. It was the first modern car made expressly for them. The plan was to introduce a second model designed for men but the money to develop that car never materialized when the company was getting started. When it finally arrived, the LS was too little, too late.

What Our Readers Say   

Several comments to yesterday’s story came from people who actually went shopping to buy a Chevy Bolt. Their experience illustrates Musk’s claim of arrogance and ignorance, especially on the part of dealers. He says traditional dealers simply don’t understand electric cars and don’t want to engage in the process needed to educate potential electric car owners.

He’s right. Listen to what commenter “Oollyoumn” has to say: “Chevy dealers appear to have little interest in selling these. Being in the market for a new car, over the weekend I stopped at any dealer that might sell a plug-in. The Chevy salesperson told me that the Bolt was not being made yet, that the tax incentive ended January 2017, and that this particular dealership was not getting an allowance of Bolts because Chevy required that they also take an allotment of hybrid truck, and they were not going to do that because hybrid trucks do not sell in this area.

“I gave my opinion that the first 2 statements were not correct, and even provided sales estimates for last month on the Bolt. I asked him to look into it more and get back with me. So far, not a sound.

“The VW dealership was better, but still unusual. I started with ‘I’d like to know about the eGolf.’ The reply was ‘Not sold in this state.’ I said ‘thanks,’ and walked out. Not another word was said. Evidently they didn’t even want to talk me into something else. Two Nissan dealers, Toyota, Hyundai and Ford dealers also have not gotten back with me either. The Toyota dealer said it would take 8 weeks to get a Prius Prime. I think the car has to be on the lot and the customer drooling over it to get any assistance. To bad there is no chance of getting a Model 3 in the next month or two.”

Delphi23 shared this photo in his comment. Good God, people! Could we get a clue?
Chevy Bolt oil changes 


Dealers Are Not Your Friends

To be fair, GM and other manufacturers have little control over their dealers. They make the cars; the dealers figure out how to sell them. And so far, those dealers are using the same tired old tricks that have pervaded car sales for 100 years — high pressure, bait and switch, outright lies, whatever it takes to get the customer into a car.

For most, it’s a “wham, bam, thank you, ma’am” process that goes like this: “There’s the car. It comes in red, blue, and white. Pick the color you want while I get the paperwork started. I’ll get you right into finance and you’ll be driving that shiny new Belchfire 5000 today!” Then the salesman gives the customer what is known in the trade as the “Three Cs” delivery. It goes like this. “See your car? See your keys? See ya later.”

Tom left us this illuminating comment: “Over the decades *cough* I’ve purchased 15+ new cars, some for the wife and kids. After each purchase, I felt sufficiently soiled by the experience that I needed to go home and take a shower. Elon’s revolutionary selling techniques will put all that in the rear view mirror.”

Selling & Electric Cars

Does GM really want to sell electric cars or is it all window dressing for the CARB folks in California? Ask yourself this. When you are watching television or browsing online, how many ads to do you see for full-size pickup trucks? Now ask yourself when the last time was you saw an ad for a Volt or a Bolt?

Elon Musk is a dynamic force and should be celebrated for his vision and determination. But the competition is giving him lots of help by shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly. BMW was fast out of the gate with its i3 and i8, but since then, it has decided to soft peddle its electric car division and rely on plug-in hybrids instead. BMW makes great cars, but its PHEVs offer woefully short all-electric range. The company obviously has no clue how to make compelling electric cars and sell them.

Creative Destruction

The auto business is a cruel mistress. Thousands of car companies have come and gone over the past 100 years. More will follow, with the path to their demise greased by their own ignorance and arrogance. Detroit couldn’t figure out small cars or front-wheel-drive cars because of that “Not invented here” mindset. They can’t seem to figure out electric cars, either.

Don’t weep for GM. Or Ford or Fiat Chrysler either. It is simply Joseph Schumpeter’s principle of creative destruction at work. It’s not about jobs being lost at traditional automakers. It’s about new jobs being created in the factories of the future. As the British would say, “The king is dead. Long live the king!”

Photo credit: IFCAR

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/07/19/general-motors-recreating-saturn-disaster-chevy-bolt-cleantechnica-original/
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AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #244 on: July 21, 2017, 03:21:49 pm »
That sounds a little too much likeTesla propaganda. The viral story last year about Elon Musk using somebody's pre-ordered new car until it was well and truly used and the faceless company reps continually covering this up from the customer does not appear out of line.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tesla-takes-bottom-spot-in-dealer-satisfaction-survey-2017-07-10

It's possible.

UB, I addressed the following comment to Palloy. Please read it. I think the issue is not limited to attacking Musk. The subject is EVs versus ICE crap cars, and why TPTB want to kill EVs.

Agelbert NOTE: You might argue, as you probably will, that GM is not losing money on purpose. That is an eroneous assumption. Let me explain. The internal combustion powered automobile is far more profitable for the car manufactures than an EV. Hundreds of moving parts needed and high maintenace costs of gas guzzlers from engine wear to cooling system wear, to exhaust system wear, to emission control system diagnostic costs, along with brake maintenance provide a dealer with a major part of their business.

