Elite Swedes... EV for everyone, BUT......

[GregV814]

I heard a blurb on the radio Saturday that the elite Swedes are buying EV's like pancakes at WaffleHouse, (but no fighting WOC's)...anyway EV's are consuming large quantities of electricity. So much so, that they want faster charging stations and more electricity. NOW.
I guess when it comes down to heating homes or being environmentally friendly.... well, ... and the media says we "have far to go in the US of A"
to catch up with the Swedes.
We do? Really?

 

[Gilligan]

Sweden has plenty of power from hydro and nuclear.

The majority of all new cars sold in Norway these days are EVs. Huge financial incentives provided by the gummint, couple with unlimited supply of cheap electricity (hydro) make it easy. We are not Norway....nor Sweden...not remotely so.

 

[Hijinx]

If they made an EV that was bare bones. I mean really bare bones. Nothing more than a large Golf cart with sides a roof and a heater and it sold for 3 or4 thousand dollar just for my short trips to the store or running around the neighborhood something with maybe a 100 mile limit for range, I might buy one just for running errands, but instead they want to make EV's as luxury cars filed with luxurious upholstery, drive by itself technology and a dead battery after a couple of hundred miles. I would use a real car for my longer trips that I can fill with gas in ten minutes., and use this 55 gallon drum with seats for my errands close to home.

It's a bit like McDonalds. They started with a 15 cent hamburger , it was waiting for you when you got there Now they build up the menu and you have to wait for your sandwich and it costs too much for meat that has been flattened until you can see thru it.

 

[GregV814]

<-- UN-ELITE SWEDE.

 

[glhs837]

If they made an EV that was bare bones. I mean really bare bones. Nothing more than a large Golf cart with sides a roof and a heater and it sold for 3 or4 thousand dollar just for my short trips to the store or running around the neighborhood something with maybe a 100 mile limit for range, I might buy one just for running errands, but instead they want to make EV's as luxury cars filed with luxurious upholstery, drive by itself technology and a dead battery after a couple of hundred miles. I would use a real car for my longer trips that I can fill with gas in ten minutes., and use this 55 gallon drum with seats for my errands close to home.

It's a bit like McDonalds. They started with a 15 cent hamburger , it was waiting for you when you got there Now they build up the menu and you have to wait for your sandwich and it costs too much for meat that has been flattened until you can see thru it.

Do you want it to be street legal and pass all FMVSS?

 

[spr1975wshs]

If they made an EV that was bare bones. I mean really bare bones. Nothing more than a large Golf cart with sides a roof and a heater and it sold for 3 or4 thousand dollar just for my short trips to the store or running around the neighborhood something with maybe a 100 mile limit for range, I might buy one just for running errands, but instead they want to make EV's as luxury cars filed with luxurious upholstery, drive by itself technology and a dead battery after a couple of hundred miles. I would use a real car for my longer trips that I can fill with gas in ten minutes., and use this 55 gallon drum with seats for my errands close to home.

It's a bit like McDonalds. They started with a 15 cent hamburger , it was waiting for you when you got there Now they build up the menu and you have to wait for your sandwich and it costs too much for meat that has been flattened until you can see thru it.

Sounds like a Mercedes-Benz "Smart Car," which they stopped selling in the US due to failing demand.

 

[Hijinx]

Sounds like a Mercedes-Benz "Smart Car," which they stopped selling in the US due to failing demand.

If it was Mercedes it was probably over priced.

Wait I looked it up, $23,000 dollars for that little POS.
It goes 80 miles on a charge.

 

[Hijinx]

Do you want it to be street legal and pass all FMVSS?

It has to be street legal? I see golf carts on the highway around here all the time.

 

[glhs837]

It has to be street legal? I see golf carts on the highway around here all the time.

Neighborhood Electric Vehicle - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But these wont go 100miles, and are limited to 25mph. You want to go faster than that, you need a real car that meets federal standards. And nobody's gonna spend the money certifying a thing they cannot make the money back on. Figure 1k for the battery pack that gets you 100 miles in a 1,500lb vehicle. Doesn't leave a lot of money to pay for for things like airbags and crumple zones and such.

That's why the Aptera is three wheels, same as the Slingshot. Lets you get by most of that mess.

 

[Sneakers]

That's why the Aptera is three wheels, same as the Slingshot. Lets you get by most of that mess.

I was going to say that, but thought everyone would be tired of my Aptera by now...

Difference tho is my Slingshot has no airbags, crumple zones, overhead roll cage, etc... but the Aptera does. It's done really well in safety tests to date, better than many vehicles, aced the rollover tests. But being an autocycle with 3 wheels, much of that is not a requirement, but still welcome features.

 

[glhs837]

I was going to say that, but thought everyone would be tired of my Aptera by now...

Difference tho is my Slingshot has no airbags, crumple zones, overhead roll cage, etc... but the Aptera does. It's done really well in safety tests to date, better than many vehicles, aced the rollover tests. But being an autocycle with 3 wheels, much of that is not a requirement, but still welcome features.

Yep, call them "customer acceptance requirements". Unlike the Slingshot, which is pitched as a lifestyle weekender sort of thing, the Aptera is much more an everyday vehicle. And folks jousting on 495 with big rigs want everything they can get.