Too Many Cars Are Too Fast

[AlpsSkidad]

Sold our EV in July. Originally in 2015 thought it was great idea for a city car in Europe. City had free parking and decent charging options at decent prices. After the first couple years, ended up that it was more expensive than buying fuel to charge using city charging station infrastructure, and took away free parking. Imagine charging became more expensive than EU gas prices! Additionally it couldn't handle any length of road trip, and was generally uncomfortable to us compared to any of our ICE powered cars, lost too much batter power in winter etc, etc. Happy to sell and never look back. If we can help it, we won't ever buy an EV again, even for a city car. Too many negatives for us.

Back to OP content...just waiting for our 626HP convertible to clear customs as we shipped her back from EU recently...12 cylinders of AWD fun.

 

[scott43]

It's really dependent on someone's personal situation. My mom is getting older and is 200 miles away. If she needs to go to the hospital for a procedure I need to drive up, on any given day, snow/rain/heat, and come home the same day or next day. That's a tough order for an EV. And I'm not sure you can even use cost savings as an argument because I think EV's would lose. I don't have any personal thing against EV's, but it'd have to be a second car and really we'd like to have one car. And because of the travel demands we'd likely be looking at an ICE. Maybe one day..but right now, not that practical for me.

 

[tball]

Personally... I can't imagine a 400+ hp car being as much fun on the street. I was out for a 1.5hr spirited sunrise drive yesterday. Big smiles but even in that car with ~100hp it's easy to do well over the speed limit in a lot of places.

I logged a lot of miles today around the Denver/Boulder area in my 280 hp G35. 400 hp would have been a lot more fun.

Don't discount the fun to be had going zero to ten over the speed limit. It's good fun to be pushed back in your seat, even a legal speeds.

 

[François Pugh]

Truth be told, driving even a modern Honda Civic or Mazda 3 anywhere near its limits on public roads is begging for a dangerous driving charge (Canada). Or in many states, a reckless driving charge (misdemeanor) or even "Felony Operation of a Motor Vehicle" (obviously a felony).

 

[Bill Talbot]

I find 100hp per 1000lbs all that I require.
And under 3000lbs if at all possible!

 

[Tom K.]

Just as Tesla wasn't on anyones radar 10 years ago, I am sure that there will options in 5 years that we aren't aware of now, variations that are so out of the box that it will be mind blowing. The Rivian SUV is really intriging right now, but that what fits our needs much more than the Cybertruck.

QFT.

Best example (dating myself) is how ridiculous we thought Dick Tracy's make-believe telephone watch was.

Compare its functionality and size to today's smartphones......

 

[dan ross]

All I know is I like to drive my Jeep crazy fast, sometimes all the way up to 65mph. Zoooom . . . . Cough . . . . Spudder . . . Oh crap, a deer!

Yup. When I’m in Maine there’s generally little traffic - if you go off the road they call it “ going into the rhubarb “ . There’s very little traffic or pedestrians so it’s tempting to open it up. The wild card in all of this are deer. Certain times of the day, I spend as much effort scanning the roadside for deer as anything else.

 

[Dave Marshak]

My guess is that between zero and none of the EV enthusiasts out there live in an apartment building with no prospects for plugging in at home.

Eventually landlords will need charging stations to rent the apartments. Wholesale electricity is cheap at night, so there's a business opprtunity for someone to build overnight only charging staions to sell at retail rates. OT will happen the same way rooftop solar happened: risk free financing and cash flow guaranteed by the utility company.

dm

 

[Dave Marshak]

I like this idea but the electrical grid is overtaxed already in a lot of places. We probably need a decade or so of building the infrastructure to bring it up to snuff for current demand especially since politics/NIMBYism/etc. always seems to intervene and slow things to a crawl.

The grid runs at 30% or 40% capacity. EV charging is expected to be almost all in your own home at night. That's all revenue and not much added cost for the electric company. More batteries connected to the system also means more wind and solar can stored. They might even pay you to park your car and discharge that battery to help meet peak loads.

The other side if that coin is crazy expensive in the hottest days. but that's only a few hours every year in most places. I'm betting the utilities will eat much of those costs to support wider use of EVs.

dm

 

[Philpug]

Lets get back to the cars and not charging stations.

 

[scott43]

There is a supply and demand angle here too. It will be interesting to see the cost of electricity as demand significantly increases. I know we inquired about having electric buses and our power company basically said we would have to build our own substation at a cost of millions. It's an interesting dynamic.

 

[DanoT]

I am wondering if "Hot Rodders" will start modifying ICE cars with electric motors. So, you know, adding a couple of e motors to a 700hp Dodge Charger.

Or use an e motor to turn a 2wd car into 4wd?

 

[Seldomski]

I am wondering if "Hot Rodders" will start modifying ICE cars with electric motors. So, you know, adding a couple of e motors to a 700hp Dodge Charger.

Or use an e motor to turn a 2wd car into 4wd?

There are some 'hyper cars' that are hybrids for performance, adding electric for the acceleration boost out of corners with regenerative braking used to charge the battery and/or supercapacitor. Gas is still used for high end speed and endurance. Porsche 919 Evo for instance. I do not know if this sort of setup works for more than a couple laps though...

 

[Dave Marshak]

I am wondering if "Hot Rodders" will start modifying ICE cars with electric motors. So, you know, adding a couple of e motors to a 700hp Dodge Charger.

Or use an e motor to turn a 2wd car into 4wd?

F1 a few seasons back had KERS, which was a hybrid system using regenerative braking to charge a battery ( or a capacitor?). I think they dropped that.