The EVs simply do not have even a tenth of the maintenece costs. This a threat to the dealer profits, as you know. What's more, EVs will be held longer by each owner simply because people normally buy new cars when the old one's maintenance costs do not justify keeping it. So, people keeping a car for a decade, instead of a three to four years, is ANOTHER part of the EV package that also threatens dealer, dealer slaepersons AND car manufacturer profits.    They don't like that. Their DELIBERATE LACK of ads for EVs is evidence that they DO NOT want to sell them. The AD money, by the way, comes from the MANUFACTURER, as well as a portion from the dealer, so don't tell me this is just the dealers "being dumb". This LACK of AD money for EVs is DIRECTED FROM THE TOP!

The Volt and the Bolt, at this time, represent a tiny percentage of the production vehicles of GM, as you know. THAT MEANS that GM has a tiny percentage of their future (and their MONEY) invested in EV production and sale, as you, being a mathematician and statistician, know.

This rabbit hole goes deep, Palloy. The fossil fuel industry is involved up to their crooked, murderous eyeballs. Follow the money. Study refinery product percentages from cracking towers. Without a GIANT market for gasoline, the refineries have to massively incease the the cost of lubricants and the heavier diesels, making them uncompetitive with plant based lubricants and bio-fuels. The only "solution" (They don't CARE about global warming ) is to strangle the EV competition.



He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #245 on: July 21, 2017, 10:35:36 pm »
I read the article several times, looking for the bits that tried to explain WHY the manufacturers wanted their products to fail, and the only explanation was "Not invented here" syndrome. This was backed up by calling The Ford Falcon "a crap-can" and the Ford Escort a "stinker". I had 2 Falcons (XA and XE) and an Escort (RS-1600), and while the XE had weak engine, weighed down by air-con, and servo pumps and auto transmission, and high weight, I would have thought ALL american cars had this style.  I can easily imagine that the manufacturers would have thought "the american public" won't want this model, but "designed to fail"?

Most of the explanation came in your follow up and needs to be backed by straight forward statistics. Are maintenance costs for EVs REALLY a tenth of ICs' ?  I include changing batteries as maintenance.  If so, that would mean a gradual change in the proportions of post-sale profits over decades, and salesmen wouldn't be bothered about that because it doesn't affect their immediate commissions.  In any case, that wouldn't affect what the manufacturers chose to make, there government subsidies to make EVs would matter far more.

I can't imagine car manufacturers care what the oil companies think (or about global warming), but I do think they worry about the rocketing price of battery metals.  There is no way I could charge my EV's battery at home without completely re-laying new mains cables to handle the load, so I would never buy one.

I have only bought one new car (the Escort) and I put my best suit on to try to give the impression I was rich, the salesman (who was driving the demonstrator to work every day) saw me puzzling over the mass of optional extras and offered me the demonstrator, with all the extras, at a good price
and then cut his price when I still pondered.  He was really keen to get my signature on a contract that day.  It was an excellent car, and went like the clappers for a 1600.

The fact is Chevy are having an extended lay-off period.  I think it is all down to the demand for new cars in general in a stagnant wage situation.  Some businesses will fail, making the situation better for the others, but worse for the workforce and their communities.

You are frugal like I am. Don't compare our lifestyle with the average car buyer in the USA. That would be a huge error on your part. Also, if you want to ignore the FACT that the refining of crude REQUIRES the production of of about 40% liquid fuels (which make ip the LION's share of profit for Big Oil), then you will never understand why they have such a vested interest in keeping the public AWAY from EVs.

The maintenace costs on EVs are MUCH lower than for gas guzzlers. That is not in doubt at this time, though I really don't have the data on hand to give you some hard numbers. I will dig around and post it on this thread for you to peruse shortly.

Palloy, here is the latest news, which confirms that the issue (at least officially) was NEVER the Bolt "lagging sales", as your disinformation article from the fossil fuel cheer leaders at Zero-Hedge disingenuously claims.

You may be right and I'm jumping to conclusions about the Bolt being set up to fail. But your refusal to see the MASSIVE amount of crap gas guzzler production money out there in comparison to the pittance spent so far on EVs by GM is shameful for someone claiming to be objective.

At any rate, here is the latest. As I tried to point out to you, and you kept dancing around it, the ISSUE WAS, AND IS, THE SLOW SONIC SALES, NOT the Bolt "slow sales"!

Chevy Bolt Production — An Insider’s Viewpoint

July 21st, 2017 by Steve Hanley

SNIPPET:

Quote
The Bolt story got a ton of comments, one of them from a commenter who says he got a response from someone working at the Orion Township factory, a Don Lockrey. Don sees things different from how we presented the story. Here’s his comment in full: “I work at the factory. You’re article is wrong. We added an extra week for shutdown because of slowing sales of the Sonic. I am assuming because of gas prices, as a $16k car isn’t as prized when gas is low. Another reason for the extra week was to complete bank systems and re do the assembly line to increase Bolt production.

“The jobs are all set to produce Bolts on a 2 Sonic, One Bolt mix. They are changing the mix to a 50/50 split which requires adjustments. For all the tesla fan boys, enjoy the squeaks rattles, fit and finish issues and recalls as your Model 3 was crammed into a 5000 car a week schedule. Oh, you thought your waiting list to get your car was long? Wait till you have a service issue with no dealer network.”

Thanks for that insider information, Don. We heard from other Bolt defenders who felt we were being too one-sided in our coverage of the Bolt. With Don’s information that Chevy is actually planning to increase production of the Bolt, we are attempting to correct the record and report some favorable news about the all-electric car from The General.

If there is an issue with the Bolt, it appears to be that Chevy is doing a poor job figuring out where to send the cars that have been built. Also, it must be said that manufacturers have little influence over how dealers sell their products. Decades ago, the car companies used to push the dealers around at will, even opening competing dealerships across the street in some cases to punish a dealer who had earned their displeasure.

