will you buy a gas car this month?

[sdifox]

Bruh...How in the hell are you going to refine oil pure enough to run a gasoline powered engine off grid? With an EV you got solar or wind which generates electricity.

He can truck oil drums. I guess he can get a CT and get a diesel generator.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I don't see how ev is going to work for your off grid life.

It would actually be better as I can generate my own electricity, BUT it would need to be an EV swap for true self sufficiency, without all the electronics and stuff that relies on the cloud. Would also need to have decent range so I can still go into town and back if I want.

Of course I would still have backup generators as solar input is minimal in winter, but my goal is to rely on electricity for as much stuff as I can. The main barrier is money. Eventually want to setup a shop and could do my own EV build/swap. Could be a fun project. I'd start small and do an ATV or something first.

 

[nOOky]

No. I bought a gas vehicle in September, and I'll keep it for at least 4 years. I almost opted for a PHEV, but the one I wanted had serious issues, and nothing else excited me. I may re-evaluate in 4 years, but our home service needs upgrading which will be several thousands of dollars so charging at home would suck right now, and we are in a dead zone for any other decent charging stations.

 

[BurnItDwn]

We have a 2010 and a 2015 gas vehicle here. Both are running well, so, we plan to keep them both for at least the next several years.

I'm annoyed, the lead acide/starter batteries dont seem to last very long. Had to replace the battery in my car in Feb of 2021, and again just now, in 2025. I went with AGM this time. Hopefully will get 5+ years out of it.

When we eventually replace the 2010, we will consider a hybrid, but, not considering full electric unless we move to a different house with a garage.

 

[Brainonska511]

He can truck oil drums. I guess he can get a CT and get a diesel generator.

He's going to get the gas from Gas Town and buy means of protection from The Bullet Farm. Live the Mad Max life.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm still driving 30-year-old ICE vehicles because I decided a long time ago that newer ICE vehicles would be a bad investment of my money. I'm looking at recent model PHEV hybrids.

A $40,000 EV that gets 250 miles on a charge doesn't seem a practical use of money. I'll buy a full-blown EV when they can assure 700 miles on a charge with batteries that last 10 years.

This is all so Effed up. There should've been a crash "NASA" style program 20 years ago designed to bury the ICE vehicle industry and the oil industry. Huh! All a nobody like me can do is to go along for the ride -- so to speak.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I'm still driving 30-year-old ICE vehicles because I decided a long time ago that newer ICE vehicles would be a bad investment of my money. I'm looking at recent model PHEV hybrids.

A $40,000 EV that gets 250 miles on a charge doesn't seem a practical use of money. I'll buy a full-blown EV when they can assure 700 miles on a charge with batteries that last 10 years.

This is all so Effed up. There should've been a crash "NASA" style program 20 years ago designed to bury the ICE vehicle industry and the oil industry. Huh! All a nobody like me can do is to go along for the ride -- so to speak.

General Motors EV1 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"Who Killed the Electric Car" covered it's demise pretty well, but yes, if it had been backed and committed to over the long term, maybe things would be different today.

 

[sdifox]

Getting a 2025 CX-5 soon. The way more significant other drives 7km a day but has EV range anxiety

 

[BonzaiDuck]

General Motors EV1 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"Who Killed the Electric Car" covered it's demise pretty well, but yes, if it had been backed and committed to over the long term, maybe things would be different today.

I never was aware of the GM EV. But all that time, it mostly got 140 miles on a charge, or so I gleaned from the Wiki article.

 

[sdifox]

I never was aware of the GM EV. But all that time, it mostly got 140 miles on a charge, or so I gleaned from the Wiki article.

140mi is fine for a second car. I so wanted a EV for second car but the way more significant other axed the idea.

 

[manly]

140mi is fine for a second car. I so wanted a EV for second car but the way more significant other axed the idea.

"Irreconcilable differences." /s

140mi is fine for a city car and commuting. Americans average less than 50 miles driving per day. Charging the EV1 must have been very slow though.

 

[sdifox]

"Irreconcilable differences." /s

140mi is fine for a city car and commuting. Americans average less than 50 miles driving per day. Charging the EV1 must have been very slow though.