My buddy just bought a Toyata hybrid minivan with an electric motor to drive the rear wheels. He told me it doesn't add much torque but he gets 47mpg around. My son's Ram hybrid adds all torque but gets about 8mpg.

dm

 

[jmeb]

My buddy just bought a Toyata hybrid minivan with an electric motor to drive the rear wheels. He told me it doesn't add much torque but he gets 47mpg around.

If that's the case he's getting about 10mpg over the EPA estimate. Still, 36mpg for that vehicle is pretty rad. And it eliminates the need for a driveshaft to the rear wheels which actually makes lifting it a spot easier .

I don't know how many people afford such fast cars. But perhaps that's just because I overspend on other things in life like skiing and wine. Personally I like the sensation of fast rather than actually fast.

Photo from this past weekend because this thread needs more.

 

[Philpug]

If that's the case he's getting about 10mpg over the EPA estimate. Still, 36mpg for that vehicle is pretty rad. And it eliminates the need for a driveshaft to the rear wheels which actually makes lifting it a spot easier .

I don't know how many people afford such fast cars. But perhaps that's just because I overspend on other things in life like skiing and wine. Personally I like the sensation of fast rather than actually fast.

Photo from this past weekend because this thread needs more.
View attachment 142393

Not a fan of that roller...it is called the "mousetrap" for a reason.

 

[weatherman]

Why are people talking about horse power? That's not what matters unless you're discussing absolute top speed with no restrictions, which none of us will ever see. It's all about the torque.

In the spring I purchased a plug-in hybrid Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. I love it dearly -- 470 lb-ft of torque. To translate to old school gas engines, that's as much as the new 392 Hemi in the Wrangler, but it comes from a 2.0L 4-cylinder coupled with electric motors.

You can easily live in an apartment and have an EV. I live in the mountains, and there are charging stations everywhere here. There are two free public stations within a few blocks of my house. Once you have something that plugs in, you realize that how many options there are. Just about every downtown around here has charging stations, and most are free. Since we're talking skiing, around here there are charging stations at Vail, Beaver Creek, Copper, Breckenridge, and all of the Aspen mountains.

 

[jmeb]

Not a fan of that roller...it is called the "mousetrap" for a reason.

It's a Hard Dog hard bar -- It's not a style bar. I wouldn't track it but there are plenty of photos of it sustaining street rollovers. It wouldn't be my first choice but it was there when I bought it and I have no intentions of tracking the car.

The primary safety concerns streeting it (i.e. being rear ended) are the same with it or any of the other Hard Dog products since it's the main hoop that will smash the back of your head. Honestly, most all roll bars should probably be deleted (this included) if you're not tracking your car or wearing harness + helmet whenever you're in it.

 

[Philpug]

It's a Hard Dog hard bar -- It's not a style bar. I wouldn't track it but there are plenty of photos of it sustaining street rollovers. It wouldn't be my first choice but it was there when I bought it and I have no intentions of tracking the car.

The primary safety concerns streeting it (i.e. being rear ended) are the same with it or any of the other Hard Dog products since it's the main hoop that will smash the back of your head. Honestly, most all roll bars should probably be deleted (this included) if you're not tracking your car or wearing harness + helmet whenever you're in it.

I recognize it is a Harddog. But it only a 2 point connection. For a rollbar a 4 point…rear support arms are much safer. I do know or actually knew someone that rolled his Miata with this bar. He didn’t fair well.

 

[Muleski]

I was just catching up on a couple of threads here. Among them, this one and the Bring a Trailer thread, where there are some comments about the exhaust sounds of the Carrera GT, on of which just sold there.

My dad was a serious "car guy," and he passed that on to my brother an me. I'm 67. He would be 105 if alive today. He started me out driving at a young age, going to the track and driving a bunch of slow cars at what felt like fast speeds. Learning how to drive. Our first project was completely rebuilding a 1959 Bugeye Sprite, which had the original engine, a whopping 43hp. Not much even in a 1500 lb car. Within 18 months, we had a 1250cc engine, bigger SU's, new manifolds, new exhaust, completely reworked transmission. And an entirely new suspension. THAT was a fun track car, but still a slow car. I won't bore you with all of the list and details. We did the same with both of our kids, now 32 and 35.

BUT, on the fast car, and exhaust sound note, dad among a bunch of great cars owned an AC Shelby Cobra, 427. I was not allowed to drive it until I was 23 and out of college. This as a 1965 vintage, totally stock car....no modifications. As I recall 0-60mph was about 3.6 seconds. A complete rocket in it's day. I recall that 0-100mph was under 10 seconds, and that 30 to 60 mph was a tic over ONE second. Yeah, fast, and not a drag car.

I remember that it sounded just incredible. The tone of the exhaust and the loudness was pretty amazing. At least for a 23 year old doing to grab an ice cream with dad. We burned though a lot of tires on the track with that car. Once I knew how to drive, reasonably well. He'd drive to the track and I would bring along the tires, tools, etc. in my old Grand Wagoneer. We’d take turns.

My mother loved cars, but she hated that Cobra. Too noisy, too showy. Not sure that she loved being thrown back into the passenger seat either. Funny as her car at the time {not the family Wagoneer, which we had a series of} was a 1965 Ford Galaxy XL convertible, with the 7 Liter engine, the 428. It wasn't exactly slow.

My uncle was a Ford, Jeep and British Leyland dealer. Made for some interesting cars.

That COBRA was something. My dad sold it very late in his life. Too loud, too showy.