New state laws reduced the power of the factories and made the influence of local dealer associations greater. Much of the resistance to the direct sales model preferred by Tesla comes from those same dealer associations, which wield tremendous power in some state legislatures, especially in Michigan and Texas.

I have reached out to Paul Masse Chevrolet, which is located about 20 miles away from my home. Another comment indicated they are one of the leading sellers of Chevrolet’s electric cars — the Bolt and the Volt — in America and that their inventory is down to 78 cars. That means they have moved over 100 Bolts in the past 30 days or so. Their success selling EVs resulted in a personal visit from Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors. If I am able to meet and speak with the Paul Masse people, I will share what I learn with you in a subsequent story. Stay tuned.

For an ongoing look at Chevy Bolt sales, see:
“Electric Car Sales (Monthly Reports)".
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/07/21/chevy-bolt-production-insiders-viewpoint/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #246 on: July 21, 2017, 11:18:34 pm »
Chevy Bolt EV plant shutdown extended, due to slow Sonic sales (updated)

 John Voelcker

379 Comments Jul 21, 2017

One of the biggest tests of an automaker's discipline is what it does when sales start to ebb and inventories of unsold cars swell.

Does it keep the production lines churning, and dial up its incentives to keep new-vehicle deliveries flowing?

Or does it prioritize profitability and suspend production until inventories are back where they should be?

DON'T MISS: Bolt EV electric car sales after 6 months: how do they compare?

General Motors is now doing the latter, after seeing its inventories bulge to 105 days' worth of sales by the end of last month, according to a report by the Reuters news service, the company's highest inventory level in 10 years.

Worse yet, looking solely at passenger cars and netting out ever-more-popular crossovers and SUVs, Fortune notes that GM's inventories were 126 days, as calculated by industry trade journal Automotive News.

That's more than twice the 60 days' worth that analysts consider ideal.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This post, originally published July 18, was updated July 21 to reflect additional information provided by a GM line worker at the Orion Assembly Plant.

First 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV buyers, Fremont, California: Bobby Edmonds, Bill Mattos, Steve HenryFirst 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV buyers, Fremont, California: Bobby Edmonds, Bill Mattos, Steve Henry

The factories GM shut down include the Lake Orion Assembly plant where both the Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car and the aging Chevy Sonic subcompact sedan and hatchback are built.

The Sonic's sales are down 37 percent for the first half of this year over the same period last year.


But not too surprisingly, the Bolt EV gets the headlines in recent news coverage  of that plant's summer shutdown, which GM recently lengthened.

The Reuters report specifically underscores that it's softening sales of the Sonic that led to the production suspension at Lake Orion:

A spokesman for the company said the shutdown at Orion was "due solely to softening sales of the Sonic" model, adding that its production plan for the Bolt for this year was unchanged.

UPDATE: This explanation was later confirmed by Don Lockrey, who said he worked at the Orion Assembly Plant,  in a comment on another article that was posted by a Bolt owner to the Chevy Bolt EV Owners Group on Facebook.

Lockrey wrote:

We added an extra week for shutdown because of slowing sales of the Sonic. I am assuming because of gas prices, because a $16,000 car isn't as prized when gas is low.

Another reason for the extra week was to complete bank systems and redo the assembly line to INCREASE Bolt production. The jobs are all set to produce Bolts on a two-Sonic, one-Bolt mix.

They are changing the mix to a 50/50 split which requires adjustment.

Chevy Bolt

Chevrolet sold 7,592 Bolt EVs in the U.S. from January through June, as it slowly adding new states to the initial pair of California and Oregon where the car was launched in mid-December.

At that sales rate—which should increase in the second half of the year as all states get their cars, and both dealership personnel and buyers become more familiar with the 238-mile electric car—GM now has a 111-day supply of Bolt EVs at its dealers.

Over the same six-month period, Chevy delivered 17,958 Sonics, almost two and a half times its total Bolt sales.

The Bolt EV, with a base price of $37,500 before incentives, will be available in all 50 states by the end of next month.

The other GM plants whose summer shutdowns were lengthened all build passenger cars, not SUVs: the Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan in Lordstown, Ohio; the Malibu mid-size sedan near Kansas City; and the Impala large sedan in Oshawa, Ontario.

_______________________________________

Follow GreenCarReports on Facebook and Twitter.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1111581_chevy-bolt-ev-plant-shutdown-extended-due-to-slow-sonic-sales

Aglebert NOTE:
For Big Oil cheer leader and consitent attacker of EVs, Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge and anybody else that blames the Bolt for this plant production pause, DINNER IS SERVED:


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #247 on: July 22, 2017, 01:45:02 pm »
You are frugal like I am. Don't compare our lifestyle with the average car buyer in the USA.

The average car buyer in the FSoA is me.  We buy Used Carz.  You can't afford new carz on the median income.  If you do buy one on the median income, you're an idiot and wasting your money.  New Carz are for the Top 20% of income earners.  EVs are for the top 20% also.  They cost too much.

RE

They are getting cheaper. I did a search for used Leaf EVs and I found a "used" Leaf (The Carfax report says it was a lease for an executive) with only 61 miles on it for sale at a very reasonable price. It comes with the complete factory 100,000 mile battery warranty.

I just searched again and it's gone. I guess they sold it. But there are some more good deals.