She drives 7 km some days to work on weekdays...refused to keep the 2015 QX50 with less than 100k km, traded it in for C$9k... And is now bitching about having to spend 40k on a lesser car...

 

[BonzaiDuck]

"Irreconcilable differences." /s

140mi is fine for a city car and commuting. Americans average less than 50 miles driving per day. Charging the EV1 must have been very slow though.

I'll need to evaluate such a prospect more before I dump $40,000 into a ride that won't get me from here to Reno on a charge. With an ICE vehicle, you just stop for 15 minutes at the pump. There has to be further technological improvement before I invest that much into a vehicle. Where are we on hydrogen fuel cells?

Like I said, America ain't "great again" for just waiting for it to happen. With a crash program 20 years ago, we'd be much further along with this. If it weren't for NASA, where would SpaceX be? They should deport Elon Musk back to South Africa anyway.

 

[manly]

I'll need to evaluate such a prospect more before I dump $40,000 into a ride that won't get me from here to Reno on a charge. With an ICE vehicle, you just stop for 15 minutes at the pump. There has to be further technological improvement before I invest that much into a vehicle. Where are we on hydrogen fuel cells?

Like I said, America ain't "great again" for just waiting for it to happen. With a crash program 20 years ago, we'd be much further along with this. If it weren't for NASA, where would SpaceX be? They should deport Elon Musk back to South Africa anyway.

Obviously a city car doesn't work for you, since you take occasional road trips up the 395.
But it could work for people like sdifox's more significant other.

There is no infrastructure around hydrogen fuel cells, so that's not an option. If you must buy a used car before 2030, you can get some kind of hybrid that fits your needs and budget.

I prefer buying lightly used cars, and it'll be years until a BEV makes sense for me. Tesla is the bulk of Elon's net worth, so I will never consider one, even used. Although I believe the U.S. and EU should protect their auto industry against unfair competition (Chinese brands), I also think that long-term, the best thing for consumers wallets is if the Chinese manufacturers are tightly regulated and enter our markets fairly. New autos have gotten way too expensive over the past decade, and Chinese BEVs are the best hope for competitive forces.

Although I'd like nothing more than Elon's comeuppance, you're looking at SpaceX the wrong way. It's more like if not for SpaceX, where would NASA be today and over the next ten years? SpaceX is literally "too big to fail now" for U.S. space interests. There is simply no viable plan B besides SpaceX's continued success, further enriching Musk's net worth.

Tens (hundreds?) of billions of dollars have been spent globally on BEV development the past couple decades. The idea of a "crash program" sounds cute, but R&D hasn't been the limiting factor thus far. Battery tech has gotten much cheaper over 15 years, but there just hasn't been a breakthrough that would enable even cheaper/smaller packs. There's significant hope that solid-state batteries will eventually get there.

 

[sdifox]

Honda trialling solid-state battery production, could double EV range

That's what the automaker's claiming; its pilot assembly line starts up January 2025, with a mainstream roll-out set for the late 2020s

driving.ca

We'll see how it goes for Honda.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Obviously a city car doesn't work for you, since you take occasional road trips up the 395.
But it could work for people like sdifox's more significant other.

There is no infrastructure around hydrogen fuel cells, so that's not an option. If you must buy a used car before 2030, you can get some kind of hybrid that fits your needs and budget.

I prefer buying lightly used cars, and it'll be years until a BEV makes sense for me. Tesla is the bulk of Elon's net worth, so I will never consider one, even used. Although I believe the U.S. and EU should protect their auto industry against unfair competition (Chinese brands), I also think that long-term, the best thing for consumers wallets is if the Chinese manufacturers are tightly regulated and enter our markets fairly. New autos have gotten way too expensive over the past decade, and Chinese BEVs are the best hope for competitive forces.

Although I'd like nothing more than Elon's comeuppance, you're looking at SpaceX the wrong way. It's more like if not for SpaceX, where would NASA be today and over the next ten years? SpaceX is literally "too big to fail now" for U.S. space interests. There is simply no viable plan B besides SpaceX's continued success, further enriching Musk's net worth.