Check out the first one (2016 Leaf) at link with only 21 miles on it.

https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-for-sale/listings/nissan/leaf/location-05446/?searchRadius=250&sortOrder=MILEAGE_ASC

$12K.  I never paid more than $5K for a used car.

RE

The original Ford Falcon had an 85 hp straight six of 144 Cubic inches (2360 cc) and cost about $2000 new in 1960. It was a very basic car with no AC, no carpets, roll up windows, and a manual shifter on the steering column. Piece of **** car.

 I had a '64 Ford Econoline van in high school with the same engine. Woefully underpowered and the shifter linkage would lock up so I couldn't shift gears. One had to stop the car, get out and reach carefully into the grill, and line the shifter dogs back up by hand. LOL.

These fotos were stuck together, lucky i went hunting for it. 66 XP Falcon with the 170 Pursuit instead of 144 cube.. ex cop car.

Cars like that had column shift, a slippery vinyl bench seat and soft suspension, so they leaned over around corners. Surly probably lay his arm across the seat back and went around corners fast, so his date came sliding across to make the 2 headed driver and stick shift.

The original Ford Falcon had an 85 hp straight six of 144 Cubic inches (2360 cc) and cost about $2000 new in 1960. It was a very basic car with no AC, no carpets, roll up windows, and a manual shifter on the steering column. Piece of **** car.

 I had a '64 Ford Econoline van in high school with the same engine. Woefully underpowered and the shifter linkage would lock up so I couldn't shift gears. One had to stop the car, get out and reach carefully into the grill, and line the shifter dogs back up by hand. LOL.

When I was 16 my Dad took me to a used car lot to buy me car. Ford Falcon. The battery died 1 mile from the dealer.



This is close but not exact, don't remember its year, but this is close.

My gear shift was so bad that it jammed, and I had to get out and slide under the car and reassemble the gear joint back into female part!!!   This would happen about every two days. Wow, that was so many years ago it all seems like a dream.

The original Ford Falcon had an 85 hp straight six of 144 Cubic inches (2360 cc) and cost about $2000 new in 1960. It was a very basic car with no AC, no carpets, roll up windows, and a manual shifter on the steering column. Piece of **** car.

 I had a '64 Ford Econoline van in high school with the same engine. Woefully underpowered and the shifter linkage would lock up so I couldn't shift gears. One had to stop the car, get out and reach carefully into the grill, and line the shifter dogs back up by hand. LOL.

When I was 16 my Dad took me to a used car lot to buy me car. Ford Falcon. The battery died 1 mile from the dealer.



This is close but not exact, don't remember its year, but this is close.

My gear shift was so bad that it jammed, and I had to get out and slide under the car and reassemble the gear joint back into female part!!!   This would happen about every two days. Wow, that was so many years ago it all seems like a dream.

Oooh, let me play. My first car was a '64 Dodge Coronet, purchased in 1969.

  It looked very much like this. It had a slant 6; you'd open up the hood, and that little engine was in there, lying on its side.



I LOVED that car, and it served me well until it started losing oil. I should have had the engine rebuilt; but my father convinced me to get rid of it and buy a new car. Which was a 1971 Chevy Vega, with an aluminum block that blew up @ 40,000 miles. Proof of the axiom, "The poor man pays twice."   :(




Yes, you fine fellows have had long love affairs with your vehicles. Yes, we were ALL brainwashed to love all things about cars. I discovered that was stupid and costly. But not everybody can let go of expensive addictions that easy, as the comments I just read evidence.  :( :P

But since car owning history is in vogue here, this is my sad tale of spending too much money on vehicles powerd by polluting internal combustion CRAP engines:

1958 Cushman Husky scooter
1962 Vespa Scooter
1966 1956 Pontiac
1967 1957 Metropolitan
1968 Honda 125cc Motorcylce
1969 1967 Chevrolet Impala
1970 1964 Dodge Dart (push button transmission  :laugh:)
1973 1965 Piper Colt (an airplane  ;D with cloth over metal frame wings with a 108HP engine)
1975 1976 New Ford F150 supercab pickup truck
1977 Traded the Piper colt for a 1975 Oldsmobile (lasted less than a year - needed a top overhaul - then in ess than two months a major overhaul so I traded it for a Civic)
1978 1978 New Honda Civic CVCC
1983 1984 New Toyota Supra (Totalled within a year (hit from behind by an FBI agent speeding and changing lanes while the supra was at a full stop in a traffic jam on an off ramp - Insurance company went bankrupt so they did NOT pay me the loss and the Chase bank ruined my credit for not paying off the vehicel while the state insurance commissioner took two years to pay me for the vehicle loss).
1985 1985 New Mitsubishi Mirage
1986 1980 Oldsmobile
1988 1980 Cadillac
1989 1974 Ford Station Wagon
1990 1990 New Ford Probe Gt Turbo (Totaled in one month)
1991 1991 New Ford Probe (Had to turn in to the bank from bankruptcy within a year)
1992 1984 Lincoln continental (Totalled in 1996 from being rear ended at high speed by a Toyota pickup)
1997 1997 New Toyota Camry

 

Have a nice day.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #248 on: July 22, 2017, 03:14:10 pm »
Will Tesla's battery-centric drivetrain turn out to be its Achilles heel? ???

Hugh Rice Kelly, former Attorney

Answered Jul 14, 2017

The electric drive train is its defining strength. Amazingly few people understand that the Tesla drive train is based on the most powerful, reliable, time-tested form of motive power in the world—known to most Americans as the “diesel” locomotive. Very nearly all “diesel” locomotives use diesel engines to generate electricity which is then routed to electric traction motors which actually supply power to move the train. Think of that when you see a “diesel” powered set of locomotives start up a mile-long train of coal cars or oil tankers. Electric traction motors have been pulling almost all of the world’s railroad trains for more than a half century. In areas where overhead electric power has been available, pure electric trains have been handling tough railroad duty all over the world for a century.

Electric motive power has long ago conquered the difficult alpine grades in Europe and today powers most European trains. Electric powered trains are also capable of extremely high speeds: The world record for conventional wheeled manned passenger trains was set by France's TGV: it broke the world record in April 2007, reaching 357.2 mph on a 140 km section of track.

So anyone who thinks that electric powered vehicles are unreliable or somehow technologically vulnerable needs to do some homework.

Tesla’s automotive electric battery is not as time-tested as the electric traction motor, but Tesla has adopted the most conservative imaginable battery design philosophy, achieving an amazing degree of success. Unlike the spontaneous combustion disasters involving Boeing’s Dreamliner and the recent spontaneous “smart phone” fires, Tesla batteries have displayed no propensity to catch fire, and failures of any kind are rare.

The Tesla 85 kWh battery, for example, contains 7104 small cellular batteries similar to those used in laptop computers. It comprises 16 modules of 6 “bricks” each, each “brick” containing 74 individual cells. Each module has its own Battery Monitor Board which monitors each brick's voltage and samples temperature from four points within the module and reports this information to the Battery Management System via an internal communication bus. The BMS then uses this information to manage the high voltage battery temperature and state of charge. It communicates with the car’s central thermal management system, charger, and other channels. The battery has a sealed liquid coolant system, which controls heat, a key control factor in lithium ion batteries.

This carefully controlled system keeps the battery within a range calculated to preserve the battery over the long term. The design has paid off to an amazing degree: There are many Teslas that have logged over 100,000 miles while retaining 85 percent of their original battery capacity. My 2015 Model S P85D still retains 100 percent of the 253 mile range it had when I accepted delivery 25 months ago.

For a car primarily used for in-city driving, an electric car is superior to a car powered by an internal combustion engine (“ICE”). Unlike the ICE, you can plug in your car in the garage and find it fully charged every morning. You also don’t need to worry about excess drivetrain wear from stop and go traffic—the inefficiencies of an ICE under those conditions have few parallels in an electric car—not even the brakes, which are rarely used due to regenerative braking. The electric car is really convenient for ultra-short trips, because, unlike an ICE care, a Tesla does not need to be warmed up.

There are disadvantages to an electric car during highway travel, but as charging locations continue to multiply, the inconveniences will fade. But you will always need to plan and be sure you don’t drive somewhere you won’t be able to recharge your batteries.

https://www.quora.com/


An electric motor that lasts for 1,000,000 miles? Tesla is working on it
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #249 on: July 22, 2017, 03:26:15 pm »
Kirsten Oulton, Model S owner and evangelist

Aug 25, 2015

My experience has been much like the answer supplied by George Everitt  below. In 16 months of use and 55,000 km (34,175 mi), our two maintenance expenses for a Model S (85) have been:

Windshield washer fluid; and

Winter tire storage ($100 CDN/year, includes Tesla swapping them out and balancing). We have a set of winter tires and summer tires (I live in Canada, so this is advisable), but neither set needs replacement yet. Best estimate gives us another 8 months of wear on each.

https://www.quora.com/Does-a-Tesla-car-have-very-minimal-maintenance-costs




He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #250 on: July 22, 2017, 07:03:22 pm »
Quote
Agelbert
Zach, can you recommend a maintenance cost comparison study of an EV versus a gas guzzler covering several years? The best info I could find says the cost for an EV is 3 to 4 cents a mile versus 5 or 6 cents a mile for a gas guzzler. I think that operation and maintenenace for and EV is more like about a tenth of gas guzzzler costs. Nobody wants to just come out and say that gasoline is GUARANTEED to go UP while electricity is GUARANTEED to go DOWN as the years go by.

Also, I wish the up front cost of the vehicle was NOT figured into the operation and maintenance in these cost estimates. The glaring difference in actual day to day costs is what is important after you buy or lease the vehicle.
 
For example a "used" 2016 Leaf with less than a 1,000 miles on it can be purchased (WITH the full factury guarantee!) for less than $17,000. THIS is the kind of vehicle that should be used for cost comparison of operation and maintenance. I'm sure that leaf can be operated and maintained for much less than half what it costs to do the same for a gas guzzler.

I welcome comments and suggestions on how to get the best, accurate and objective info.



Matt > agelbert • an hour ago
Taking into account what we paid for our solar panels, we're probably paying $0.022 per mile for our EV.

My 2004 Honda probably costs $0.083 per mile just for gas. I'm probably averaging about $0.04/mile for ICE maintenance: oil change, timing belt, oil pan, etc... No point including tires, wipers, 12v battery, etc, since both cars have those, and they are very cheap compared to their lifetime. Hopefully, I'll never have to find out how much it takes to replace the EV's drive battery.

Edit: So that leaves a 10 cent difference per mile, before taking into account the damage done by fossil fuels. If you think a carbon tax should be $100/metric ton, add $0.03 per mile for the Honda.