Tens (hundreds?) of billions of dollars have been spent globally on BEV development the past couple decades. The idea of a "crash program" sounds cute, but R&D hasn't been the limiting factor thus far. Battery tech has gotten much cheaper over 15 years, but there just hasn't been a breakthrough that would enable even cheaper/smaller packs. There's significant hope that solid-state batteries will eventually get there.

The Voice of Reason. I cannot deny you that.

I went out in my 30-year-old Trooper today, and it was all wonderful -- 205,000 odometer miles don't seem to matter. $35 for gasoline at COSTCO to top up 1/3 of a tank. I'm wondering how much I'll spend on that Bad Boy this year, but there shouldn't be any need other than checking and charging the AC. I usually plan on spending up to $1,000 annually, but I'm so far caught up on maintenance and restoration, I can probably skip it. The timing-belt supposedly has 15,000 miles to go before end of the replacement interval, although in years it might have been done in 2019. The water pump seems to be working perfectly. There's just nothing to do with it now.

I should think a vehicle that gets 350 miles on a charge could be used for a long-range tour, but inconvenienced by how long re-charging would take. Charging stations seem to abound now.

But why spend the money? I love my old SUV. For my daily time, I can sit here and scream at the Criminal on TV, work in the garden, cook some Quesadillas, watch movies instead of news, read some uplifting material, go for my walk and pursue daily exercise, or fill up with gas and go for a drive -- do some shopping maybe.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Honda trialling solid-state battery production, could double EV range

That's what the automaker's claiming; its pilot assembly line starts up January 2025, with a mainstream roll-out set for the late 2020s

driving.ca

We'll see how it goes for Honda.

Couple years ago, Toyota announced their project to make a Lithium battery that could get 750 miles on a charge. So the Honda development is more promising news.

Meanwhile, I'll just pay the $4.20 / gallon at COSTCO. At least for now, we're pretty lucky for that.

 

[sdifox]

Picking up a 2024 Lexus UX250H on Saturday

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Picking up a 2024 Lexus UX250H on Saturday

Actually, I had my attention focused on that one, among others. But not only do I have a great ride already, I don't want to spend any money that would help the economy during Trump's term.

I may be doing fine with my Merrill-Lynch accounts, but somebody else can spend big and I hope Trump drives the country into the ground anyway. The people who elected him deserve it. But then -- this belongs over in P&N.

 

[IronWing]

I've been trying to convince myself that I can afford a Lyriq. But I know that spending that much on a car is not the path of wisdom.

 

[K1052]

I've been trying to convince myself that I can afford a Lyriq. But I know that spending that much on a car is not the path of wisdom.

You can get model year 2024s from CPO in the mid 40K range if you shop around.

 

[sdifox]

I'll need to evaluate such a prospect more before I dump $40,000 into a ride that won't get me from here to Reno on a charge. With an ICE vehicle, you just stop for 15 minutes at the pump. There has to be further technological improvement before I invest that much into a vehicle. Where are we on hydrogen fuel cells?

Like I said, America ain't "great again" for just waiting for it to happen. With a crash program 20 years ago, we'd be much further along with this. If it weren't for NASA, where would SpaceX be? They should deport Elon Musk back to South Africa anyway.

https://insideevs.com/news/747548/ev-winter-range-test-norway-2025/

 

[sdifox]

Oh our auto insurance went from 158 a month for the QX50 to 563 for the Odyssey and UX240H...

I don't want to hear a peep out of her on car costing too much.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

You can get model year 2024s from CPO in the mid 40K range if you shop around.

I got a '98 Tahoe for $4,000 two years ago.

Insurance is under $40/mo 'full' coverage.

Fingers crossed, but I hope to never have to buy another vehicle.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Oh our auto insurance went from 158 a month for the QX50 to 563 for the Odyssey and UX240H...

I don't want to hear a peep out of her on car costing too much.

You need to shop around, that's insane. I pay around $160ish for the F150 AND the house, and that's after the extra cost for the wood stove. I was annoyed when they jacked it up to 170 when covid hit, but was able to negotiate it back down by making some adjustments to coverage, and increasing deductible. I had shopped around but found that they were all around the same at the time.