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/07/22/electric-car-faq-answers/

Agelbert NOTE: A ten cent a mile difference, when you figure 100,000 miles, is a BIG deal!
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #251 on: July 23, 2017, 12:59:06 pm »
Quote
Agelbert
Zach, can you recommend a maintenance cost comparison study of an EV versus a gas guzzler covering several years? The best info I could find says the cost for an EV is 3 to 4 cents a mile versus 5 or 6 cents a mile for a gas guzzler. I think that operation and maintenenace for and EV is more like about a tenth of gas guzzzler costs. Nobody wants to just come out and say that gasoline is GUARANTEED to go UP while electricity is GUARANTEED to go DOWN as the years go by.

Also, I wish the up front cost of the vehicle was NOT figured into the operation and maintenance in these cost estimates. The glaring difference in actual day to day costs is what is important after you buy or lease the vehicle.
 
For example a "used" 2016 Leaf with less than a 1,000 miles on it can be purchased (WITH the full factury guarantee!) for less than $17,000. THIS is the kind of vehicle that should be used for cost comparison of operation and maintenance. I'm sure that leaf can be operated and maintained for much less than half what it costs to do the same for a gas guzzler.

I welcome comments and suggestions on how to get the best, accurate and objective info.



Matt > agelbert • an hour ago
Taking into account what we paid for our solar panels, we're probably paying $0.022 per mile for our EV.

My 2004 Honda probably costs $0.083 per mile just for gas. I'm probably averaging about $0.04/mile for ICE maintenance: oil change, timing belt, oil pan, etc... No point including tires, wipers, 12v battery, etc, since both cars have those, and they are very cheap compared to their lifetime. Hopefully, I'll never have to find out how much it takes to replace the EV's drive battery.

Edit: So that leaves a 10 cent difference per mile, before taking into account the damage done by fossil fuels. If you think a carbon tax should be $100/metric ton, add $0.03 per mile for the Honda.

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/07/22/electric-car-faq-answers/
Agelbert NOTE: A ten cent a mile difference, when you figure 100,000 miles, is a BIG deal!

Quote
Matt > agelbert
Taking into account what we paid for our solar panels, we're probably paying $0.022 per mile for our EV.

My 2004 Honda probably costs $0.083 per mile just for gas. I'm probably averaging about $0.04/mile for ICE maintenance: oil change, timing belt, oil pan, etc... No point including tires, wipers, 12v battery, etc, since both cars have those, and they are very cheap compared to their lifetime. Hopefully, I'll never have to find out how much it takes to replace the EV's drive battery.

Edit: So that leaves a 10 cent difference per mile, before taking into account the damage done by fossil fuels. If you think a carbon tax should be $100/metric ton, add $0.03 per mile for the Honda.

Well, "probably"  plus "probably averaging about" minus a "probably" gives a probable figure excluding the definitely huge battery replacement factor.  0.022 / (0.083   0.04) , which is what I asked about is 17.8% which is a lot bigger than the "tenth" you must have just guessed at, and when the battery replacement is accounted for, and the cost of electricity used for charging, things would be VERY different.

You DEFINITELY have some fascinating cherry picking abilities, gaspadine. What part of "gasoline is going to cost MORE MONEY and Electricity is going to cost LESS, along with batteries costing LESS as the years go" by do you DELIBERATELY FAIL TO UNDERSTAND? 

Probably ALL OF THE ABOVE. And then there is that other "minor" cost that you flat REFUSE to acknowledge is real. It must be fun to live in such a world of cherry picked fantasy. 

The following video is from 2013, which may be considered the "good old days" now, since 2015, then 2016 were progressively hotter yet. And 2017 is. so far, HOTTER than  the hottest year!  Palloy and his "real world" f(FANTASY) ossil fuel pals were not listening then and they are not listening now.


The PRICE of Carbon


The fossil fuel industry is NOT PAYING IT; WE ARE! 

   

Here's an article Palloy will disagree with and ridicule as "garden variety" or "irrelevant" or disdain with some other pejorative bit of puffery.

The only part of the article he will agree with is that the Oil and Gas industry ACTUALLY gave solar power technology development a boost back in the 70s because PV supplied power to very remote locations the fossil fuelers tend be located at for new profit over planet piggery.  ;D

The FULL story of how we-the-people have supported these fossil fuel and nuclear welfare queens is there from the start until this day. The appearance of profitability ignores our tax money for research and continuous subsidy.

Palloy and his Fossil fueler pals have an amazing ability to ignore, not just externalized costs, but the giveaways from we-the-people! They have the brass balls to compute those subsidies as part of the ROI. That's a blatant accounting falsehood. Without subsides they are not profitable, period. But Palloy and friends will continue with their fantasies, come hell or high water. So it goes.  :P

SNIPPPET 1:

The bias against renewable funding and support is clear. Recent analysis found that over the first fifteen years an industry receives a subsidy, nuclear energy received an average of $3.3 billion, oil and gas averaged $1.8 billion,Fto and renewables averaged less than $0.4 billion.

Renewables received less than one-quarter of the support of oil and gas and less than one-eighth of the support that nuclear received during the early years of development, when strong investment can make a big difference. Yet even with this disparity, more of our energy supply now comes from renewables than from nuclear, which indicates the strength of renewables as a potential energy source.


SNIPPET 2:

The momentum behind renewable development came to a rapid halt as soon as Ronald Reagan was elected president. Not only did he remove the solar panels atop the White House, he also gutted funding for solar development and poured billions into developing a dirty synthetic fuel that was never brought to market.

Unnatural Gas: How Government Made Fracking Profitable (and Left Renewables Behind)

http://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/unnatural-gas-how-government-made-fracking-profitable-and-left-renewables-behind

The TRUE COST of Carbon

Here's another video (over 3 years old, but still imperative viewing), with lots of no nonsense MATH, that a certain mathematican called Palloy has difficulty with due to his "UNreal world" world view. 

The bottom line for the reality based community (which excludes Palloy  and the entire fossil fuel industry biosphere wrecking crew   ) is that a dollar based cost benefit analysis misses the funfamental idea that there are rights that life forms have that cannot be price negotiated.

Palloy won't watch it but I urge you reality based folks to view it and pass it on to other humans, like yourselves, who do not lack common sense.  ;D

What is the Social Cost of Carbon Emissions?

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #252 on: July 25, 2017, 12:57:19 pm »
Electric Car Drivers: Desires, Demands & Who They Are

Latest update: 10 Jun 2017

A unique, in-depth report about EV driver needs, desires, user experiences, and demographics. Over 2,000 EV drivers in 28 countries told us what they want in future EVs & EV charging. We tell you what they said.

Read the free version of the report [PDF] — the first 30 pages of the report.  ;D

publisher:CleanTechnica
industry:Electric cars
price:$500

Agelbert NOTE: I just got the free version. After I have perused it, I'll give you a summary.  8)

Meanwhile, here's some hot news about the coming solid-state :o battery innovation for EVs:


Toyota spokesperson Kayo Doi tells Japanese daily news source Chunichi Shimbun the company will not comment on specific product plans but does intend to commercialize solid-state batteries by the early 2020s.

Toyota Electric Car Will Use Solid-State Batteries For Long Range & Quicker Charging

Published on July 25th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley

This story about electric car plans at Toyota was first published on Gas2.

Toyota is not giving up on the hydrogen fuel cell technology that powers the Mirai, but is busy working in the background on an all-electric car with solid-state batteries that offer long range and fast recharging. The plan is to introduce the car, which will be built on an all new chassis, to the Japanese market in … 2022. Yep, that’s 5 years away.

Solid State Batteries Are The Future

No one doubts that solid-state batteries are the future. Replacing the liquid electrolyte found in today’s lithium-ion batteries will eliminate the risk of fire and explosion associated with current battery technology. That danger, while low, remains a concern for many people considering the purchase of an electric car.

To limit such risks, electric cars today must use sophisticated cooling systems to stabilize the temperature inside battery packs. Such systems add cost, weight, and bulk to the cars. Solid-state batteries will not need such elaborate cooling systems, which will help bring down the cost of building an electric car. As an added bonus, they are capable of being recharged in much less time than a conventional lithium-ion battery.


Researchers such as John Goodenough have been trying to build a robust, inexpensive solid-state battery for decades. Toyota saying it will do so is one thing. Actually doing it is quite another. Israeli startup StoreDot says it has a solid-state battery with a range of 300 miles  that recharges in 5 minutes  :o .


EMotion EV debuting August 17, 2017

Henrik Fisker claims his new EMotion electric car will go more than 400 miles on a single charge and then recharge in just 9 minutes. That car is set to hit the road in 2019.



New Electric Car Division At Toyota

Full article:


https://cleantechnica.com/2017/07/25/toyota-electric-car-will-use-solid-state-batteries-long-range-quicker-charging/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #253 on: July 25, 2017, 02:14:59 pm »
Electric Car Drivers: Desires, Demands & Who They Are

Latest update: 10 Jun 2017

A unique, in-depth report about EV driver needs, desires, user experiences, and demographics. Over 2,000 EV drivers in 28 countries told us what they want in future EVs & EV charging. We tell you what they said.

Read the free version of the report [PDF] — the first 30 pages of the report.  ;D

publisher:CleanTechnica
industry:Electric cars
price:$500

Agelbert NOTE: I just got the free version. After I have perused it, I'll give you a summary.  8)

Meanwhile, here's some hot news about the coming solid-state :o battery innovation for EVs:


Toyota spokesperson Kayo Doi tells Japanese daily news source Chunichi Shimbun the company will not comment on specific product plans but does intend to commercialize solid-state batteries by the early 2020s.

Toyota Electric Car Will Use Solid-State Batteries For Long Range & Quicker Charging

Published on July 25th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley

This story about electric car plans at Toyota was first published on Gas2.

Toyota is not giving up on the hydrogen fuel cell technology that powers the Mirai, but is busy working in the background on an all-electric car with solid-state batteries that offer long range and fast recharging. The plan is to introduce the car, which will be built on an all new chassis, to the Japanese market in … 2022. Yep, that’s 5 years away.

Solid State Batteries Are The Future

No one doubts that solid-state batteries are the future. Replacing the liquid electrolyte found in today’s lithium-ion batteries will eliminate the risk of fire and explosion associated with current battery technology. That danger, while low, remains a concern for many people considering the purchase of an electric car.

To limit such risks, electric cars today must use sophisticated cooling systems to stabilize the temperature inside battery packs. Such systems add cost, weight, and bulk to the cars. Solid-state batteries will not need such elaborate cooling systems, which will help bring down the cost of building an electric car. As an added bonus, they are capable of being recharged in much less time than a conventional lithium-ion battery.


Researchers such as John Goodenough have been trying to build a robust, inexpensive solid-state battery for decades. Toyota saying it will do so is one thing. Actually doing it is quite another. Israeli startup StoreDot says it has a solid-state battery with a range of 300 miles  that recharges in 5 minutes  :o .


EMotion EV debuting August 17, 2017

Henrik Fisker claims his new EMotion electric car will go more than 400 miles on a single charge and then recharge in just 9 minutes. That car is set to hit the road in 2019.



New Electric Car Division At Toyota

Full article:


https://cleantechnica.com/2017/07/25/toyota-electric-car-will-use-solid-state-batteries-long-range-quicker-charging/

At least one of us wants an eV pickup truck.

My brother-in-law got the new Leaf. I haven't gotten feedback yet on how he likes it. I am driving the Volt now full time,  and my only complaint is the short range on eV, but I drive in the hybrid "mountain mode" and it works out okay. I worry that it is too hard on the car to engage the gas engine as much as I do.


 


Thank you for this valuable and informative comment. This is the type of objective, real world information people need to read about. Please post on the Leaf EV experience of your brother-in-law when he has had it for a while. That is the car I would love to have.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #254 on: July 25, 2017, 06:06:18 pm »
Quote
How did Tesla win against the oil lobby?   

Matt Wasserman, We don't know what the internet is for, but it's caught on faster than any technology since fire.

Juyl 13, 2017

They haven’t won anything yet. Total production of all Teslas, ever, is less than the number of F-150 pickups Ford makes every few months. Tesla is the first new car company to get this far since Saturn, and the first truly new car company to do it since Hyundai, and they should be congratulated for that. But there is still a long way to go before they become more than a relatively low volume niche player.

A word about direct sales - Everyone who says the laws prohibiting direct sales are antiquated is right, but they are right for the wrong reasons. Those laws are antiquated, and no longer needed, because no volume car manufacturer would dream of selling direct. That way lies bankruptcy. It works when 90%+ of your cars are sold before you build them. It stops working when most of the cars you build come with significant inventory carrying costs.

And it presents all kinds of problems in terms of service and warranty repairs. Most Tesla owners are looking at 3 days, minimum, for twice yearly scheduled maintenance and even longer than that for warranty repairs. Is that going to work when Tesla has to scale to a million cars a year? Can they even maintain that already pretty terrible performance when they have half a million or a million cars on the road? Can the company afford the parts inventory required to improve warranty repair timeframes? They can build more service centers, and they will, but that increases capital expenditures for a company already investing a lot in Superchargers and plant upgrades. The cost of parts inventory increases as well. And in the long term it likely comes with no benefit to the consumer - keep prices low and you’ve invested a ton of money into something that doesn’t generate a return (that’s also known as a loss), charge fair prices and you may as well have a dealer network.

Tesla may be the first car company to figure out how to get direct sales to scale. But if they do they will be the first, let’s not forget that. And let’s also not forget that the company has to turn a profit at some point.

Will Tesla beat the oil lobby? Probably not. The Chevy Bolt is projected to outsell the Model S this year even if sales for the second half only match the first half and it hasn’t even gone national yet. Ford is going to jump into the pool sometime soon, and Volkswagen is moving from diesel to electric (at least in the US). All new cars will be electric at some point, probably in the next 20 - 25 years, but it won’t be because Tesla has become a dominant player.

Agelbert REPLY: The argument you present is flawed. To begin with, an EV is not a cash cow for maintenance costs, as all internal combustion engine powered cars are. THAT is the reason the dealer network is profitable. They MAKE THEIR MONEY on maintenence, NOT on selling cars.

Tesla is selling electric power plants on wheels, not the typical gas guzzler car.

EVs have very few moving parts, so the maintenace that would require a dealer is mostly absent. Tire maintenance does not require a dealer, which is the MAIN issue with an EV.

The battery pack eventual exchange will require Tesla to do it, but that is a once in a decade (or more) operation. You do not need a dealer network for that.

All that said, Tesla has a huge network of charging stations. I expect that people licensed to service Tesla cars (and other EVs) will set up shop near these charging stations, or Tesla may modify some of their charging stations to provide some maintenance.

The issue is not “beating big oil”. Big oil is a dead man walking, as anybody that knows anything about catastrophic climate change knows.

The issue is how long before Tesla can market an EV for $15,000 or less. Until they can do that, they cannot outsell the gas guzzlers.

Big Oil is the only reason, by the way, that certain Chinese EVs that DO sell for less than the equvalent of $15,000 (in China), are not marketed in the USA.

Big Oil is the reason that the $7,500 tax credit on EVs cannot be spread over several years, making it impossible for over 80% of the buying public to fully benefit from the tax credit (most people don’t pay anywhere near $7,500 in income tax in one year) AND FORCING those people to lease instead. Leasing ALSO jacks up the price on those least able to pay it.

All those hurdles to owning an EV were, and are, deliberatly imposed to keep the EVs in niche status, although Big Oil would prefer to destory EV sales altogether.

And the dealer network you are so sold on is a nest of crooks and liars that people are VERY tired of.

Big oil and the gas guzzler manufacturer and dealer network still hold sway in this country, but that will change, even if people like you think they have a “good” business model. They don’t.

Tesla does have a good business model. When serious competitors like Toyota finally figure that out, they will begin to emulate Tesla (for pure EVs) and probably produce better EVs at a lower price too! Tesla is a leader but soon they will have to lower their prices to remain competitive.

https://www.quora.com/How-did-Tesla-win-against-the-oil-lobby
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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